Revit needs a way to control draw order between model categories, particularly where projection linework overlaps cut linework.
The attached example shows a simple condition: a wall is cut in plan and displays with a heavy black cut line. Baseboard is modeled as casework, aligned correctly with the finish face of the wall, and is displayed in halftone so that it remains graphically subordinate to the wall.
In the Revit viewport, this displays correctly (first image). The heavy wall cut line takes visual precedence over the lighter casework projection line.
When printed to PDF, however, Revit ignores this hierarchy (second image). The halftone casework line is drawn over the heavy wall cut line, creating small gray lines across or beyond the wall edge. The printed drawing therefore does not match what Revit displays in the viewport.
This is especially frustrating because the model geometry is correct. Moving the baseboard away from the finish face would misrepresent the actual construction simply to work around a printing/display issue.
Raster processing, Linework overrides, changing line colors/weights, and other workarounds do not adequately solve the underlying problem.
There are really two related requests here:
- PDF/vector output should preserve the graphical hierarchy displayed in the Revit viewport. If Revit already determines that the wall cut line visually takes precedence on screen, the printed output should reproduce that result.
- Users should be able to control draw priority between model categories. Revit already provides Bring to Front / Send to Back functionality for certain 2D elements. A similar system for model graphics—perhaps through Visibility/Graphics or Object Styles—would allow users to establish that, for example, Wall Cut lines take precedence over Casework Projection lines.
This would be useful far beyond this particular baseboard condition. Architectural drawings rely heavily on hierarchy: cut elements over projected elements, primary construction over secondary finish elements, new work over background information, etc. Lineweight and halftone are only part of that hierarchy; when lines overlap, draw order matters as well.
Autodesk has previously documented the specific behavior of halftone/gray lines printing over black lines under Incident ID 111621. A user-controllable draw-priority system—or simply ensuring that vector output matches the viewport—would provide a proper solution rather than requiring project-specific graphic workarounds.
