Duplicating Area Plans

[nreifenstein]

One problem that I've come up against (in Revit 9) is to create a copy or duplicate of an Area Scheme. Let me explain: I've created two separate area schemes for my project (area plans for all six floors, with area boundaries, color fills and schedules set up just so) and I want to create variants of one of these schemes; ie Scheme 1a, 1b, 1c, etc. I can duplicate one of the plans (Duplicate with Detailing...), but it remains within the same Area Scheme and any changes (ie moved area boundaries) are reflected in the original plan.

There is also an annoying issue with color fills: those set up for Area Scheme 1 are not available for Area Scheme 2, etc, so they have to be set up separately every time. The same for schedules - this is particularly time consuming.

Am I missing something - does anyone know a shortcut?

[luigi]

Hello...the problem you're having is not necessarily having been exposed to the process of duplicaing area plans...

essentially you automatically have 2 type of area plans.....Gross and Net. You can find them in the Settings/Area Schemes. If you want various "types" of area plans, i.e. different schemes, then you create an additional area scheme in the Settings/Area Schemes...so you would have Gross, Net, Scheme A1, etc.

When you are duplicating a view, instead of doing it the way I described, Revit is duplicating the same Area Plan ....Think about it this way....the Linework for Area Plans are Model Lines...so if you would have Model LInes on your regular floor plan, and then you would duplicate your floor plans (with or without Detailing) the Model Lines will keep showing up....the same goes for Area Boundary Lines....BUT....Revit allows you to create as many Area Schemes your imagination desires....

In case you felt I wrote too much...here is a straight forward step by step instruction...

1. Go to Settings/Room and Area Settings in your drop down menu (or on the Design Bar under Room and Area/Settings),
2. Choose Area Schemes from the Tab,
3. Click on New on the top right of the Window,
4. Modify name and description as desired for your newly added Area Scheme,
5. Repeat step 3-4 as many times as you would like
6. Click OK,
7. Go to Room and Area from your Design Bar (on left of your screen),
8. Choose Area Plan
9. Make sure the Type of the Area is selected to match the scheme desired,
10. click and drag as many floors desired with proper scale (noticed the don't duplicate plans option)
11. Go into correct scheme and correct floor and Draw Area Boundaries at will... :)

oops..stand corrected about Color Fills...each scheme as its own color fills type...(:Oops: I can't believe I never had that problem before...)

Hope it's clear...Peace!



One problem that I've come up against (in Revit 9) is to create a copy or duplicate of an Area Scheme. Let me explain: I've created two separate area schemes for my project (area plans for all six floors, with area boundaries, color fills and schedules set up just so) and I want to create variants of one of these schemes; ie Scheme 1a, 1b, 1c, etc. I can duplicate one of the plans (Duplicate with Detailing...), but it remains within the same Area Scheme and any changes (ie moved area boundaries) are reflected in the original plan.

There is also an annoying issue with color fills: those set up for Area Scheme 1 are not available for Area Scheme 2, etc, so they have to be set up separately every time. The same for schedules - this is particularly time consuming.

Am I missing something - does anyone know a shortcut?

[nreifenstein]

Luigi - Your response was to the more basic question "What are Area Schemes". I've been working with them for a couple of months and am very familiar with the basics. The problem I've been having is with your step 11: "Go into correct scheme and correct floor and Draw Area Boundaries at will...". I don't want to draw the area boundaries at will - I want to start with an area scheme that has already been developed, duplicate it and modify the copy. For example - I have a six-story building with a proposed program zoning for each floor (Scheme 1). I want to create a variant of it, Scheme 2, that has four floors the same and two modified. Unfortunately, I have to create an entirely new set of plans for the new Area Scheme and recreate every floors' area boundaries, tags and tag designations. Then, I have to create a new color fill scheme, and, finally, create a schedule from scratch.
Phew! I'm not sure its worth the effort.

[greg.mcdowell]

You can't do what you're wanting without creating a new Area Scheme as per Luigi's explanation (which it sounds like you already knew about). Each set of plans within an Area Scheme all have the same Area Boundaries and available Color Fill Diagrams and each of these are separate from other Area Schemes.

[luigi]

Hmm...the reason why my response was "basic" is because in your trying to duplicate the plan and being frustrated that a change in one plan caused a change into the duplicate plan made it seem as though you were not familar with Area Schemes at all (See below how you stated your "problem"). Now I feel like I wasted my time in explaining it....it's a "sucky" feeling....

BTW, You can copy and past the boundary lines from one floor to another...you can even group them to easily copy and paste, I have done that before....

Salute!


One problem that I've come up against (in Revit 9) is to create a copy or duplicate of an Area Scheme. Let me explain: I've created two separate area schemes for my project (area plans for all six floors, with area boundaries, color fills and schedules set up just so) and I want to create variants of one of these schemes; ie Scheme 1a, 1b, 1c, etc. I can duplicate one of the plans (Duplicate with Detailing...), but it remains within the same Area Scheme and any changes (ie moved area boundaries) are reflected in the original plan.


Luigi - Your response was to the more basic question "What are Area Schemes". I've been working with them for a couple of months and am very familiar with the basics. The problem I've been having is with your step 11: "Go into correct scheme and correct floor and Draw Area Boundaries at will...". I don't want to draw the area boundaries at will - I want to start with an area scheme that has already been developed, duplicate it and modify the copy. For example - I have a six-story building with a proposed program zoning for each floor (Scheme 1). I want to create a variant of it, Scheme 2, that has four floors the same and two modified. Unfortunately, I have to create an entirely new set of plans for the new Area Scheme and recreate every floors' area boundaries, tags and tag designations. Then, I have to create a new color fill scheme, and, finally, create a schedule from scratch.
Phew! I'm not sure its worth the effort.

[dv]

You can cut and paste the boundary lines from one area scheme to another, but they will no longer be locked to the walls. The areas and tags will not copy from one scheme to another, nor will the color fills. So you still have to go back and recreate the areas by hand. And you have to recreate the color fill from scratch in every scheme, which can be a pain trying to keep the colors matched up between schemes if you have a bunch of colors. Working with design options and areas is also problematic at best.

The only part of this process that works the way that I think it should is Area Styles. At least those can be reused between schemes and projects, which is really handy.

I've been beating my head against the wall with this for quite a while, but it doesn't seem to be a big issue except to a few of us. Personally, most of my issues would go away if I could have more control over room boundaries. This is why I'm forced to use areas for most of my work.

[mzabritski]

It seems this is still a problem in 2010 (haven't tried 2011 yet). I've already got different area schemes setup and have copied the appropriate area boundary lines into the new views, but I don't really want to manually recreate hundreds of areas in the new scheme.

I just want to copy and paste an area from one scheme to another scheme but it looks like it won't work. Does anyone have any suggestions or workarounds for this?

[Scott Womack]

To my knowledge there is no real "shortcut" or "work-a-round". It is due to the nature of Area Plans, and their capabilities. So no is the answer to your question.

[Rosie the Reviter]

It seems this is still a problem in 2010 (haven't tried 2011 yet). I've already got different area schemes setup and have copied the appropriate area boundary lines into the new views, but I don't really want to manually recreate hundreds of areas in the new scheme.

I just want to copy and paste an area from one scheme to another scheme but it looks like it won't work. Does anyone have any suggestions or workarounds for this?


Sorry to be several months late to your post... however I think I have found a solution to the issue you mentioned, the tedious task of recreating all of your predefined areas over and over for each new scheme. This worked for me, and please give me feed back if it does or doesn't work for you.

1. Once you create a scheme with all of your areas, (in my case custom created parameters for areas called "sub-department"), duplicate the Revit File and rename it to say copy.
2. In the file that you would like to add several new schemes with the same areas, rename the area scheme that you want to copy... for example Area Scheme 1-a.
3. Next, Transfer Project Standards from the "copy" file that you just created, selecting only Color Fill Schemes. As long as your two area schemes have different names, aka Area Scheme 1 vs. Area Scheme 1-a, you should be able to load these exact duplicates in as many times as you need from the copy file.

Anyways, as I said, worked for me... hours of my life saved!

[Rosie the Reviter]

Ah, working further I see now the original issue, copy and pasting to views, not just creating repeat identical schemes in general...sorry for the tease. Really?! come on autodesk...

[theoryshaw]

Has there really been any fix for this yet? I'm running into the same problem with Revit 2013. It frankly, almost renders 'area plans' useless.