Locking geometry

[crispin.schurr]

We are having a few problems with geometry moving accidentally.

The worst situation is in details/sections where objects extend invisibly beyond the crop region. When selecting text (which we normally align out to the right of the crop region of sections / details) it is very easy to also select invisible geometry and move / copy it.

Is there a way to prevent geometry being editable / selectable in sections / details?

We find locking / dimensioning everything as you are designing a problem, as it slows the drawing process down, and makes subsequent changes slow (having to go through and find all the constraints on an object, identify what is important and what is not, and unconstrain the relevant ones)

Do users out there lock down every piece of geometry they model?

Any tips on best practice?

[Firmso]

We are having a few problems with geometry moving accidentally.

The worst situation is in details/sections where objects extend invisibly beyond the crop region. When selecting text (which we normally align out to the right of the crop region of sections / details) it is very easy to also select invisible geometry and move / copy it.

Is there a way to prevent geometry being editable / selectable in sections / details?

We find locking / dimensioning everything as you are designing a problem, as it slows the drawing process down, and makes subsequent changes slow (having to go through and find all the constraints on an object, identify what is important and what is not, and unconstrain the relevant ones)

Do users out there lock down every piece of geometry they model?

Any tips on best practice?

No, there this no magic bullet for that. Next time, maybe try paying more attention to that thing that pops up on your cursor when hovering over an object. If you come across multiple overlapping objects just hold your cursor on it and keep pressing the Tab button to swap selection. This helps avoid accidentally moving things you don't mean to move.
Hope this helps

[greg.mcdowell]

I think a good wish list item might be a pre-selection filter... something like Viz or Max has where you can select the type of object you want to select form a drop down. Then, as in this case, you'd set if for Text (or maybe something more generic like Annotation) and as you created a selection set it would filter out all other objects... and more importantly it would be persistent until changed.

The problem I have with the current filtering method is that it takes place after I've made a selection and when in cases like this where I'm needing to select the same sort of things over and over again it gets a little tedious.

[neb1998]

This may not be the best solution but when i am working on a structural section where arch elements are visible i tend to work with the section open, a 3d view open, and the floor plan open...just so when i am selecting items with a box i can see exactly what i am selecting.....

This tends to be useful in general with revit as the items update in realtime as you select them in any open view you are working with (that has the same item visible)....

Not perfect, but it does help with ensuring you know what is selected......This is one of the biggest problems with our interns as they love to draw a box in elevation, move the elements and not realize they have plumbing fixtures, ceilings, and other elemenets selected along with the walls.



We are having a few problems with geometry moving accidentally.

The worst situation is in details/sections where objects extend invisibly beyond the crop region. When selecting text (which we normally align out to the right of the crop region of sections / details) it is very easy to also select invisible geometry and move / copy it.

Is there a way to prevent geometry being editable / selectable in sections / details?

We find locking / dimensioning everything as you are designing a problem, as it slows the drawing process down, and makes subsequent changes slow (having to go through and find all the constraints on an object, identify what is important and what is not, and unconstrain the relevant ones)

Do users out there lock down every piece of geometry they model?

Any tips on best practice?

[crispin.schurr]

We're definitely still in the learning mode, and it is the interns that are having the greatest difficulty. The problem is when I have to pick up the mess.

Is it good practice to pin position primary components once their position has been decided?

C

[aaronrumple]

Worksets can be helpful.

I always have a workset for interior partitions/fixtures, etc.. When I'm working on an elevation view, the inside stuff workset is turned off and there is no danger of selecting things inside the building.

[irwin]

We find locking / dimensioning everything as you are designing a problem, as it slows the drawing process down, and makes subsequent changes slow (having to go through and find all the constraints on an object, identify what is important and what is not, and unconstrain the relevant ones)
You definitely should not be locking dimensions for this purpose. Instead, pin the objects. That will not cause any slow down for later modification, and you don't have to go chasing constraints.

Here's a relevant post from this thread: http://forums.augi.com/showthread.php?t=34079


Here's another thread that discusses this subject: http://forums.augi.com/showthread.php?t=10841. Note that what used to be called "lock objects" is now called "pin objects".

In that thread I mention when to use pin versus locking dimensions:
- If you want an object to stay where it is, use the push pin.
- If you want an object to move whenever some other object moves, lock a dimension or alignment.

That rule says which to use, but doesn't say whether to use either at all. Pinning objects is pretty safe -- it rarely leads to confusion and doesn't cost much in terms of performance, so go ahead and pin as much as you like. But, in my experience locking dimensions and alignments can often lead to confusion and slow performance. New users more often err on the side of putting too many locks, rather than too few. I recommend starting out by not locking many dimensions and only add more as necessary.

[david.metcalf]

I recommend Hide/Isolate tools as a means to make sure objects behind the elements you want to work with are not selected. Use in conjunction with Filter Selection as well and you will have much more success with modifying your model.

[crispin.schurr]

Thanx Irwin - good advice.

Still the biggest problem is selecting annotation generally on sections / details, where the drawing geometry can accidentally be selected outside the crop region. I believe this is an error in the software that should be remedied - there is little use being able to select / move / delete geometry outside the crop region - this is just asking for trouble.

We have also had major issues moving things around in Revit.
To move an entire building 2m West and half a metre North (towards the end of documentation) took the best part of a week to recover the referencing, detailing and so forth.

From our experience, the results of copying and moving many objects in Revit give unpredictable and sometimes disastrous results, especially between slightly offset levels.


Related to your advice Irwin, what is the most processor efficient strategy for defining parametric families? I ask this, as once we have around 3-400 windows/doors in our drawings, things start getting a bit sluggish.

- calculating geometry using minimal locking of objects and defining dimensions with calculations of parameters
- locking objects directly to one another to determine lengths etc.
- using many reference planes, minimising locking of objects by having them begin / end on a reference plane (and using the implied relationship)
- or other strategy ?

Thanx again C

[aaronrumple]

Thanx Irwin - good advice.

We have also had major issues moving things around in Revit.
To move an entire building 2m West and half a metre North (towards the end of documentation) took the best part of a week to recover the referencing, detailing and so forth.

- or other strategy ?

Thanx again C
Don't move the building - move the site. Much faster and you don't have to worry about all the views.

[crispin.schurr]

Tend to agree with moving site, but in this case there were multiple buildings on the sites in separate worksets - thus moving the site wouldn't have worked.

Would much rather have had each building as a separate file, but we couldn't seem to get common families, referencing and detailing working across multiple files - the buildings share the same door / window, joinery, & fittings schedules, as well as common detailing.

C