Revit program philosophy on locking & unlocking

[Henry D]

Well, it's coming up on one year since I purchased Revit although I really didn't start using it on projects until about 7-8 months ago and it's been great - totally changed my work for the better. But, one thing that has bothered me since day one is how "hypersensitive" the elements on the screen are - when the drawing gets very dense unless you lock things they are liable to get moved out of position. So why does this happen? Why can't everything just stay put until you select it - a graphically dense Autocad screen is a sea of calm compared to a dense Revit screen.

Why was this locking and unlocking business written into the program? If things just sayed put until they are selected there wouldn't be any need for locking.

[Wes Macaulay]

This is my main complaint about Revit. Objects are just a bit too codependent for my liking. Revit sometimes assumes there's a relationship between two adjacent objects when you don't want one. So you move one object and its neighbour says "Oh, you're moving? Ok - I'm moving too."

I think Revit should make its objects more inert.

And... did anyone notice that the "locked for alignment" and "locked for editing" icons are now identical? I wanted them to be MORE different! Not that you can't tell the difference... when it's locked for alignment you do get the little dashed green witness line.

[irwin]

The issue of when moving one element should cause another to move with it is a delicate balance.

On the one hand, there were times when an element would move with others unexpectedly. Since version 5.0, the "Moves With Nearby Elements" property for components has been turned off by default, so it should be much less common that an element moves when you don't expect it to.

On the other hand, there are times when people expect moving one element to automatically cause another to move, even without a locked dimension. One example that was often requested before version 6.0 was that moving a ceiling grid should automatically move the light fixtures in that ceiling. This was finally implemented in version 6.0.

If you are still encountering situations when an element moves and you don't expect it to it would be very helpful if you could give particular examples. That would allow us to tune the rules to match your design intent even more closely.

[Steve_Stafford]

...One example that was often requested before version 6.0 was that moving a ceiling grid should automatically move the light fixtures in that ceiling. This was finally implemented in version 6.0....

I did not know that!...That's very nice, thank you!!

[LMSmith]

Another thing to consider may be the new "Press+Drag" check box on the Option Bar (with the Modify tool active). When you have it checked, Revit works like it always has and allows you to drag things imediately after you have selected them. UNchecking it can save you from the accidental drag. The UNchecked box makes you select an element and then click again before you can drag. I'm not sure if this is what you meant by hyper-sensitivity, but try it out - you might like it.

[Nic M.]

Henry,
you now have an option to turn off "Press + Drag" when selecting elements.
One of my top wishes is to lock elements view specific.
When I make electrical plans I would Use it to lock all wall's for example, now I have the feeling I'm walking over eggs.

[Henry D]

Thanks - I haven't put my projects into 6.0 yet , but I just played around with the press & drag, I think that should be a lot better.