the fifth dimension

[georgehobel]

Im trying to understand what's going on with dimensions.  I place my walls, adjust my dimensions, lock them... then, in order to keep drawing without all that scribble in my view, I have been deleting the dimension, but the constraints from the lock remain.. (that's what I was after)  .  Then... when I click on those walls later, I would see little padlocks and dimensions all over the place, and it was reassuring.  Now, somehow... some of those padlocks and dimensions are gone.  I've tried to recreate the same steps that brought me to that point, and it all seems very inconsistent.... I'm really just trying to understand it all, and work with my dimensions and locks the in the best way...  

[cbcarch]

In general, in the Revit Project environment--i.e. walls, doors, roof, etc.---it is a bad idea to lock dimensions.

It will usually cause more harm than good.

Locking and using dimensions are very important in the Family editor--for instance placing dimensions to reference planes, then locking the geometry to the reference planes to make the family "flex" properly when dimensions are associated to a width or length parameter, etc.

[georgehobel]

I was having trouble moving from the temporary dimensions when I initially place a wall to accurate dimensions.  Sometimes when I change a dimension, I want the wall to move to the right, but it moves to the left.. ???

[RobDraw · Accepted solution]

If you want to "lock" something in it's place in the model, pin it. If you want it to maintain a specific distance, lock it with a dimension (constrain).

HTH.