Filled Region - region selection

[vaamarietta]

I am frustrated to have to trace lines to determine the boundaries of the filled region everytime I am adding filled regions or masks to my project.

Being a former user of Autocad, that allowed me to drag and drop a hatch to a region, and also being a user of photo editing software, where I use the wand to select a region, it is very frustrating to have to trace the region by hand in Revit all the time.

Does anybody know how to go around this lack of performance in Revit?

Is there a way to customize Revit and insert a "wand" selection tool in the toolbar?

Does anybody know a way to have Revit recognize a region based on line boundary?

[loboarch]

There is no magic wand type of tool that can be used to create a boundary for a region.  One thing that can speed the process is to use the "pick lines" tool from the draw pannel when creating a filled region.  Then you can use the "tab" key to select a chain of connected line.  Combining these 2 tools can make edge selections easier than manually tracing each edge.

[rosskirby]

In addition to Jeff's post, you might also try to create a color scheme for the view.  In the view properties, scroll down to the color scheme box, and click on the gray box that says <none>.  From there, you can select various color schemes (or create your own) that use different colors and patterns based on room type.  Granted, this only works for rooms, but it might get you what you want, since it's automatic (in terms of auto-filling the space and changing with the space as it changes).

[vaamarietta]

Thank you Jeff for your response.

Yes - of course I use the pick line comand to select lines in a row.

The problem begins when I have lines, walls, building contours, window sills, etc., etc., to go around.

How is it possible that Revit does not have a "select region" option????

Autodesk has the best team of developers. And AutoCAD does recognize regions.

Why is Revit staying behind on something so simple??

Y'all need to get a team meeting and add the region selection to the toolbox.

This is a primary tool that needs to be incorporated into Revit.

Maybe Santa can bring the wand tool as an upgrade.

[rosskirby]

Can you post an image of what it is you're trying to accomplish?  I've never found the need for a magic wand tool for hatched areas, and that's with 3 years of using Revit, so I would hardly consider it an essential tool.  But maybe that's just me; without knowing why you're doing filled regions, it's hard to say.

[vaamarietta]

Hi Ross

Here is a screen picture of my region.

All I did was to create a region where the flower bed is, so the client can identify what is sidewalk and what is grass.

No need to add a topo, since I am not doing the civil for this project.

See how tedious it was to go around the window sills....

On old AutoCAD times, I would just drag and drop the hatch into the region and the program would have identified the limits.

Revit is way behind on achieving this.

[rosskirby]

I see now what it is you're trying to do.  But there's a better way.  If you're dead set on not doing a top surface, that's fine.  You should try creating that area as a floor, and when you're in sketch mode, just use the pick wall tool.  That way, you're creating a modeled object at the floor level, which means that any modeled objects above that level (i.e. window sills, frame projections, etc.) will automatically mask out the area that you're currently tracing around.  For the area you have shown, that's a total of 4 clicks (for the 4 walls) and 4 lines (for the unbounded portion).  Plus, if you want, you could schedule the "grass floors" to get a quantity takeoff for the landscapers.  Just a suggestion.

Try and get out of the "drafting" frame of mind.  Revit is for "modeling".  If you model it like you would build it, then you'll find things go much more smoothly.

Good luck.

[vaamarietta]

Hi Ross,

First - leave your arrogance at home, please.

This is a forum for nice people to achieve nice solutions.

Now, what you said is not true at all.

The wall pick tool does not take away the sills!!! And the sills were created with the wall sweep command, so it is nothing that I created with "model in place" commands.

You are dreaming when you think that the wall pick command will go around the sills.

Besides, for me to get the line on the edge of the wall, I would have to set my justification on the finish-exterior.

If you are an arquitect or close to be one, you should already know that the best way is to set the wall justification on the core-exterior, so if you change the size of the stud or the veneer, the wall remains in the same place.

So, not only you were not correct by thinking that the sills would be taken out, but you are asking me to change the wall justification!!!

Regarding the model thinking, why would I go to the trouble to create a grass floor, add data to my model, if all I need is to show the client what is green?? What do you think that adds more data to the project: a floor (with all its parameters) or a simple region???

The drafting does come handy and the Revit team probably thinks it is handy also, otherwise we would not have the "Drafting View", right??

I appreciate your suggestions, and everyone suggestions are important, but I would ask the Revit team to comment from now on.

What needs to happen here is for the Revit people to figure out a way to allow me to select a region.

It is doable. All they need is someone up high to direct them and sign the order.

Have a great Thanksgiving!!!

Don't forget to give thanks that Revit exists.

[rosskirby]

I'm not sure where you see arrogance in that post; I was offering advice on how to approach the problem, since working (and thinking) in Revit is different from working (and thinking) in CAD. 

That being said, the image below is an example showing exactly what I explained.  The hatched area was created as a floor, and the modeled sill in the window family masks the pattern, while the unmodeled symbolic (drafting) lines in the door family do not.  It took exactly 7 clicks to create the floor boundary.  Three to pick the walls, and one click each for the unbounded edges plus one click to start the chain of lines.

Go back and re-read my post.  I never said the pick walls would go around the sills.  I said that they would mask the pattern.

[andrewharle8552]

As a Revit user for 7 years, and previous to that an ArchiCAD user I am still frustrated by the lack of a magic wand tool within Revit.  ArchiCAD has an incredibly useful magic wand. 

I know in Revit you can tab a chain of lines/walls, but sometimes, especially when working with imported DWGs a magic wand tool would save a significant amount of time. 

To some degree Revit does have magic wand type features with certain tools - areas and ceilings can automatically find boundaries.

However I sometimes want to automatically fill an area traced from a DWG, and tabbing a chain of lines often produces the wrong result.  I don't want to have to use AutoCAD to do what Revit should do.

[timothy.halvorson]

Another good use for the magic wand tool.

I propose utilizing filled regions that respond to a set of conditions. I am planning to analyze the camera coverage of spaces in corridors and rooms for patient facilities. I was hoping to be able to quickly reconize 2D or 3D volumes of space that are not covered by cameras by highlighting them with a color fill. I was primarily thinking of this to be shown in plan and section. A magic wand tool that could auto-find the edges could update the fill of negative space as I update the parameters of my cameras view angles. I am still assessing the best route to achieve this analysis, but my initial solution was to utilize a tool that auto recognizes borders with filled regions- having it respond to a parameter would be amazing.

I could achieve this manually by locking filled region lines to my family lines, but problems would immediately arise when I swap out my camera family type for a different one. The filled region would break and I would have to start over drawing those filled region lines to represent the negative space. Compound this over 10s or 100s of camera and sensor families and you have quite the task if a design change is made.

Thoughts?