The sketch contains an extremely short line. WHAT THE!!!

[Chad Smith]

What's with this error that keeps popping up on me?
Why am I being informed that I cant use extremely short lines?
Being vector based software you would expect to be able to draw lines as short as you feel like.

Is there a way to turn this annoying message off?

[designer56644]

Chad,

I don't know how to turn it off, but...
If your prob's mainly arise during edits, read on:

EX: If I have three lines in a z form (actually two horiz and one vert, 90d angles), and I use the align tool to align the two horiz., revit is actually letting me know it's zeroing out an element, and performing a programmatic courtesy. It's my fault for not seeing it before I ask Revit to do it. Knowing this, I just delete the element before I perform the align, trim, stretch, etc., etc...

You just get to the point you recognize when these pop-ups are gonna happen, and avoid or deal with them . Being less forgiving, the program forces you to work cleaner. I like that. I've said it before, Revit is allowing me to design at a higher level than previously(way so visual), and now it's making me a better technical drafter as well, less forgiving, and not too many "cheats" (what about a program that actually allows you to "Lie" about your dimensioning? The mendacity:))

Revit is way to cool to get ****** (you may not be mad, but your doggy looks kinda angry) about the minor annoyances, for real.
You adjust and go.

Out.

[beegee]

There is also a limit to the length of line that can be drawn, depending how far out you are zoomed.

Message = Element is too small on screen.
Problem: Autodesk Revit prevents you from accidentally drawing the element, typically a wall, reference plane, or line, if it is less than 1mm (0.04 inches) on the screen.

Solution: If you intend to make the element that small, zoom in the view.

Again, this a form of "error trapping" rather than a programming constraint.

[Chad Smith]

Bill,

It was happening when I was 2D drafting up our office logo for a title block.

I found I had to fudge to lines a bit to get a region fill to work properly. :evil:
Some parts look not quite right, but I guess it'll have to do.

[aggockel50321]

If zooming in doesn't help as beegee discussed above, go to view properties & change your view scale to a larger value. This has always worked for me...

[designer56644]

Ahh, I see your problem.

I imported my logo from a dwg file, which also had some intracate, tiny regions that needed filling, and the same thing happened to me. Very frustrating not knowing why it was happening, only that it should work...
In the end, I put down the file, then went back...and when I did, it worked. I don't recall if I changed the view scale or not to accomodate another aspect of the drawing, but it cooperated on the second try. arhg.

I trust andrew and beegee have you going in the right direction.

Bill

[Chad Smith]

So I thought I would convert the logo of one of our largest and important property developer's from AutoCAD to Revit to find this denial of creativity still exists. This is such BS!!

I know the lines are long enough to allow distinction from others in the design as I have been using it and printing clearly from AutoCAD for years. I can't even fudge the lengths as the logo will then look stupid.

I'm so sick of these errors, lines are too short, lines are too long. How about letting us get on with our designs without these limitations.

[beegee]

The only time I've ever run up this was in tracing logos and I found that the line was so short ( below Revits 0.97 mm limit ) that leaving it out and trimming to other lines, did not effect the logo's legibility at all in use.

[tom mars]

i had the same problems also with site/topo lines imported from
autocad.
with the logo i just had to settle for keeping the dwg import.

i found it very annoying.

i clearly join the FIX IT - no more new functions faction.

[aaronrumple]

I just print the troublesome AutoCAD file (usually a logo for a titleblock) to PDF. Then export a jpg from the pdf for import into Revit. Saves me a lot of editing time trying to clean up a logo.

[Mr Spot]

I just print the troublesome AutoCAD file (usually a logo for a titleblock) to PDF. Then export a jpg from the pdf for import into Revit. Saves me a lot of editing time trying to clean up a logo.
The problem with doing this is there is an extra file you have to send when distributing exported dwg's. Its much easier if you can keep it all in the one file. Another issue we've had its the need to be able to write oblique text. It would be nice to be able to create a filled region for the text considering the lack of text features.

Filled regions in particular should not have minimum length line.

[blumarble]

I had the same problem with our company logo. I wouldn't really mind that much if Revit has this limitation, but it doesn't show me where the problem is (at least not that I can see). It would be helpful if it somehow graphically made the problem line(s) stand out so I can continue sketching and correct the problem.

[blumarble]

After another try at the company logo, I still can't get it to work; it's just not letting me do what I NEED it to do. Instead of the software just not letting me do it, why not warn me and let ME decide if the line is too short!

[Archman]

This is only a workaround, but it works for me. I draw the logo in AutoCAD and import it into the Revit model with a scale factor. You can import the logo multiple times at different scale factors to get the sizes you need. Do NOT explode the imported dwg, as that will delete all the "too short" lines.

Make sure your draw the logo in AutoCAD with the colors you have defined in your Revit import options. Import the logo as a black and white drawing. These two steps will ensure that your desired pen weights will be translated.

Hope this helps.

[Chad Smith]

I tried this first up, and the problem is that the autocad version of the logo has a few hatches, and when linked into my revit family is giving unpredictable results which hatches showing in parts and not in others.