Visibility in 2008

[mibzim]

So i think the factory did a GREAT job with new visibility features, but think that it lacks a little cohesion and doesn't quite fit into the 'revit way'...

Here are some suggestions, and it would be great if this sparked a little more debate about how the new features are going and if it works well for you... (refer attachment also)

1. Firstly, there needs to be some clarity about this word 'hide'. Temporary hide or permanent hide??? - i think the factory is allowing us to muddle ourselves up to much! Call it on/off and temporary hide. That way, no one gets confused.

2. How does anybody keep track of individual elements that are turned on and off apart from the reveal hidden elements tool? Everything else that is graphically or visibly altered is recorded in the VISIBILITY / GRAPHIC OVERRIDES menu. Why don't individual elements appear here too, with the list being populated as elements are individually modified - same way filter grouped elements are.

3. Include a temporary hide column in the VISIBILITY / GRAPHIC OVERRIDES menu.

What does everyone else think, and how are the new features working out?

[jcoe]

1. Firstly, there needs to be some clarity about this word 'hide'. Temporary hide or permanent hide??? - i think the factory is allowing us to muddle ourselves up to much! Call it on/off and temporary hide. That way, no one gets confused.I agree that this should be a little more clear and straight forward.



2. How does anybody keep track of individual elements that are turned on and off apart from the reveal hidden elements tool? Everything else that is graphically or visibly altered is recorded in the VISIBILITY / GRAPHIC OVERRIDES menu. Why don't individual elements appear here too, with the list being populated as elements are individually modified - same way filter grouped elements are.I like where you are going with this one, but I am not sure that a separate tab is the answer. In projects where there are design options and worksets, tabs are created in the visibility graphics dialog. I think that "managing" all these tabs and visibility controls might start to get time consuming because now you have potentially 7 tabs to navigate through to find the graphic override or visibility setting.



What does everyone else think, and how are the new features working out?I think you are onto some good ideas here but I do think the factory needs to be careful with this visibility stuff. With all the graphic overrides and visibility controls they have implemented in RAC 2008, I think they are treading dangerously close to a "layer" management.