Author: Jason Boehning

In a previous post I started covering common Revit user interface (UI) issues that I see on a regular basis. It was getting too long so I decided to split it up into two parts. So here we go with part 2!

It can be extremely frustrating having to deal with Revit user interface (UI) issues while trying to learn Revit. Or, it can be very difficult to learn Revit when part of the UI is not even available! If you are just getting started with Revit, then you need to read this!

I believe that every Revit user should have these concepts mastered, especially if they desire to become a Revit guru. While the content here is basic, it must be understood by someone that wants to work in Revit or reach the level where they create families or even create Dynamo scripts to automate repetitive tasks.

It’s important that all Revit users understand this organizational structure so that they can efficiently create and document a building model.

Lookup tables allow for quick population of instance parameters without having to manage multiple family types. Typically lookup tables have been used for pipe and conduit fitting families, but they have uses for several other categories of families!

The visibility of categories that are specific to the link can be turned off in the Visibility/Graphic Overrides dialog, on the Model Categories tab. Any category that you do not want to show in the link but need to show in the host model must be handled differently. You will need to use the Revit Links tab in the Visibility/Graphic Overrides dialog.

The first thing I will say is check the simple things that you may think don’t need to be said, but I’ll say it anyways. Make sure you’re in the correct project, all the worksets that it could be on are open, and you’re in the correct view. Also make sure that a temporary view mode is not active. Sometimes we can get tripped up by the simple things.

When creating a new filter, you specify the name, select the categories to be included in the filter, and then define the rules.

To begin, there are two kinds of view filters – rule-based filters and selection filters. Rule-based filters are created in the Filters dialog (View ribbon, Graphics panel) by defining rules.

In my experience, the primary aspects of your approach should include proper view ranges and turning off visibility with categories and filters. In other words, set the View Range for each plan view. Next, in the Visibility/Graphic Overrides dialog, turn off the visibility for the categories that should not appear. Then create filters to control the visibility of elements of the same category.