Is My Propagate Extents Button Broken in Revit?

For the longest time I ignored the Propagate Extents button in Revit, mostly because when I clicked on it nothing would happen. And I mean nothing. No warning message, no advice on what to do, just crickets. I have heard people say that they think the button is broken or that it works occasionally, depending on how Revit feels.

So what does the Propagate Extents button actually do, if it even works? Well, let me start of by stating that the button does actually work and it does actually serve a function. If you click on the button and nothing happens, it is more than likely because of the Crop Region in other views.

The function of the Propagate Extents is to take the 2D extents and appearance of elements, such as Levels and Grids and apply those graphical setting to other views. For example, if you grabbed a few gridlines and extended the 2D extents of the bubbles and wanted to apply this setting to other similar views, you would use the Propagate Extents feature. This way the 2D extents from one view will match other views. The Propagate Extents feature does not apply to the 3D portion of Levels and Grids because stretching these components directly affects all intersecting views.

As a test, if you select all of your floor & ceiling plan views in your project browser and then go to the Properties box, then to the Extents category, you will see the option to Crop your views. If you place a check box in the Crop View and then select any level or grid and then select the Propagate Extents button, nothing will happen. This is because the views are being cropped. The Propagation of the 2D portion of Levels and Gridlines is being controlled by the crop region.

Now go back and re-select the floor and ceiling plan views from the Project Browser and de-select the Crop View option. After doing do, go to any floor plan and select a gridline or a series of gridlines. Once selected, toggle the 2D option and stretch the 2D extents of the gridline(s). With the gridlines selected, click on the Propagate Extents button on the ribbon. A dialogue box with a listing of un-cropped views should pop up. Select a few views and then visit the views that you selected. Your Gridlines should now match the view that you originally Propagated Extents from. From here, you can re-crop your views as necessary, which will also retain the 2D extents. If you need to adjust the 2D extents of your Levels & Grids, simply un-crop your views, make the necessary adjustments to the 2D extents, Propagate Extents and then re-crop your views.

Many times, when you select Levels and Gridlines in Revit, followed by the Propagate Extents button in the ribbon, nothing happens. Many people feel as if this is a broken feature, but in actuality, it works as intended. If this is the case, it is because all of the applicable views that you could Propagate Extents to have their views cropped.

To test the Propagate Extents feature in Revit, select all of your Floor & Ceiling Plan views in the Project Browser and then clear the checkbox called “Crop View” under the Properties dialogue box. This will un-crop all of the select views, allowing you to apply the Propagate Extents feature.

Once you have un-cropped the views of your choice, pick a view of your choice and select some gridlines. Be sure to toggle the 2D option on the gridlines. Once toggled, stretch the gridlines in the direction of your choice. In this example, I chose to stretch the 2D portion of Gridlines 5 & 6.

Once you have un-cropped your views and stretched the 2D portion of your Gridlines (or Levels), click on the Propagate Extents button. A listing of Un-cropped views now appears. Select some views to Propagate Datum Extents. In this example, I chose Floors 02 &03.

Once the Propagate Extents has been applied, go to the views that you applied the Propagate Extents to and see the results. In this example, we are looking at Floor 02. As you can see, Gridlines 5 & 6 match the Floor 01 Floor Plan. In addition, I applied the Crop View option AFTER the Propagate Extents and the Gridlines remained in their Propagated position.

For information on training and consulting for the various products Ideate services, visit our website at www.ideateinc.com

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Sash Kazeminejad, ACI, LEED AP
AEC Senior Application Specialist
Sash brings proficiency in Autodesk solutions including AutoCAD and Revit Architecture to Ideate customers. His industry experience includes project management, BIM Management, and design for Architectural firms in California, Montana and Oregon. He is LEED accredited professional and is on track to achieve California licensure with Oregon to follow. In his academic life, Sash was awarded a variety of college scholarships, earned a BA in Environmental Design, a MA in Architecture from Montana State University (MSU) and taught Building Information Modeling courses at MSU Gallatin College. As a Revit Architecture Autodesk Certified Instructor, Sash provides Revit Architecture training and support for AEC firms. @sashpdx

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Accessing the Enhanced Geolocation Features in Civil 3D

For those of you who have been following our blog over the recent weeks, you may have already read about the enhanced Geolocation Feature in AutoCAD 2015 that allows you to automatically connect and download aerial map information from Microsoft Bing Maps.

Since Civil 3D is built on top of the AutoCAD platform, the Geolocation feature is accessible in Civil 3D 2015. However, it’s not part of the default Civil 3D Workspace that is loaded with the out-of-box installation. To add the Geolocation Tab and access the new features through the Ribbon, we’ll need to do a little bit of CUI customization.

Start out by launching Civil 3D 2015 and opening a drawing file. The Civil 3D Workspace should load by default, with a similar setup to what you’ve seen in the past. Take note of the Ribbon Tabs listed at the top of the Application Window. The Geolocation tab that shows up in AutoCAD 2015 is missing from the default Civil 3D Ribbon.

To load the Geolocation Tab, launch the CUI (Customize User Interface) dialog box (Commandline: CUI).

1. In the upper-left window, highlight the Workspace you want to modify (Civil 3D Default) 
2. When the Workspace appears in the upper-right window, click Customize Workspace  *Text will turn blue after clicking Customize Workspace
   
   
   
3. Back in the upper-left, expand the Partial Customization Files collection (click +)
   
4. Under Partial Customization Files, expand the ACAD collection (click +)
   
5. Expand Ribbon (click +), the Tabs (click +)
   
6. Under the Tabs section, find the Geolocation item and click the box to add a check mark (it may appear as a green solid box by default)
   
7. Back in the upper-right, click Done to confirm the changes to the Workspace
   
8. Click Apply, then OK at the bottom of the CUI dialog to apply changes and exit.  
   

The Geolocation Ribbon Tab should now appear alongside the original Ribbon Tabs of the Civil 3D Workspace. 

Click on the tab to access the enhanced Geolocation features, and add some Microsoft Bing Map images to your Civil 3D® drawings.  

NOTE: The Geolocation option can also be found under the primary Ribbon Tabs section in the CUI dialog. Based on our initial testing, this option displays a blank Geolocation tab that does not include any of the panels shown above. The option found under Partial Customization Files displayed the full Geolocation Tab and all Panels per the instructions outlined in this blog.

For more information on how the Geolocation features work, check out the blog posts and videos from my fellow ENI Application Specialists - Kate Ming and Gaurav Bagga.

*A link to the video can be found HERE!

Keep up with our blog to find out more on the latest and greatest features of the 2015 Autodesk product line. ideateinc.com/2015

Also, for information on training and consulting for the various products Ideate services, visit our website at www.ideateinc.com

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Matt Miyamoto, P.E.
Ideate AEC Application Specialist
Matt is a licensed Civil Engineer in the state of Hawaii. Matt obtained a BS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Hawaii at Manoa, and has 7 years of private sector design experience which he applies in his role as an application specialist with Ideate, Inc. His project experience includes residential and commercial site development, private and public sewer, water and drainage systems, harbors improvements, and roadway improvements. While in Hawaii, Matt was involved in multidisciplinary projects for City and County agencies, State Departments, the Army COE and private developers. @MattM_PE

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