Creating an Origin Point Marker for Revit

For those of you who have read my blog posts, attended my e201s, taken a course with me, or seen me present at a Revit Users Group, you are already aware I am a big fan of the Revit Coordinate System. After spending a considerable amount of time studying how models link and how Shared Coordinates work, the system makes complete sense to me. Well, for the most part, but it did take some time to get there. For instance, I was initially convinced the Project Base Point and Internal Origin Point were the same thing, but after doing lots of testing, I did realize they were, in fact, not the same points.

Starting in Revit 2010, Autodesk provided the ability to display the location of the Project Base Point and the Survey Point by turning on their visibility states in the Visibility/Graphics dialogue box. In my opinion, this was a game changer for the Revit Coordinate System, because it gave us a visual explanation of how the Revit coordinates work. Prior to Revit 2010, understanding the Coordinate System was challenging, to say the least.

While we can now see the Project Base Point and Survey Point markers, we still cannot see the Internal Origin Point. Finding the Internal Origin Point is quite easy, but wouldn’t it be nice if we had a marker that could visually display the location of the Internal Origin?

My video, Creating an Origin Point Marker for Revit Projects, shows you one of the ways in which you can create a marker for the Internal Origin Point. It is important to note, you need to ensure you find the Internal Origin first. To do this, start with the out of the box Revit Template or use the Move to Startup Location feature on the unclipped Project Base Point. Once you have found the Internal Origin, you will be able to place the Marker Family and pin it into place to prevent accidental movement. Also, keep in mind, the marker family will crop out of your view if it lies outside of the crop region.

If you would like to show support for the idea of having a native Revit marker for the Internal Origin Point, then I encourage you to visit my post on the Autodesk Website and vote for this feature by clicking the “Vote up” icon on the left hand side of the page.

Thank you for reading! For more information on the software solutions, training and consulting Ideate provides, please visit the Ideate Inc. website.

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Sash Kazeminejad
AEC Senior Application Specialist 
Sash is a registered Architect and LEED Accredited Professional who holds a Master of Architecture from Montana State University. Sash’s experience includes project management, BIM management, and design for architectural firms in California, Montana, and Oregon. In addition to being a Bluebeam Certified Instructor, Sash is As an Autodesk Certified Instructor, Sash who provides Revit Architecture training and solutions for AECO firms. @sashpdx 

New to Revit 2017: Reference Plane Subcategories

New to Revit 2017, you now have the ability to add subcategories to your references planes.

Assigning subcategories to your reference planes helps control visibility and graphic settings. Having different colors and linestyles for your reference planes will make it easier to distinguish the different uses for the reference planes. 

View my short video demonstrating how to add subcategories to your reference planes.

Thank you for reading. For more information on Revit and other Autodesk products, and information on training and consulting for the various products Ideate services, visit our website.

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Emily Clark

AEC Application Specialist

Emily Clark holds a Bachelor of Architecture degree from Kansas State University, and has over 19 years of experience in the Architecture industry. Her experience includes working for a number of Architecture and Design/ Build firms in the Western United States. She has been a Project Designer, Intern Architect, BIM Manager and Design Technology Manager. She has contributed to the completion of projects ranging from high–end custom residential to Education and Healthcare design. She has worked with multiple platforms and her passion for BIM has enabled her to help transition firms and advance with technology. At Ideate, Emily provides training and support for Revit Architecture.

Finding Missing Revit Mullions

I recently taught an online Revit Fundamentals course, where we had just finished adding Curtain Grids and Mullions to a curtain wall in Revit, when a student had difficulty displaying mullions in a Plan View he had just added to his curtain wall. The Mullions displayed in elevation and 3D views, but not in the plan view. Hmm...

My first thought was to check the Visibility Graphics settings, as that certainly had to be it! Upon quick review, Visibility Graphics had Curtain Wall Mullions turned on. Strike One, that wasn't it.

Next thing to check was the Reveal Hidden Elements (Lightbulb) button. Perhaps the student had used the Hide in View>>Element option in the right-click menu. Revealing Hidden Elements would surely show the missing mullions…Strike Two, that wasn't it either.

In our Revit Fundamentals class, we do not typically introduce Phasing, but because this was a custom class and Phasing was part of the curriculum, it was worth a shot to check it out. Now, because Curtain Grids and Mullions are dependent upon a host Curtain Wall, the phase the Curtain Wall is assigned is automatically transferred to the Curtain Grids and Mullions. As such, the Curtain Grids and Mullions should take on the Phase the Curtain Wall is assigned.

In our case, the Curtain Wall was set to a New Construction Phase, hence the Curtain Wall Grid and Mullions were assigned to the New Construction Phase. Upon inspection of the view, the Phase was set to New Construction, with the Phase Filter set to Show Complete. Combined together, the view should have displayed New Construction elements; in this case, the Mullions. Strike Three…but not enough strikes to call it quits.

Now, one other thing that came to mind in trying to resolve this issue, was that Floor Plan views, by default, display elements as they appear at a 4’-0” cut plane. This is controlled by the Floor Plan Views’ View Range parameter. 

In the Properties Palette, you have to ensure you are looking at the Floor Plan parameters. Scroll down the list of parameters until you come to the Extents Group. The View Range parameter has a large [Edit] button. 

Selecting the button displays the View Range dialog box. The default value for the cut plane is set to 4’-0”. For the student, the Curtain Grid and Mullion were also at the 4’-0” mark, causing the cut plane to cut through the horizontal mullion, not displaying the vertical mullion, as there was a mullion above and below the horizontal mullion. 

Change the value to be either above or below the 4’-0”. In this example, changing the Cut plane to 4’-6” moved the cut plane above the horizontal mullion, allowing the Cut plane to cut through the vertical mullion, thereby displaying it in a Floor Plan view. Success! We had finally discovered where the missing mullions were hiding.

An alternative to adjusting the cut plane for the entire view would be to apply a Plan Region across the curtain wall with its own View Range setting. The use of a Plan Region will override the View Range settings within a view for the area specified by the Plan Region.

Sometimes the smallest fixes in Revit, aren’t always the easiest to identify. Knowing where to look, and the different tools that can control how elements appear in a view, is very helpful. And, sometimes, it can only be accomplished through the process of elimination.

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

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Ron Palma
AEC Application Specialist
Ron has 25+ years of experience in the architectural industry as a drafter, designer, lead project designer, trainer, and a CAD manager implementing Autodesk Architectural Solutions for residential design firms. His instructional accomplishments include: Autodesk Certified Instructor (ACI), trainer, support technician, educator at Portland and Clackamas Community Colleges, as well as a U.S. Army certified instructor. Ron holds a BA in Instructional Design suma cum laude, is a member of the Oregon Army National Guard, where he is a First Sergeant of an Infantry Company, specializing in training and mentoring soldiers in their careers, and has been deployed to Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Resolute Support. Ron is a published author and continues to write professional technical training manuals and shorts for AutoCAD, AutoCAD Architecture, and Revit. As an Autodesk Certified Instructor and Revit Architecture Autodesk Certified Professional, Ron continues to provide Revit Architecture and AutoCAD training and support for various AEC firms. @RonPalmaAEC