Scope Boxes, what are they good for?

[hand471037]

OK, so I feel that now after using Revit for a couple of years for different kinds of work I've gotten at least a handle on a lot of the program's tools and features.

But I've never used Scope Boxes, and while I guess I understand what they can do, I haven't really thought about how they might be used.

So how are y'all using Scope Boxes, if at all?

[J. Grouchy]

I still haven't gotten a good handle on how to use them. Whenever I've tried, things don't react like I expect them to. There's no really good, clear explanation on how they work and how to use them. Hopefully someone here can do so or point us somewhere (other than the Revit help file) that does.
I know they essentially are meant to limit what one sees in each view, but it seems like when I've tried assigning objects or annotations to a Scope Box they either disappear or do nothing at all. Also, I can't really figure out the visibility settings under the Scope Box properties.
One other thing...can they be created at any time in the project or do they work best when created at the start of modelling/drafting?

[David Conant]

Scenario 1, Three wings in one project each with its own set of levels.
Scenario 2, several disjoint buildings in one project at different ground levels
Scenario 3, One building with two towers that have different floor to floor heights.
Scope box allows you to define a region of the project where a datum (grid, level, or reference plane) will be available. By creating a scope box for each wing, building, or tower, their levels and grids can exist without interfering with those of the others or showing up in the views of the others.

[ajayholland]

Jeffrey,

Scope boxes are like 3d crop regions.

While at Westfield I typically would model just the shell of a multi-acre shopping center over an imported site plan, and use a scope box to constrain the model to the area being renovated.

Scope boxes may also be rotated to align with non-orthogonal model features. Activating the rotated scope box in a view will then automatically rotate the view, making production easier.

~AJH

[tatlin]

You can also associate Views to Scope Boxes and control many Crop Regions at once. The Crop Region will be constrained to the position and rotation of the Scope Box. Think about the case of a 30-story office tower. If you have that many plan views, you can associate all the plans to a single scope box called 'tower' and change the extents all at once.

This works for other view types besides plans as well...




Scenario 1, Three wings in one project each with its own set of levels.
Scenario 2, several disjoint buildings in one project at different ground levels
Scenario 3, One building with two towers that have different floor to floor heights.
Scope box allows you to define a region of the project where a datum (grid, level, or reference plane) will be available. By creating a scope box for each wing, building, or tower, their levels and grids can exist without interfering with those of the others or showing up in the views of the others.

[ita]

David or Matt, can you show/give (prepare) an actual example of how this would work please? You know what they say about pictures . . . even more so here!!

[PeterJ]

I think you mean to say 'walk it like you talk it', don't you Ian?

[ita]

Yep!! (So I can send my response) . . that is what I mean. Thanks Pete!

[SkiSouth]

Scope Boxes, what are they good for?


Man, I hear Jackie Chan Singing "War " in the background...:-)

Good question, I will have to take David's comments to heart and think about the use
especially the comments later on rotating and view relationships...

[narlee]

I wish you could combine them or define them with fence-like boundaries. That would be very helpful for cut-aways and elevations of structure or other "pourous" views where view depth to the desired elements varies - like a structural framing elevation of a building with in/out depths where you want to view the facing elements only. Easier than assigning different view categories or worksets, especially under changing view orientations. Would apply to plan views of variable element elevations, as well.

[narlee]

Well, I guess the variable-depth section has been covered under a thread called "staggered section." It also includes a tip on aligning section views on a sheet, and this tip works for 3D views as well. Although the section boxes in 3D views cannot take advantage of reference planes or snapping to scope boxes, you can approximate, so there's some potential there for internal cut-aways, etc.

[JamesVan]

Scope Boxes have great potential, but beware of their power. If you associate grid lines with scope boxes, the grid lines may be altered in sections and elevations more than you'd like. However, I think they are a great tool for controlling crop regions.

See attached sample file. This is a scenario where a building has a base, tower and penthouse and the scope boxes are assigned to the respective views.

[ita]

Thanks James - Scope boxes are now understood . . .all is now clear !! 8)