Spaces loses area and volume - need to toggle computations

[Tor.Sandnes]

Hi!

We have a large project hosted on BIM360. Our spaces are bounded by a model containing room objects. This normally works well, but every now and then our spaces loses their bounding and volume without any obvious cause. Our "fix" when this occurs is to toggle the between "area and volume" and "areas only" under space computations. But this gets tedious and when done results in "ownership" of all spaces to the user performing the fix. 

Has anyone else experienced this and figured out why it happens?

[Kevin.Lawson.PE]

If the bounding elements (such as walls) live in a different model, like the architectural model, when the architect modifies those bounding elements it could cause problems. 

For instance, an architect deletes a wall, your space becomes "unbounded".  Sometimes the architect then puts a new wall right back in, and fixes their Room, but your Space is still broken and requires a fix like you describe. 

[hmunsell]

I'm assuming your Architectural link is set to Room Bounding 😊?

[Tor.Sandnes]

This project uses a model containing only room-elements. There are no other architechtural elements, and it happens to all spaces at once. We create the room-model from Arch-IFC-model that is exported from ArchiCAD. So the problem is not connected to model updates.

[Tor.Sandnes]

Yes, it is:)

[hmunsell]

have you installed all the latest updates/patches for Revit?

[Tor.Sandnes]

We're running 2022.1.3. This behavior has been a problem for some time, and also on earlier versions. Come to think about it, it could maybe be connected to other users syncing without having the workset containing the room-bounding space model open. I will do some experimenting.

[BIM-Lord]

Have you tried switching your computer off and on again?

[Tor.Sandnes]

I've not been able to reproduce the issue. I have to wait for it to occur and then do some research.

[Tor.Sandnes]

The issued appeared again today, and i noticed that the linked room-model was not visible even though the Workset containing the model was open and the link was loaded. Reloading the link solved the issue. But I still don't know why this happens. 

[hmunsell]

so the link was set to Room Bounding, but wasn't loading for some reason? that happens sometimes. glad it got sorted out :-).

[Tor.Sandnes]

I'm not too happy about the fact that this happens. It has a few potentially very damaging consequences. We use an application for syncing object information to a database. When the spaces are not bounded properly the objects are no longer connected to a room in the database. This means we always have to keep an eye on the spaces to make sure they are bounded, and sometimes we slip. A link appearing as loaded under "manage links", but not being loaded is a flaw that should be fixed.

[hmunsell]

I have never had a Link say its loaded and not actually be loaded. At least on my end... its almost always a visibility issue (Workset, Category, Phase, etc...) or an issue with the model I'm receiving. The issue may be with the Architectural model your linking. Most of our stuff is done inhouse, but I have received models from out of house that were assembled different from what we would do and they sometimes cause issues. Are you working with in In-house architect or are your receiving file from outside your office? 

[Tor.Sandnes]

Out of house arch uses ArchiCAD. We create a separate room-bounding revit-file from their IFC. This file contains only rooms. When I opened the project today i noticed that our spaces were unbounded. I turned on room-visibility and they didn't show up. In manage links the file showed as loaded. I hit Reload and the rooms showed up and the spaces became bounded. So now I have two possible, but incomplete, solutions to the problem. 1. Toggle calculations between "areas only" and "areas and volume". 2. Reload room bounding link. But i still don't know the root cause or why this seemingly happens at random. 

[hmunsell]

checking the model when you receive it is all part of QA/QC. Anytime we get updated models from outside our office its policy to check the file.

It sounds like what may be happening is something i have seen with CAD files. We import a Civil 3D model into a Civil Central Model for coordination and acquiring coordinates. When the Civil sends an update, if I simple replace the DWG in the project folder, it doesn't necessarily update in my Arch model that has the Civil Central model inked into it. To be sure the Civil DWG updates, I have to open the Civil Central model, after I replace the DWG, to force the reload/refresh.  Toggling the "Areas Only" may be working because it is forcing Revit to refresh the IFC links behind the scenes (just guessing on that one 😊).  

I hope that made sense 😁.