Duct and Mech Equipment dont mask CMU hatching on wall behind, in section view

[dtiemeyer]

Well, the subject line about sums it up.

I have a building section, the linked in arch model has CMU pattern on the wall face. When I cut a section my ducts (and fittings) and mechanical equipment don't mask out the hatching on the wall behind them, the cmu hatching shows up on my ducts and equipment. And it does also plot this way.

The section view is in HIDDEN LINE, and classified as a MECHANICAL discipline.

 

[CoreyDaun · Accepted solution]

This is by design. In Revit, hatch patterns are masked according to the Elements' Categories and by the View's Discipline. Elements in the View are either considered "In-Discipline" (i.e. Mechanical Equipment in a Mechanical View, Walls in an Architectural View, anything in a Coordination View) or "Out-of-Discipline" (i.e. Walls in a Mechanical View).

When two "In-Discipline" or two "Out-of-Discipline" are staggered in a View, the Surface Pattern of the rear-most element will be masked by the foremost. However, when this situation involves one "In-Discipline" and one "Out-of-Discipline" element, the Surface Patterns are never masked. In other words, Revit will always show the Surface Pattern (and other lines) of the Walls even when behind Mechanical Equipment in a MEP-Disciplined View. (see image at bottom of post)

There are two work-arounds that I can immediately think of:

1. Change your View's Discipline to Coordination and make the Architectural Categories half-tone. The downside of this is that MEP Hidden Lines will be disabled, because those are exclusive to the MEP-Disciplined Views.

2. More complicated, create a separate Coordination View that mimics the primary View, change the Discipline to Coordination, half-tone the Architectural Categories, and make the lines of the MEP Categories line weight 1 and hide the Surface Patterns for the MEP Categories. In the main View, hide the Surface Patterns for the Architectural Categories. Finally, place both of the Viewports on the Sheet, overlapping. Place the Coordination View first so it is in the Background.

[dtiemeyer]

Thanks Corey, I went with option 1, I think it's the better of the two.

Dustin

[VDCAD2]

Great breakdown Corey! The quickest band-aid I found was to turn off the Wall pattern in VG when people who don't understand Revit continue to gripe about seeing a Wall through a piece of Equipment. 

[hmunsell]

https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/revit-ideas/visibility-of-architectural-surface-patterns-when-view-is...