Model lines offset from Ref. Plane...

[jj mac]

We have created a custom exterior wall hatch pattern in AutoCAD and copied the lines from CAD to the clipboard and pasted them into our Revit file so we don't have to redraw them. We set the work plane to the correct plane we wanted and then pasted the lines (as model lines)

Since then, the design changed, and the walls moved but the model lines did not move or they moved somewhere arbitrarily.

Do model lines have some sort of offset property?

Any ideas?

[kathy71046]

You do realise Model lines show up in every view and section they intersect?

The lines will either be where you placed them, may have been deleted from a different view, if they are attatched to the ref plane, and it was moved, they may have followed.

You can import cad patterns into revit, it may take a couple attempts to get you scale correct, but you won't have random lines floating around in your drawing.

[jj mac]

Thanks Kathy... I do fully realize that model lines show up in every view... This is the reason we chose them. The hatch is custom stone type pattern that is extremely unique, probably just to this building. If we could make a hatch pattern that looked anywhere close to this I would never be suggesting model lines even be considered. They can be a performance nightmare.

However, what I was really hoping to understand was this... When you set a ref. plane (in this case a wall face) how can an object (be it a line or modeled geometry) randomly lose it's association to its host plane when the process of creating the objects on that plane involves them being copied and pasted in, as opposed to being created from scratch. No matter what I do when I paste the lines back in they always paste in offset from the face of the plane. It's like the lines have some kind of property that is setting this value.

If you're interested I can post a mock sample of what is happening and see if you may know anything.

Thanks again for your reply...

[kathy71046]

I'm not sure your lines are losing association so much as locking to something random.

I have noticed that some objects will lock to not so nearby objects.

This is something that I would consider a bug, since I've had rebar at the top of a wall move when I edited a cutout in the bottom of the wall, and I'm guessing that your linework is acting in a similar fashion.

with the offset oddness, all I can suggest when pasting is to check your reference plane is set correctly on the view before hand, since that is set on a per view basis.

One thing that might work better is to create a group or family from your lines.

Although this will make editing more akward, it will at least keep your pattern together.

If only we could get a "model hatch" that showed in all views.......

post the sample, as even if I don't get time, maybe someone else will.

I'll try and have a look if I can get a break from this monstrosity I'm drawing in ASD, but I won't garantee any sort of quick response right now.

[jj mac]

Never thought the lines might be locked somehow but that's a really good idea... After checking some things out in that regard I didn't see anything that would suggest locks were in fact the cause. However I think somehow whether it be a bug or not, that is the case. For now I was able to at least disjoin the line from the "magic" ref. plane and move where we need them, but it's still not the right plane... it works though. We just need to pay close attention to any changes in the wall location.

One thing you mentioned got me thinking though... The grouping/family thing. These lines are in fact grouped, but the host is not in the group. Maybe that could have something to do with the "bug"??? The other idea of the family I really like, although editing is an issue. It is a lot more stable in maintaining the relationships.

It would really be nice to have a customizable model hatch, or "hatch" object. Unfortunately the design of this hatch never repeats!!! Thanks again for your thoughts and help!