Snap/Align Objects/Elements In Section Views

[kyle.klouzal]

How do you make Objects/Elements Snap/Align inside a Section View like they do inside a Floor Plan View?

I have a Floor Plan designated for an attic where most of my ductwork lives however there are a few duct runs that need to extend down into the building through different wall cavities.

I created two Section Views, one parallel and the other perpendicular, to allow me to see and work inside one wall at a time.

In the Attic Floor Plan I have 90 degree duct fittings placed with the open end pointing down into their respective wall cavity. Unfortunately I am unable to actually place any duct down through the wall in my Section Views because I cannot get new duct to snap to the 90 degree fittings. I only have a single snap line which was created from the Section View itself.

Is there any way to get Object/Element Snapping/Alignment to work in a Section View like it does in a Floor Plan View?

[RobDraw]

If you are starting the duct from scratch, it won't be aligned with the fitting. The center of the duct will be at the near extent of your section. Try starting from the fitting.

Alternatively, you could draw just the ducts, align them to each other and then use corner extend and let Revit make the elbow.

[kyle.klouzal]

I made a screencast to better explain.

I can't start a new duct from fittings for some reason, the fitting always gets removed because the duct starting point is inside the fitting. I'm not sure how to correct this either. If I could just draw all my duct off the fittings connection points then I could probably manage drawing all of them in the section views.

[RobDraw · Accepted solution]

You've got to get your routing preferences set-up properly. Read the message that pops up when you are drawing the duct. You should be able to just draw the ducts and Revit will put the elbows, takeoffs, tees, transitions, etc. in for you. Those are assigned in the routing preferences.

[kyle.klouzal]

That did the trick. I had read the warning multiple times and assumed it meant Revit was attempting to create a new fitting and therefore I never set defaults because I didn't want Revit automatically creating fittings in odd places when I didn't want them. I have been manually placing them all myself through the GUI. After setting defaults the routing no longer has any trouble.

Thank you.

[RobDraw]

You're assumption was correct. Even if you place the elbow manually, Revit will recreate it according to your routing preferences even if it is the same as the one in your preferences.