Can't move unpinned and unconstrained objects

[Anonymous]

I'm trying to move all entities in this drawing 5 inches to the LEFT (X direction only).  As far as I can tell, nothing is pinned or constrained.  I can't seem to drag or move anything.  When I try to drag to the left, Revit wants to move things vertically.  I don't want to move vertically.  I (think) my working plane is on Level 1, so things should move parallel to that plane.  But I can't get anything to move.  All entities must move TOGETHER 5 inches to the left.  I don't seem to be able to type in -5" and have things move.  I prefer to move things by typing for accuracy (not type AFTER moving, but before moving).

Thanks for your help.  I've attached the simple drawing.

[Anonymous]

I think that part of my problem is that I can't seem to select everything.  What I thought was unpinned may not be.  I made sure that "Select pinned objects" was checked.  Then I do a crossing window from right to left to select everything, but only a few items turn blue (indicating that they are selected).  Is there a "Select all" option in Revit?  Just can't figure out why I can't select everything on the drawing.

[fabiosato]

Hello,

Try selecting in a 3D view, then change to a floor plan, if you lose your selection, right click and use select previous.

[CADmonkey_UK_Building_Services]

All the Conduit objects are pinned. You can select them individually in Plan view but not with a window.( I know why but can't remember just now.) Also only some of them are connected to each other. Sounds like whoever supplied the file did so grudgingly.

All the Panel Boards are hosted to something like an invisible wall and will only move in the plane of the wall. To move the Panel to you need pick a new Host. I think the original host has been deleted, but the Boards are still constrained. You need a Ref plane or small scrap wall (even 1 brick's worth) that you could then hide.

*edit* you can't window the Conduit objects because they are outside of the View Range

[fabiosato]

Hello,

Another possibility is that the conduits are below the bottom view range, but within View Depth. 

[Anonymous]

Your selection set includes objects that are hosted in multiple planes. Anything that is hosted to a wall/floor/ceiling/reference plane is by default constrained to move only along that plane, even with the "constrain" option disabled. You can't just drag a receptacle (for example) two feet perpendicular to the wall in which it is installed.

[Anonymous]

Can't select them in 3D or any view by crossing window.  I seem to be able to select them one at a time by picking, but this takes forever.  And I'm not sure that all of them will be selected.

[Anonymous]

You are correct in saying that the wall the panel boards were attached to has been deleted.  But I still should be able to move them.  Isn't there some way that I can "unhost" the panels?  Why must everything have a host?  Isn't there some way to make these panels independent objects?  I don't understand why I can't select and move all the other things with a crossing window.  Picking them individually just takes too much time and is unreasonable.  It shouldn't matter whether or not the conduits and fittings are connected to one another.

[Anonymous]

"Why must everything have a host?"

Because that's the way the families you're using were built.

For your problem with selecting everything you need, make sure the view discipline is set to electrical (or mech, or plumb, or whatever) rather than coordination or architecture.

[CADmonkey_UK_Building_Services]

Select a Panel, then the button for Pick New Host will appear.

The Panel have been designed as a hosted panel. There's nothing stopping you from creating your own unhosted panel, but it would be better for you to try and work with what Revit will do, rather than fighting it all the time. The Panel board you are currently using does a whole lot more than just sit on a wall.

Revit doesn't tolerate abstracted design very well. It wants everything in context,(unlike Acad, where you can do what you like) so a Panel board belongs in a room and has all the circuits connected to it, and not move. It's not just a generic 3D box in a CAD program.

Nothing is behaving like you expect, partly because of a luck of knowledge on your part, and partly because of the way that the file has been set up.

[Anonymous]

Although I consider myself an expert at AutoCAD, I'm just learning Revit.  I got a chuckle out of your comment about the conduits being a "hot mess".  I'm trying!  For me, setting up all these planes (in Revit) in advance before drawing is so time consuming and complicated.  Also, I don't have time to create all the families and there are so few available online and on Autodesk Seek for the PVC conduit fittings and other conduit parts.  Revit definitely needs to come with a lot more electrical conduit capabilities built in.  Revit wants all the connections to be standard.  In the field, electricians do custom bends all the time, and in fact most of the time.  Revit just doesn't make these easy to draw at the moment.  Sometimes I'll just settle for them looking like they're connected if I can't get them to actually connect.  At least we can then do an interference check.  In time, I hope to become expert at Revit, but I'm not finding it very intuitive and I have to learn on my own watching YOUTUBE and reading the Help info which isn't very helpful a lot of the time.  Thanks for your input.

[CADmonkey_UK_Building_Services]

Sorry about the 'hot mess' comment, you must have seen an early draft! You said you were new to this, so apologies if any of this is teaching you  to suck eggs.

I haven't use Conduit objects before but I had a go. It behaves pretty much like Pipe or Duct but there isn't an Auto-Route tool.

First off I Unpinned all of your Conduit. Then I moved a few random conduits to see which runs were joined together (Ctrl-Z when finished) I deleted any non-connecting elbows and used TRIM to join the open ends with the Fitting you have set in your Routing Preferences (select a Conduit, Edit Type, Fittings...) which leaves you with connected runs. TRIM is 'awesome' as you yanks say and you should use it all the time. Align is also good when you use it with Tab. Create/learn some 2-letter Keyboard Shortcuts (KS is the Shortcut to Keyboard Shortcuts) If the Trim fails it is usually because something isn't Aligned properly. Fitting definitions and angles can affect this also.

Te see if a run is 'joined-up' hover over a bit of it with the mouse and start pressing Tab. Personally, I'd first delete the final elbow of each run before they rise to connect to the Panel Board. You can Trim them together again when you've finished.

I started up a New project with a standard Revit UK Electrical template. The Conduit systems only had 2 elbows but had Unions and Tees defined, which yours don't. Try starting a new scrap project and see if it behaves differently. If it improves, then cut&paste the conduit into the new file.

You've got the View DIscipline set to Coordination. I am a Coordinator but I always use Mechanical or Electrical. Sub-Disciplines are much more useful because you can create and name them yourself.

I think you have too many Levels defined. For an Electrical Layout, you should only need to reference the floor levels (FFL or SSL) If you are creating Structure, Architecture and Services my advice would be to create a Revit model for each and link the Arch & Str into your Electrical model. Then you can hide their Levels except the one you need which you can Copy/Monitor or else just build one of your own. Unless you are in California (or some other earthquake zone) the Ground level shouldn't change. If you work on a big project, this is how they do.

If it was my job, I'd lay all the horizontal stuff to with a metre or so of the boards and leave the final connections until everything else is good.

[CADmonkey_UK_Building_Services · Accepted solution]

Where do I send the Invoice?

I created a new wall and re-hosted the Panels, (you can delete or hide the Wall.) and moved everything 5" to the left.

Top Tip: You have to create & position each conduit connection to the Panel board one at a time. Copying doesn't work properly.

Trimming won't work if you have 2 fittings joined together. Add some scrap conduit, make the elbow then nudge it back into position with the Arrow keys.

Also Align works REALLY well in 3D when the view detail is set to Medium or Coarse instead of Fine