Showing Items above

[DaveP]

Here's a slick way to show a Canopy or Mezzanine as an "Above" item:

Let's say you've got an entrance canopy that you'd like to show on your first level plan.
How do you make it show up, since it is above the Cut Plane?

Don't even think about using Detail Lines!

Here's a slick trick:

On your First Level Plan, go into View Properties and set the Underlay to Second Level.
You should now be able to see the canopy half-toned.
Next select the LineWork Tool (that's the Pen nib just above the Type Selector)
Set your LineType to <Overhead>
Trace the Canopy by picking each of it's lines.
When you're done, go back into View Properties and set the Underlay back to <none>
The Second Level goes away, but the Overhead lines remain.

Big deal, you say, Why is that any easier than Detail Lines?
It probably isn't any quicker to draw it in the first place. But remember, this is Revit! You didn't draw a new line, you just displayed the canopy in a different View. Any future changes you make to that canopy will also be updated on the First Level - WITHOUT ANY WORK BY YOU!
I'd like to take it further than that, however. This works great if you want to show something that's on a Floor Plan above, but I'd like to use the same technique for things like Soffits, Upper Cabinets & Equipment in the Ceiling. The problem is, you can't Underlay a Ceiling Plan on a Floor Plan. I suppose you could temporarily show those items by changing your View Range, but sooner or later someone is going to set it back to the wrong height, or forget to set it back at all.

Anybody got any ideas for how to "Underlay" a Ceiling Plan?
(BTW, the "put them both on a Sheet" trick won't work - the Linework tool doesn't see the other View)

[DaveP]

Further bummer.
Even if I can get a Ceiling Plan to show, the Linework Tool doesn't work on Model Lines.

[DaveP]

When all else fails, read the instructions.:Oops:

The "Underlay" button in the View Properties only shows Floor Plans, but there is another parameter right underneath Underlay. That one is labeled "Underlay Orientation". Guess what that one does? Yep. Lets you set your Underlay to either Floor Plan or RCP.

That answers my first question. :)
Still can't do Model Lines, though.:cry:

[Andre Carvalho]

You still can play with the view range cut plan (make it higher to show the objects that are close to the ceiling) and use the linework tool. Once done, switch back to the original cut plan and Revit will still show the linework to the object.

Andre Carvalho

[kreed]

One thing we found in 2008, but haven't tried in 2009 yet, was that if you tried to show an underlay that had an overlapping view range as the view you were in the underlay would not show up or would show incomplete. To get this to work we set the two view's ranges so they wouldn't overlap to do the linework then reset them, if needed, afterwards. Generally it worked out ok.

One 2009 quirk that we have found is that the linework tool doesn't want to select the rake edge of a shed or gable roof. It'll select the horizontal edge just fine but won't select the rake edge. It worked in 2008, still trying to figure out why it's not working in 2009.