Is there a way to create a visible on plan clearance boundary around a piece of mechanical equipment im making ?

[rbouldenGYPT2]

Im making a fire pump controller and looking to create a 3 ft clearance area in the front of the controller. Is it possible to make so that it is visible on plan?

[afondrenUGA43]

Greetings!  I hope this answer finds you well.  

1) Create a new model subcategory of "Clearance Areas". Make the line type dashed and the color red.

2) Make an extrusion of the clearance area.  Make the extrusion material "glass".  Be sure to duplicate and rename the material to "Clearance Areas" so that it doesn't affect other objects in the project environment.  

3) Select the extrusion and change the Subcategory to the one you made; "Clearance Areas".

4) (Optional but recommended) Select the extrusion and assign a visibility constraint to turn the clearance areas on/off.  Make this an instance parameter.

[sragan]

There are a couple of ways to do this, and the above post is one way.   

You can either create a 2 dimensional clearance area that is visible on plan views.   Simplest way is to open the family and add a "filled region" in the family to show the clearance.  

Then you can add bells and whistles if you want.  You can make parameters to control the width and depth of the clearance.   You can also add a parameter to control the visibility so you can turn it off in views.

You can even make a separate "clearance family" and load it into your controller family.  Then you can place it in front, on the sides, and in the back, and create parameters to control all the clearnaces.

The more complicated way is to create a 3 dimensional region so the clearance will show up in elevations and 3 D views.  I believe that is what the previous post was explaining.

Also note that for some families (like electrical panels), the "floor plan" view shows the front of the panel, and the front and back elevations show the top and bottom of the panel.   So you have to add the clearance region in the front or back view of the family to get it to show up on a floor plan. 

[rbouldenGYPT2]

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[rbouldenGYPT2]

when I do this the inside of the glass area is grey like the mechanical equipment although it does have the red border. Is there a way for the inside of the "glass box" to not be grey like the equipment.?

[Joseph_Peel]

AFAIK this is dependent on the Category. You can set the Cut appearance in the material but sometimes it works and sometimes it doesnt.. (Why? Its just one of those weird revit things..)

I use a Generic Model parametric box with a material and subcategory, exactly as described above, and then put it inside the Mechanical equipment families. Where the Mechanical Equipment itself is cut it shows grey but where the Generic Model space reservation is cut it remains transparent. Another advantage of using this nested family is you can cut and paste it into any families you make so the material and sub category are always the same.

Here for example I used the same Space Reservation material for both the Mechanical Equipment and the Generic Model, with the same settings, but equipment is grey where cut and the space reservation is transparent: 

Edit: Found this list that might help: https://help.autodesk.com/view/RVT/2023/ENU/?guid=GUID-3253EFCA-F38F-4086-9A4D-C873D8D04867

[RSomppi]

I use both of the above suggested workflows in conjunction. The 3D element is set to only show in 3D views and the linework is set to show in in plans and/or sections.