3D view to see rooms and spaces to find overlapping issues

[HVAC-Novice]

In my quest to eliminate all warnings I find overlapping rooms/spaces to be an issue. Often caused by some incomplete wall or incomplete room/space separator. The warnings tell me which rooms/spaces are impacted. 

My usual way to find and resolve the issue is to use plan and section views (with room/space interior fill enabled) and look at suspicious areas. 

but what would be nice is a 3D view I can navigate through and find those. Unfortunately showing rooms and spaces  this isn't an option in Revit. A while ago I found the attached Dynamo script that shows me 3D rooms/spaces. The problem is, I can't really rotate the " model"  in dynamo and once I zoom far into the building, I don't see the rooms/spaces anymore. So this won't really help me. also would be nice if every room/space had a different color to find the overlaps better 

Is there a better way than my original method (floor/section views) or am I doing the 3D thing wrong? 

My original way works, but I really would like to have some improvement. 

[curtisridenour]

i think spaces are visible in navisworks in 3d

[HVAC-Novice]

I didn't see Navisworks in our available products (and have no experience using it). But I suspect I would have to import the Revit model into Navisworks every time i make changes. i was hoping to find a way to see the spaces, make a change, and then (with 1-2 clicks) see the 3D spaces again to find out if that resolved the problem. 

I found this idea you can vote on. I saw I voted for it a while ago, so this isn't the first time I ran across this issue 🙂

[L.Maas · Accepted solution]

What you can do is return the geometry back to Revit as a family instance.

In this case I created family instances under the category site and named them based on Room name and number

Then in Revit you can make views with these objects visible.

After completion you can delete these families from the project

Note 1: the creation is not a really fast process, so be careful not to do too many rooms at once.

Note 2: The scaling may or may not be necessary. At certain Revit revision internal units (API) have changed needing the scaling.

Note 3: Save your project before starting.

Script attached. Note uses Spings package

[SteveKStafford]

I typically focus on a room(s) and select the boundaries (at least a couple that will define extents) and then use the Selection Box to isolate that part of the model. That helps me see the walls/separators that should be defining the room(s) boundaries more clearly. If it is a vertical extent issue then I'd find a 3D visual of the room useful. Otherwise the room itself isn't informative...unless Revit could show us the leak in the boundary.

I also find that focusing on and resolving the overlapping walls and room separator warnings usually resolves most of the room conflicts without actually dealing with the rooms directly themselves, since those other warning conditions are what cause the room warnings.

[RLY_15]

You can take the geometry generated by Dynamo and test for intersections, then output a list of all Rooms/Spaces that intersect other Rooms/Spaces.

If you need visualizations for presentation to another person, follow @Anonymous post.

In fact, you can take the intersect output and use that to color the family instances generated from his post so that it becomes obvious which rooms are OK and which have intersects.

[HVAC-Novice]

Sorry for the late response, i had to resolve some schemas issues on my project..

I ran your script and indeed it shows me rooms in 3D

What is the best way to make those rooms isolated visible like your screenshot? I couldn't readily see an option and rooms aren't available in 3D view. or what are things created (category)? I don't seem to be able to select them.

[MiWolff]

Why not export your project to IFC and check your room geometry in one of the many viewers out there? That way you do not have to fill your model with surplus data that needs to be generated again once the building geometry changes. If your IFC version does not show all the rooms, they will be those you should look into.

[HVAC-Novice]

export to IFC and then view where? I was hoping to stay within Revit.

But you are right, I rather not bring additional "items"  or families etc. into the model (resources, and potential to create problems - I'm burnt by my schemas problems).

Maybe just using my old method of using plan and section views is good enough. The "Warnings" tell me which rooms cause the error. that helps narrowing it down and in those views I also can " fix"  the issues as I look. An external solution may be more complex than the problem I try to solve. Once you start fixing room/space issues, you kind of get the idea what tis causing this. 

Still, a native Revit 3D view of rooms and spaces really would be best. 

[L.Maas · Accepted solution]

In the script you have to make sure you point to the right family template

In my case I used Revit 2022. If, for example, you use Revit 2023 you should look for family templates in the ..\RVT 2023\... folder

Which Revit version are you using?

In my script I made the families of category "Site".

If everything is ok after running the script, then you should find the created elements in the family browser

In my case I had 3 rooms

After you are done checking you can delete them from the family browser and they will be gone from the project.

So in a (new) view you can use visibility graphics overrides and hide most things with exception of the Site category

and you should be able to select them

NOTE: If you use an older version of Revit (I think Revit 2021 or 2020)  the objects might be coming out too small

In that case set the scale value to 1 (there was some code change in recent Revit versions)

From:

To:

[HVAC-Novice]

Thanks for clarifying, for some reason I didn't see the category part of the code. Now i see. I use R2024.1. 

I actually had to set the code to " 1". When you re-run the calcs, it places the rooms over the new ones. I assume I have to manually delete the old ones first. 

For some reason I can't select them and setting it to shaded etc. doesn't make them look solid or colorful. It always is a kind of wireframe. I guess that can be helpful too. 

Edit: I also tried to delete those families. but deleting one after another in the project browser seems to be the only option. I created a site schedule and deleted the rows, but that didn't delete the families. 

[L.Maas]

You should be able to delete the families in one go and be able to select them in the project.
If you want upload (or send me) a part of your project, after running the script. Than I can have a look.

[HVAC-Novice]

I can select the "site" rooms it in plan and section view. But with the very same view template, not in 3D view. 

In plan/section selecting "shaded" etc. also will make a visible difference (but not in 3D view).

my model doesn't have options  and all the bottom right corner options are unselected. 

I attached the model. The view in question is in existing phase (I have the rooms copied in existing and new phase.. but ran the script when the existing view was open). "A XTG 3D" is the view I'm looking at and the view template "A Rooms" shows noting but "site"

[L.Maas · Accepted solution]

Ok, I opened your project file.

What I did:

-Created a new 3DView and Removed the assigned view template, set view to shaded, set discipline to coordination

-With visibility/graphic overrides, just hid everything with the exception of the site category

You can see in screenshot that I selected one of the rooms, and you can see the name and number in the properties

In the family browser you can see all the created site families.

I can now use normal revit techniques to (temporarily) hide elements, filter them and so on.

When finished I can select them all in the family browser and delete them. Then they will dissapear from the family browser and the model.

Note not to select the "Pad" family, otherwise deletion will not work

You also can do colour/transparency overrides to make things more clear.

In this case also some warnings due to overlapping elements (probably due to running script two times)

[HVAC-Novice]

Thanks so much!

I was able to do everything you described. the only part I couldn't accomplish was to set the color-override. I selected a room and applied the below , but it didn't change anything (I just used random colors). I colored everything I could and tried all transparencies to no avail. 

Am I doing that part wrong? 

[ToanDN]

They are direct shape component so you cannot override graphic that way.  Select them, create parts, then you can ether change parts material or override parts graphic.

[HVAC-Novice]

Looks like site elements can't create parts. When I first select the "create parts" tool, it can't select the "rooms"

[ToanDN]

You are doing it backward.  Select the 'room' and create parts.

[HVAC-Novice]

I tried both ways. When I select the room, the "create parts" tool is grayed out (see picture above)

[L.Maas]

As I mentioned. Ther are overlapping warnings in your project.

You changed the colour overrides, however with the two overlapping elements you just see the other one.

Here I moved one of the "room"a little biut to the side. There you see the override colour.

The part that is still overlapping with the other (same) element makes that the colour override is not visible

So remove the duplicates (or remove all the elements and run the script again), then start with your overrides.