Advice for Revit Trees

[Base12]

I'm working on this simple little remodel here and using the OOTB Revit RCP Maple tree which really is great for this because they have low detail and give the "idea of trees" but not "LOOK ONLY AT MY TREES!!!" like some other after-market trees perform in Hidden Line view (looking at you VRAY).  I'm trying to hide the silly base marker symbol, which when you open the family seems to be part of the entire thing, rather than a separate piece that you can control the views of with Subcategories, or the LW tool, etc.  Has anyone had any luck with this, or knows of another tree family that is any better?  Sorry if this is posted somewhere else - I looked but didn't see this specific problem being addressed.

[barthbradley]

Those are RPC placeholders.  Do you need RPC?  

FWIW: Sketchup Trees are abundant. Download and insert an SKP into your Project.  

[Base12]

Barth,

Thanks for writing.  I don't want to render the scene, and I know when you do that symbol (and the outline) disappears. I really just want to see the placeholder in wireframe as shown, without the base.  I don't know how to edit the placeholder?  Can it be done?  Maybe exported to .dwg and then imported back in?

[barthbradley]

You could change Render Appearance Source to Family Geometry (not Third Party) and draw your own without base. 

[Base12]

So no access to that geometry inside the family then?  Where is it stored?  I can see the rendered thumbnail (there's 20 or so options for different varieties of trees), but not the base, non-rendered shape.  Autocad just turns it into a polyface mesh, but the smooth, lumpy kind not the graphically interesting tree outline that I'm after.

[barthbradley]

Here's a SKP Tree in Revit Project. There's a bazillion more out there...at last count.  

[Lachlan-JWP]

You can use mine if you want. I've modified these from someone else's work but I cant find the originals anymore. Feel free to change them however you want to suit your needs.

I apologise for the terrible scaling method I've used. It's counter-intuitive and takes a bit of trial and error to get working correctly but haven't had time to make it better.

[jmhanbyV4TDM · Accepted solution]

Can you lower them and see if the topo hides the lines?

[Base12]

I'll give these a try, thanks!

[Base12]

While this didn't actually remove the base marker, it is an acceptable work-around (so many work arounds!)  Thanks for the tip!

[barthbradley]

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@Base12 wrote:

...so many work arounds!

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You mean you hadn't considered "burying" the base before @jmhanbyV4TDM's suggestion?  

[Base12]

Well, and this was kinda dumb on my part.  The trees in question are (were) at the edge of the topo object so when I did lower them, they were still visible because you could "see under" the edge of the topo in that view.  Once I read the comment about lowering them I went back and explored why that didn't work the first time - then just moved the topo points past the edge of the view, which of course "fixed" it.

[barthbradley]

If that's a Toposurface in your initial screenshot, lowering the tree won't hide the base either. You would need to cut the Toposurface with a 3d Section Box to show the Topo Poche.  It's the Poche that would hide the Base - not the TopoSURFACE.  

[Base12]

Lowering the trees hid the bases just fine for me, once I extended the edge of the topo object so it was out of the frame.

[barthbradley]

Whatever.  I guess I over-thought it.  he, he.  

[Base12]

Hey no worries!  I'm self-taught, and work for myself/by myself so this place is about the only interaction I get with trying to figure this thing out!  I'm happy to find help in any way possible!