problem with phase graphic over rides

[tim.101799]

I have some cross section for a building and I want all the walls, roof and floors to be filled in solid black. I could changes the material settings for each, but using the graphic over rides in the phases is much easier. I set all new construction to have a graphic over ride to fill in as solid black. I created a new phase set to this over ride. I then went into my section view and changed the phase to this new phase (phase 2 - solid fill). The walls & roofs all fill in solid black, but the floors do not. Any ideas?

[ron.sanpedro]

I have some cross section for a building and I want all the walls, roof and floors to be filled in solid black. I could changes the material settings for each, but using the graphic over rides in the phases is much easier. I set all new construction to have a graphic over ride to fill in as solid black. I created a new phase set to this over ride. I then went into my section view and changed the phase to this new phase (phase 2 - solid fill). The walls & roofs all fill in solid black, but the floors do not. Any ideas?

Two things here. One is that I have found Phases to be a bad thing to abuse to get a graphic look. We tried this once where we wanted to show a little series of phased construction images, foundations, then structure, then walls, then roofs. We made phases, did the graphics, and didn't change the phases back (on the off chance we needed those graphics again) and had no end of problems later. So I suggest not using Phases for anything BUT phases.

And that said, the better answer is Filters. Create a new Filter that includes walls, floors, ceilings, roofs, columns, whatever you want to poche in plan OR section. Don't set any Filter Rules, as you want the filter to grab ALL of items in the selected categories. Add the filter to the view, and override the cut pattern with a grey solid fill. Now all your walls, roofs, ceilings, floors,stairs etc will poche in section. Use the same filter on a plan view to pretty it up.

MUCH better than abusing phases, and it works in a project where you are actually doing remodel work.

Best,
Gordon

[tim.101799]

Two things here. One is that I have found Phases to be a bad thing to abuse to get a graphic look. We tried this once where we wanted to show a little series of phased construction images, foundations, then structure, then walls, then roofs. We made phases, did the graphics, and didn't change the phases back (on the off chance we needed those graphics again) and had no end of problems later. So I suggest not using Phases for anything BUT phases.

And that said, the better answer is Filters. Create a new Filter that includes walls, floors, ceilings, roofs, columns, whatever you want to poche in plan OR section. Don't set any Filter Rules, as you want the filter to grab ALL of items in the selected categories. Add the filter to the view, and override the cut pattern with a grey solid fill. Now all your walls, roofs, ceilings, floors,stairs etc will poche in section. Use the same filter on a plan view to pretty it up.

MUCH better than abusing phases, and it works in a project where you are actually doing remodel work.

Best,
Gordon

Thanks! I will give that a try

[tim.101799]

In the filter over rides I only have the option of changing the line type or the line weight / color. I cannot seem to set a fill pattern over ride. BTW, I am using 9.1 if that makes a difference

[ron.sanpedro]

In the filter over rides I only have the option of changing the line type or the line weight / color. I cannot seem to set a fill pattern over ride. BTW, I am using 9.1 if that makes a difference

Yes, that makes a huge difference. The filter improvements in 2008 are almost as huge as the group improvements. Sorry I wasn't clear about that.
Do you have Revit on subscription and are just waiting to upgrade, or do you not have Revit 2008 at all? If the former, we found the upgrade to be pretty painless, with the exception of the ever present OpenGL issues. We rolled the whole office to 2008 SP1 about a week after it came out. Well worth the upgrade if you have it.

Gordon

[tim.101799]

the office is on subscription and I have already downloaded the latest build of 2008. I just don't ever seem to have the time to roll it out to the office. Everytime I get close some big deadline gets thrown on my desk and the revit upgrade gets pushed aside.

Maybe next week.....

[dbaldacchino]

Phasing should work for your case (I wouldn't shy away from this technique). You're using phasing in Revit all the time, whether you like it/know it or not! All you need is a phase filter to set every object (whether "new" or "existing") to display with an override. Set your material to have a solid pattern when cut and you should be good. I have recently used this successfully on a project and also posted in the Tips & Tricks forum:

http://forums.augi.com/showthread.php?t=57942
Another method (this works for some quick graphics mainly) is to do a 3D view and orient it to whatever you need (a plan view or a section view). Then go to the view's properties, click Edit/New to access the type parameters and set a poche material that shows a solid fill for cut objects.

[ron.sanpedro]

Phasing should work for your case (I wouldn't shy away from this technique). You're using phasing in Revit all the time, whether you like it/know it or not! All you need is a phase filter to set every object (whether "new" or "existing") to display with an override. Set your material to have a solid pattern when cut and you should be good. I have recently used this successfully on a project and also posted in the Tips & Tricks forum:

http://forums.augi.com/showthread.php?t=57942
Another method (this works for some quick graphics mainly) is to do a 3D view and orient it to whatever you need (a plan view or a section view). Then go to the view's properties, click Edit/New to access the type parameters and set a poche material that shows a solid fill for cut objects.

One thing I will throw out here is a difference I see between a small office and a large one. In a small office, and especially a sole proprietor, you can get away with / leverage "abusing" a lot more of Revit. And a year later when you get back into that file, there is good chance you will remember what you did and why. But in a large firm where new and borrowed staff are a fact of life, I think there is an argument for not abusing things, and also focusing on one way of doing certain things. So while I CAN get some graphic effects with Phases, and with category overrides in a view, and element overrides in a view, if I focus on Filters as the primary method of getting a graphic look, then people get productive much faster (it is easier to learn 'Do this' than 'do this sometimes, but do that sometimes, and then on rare occations do the other'), and someone thrown on a project at crunch time is better able to dig in quickly. Some people will have special (graphic ;)) needs and will sometimes use alternate approaches, but the majority of the office will have the one (usually best) answer and be off to the races (most of the time).

I also think there is value in a small office using the large office approach for the first few projects, and then going of on tangents and flights of feature abuse. Once you have the fundamentals down, THEN you start to learn jazz!

Best,
Gordon