Demolished Objects not automatically transparent, why?

[jma2011]

Please will someone (Autodesk) make demolished objects automatically transparent, it is a major schlep having to isolate demolished objects, selecting them all and then overriding them to make them transparent, if its demolished it is no longer there but you cant see through it? Or am I missing something?

[chrisplyler]

Well...

#1. First off... They should respect the material settings in ALL views instead of just 3D views.

#2. Even better... There should be a transparency slider available in ALL override control dialog boxes, right along with the line styles and fill patterns and halftones, etc. This should be in VG settings, this should be in object styles, this should be in EVERYTHING including PHASE OVERRIDES.

Adding a toggle JUST for phases is a crappy solution.

[jma2011]

Thanks for the support!

[Viveka_CD]

Hi @jma2011

If you find posts have solved your problem, please click on 'Accept as solution' to help others with similar questions.

Thank you,

[chrisplyler]

Viveka,

You are very kind. You are also intelligent. But please stop pasting your form letter posts into threads where they don't make sense.

There is basically no solution until a developer corrects the observed behavior.

[Viveka_CD]

Hi @chrisplyler 

I see what you are saying.

I agree that certain issues have 'no perfect' solution, but for this particular discussion our Revit community has posted workarounds for the OP @jma2011 which he has tested. This follow-up is a mandatory 'Accepted solution' macro, not a form letter.

Let me explain why this the essence of the forums and is required for benefit of the community! 

Imagine this scenario: We have all been there working on a project, deadline to be precise, stuck at a particular feature, frustration surmounts and we keep scrolling through zillions of forum posts but don't seem to land on a solution that actually works! (this discussion already occupies 2 pages). Marking 'accepted solutions' actually saves a great deal of time and energy for any frantic user! A user need not spend time going through All the threads!

We envision that this process enables users to get quick and easy access to a solution or at the most a close workaround. Hope that makes sense and thanks for understanding!

Best Regards,

[ToanDN]

On the flip side of the coin, if someone finds a "Solved topic" that actually has no real solutions then it is still useless.  If there are no solutions then so be it.  Not everything has a solution and it's a part of life.

[chrisplyler]

Viveka,

I appreciate your position, as well as the desire to make these forums as helpful as they can be. After all, I'm here answering questions for the same reason. But the notion that such a post is "mandatory" must be rather new.

And the OP pretty clearly asked if it could be made to work as we would expect WITHOUT using a work-around. Since the answer must be no - at least for now - then logically there cannot be a "solution" to this thread.

[Viveka_CD]

Hi @jma2011

Thanks for being a Revit user since 2005

We are listening! 

Thank you for posting about this issue in the forums. I have logged this issue with the development team for further investigation. 

You are also welcome to contact the product team directly. If you have additional comments specific to the software or its functionality for future consideration, please use the Product Feedback page. How to provide feedback on Autodesk products goes into more detail.

Please share ideas for future product features directly with the Revit team and collaborate on existing suggestions with your peers. Click HERE

I will address the original question on 'Demolished Objects not automatically transparent' as mentioned in your first post separately.

Best Regards,

[Discussion_Admin]

@chrisplyler @ToanDN

No everything does not have a solution.

That being said @Viveka_CD  has a mandate as a staffed forums support specialist( along with answering questions) to ask and find out if something worked for the user and even thought posters have "said no workaround" in the past we have found many change their minds to get done what needs done.

While our idea of an Accepted Solution is based on what works for the individual is not always ideal it does reduce additional posts on the same subject if the solutions works for others by searching the topic thus allowing more time for everyone involved to help additional posters.

We do thank you for your input and realize the staffed support is is a little new to this board so some adjustments\growing pains may happen but reat assured this program has worked in other forums here very well.

Thanks for your understanding
Discussion_Admin

[Viveka_CD]

Thank you @Discussion_Admin 

Hello again @jma2011 

Coming back to your first post on making demolished objects transparent, can you please elaborate your workflow? We want to assist further and reproduce this issue - 

• You mentioned building a new floor level lower than an existing demolished floor for your project. (what is the level difference here?)
• Adding a toilet, walls bidet, wash basin and a new floor finish to the new floor level. (Does the demolished level have these fixtures + any other furnishing in different locations)
• How many detail elements do you have in your demolished floor levels?
• Can you send us a screenshot of your phases/ phase filters?

Demolished walls do obscure new walls, Some recommendations are:

• Since transparency is supported in 3D views, for plan views did you try the wire frame option and tried tracing the demolished objects in the elevation view, or orienting the 3D view to an elevation view.See HERE
• As mentioned by @Anonymous , the workaround would be to create a "Phase-Demo" Material and to set transparency go to"Settings"; "Phases"; go to the "Graphic Overrides" tab to set a material for Demolished objects. Then modify that material ("Settings"; "Materials") to have some level of transparency to it.
• I recommend that you see this article About Controlling Visibility and Graphic Display of Elements Using Filters
• Multiple selection filters can be applied to the same view. See HERE (Transparent option to make filtered objects appeartransparent) 
• To select multiple elements in a view, please see HERE on how apply the selection to elements using a filter.
• More information on new construction + demolition in projects HERE
• Please see HERE for a similar discussion

I have logged this issue with our development team, and will let you know for any progress. If possible can you share a file to test? Let me know if you have questions in sending a file to our team. Looking forward to your reply update. 

If you find posts in this discussion that have helped solved your problem, please click on 'Accept as solution' to help others with similar questions. 

Best Regards,

[ToanDN]

The closest workaround of using a transparent material for demolition you mentioned doesn't work for floor plans. Period. In fact, the out of the box phase settings already uses the Phase - Demo material, which is semi transparent. It just doesn't work.

[jma2011]

I have ended this thread, thank you.

[Viveka_CD]

Hi @jma2011

I am posting part of our messages today to give a closure to this thread -

@jma2011 wrote

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

I will await for the development team to program the solution in, once this is done I will accept the solution, until then we will have to do the 'work around' of overriding the graphics.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

I will be marking the workaround primarily to benefit users seeking similar solutions and also follow up here with updates from the development team.

Thanks All.

[david.polizzi]

Hey there. I know this is an old thread, but I still can't work it out. How do you assign a material to the Demolished Phase in graphic overrides? Are you referring to Manage > Phasing > Phases > Graphic Overrides, then changing the cut pattern of the Demolished phase status? If so, I'm not sure that I can change a cut pattern to a material. Am I missing something? Obviously! Please help!

@jma2011 wrote:

Please will someone (Autodesk) make demolished objects automatically transparent, it is a major schlep having to isolate demolished objects, selecting them all and then overriding them to make them transparent, if its demolished it is no longer there but you cant see through it? Or am I missing something?

---

[chrisplyler]

You're missing the concept of how a view's property of Phase Filter works.

[ToanDN]

By default, demolished object material override is Red and Semitransparent.  Don't you get it?

[david.polizzi]

That's OK. My question was in response to, jma2011's solution below:

"Not sure if it will work like you want....but create a "Phase-Demo" Material. Assign that material to the Demolished Phase in graphic overrides.  Change the transparency of the material to what you want it to be"

I don't understand what he/she means by "Assign that material to the Demolished Phase in graphic overrides". I'm just not sure exactly how to assign a material to a phase in graphic overrides. I suspect that this is not possible and that there is not actually a solution to have demo objects cut pattern as transparent. I think the closest thing might be a filter based on comment value.

[ToanDN]

He is correct.  Material overrides for phase status: previous, demolished, temporary, new are in the right most column of the phase filter graphic overrides table.  Those materials are in the material manager in the project for you to edit if need be.

[david.polizzi]

Ah huh, I see them now. Problem is that you cannot make the cut pattern transparent.

Thank you for the response though.

[douggieMD]

Old thread but I searched for an answer to the same question. Here in Australia we submit drawings (residential) in the same way as the OP, ie with demolished items overlaying the new for floor plans and elevations.

The easiest solution I found if anyone else is searching is:

1. create a 'Demo only' phase 
2. go to any view and set to 'Demo only' 
3. select everything (that way all demo'd items can be selected all together in one go) 
4. go to each view that you require the demo'd items to be transparent in > right click "Select previous" 
5. Override Graphics in View > By Element and set the transparency. This way you are setting everything to transparent in one go in each view rather that each element separately.

Hope it helps someone but agree with OP that demolished items should be automatically transparent so that they are not hiding new elements.