cannot see my devices in plan views

[LynR]

hi everybody,

                 I am in a bit of a quandary. I have places some ceiling mounted outlets in my model. They are face hosted mounted at 13' 10" above the floor. They show up in the sections but are not visible in my plan views, nether the floor or ceiloing plans. My view range I set at:

bottom: 1st floor offset 0' 0"

cut plane: offset 14' 0"

top: 1st floor offset 14' 0"

view depth: 1st floor offser 0. 0"

i admit I am still a bit confused by the view range but I had the offfset at 8'6 and that was working fine so I think I have the hang of it, I just can't seem to get it adjusted to include my ceiling mounted outlets. I can see the ceiling so what is the problem? I have checked the visiblity graphics and everything is turned on.

lyn

[CoreyDaun]

This could be a visibility issue with the Family itself; can you post your Family file for the ceiling outlets?

[LynR]

Thanks for helping,  here is the file.

Lyn

[CoreyDaun · Accepted solution]

I was able to place an instance of this Family in a Reflected Ceiling Plan (hosted to a Ceiling @ 13'-10") and it showed up on the Reflected Ceiling Plan and the Floor Plan just fine.

View Settings:

	Floor Plan	Ceiling Plan
[View Range]
Top:	Level 1, Offset: 14' 0"	Level 1, Offset: 14' 0"
Cut Plane:	Level 1, Offset: 14' 0"	Level 1, Offset: 4' 0"
Bottom:	Level 1, Offset: 0' 0"	Level 1, Offset: 4' 0"
View Depth:	Level 1, Offset: 0' 0"	Level 1, Offset: 14' 0"
[Other Settings]
Detail Level:	Medium	Medium
Visual Style:	Hidden Line	Hidden Line
Underlay:	None	None
U.L. Orientation:	Plan	Reflected Ceiling Plan
Discipline:	Electrical	Electrical

Also, make sure that when you are placing the outlet on the ceiling that you have "Place on Face" selected on the Ribbon. If "Place on Vertical Face" is selected (default), then the outlet will want to host to the grid line in the wrong orientation.

Other possible causes may be generic visibility issues. Double-check:

- The Elements' Workset and the View's Workset Visibility

- Visibility/Graphics Overrides

- View Filters

[LynR]

thanks,

It still didn't work on my existing floor or ceiling plans but I made a new plan view and they show up on that. I don't know what that means but at least I can see them.

Lynda

[CoreyDaun]

That is likely because of the Phasing. If the View is set to "Existing", then the new elements won't show up, i.e., elements with "Phase Created" set to "New Construction" or any later Phase.

If the View's Phase is set to "New Construction", then the cause if likely the Phase Filter, which is probably set to hide new elements, i.e., show "Previous + Demo".

FYI - When you place a new element, it automatically inherits the current View's "Phase" as its "Phase Created". See >this< thread for more info.

[LynR]

ok, now i have a variation on this problem. I have a plan view which shows some j-boxes. I've been told that there is a clash so I took a look in a section view but they don't show up at all. I've checked the visiblity graphics and everything is turned on. I set the detail level at fine and I individually selected the items showing and hid them. I ended up with an empty section. I didn't make these plans I am just tasked with making some alterations and I can't figure out what is going on.

[CoreyDaun · Accepted solution]

Within the Family, the extrusions are set to only display in "Plan/RCP" under Visibility/Graphics. This is relative to the orientation of the Family, and in this case, it means that the applicable extrusions will only display when you are looking straight at the face of the Family ("Ref Level" View). If you are looking at the Family from the side, it will not be visible.

[LynR]

Can this be changed?. I opened the family file but I cannot see where this setting is.

[CoreyDaun]

Select the desired element(s) and/or object(s) and you will see 'Visibility/Graphics Overrides' with an "Edit..." button under Properties.

[LynR]

I don't see any visibility graphics associated with the object.

[CoreyDaun · Accepted solution]

You have to be in the Family Editor; open the Family for editing and then select one or more of the components.

[LynR]

Got it!  Thanks for your patience.

[mikegbabcock]

I've opened family editor. I've selected an element. No visibility graphics options come up. Oh wait, there's a model group. Ok, so I edited that- checked Plan/RCP on in every element. After diving in two families deep, and saving the new visibility settings on a dozen elements.... I go back to my RCP.... still not visible. 

Is this just a poorly made family? Did I make one mistake somewhere? Did I fail to recognize one of the dozens if not hundreds of permutations of settings that could be causing this element to not be visible? Turns out this element was just obscured by the dark line of the partition. But 25 mins down the toilet playing BIM detective to figure this out. This is why everyone uses detail elements- bc we all know from experience that doing it "the correct way" is a disappointing rabbit hole of confusion. 

[RobDraw]

Since this this thread is marked as solved, I would suggest that you start a new one, describe your issue, and share the family.