Floor sketch is invalid

[jeff.95551]

I'm mostly frustrated - I'm doing simple edits, like adjusting wall locations on a multi-story building. Unfortunately when we built the model we hadn't learned to avoid the 'Pick Walls' option in the floor sketch dialogue. My biggest frustration is that when you get the 'floor sketch is invalid' error, it doesn't give you the obvious and very simple option of unjoining the elements. I can fix the floors later... but no, my only option is delete or cancel. So I have to copy the wall to the new location, delete the first one, clean up the joins, and I still have to fix the floors manually. Move -disjoin also doesn't work here, for some reason... and in the rare cases where it does adjust the floor, it does it in inconsistent ways.

[aggockel50321]

Try cut & paste of misbehaving floors & walls. That'll break any constraints they have with other objects.

[cpiper]

It sounds like this is going to be a problem throughout the entire project. You might try deleting all of the floors now and redrawing them without picking the walls. It might be a bit of work today, but will save you and your team time in the future as you make more edits.

[mibzim]

[QUOTE=jeff.95551]Unfortunately when we built the model we hadn't learned to avoid the 'Pick Walls' option in the floor sketch dialogue.[QUOTE]

Jeff
So you're saying that the 'pick walls' tool isn't the best for large projects... Funny, coz i've been trying to get ppl to use it, but maybe i should just leave them alone and let them get on with doing it their own way. Maybe this is the reason that floors and ceilings tend to miraculously disappear in our projects! (most users don't tend to read the warning dialogues, and if they can't see whats getting deleted, ITS GONE!!)

[twiceroadsfool]

[QUOTE=jeff.95551]Unfortunately when we built the model we hadn't learned to avoid the 'Pick Walls' option in the floor sketch dialogue.[QUOTE]

Jeff
So you're saying that the 'pick walls' tool isn't the best for large projects... Funny, coz i've been trying to get ppl to use it, but maybe i should just leave them alone and let them get on with doing it their own way. Maybe this is the reason that floors and ceilings tend to miraculously disappear in our projects! (most users don't tend to read the warning dialogues, and if they can't see whats getting deleted, ITS GONE!!)

We tend to struggle with this as well (reading the dialogues, not deleting items, but arent they one and the same?). We have to harp on people edlessly: Even though the language in them can be daunting, people MUST read the warnings, and UNDERSTAND the options in front of them befoer making a selection. OK is NOT always the answer you want to pick, lol.

I get worried when people approach me and say there is a weird msg on their screen... and its the "Youve made a local copy of the central file" wanring. Im like, according to office standards you should see that every morning, LOL.....

Yikes!

To the original thread... I use pick walls without much of a hassle, but i know sketches tend to invalidate themselves if lines end up too short (IE deleted) or something. Out of curiousity, can you slim down a copy of just the walls and floor in question? Im curious to see what kind of issues this tool is giving people, because i havent had the misfortune of meeting it yet...

[DaveP]

We've seen Floors disappear often, too. The most likely culprit is that they were attached to Walls. Problem is, if they're not attached, then they end up not lining up correctly when the walls move.


Shouldn't something as serious as deleting the floor be an Error, not a Warning? People tend to pay more attention to Errors. Especially as you can't continue without paying attention.

[jeff.95551]

Thanks for the advice and commisery - cut and past is what I mostly end up doing (or copy & delete - same. The perfect solution would be for Revit to try to adjust the floors, and if the floor sketches are invalidated to give us a choice - "Hey, user. I've got a problem here. The floor sketches don't work and I don't know how to deal with it. So, we can 1) just delete all those pesky floors you've been drawing and editing and finessing for the last six months (bad choice), we can 2) just detach those pesky floors from the walls and let you get on with your business (good choice) or 3) just cancel the whole thing and pretend this never ever happened.

In a perfect world, Revit would read my mind. Sometimes it comes pretty close (it's more like reading a short pamphlet most days anyway). Or, give us a way to control the items that are attached to a wall. You have 'Detach' and 'detach all' (??) for top and bottom connections, but no way that I know of to detach floors or roofs from the sides of walls.
And pins that really mean something. How about the 'pin' tool for things that you kind of want to keep more or less like they are and a lag bolt tool for things that are fixed, done "I want a letter from the President in order to change this!" kind of things, like existing walls in a remodel or floor plates in a garage that you've signed off on as complete. The layer lock thing in Autocad is what I'm looking for. We're supposed to be in CD's, racing to the finish line, and I spend more time trying to keep the model tight. I know this stuff isn't Revit Zen, but I don't have the patience for that right now. I'm sure you've all been there.

Thanks,

Jeff

[cphubb]

Floors roofs and ceilings all have this problem.

The workaround (not really) is to enter sketch mode and use the pick mehtod to define the sketct. Use offset with roof overhangs and it works great. We have been using this method since 5 with no problems

[twiceroadsfool]

The more i think back on this thread, the more it fascinates me. I recall a few months ago in a project, roofs were disappearing, and we were attributing it to user error when selecting and deleting things in a 3d view. I really had no idea that if a sketch was done as Pick Wall, that the wall always had to remain.

I should send a note around to everyone in case they didnt know, lol...

[jeff.95551]

I got dinged with it this morning. I was mirroring an exit stair group - stairs and railings only - no walls, floors, etc. I got the message "elements will be deleted." I took the risk, looked back at the limited area I was dealing with and didn't see anything gone. 3 hours later I notice an entire floor plate disappeared. Luckily it was a simple floor plate that I could copy up from below and it didn't host anything. I was the only one in the drawings all morning - no one else to blame but the computer and myself.