create form questions

[ivan.239950]

I am working with in-place masses for the first time and finding it limiting. I'm just going to list a few questions that are very basic. (So basic it seems that I haven't been able to google or help-menu the answers. . .)

1. How can I specify a default extrusion length? It seems rather random when i click 'Create Form".
2. Although the direct manipulation tool has 3 axes of movement, the move tool doesn't. How can I move an object perpendicular to the reference plane?
3. How can I change the reference plane while in-place modeling?
4. How can I use point in 3D to snap to while moving something? For example, I have extruded vertical plane, and am trying to use the direct manipulation to move the bottom edge of the wall to align with a point in space. As I drag the little blue arrow up, it doesn't actually snap to anything, i just have to eyeball it or know the dimension to type in. Really?
5. And--WTF--is there no 'Zoom Selected' command?

Thanks for any insight.

[ivan.239950]

Oh yes, and there is this:
Why can't I move multiple points/edges with the direct manipulation tool? I have extruded a line of many segments. REVIT automatically makes the extrusion whatever height it wants, so I have to go in manually and type a new extrusion length FOR EACH SEGMENT? And if one of the segments is a curve, no extrusion dimension is shown when it is selected, only a radius. This is slow workflow, what is a useful workaround?