Masking regions within families or nested generic annotations won't mask pipes

[tom.robson]

Hi, I know theres been numerous posts about the problems associated with masking regions  in the past and I've searched through many of these to no avail. So really hoping someone on here is able to help me find a solution.

I'm currently documenting the fire sprinkler systems for a project in Revit MEP 2013, I'd like for my sprinkler family to mask the pipework & fittings behind the sprinkler annotation. 

I have nested a generic annotation family within mysprinkler family. I've also tried putting the masking region directly into the sprinkler family and neither of these options seem to mask the pipework for me.

Anybody have an idea on how to fix this? Any help would be mu ch appreciated.

Thanks.

[CVMN0501]

I had one idea before but i have not applied it yet. If you're working with just fire protection only, meaning no other services in the file you are working on, in the MEP Settings, uncheck the "Draw MEP Hidden Lines" so the hidden lines won't show in the masking. I presume, you present the sprinkler and pipes in a coarse or medium detail level?

[tom.robson]

You would presume correctly, usually our documentation is displayed in Medium detail level.

Thanks for the prompt advice, works perfectly.

[jfriggstad]

THIS HAS NOT BEEN SOLVED

Turning off "MEP Hidden Lines" does solve this issue, but it also removes all the line breaks of overlapping piping (and ductwork, etc...).  This is even worse than seeing piping behind masking regions!  This issue has not been solved, and I'm running the 2015 version.

I've been searching incredibly hard for a solution to this problem.  This is a major issue for our firm as all of our symbols cannot mask the piping behind the nested masking region.  I've attached a pdf showing an example of our gate valve family.  The symbol in this family is made of 2 triangular masking regions (generic annotation) nested in the gate valve family. I've also attached the family incase you have a different idea.  

I have wasted an incredible amount of time trying to solve this issue and am getting extremely frusterated.  Two dimensional drawings are our primary deliverables to clients.  If we can't get our drawings to look correct, whats the point in using Revit?

[kadmonkee]

when using masking regions in Revit and printing to PDF you will need to use the Raster preference settings -as opposed to (default) vector preferences.

leave Hidden lines checked

[fabiosato]

In Revit 2014, I´ve used masking region on nested annotations, but must set the view to hidden lines. Works for electrical.

[smbrennan]

Fabio - could you please elaborate a bit on this?

I'm trying to make a lighting device family for construction purposes. In a nut shell, I have a Generic Annotation Family with square linework and a Label (Instance Based). This family is loaded/nested into a lighting device family. Geometrically it's just a small junction box, but that's only visible in a 3D course view (I really don't need to see the box anywhere, the symbolic representation is more important at this point in time).

My problem is trying to get the symbol to mask everything else in it's view (typically a RCP view, with Wireframe Visual Style). I've tried making the Generic Annotation a masking region and a filled region - neither performed as expected.

Any suggestions?

[troy.wright]

Shawn,

I don't believe masking will work in wireframe mode. 

I've had some success by Creating a new Detail Item family, putting a mask in that. Then nesting (loading) into lighting families. However this will only mask other lines in the family and not anything else in the model.

Regards,

Troy

[tom.robson]

The best way I've found is to have the masking region in a nested Generic Annotation family, set up the object style for your symbols outline how you need it to display (i.e. lineweight, type, colour etc.) and use this line style for the outlines of the masking region. This eliminates the need to have any other lines in your generic annotation family and solves any "draw order" masking problems.

Have your view set on Hidden line style, have "draw mep hideen lines" checked and use a raster plot setting (with the dpi setting of your plotter raised to around 600, compromise between image quality and file size).

This setup gives pretty good results and the only real compromise is because of having to use the raster settings.See example image below

[fabiosato]

Hello Shawn,

Sorry for the delay, I was at AU Vegas... no time to post.

For lighting fixtures I am using detail item for the symbol and I place it in a horizontal plane and have its dimensions controlled by the same dimensions tha controls the fixture geometry.

This way the annotation is the same size as the fixture no matter which scale.