Using Filters to Hatch Cable Tray in Revit MEP

Display Filters & View Templates

In many system drawings there is a need to differentiate between different types of Cable Tray elements in coordination and dedicated electrical drawings.

Standard display of the Cable Tray using fine settings from the Electrical-Default template

In traditional CAD this was achieved by using different Layers and although we have similar methodologies in Revit via the System Styles where we can set colors and patterns by category there is often a need to show certain items, like cable tray differently, even though they may be of the same category.

The main reason for this paper is that I was asked today by one of my students, "What is the easiest way to hatch cable tray in Revit MEP to indicate the different types of cable tray that has been installed on a project." There are several ways this could be accomplished. You could simply use the Filled Region to manually hatch the cable tray. While this is the most simple, it is tedious and time consuming.

Method 2 would be to use Phases inside of Revit MEP. You could set up some phases and change the graphics of the phases to indicate the hatching. This is easy enough, but almost an over kill.

The method I ended up recommending is to just use View Filters. You can simply create a new filter and change the graphics of the filter to have the hatch pattern.

To this end I created a short video to share with my students and thought it might be helpful for others. Watch the video Here.

For more information visit our website at www.ideateinc.com

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Bill Johnson
Ideate Senior Application Specialist MEP/AEC Solutions

Bill has over 25 years experience in applying MEP & AEC design solutions for large commercial companies, this has led to actively develop Autodesk® Revit® implementation strategies, techniques, and procedures for architectural and MEP companies. He has worked for TEECOM Design Group, GTE/GTEL, Greg LeDoux and Associates, and Scottish Power in England. Bill is a Autodesk MEP Implementation Certified Expert, and has been the Lead Designer for several multimillion dollar communication sites which have included structural, electrical, HVAC, conduit, cable plans and equipment layouts. He graduated from the Pasadena Institute of Technology and has a Sustainable Design Certification from the University of California at Berkeley.

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Pump(k)in' Up!

Halloween provided us inspiration to put our Revit family skills to work. Find the process of creating a fully parametric pumpkin using a single point adaptive component and a divided path. This tutorial was presented at the November 14 Redwood Empire Revit User Group.
 

You can create a parametric pumpkin by nesting a repetitive single point adaptive component into a tiny circular divided path.

It’s always been in the back of my mind every Halloween day. How to create a fully parametric pumpkin? The concept was very simple. Create a single ‘wedge’ component and array it. The challenge was that you can’t create polar arrays as we know it in the Mass environment because the command ‘Array’ simply does not exist here. The other challenge is with partial elliptical profiles. Unlike Arcs and Splines, partial ellipses are rigid to control intuitively because the start and end ‘nodes’ will not reshape the ellipse size after placement. So I had to drive the ellipse size via parameters. 
 

Dragging the ends of a partial ellipse will not change the ellipse size.

I created a polar arrays of components using a divided path on a circle with visible nodes, and nesting a single point adaptive components as a repetitive component, and viola!

Find the explanation along with the video tutorial Here:

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Cesar Escalante, AIA, LEED AP, CCCA
AEC Solutions Application Specialist
Cesar has a Bachelor of Architecture degree from the University of Central America in El Salvador, a Master of Architecture from the University of Texas, and is a CCCA (Certified Construction Contract Administrator). His experience includes roles as Project Manager and Project Captain at architecture firms in Oakland, California. As a member of the Ideate Tech Expert team, Cesar teaches Revit Architecture Fundamentals and provides client support and consulting. Cesar’s interest in the built environment includes his work as a volunteer for Habitat for Humanity.

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