Make Isolate Permanant

[mhiserZFHXS]

Currently, when you isolate an element and apply that to a view, it essentially just hides all other elements in that view. So when something else is added to the model, it then shows in the view where you previously isolated an element. This eats up time re-isolating the element and applying it to the view, and can lead to misprints if it isn't caught and updated.

I'd suggest that once an element is isolated, all elements are automatically hidden in that view, including elements that are placed after the initial isolation. 

[Ric_Weber]

@mhiserZFHXS are you using the Temporary Isolate Element (or Category) to make views for sheet use??  Temporary is the key word there.  That function is typically not used in that manner.  Typically you'd use Visibility Graphics to isolate a category and then perhaps Hide Elements to hide all other elements of that category or if possible, a View Filter.  

[mhiserZFHXS]

Background, I have some casework that is double sided, so I created isometric views of each type to go along with orthogonal views to help illustrate what they look like. This should really be a legend, but you can't do iso views in legends, so I need to place cameras and isolate each one in their view. 

You use the temporary isolate first, and then the option to apply that to the view to make it "permanent." Unfortunately, all this does is permanently hide other elements you didn't isolate at that time, and does nothing to elements placed in the future. So under the hood, its not really isolating that element, but hiding all other elements placed at the time of the action. So when you go and place some more elements, the isolated elements are no longer isolated, and those new elements are also visible, meaning you have to redo the isolate and apply to view actions. 

This isn't a huge deal in my case. I have three types of this casework so I do that three times. Takes less than a minute. But I can imagine it getting tedious on larger projects. It can also lead to mistakes in printing/exporting if someone doesn't remember to go redo this process after new elements are added to the model. 

It also just clearly doesn't work as it should. Applying the "isolate" attribute to an element permanently means that element should be permanently isolated, not that all other elements placed at that time should be permanently hidden. Its a lazy workaround probably done in the coding 20 years ago that has never been updated. 

And yes, there are other ways to do this. But setting up filters for individual objects would be a waste of time and clutter up the filters menu. And going through visibility graphics wouldn't work because I need to isolate individual elements rather than categories. And sure, creating a separate legends phase would also work, but this is the route I'm going. 

Ultimately, the feature should just work the way I would hope it is intended to. 

[Mike.FORM]

I can see this being useful, essentially just having a view that targets only one element or a selected few elements and stays targeted to that selection not matter what else happens (other than deleting the element).

I would think currently the easiest way to isolate would be to select the element, create a 3d view using the selection box, then turn off all other categories (use a view template). Then if you leave the section box on you basically shouldn't be able to see anything else as it will be pretty tight to the element selected when using the selection box.

[mhiserZFHXS]

This does help, but there is a lot going on in the area where these elements are (dental clinic). Its not perfect. 

[Ric_Weber]

@mhiserZFHXS and @Mike.FORM you have convinced me.  I would totally agree with @Mike.FORM in that using the selection/section box would be the best bet today.  For everyone's voting pleasure, please vote up this idea also: https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/revit-ideas/3d-isometric-views-in-legend/idi-p/9383018