Assign reference plane as centreline (in project)

[laurenk]

Assign reference plane as a centerline within revit project.
Similar to assigning reference priority in a family.

I want to see the centerline symbol when dimensioning to the project reference plane.

[lionel.kai]

I just noticed now that the dimensions (to ref. planes) stay visible even when ref. planes are turned off for printing. I'd assumed that the behavior would be like hidden elements (where the dimensions are only visible if the elements are).

But are you planning on printing ALL Reference Planes? Or are you just going to draw a DL centerline over the "center" ref. planes? Or are you creating a subtype for CL ref. planes and turning off anything else (which would mean having to temporarily toggle them on when you need to work with them)?

or is this just for your (on screen) reference?

[laurenk]

Hi lionel.kai,
An example..I need to dimension to the centreline of a wall layer for documentation (printing) purposes.
This is part of a wall with multiple layers. This layer is not the wall centre nor core layer.

The reference plane allows me to dimension without using a detail line. I do not wish to see a detail line. However i need to add a symbol to show that it is the centre. I can add a dummy annotation but would rather not as the wall location may be adjusted in design development & this would require shifting the symbol in each view.

Non-system families allow the user to add a reference plane to the family & apply this as centreline. When in the project environment this applies the centreline symbol to dimensions.

This is what I am trying to achieve - a centre symbol determined by the ref plane in the project environment for documentation.

Ref planes are not visible when printing so it doesnt matter if they are hidden or not.

We are using R2016 so no subtypes available for ref planes. I do look forward to using subtypes tho and it could be the way to manage application of a centerline dimension.

[lionel.kai]

Hi @laurenk, thanks for the example!

I'm thinking that it might just be better to ask for the FULL solution to your issue (instead of something to help your workaround), since even if you can make the centerline symbol appear in your dimension to the Ref. Plane, you'd still need to manually move the Ref. Plane (or be VERY creative in how you constrained it, especially if you need to change wall construction). Why not just create a feature request for the ability to dimension to the centerline of system family (Wall, Floor, Roof, etc.) layers? They should be selectable AFTER all current references (when pressing Tab to cycle through) and/or only selectable in Fine detail views, but I think that would be a more robust (and practical) solution. 🙂

[laurenk]

Hi Lionel.kai,

The example above is one of many where a ref plane as centreline would be useful.

Designating a reference plane as the centre will provide control for dimensioning in multiple situations - not limited to system families.

[lionel.kai]

Oh. Then maybe Autodesk could implement a system/built-in subcategory of Ref. Planes called "<Centerlines>" (or something similar) that activates the special behavior in the Dimensions? Since you're not allowed to create subcategories with the "<" or ">" characters, this should be safe when upgrading.

Or maybe just adding a separate "Designates a Centerline" checkbox (similar to the "Defines Origin" checkbox in families), that would still allow you to create subcategories.

My thinking is that it should stay separate from the current "Is Reference" property in family Ref. Planes to avoid confusion.