The dialog box shown in Figure 4.4 manages the printed line weights relative to a numbered assignment from 1 to 16. For model objects, heavier line weights vary between view scales. If you require more granular control between scales, click the Add button to insert another scale value column and edit the line weights as required.

We recommend that you first customize the graphic appearance of model and annotation elements with object styles. You should only attempt to refine the line weight settings with a rigorous investigation of printed views in multiple scales.

Figure 4.4. Model line weights vary depending on the view scale.

Repetitive series of line segments, spaces, and points comprise line patterns in Revit. To edit or create line patterns, switch to the Manage tab and choose Additional Settings

Figure 4.5. Displays all line patterns in the project

To edit an existing pattern, click the Edit button, or click New to create your own. You create patterns by specifying dash and space lengths, which will form a repeating sequence as shown in Figure 4.6. For dots, a length value isn't required.

Figure 4.6. Line patterns consist of dashes, spaces, and dots.

Frequently, a line pattern is required to include a symbol or text for elements such as fence lines, piping, or underground utilities. In AutoCAD, shape definitions could be used within linetype definitions to achieve the desired results. In Revit, these special lines can be created as line-based detail components. A sample of this type of custom line can be found by downloading the file c04-Lines.rvt from this book's companion website at www.sybex.com/go/masteringrevit2011.

Follow these steps to create a new simple line pattern:

The resulting line pattern looks like this:

Now that we have discussed the basic components of lines—color, weight, and pattern—the three are combined to create line styles for use in Detail Lines, Model Lines, Filled Regions, and Masking Regions. They are also available when the Linework tool is used to override a part of a model element. Access the Line Styles dialog box on the Manage tab under Additional Settings (Figure 4.7).

Figure 4.7. Line styles consist of weight, color, and pattern.

In the Line Styles dialog box, notice that some of the style names are bracketed—for example, <Hidden>. These are internal, "system" types of lines that cannot be renamed or deleted; however, their weight, color, and pattern can be modified.

Establishing the best styles for your templates will be completely up to you, but we will offer some proven examples for inspiration. First, realize that Revit already uses common line styles such as Thin Lines, Medium Lines, and Wide Lines. If you are creating a complete array of customized line styles for your colleagues to use, rename the common styles to fit into your standard.

One common approach is to create line styles organized by their weight number along with any variable to its appearance, such as (3) Gray Dashed. Note the parentheses keep your custom line styles sorted to the top of the list in the Line Styles dialog box as well as the Type Selector when using a line-based tool. This approach has proven to be effective and efficient when creating details in drafting views or generating fill or masking regions.

Another approach reserves certain line styles for special circumstances where lines represent aspects of a building in a plan, elevation or section and must be assigned to a specific layer when views are exported in CAD format. For example, the crossing lines typically used to indicate an area in plan that is "open to below" may need to be assigned to a CAD layer "A-FLOR-BELW." This is difficult if you used a line style based solely on weight and pattern alone such as (2) Dashed. You cannot separately assign that line style to "A-FLOR-BELW" for the floor plan export and "A-DETL-THIN" for all other exports. Here are some examples of line styles you could create:

In summary, take care to understand the different settings when you are beginning to customize graphic settings for lines in the Revit template. To change the displayed weight of an element in a project, changes should not be made in Line Weights, but rather through the Object Styles dialog box. For example, if you wanted to increase the cut line weight of a wall already set to (5), do not increase the value of (5) in the Line Weights dialog box. You would change this value by selecting (6) or (7) as the cut weight of a wall in the Object Styles dialog box.

The material properties are divided into four tabs: Graphics, Render Appearance, Physical, and Identity.

Figure 4.10. Use identity data to classify, find, tag, and schedule materials.

It may seem impossible to imagine all the materials you'll need in a project, making building a template seem daunting. Think of the basic materials you're likely to use—wood, brick, concrete, glass, and so on—and build from those. Remember, a template is just a starting point, and you can always expand it. If you end up making a lot of nice materials over the course of a project, use the Transfer Project Standards function to move materials back into your templates.

When you start to organize materials in Revit by name, there are many prevailing theories too numerous to list here, but here are a few suggestions:

To create a new pattern, first choose either Model or Drafting, and then click the New button. A generic pattern appears in the New Pattern dialog box. You can then design your pattern and assign some behaviors.

The option Orient In Host Layers is particularly useful when you're making drafting patterns. This allows you to specify how a pattern orients itself relative to host elements such as walls, floors, roofs, and ceilings when they're represented as cut. Note that the option isn't available for model pattern types. As shown in Figure 4.13, the orientation options are Orient To View, Keep Readable, and Align With Element.

Figure 4.13. From left to right: Orient To View, Keep Readable, and Align With Element

You can choose to make either simple or custom patterns with this dialog box, using the radio button options. Figure 4.14 illustrates some examples of each option:

Figure 4.14. From left to right: simple fill pattern, simple fill pattern with the crosshatch option selected, and a custom fill pattern

Custom patterns require an external file that contains the definition of the pattern. The file extension of that pattern should be .pat, which is what you'll make in this section by editing an existing AutoCAD PAT file. An advantage of specifying patterns in the template file is that the PAT file won't need to be installed on each computer where Revit is installed; Revit stores each pattern internally in each template or project.

Before modifying PAT files, always make a copy of the original PAT file you intend to use as a base; you don't want to risk messing up other files that might already be using that original PAT file. PAT files can be edited with Notepad, but any text-editing application will also do. For this exercise, you'll choose the AutoCAD pattern called Grass, which you can find in acadiso.PAT (in metric units) or acad.pat (Imperial units) located on this book's companion web page: www.sybex.com/go/masteringrevit2011.

Follow these steps to make a custom fill pattern by importing an existing pattern definition:

In the next exercise, you will create a section tag that looks like the one shown in Figure 4.34. You'll first need to create a section tag family using the Family Editor before loading it into the template.

Figure 4.34. Custom section tag

To begin, follow these steps:

Next, you'll assign this tag to a section mark system family type in the context of a project or template.

To create a section type that utilizes the section head family you created previously, you need to load the created section head in the template file (if you've already loaded the custom arrow family in the previous exercise, skip to step 3):

You can now place a section in your drawing area and see the results shown in Figure 4.37.

Figure 4.37. Custom section mark after section is placed on a sheet

The custom section tag exercise can also be applied to the creation of custom callouts, as shown in Figure 4.38.

Figure 4.38. Custom callout annotation (left); custom callout annotation associated with callout boundary (right)

We can't help but get excited over this long-awaited new feature for Revit Architecture 2011—the ability to create custom elevation tags! You are no longer limited to either a circle or square tag. Here's how it works:

Figure 4.41. The nested pointer family is placed four times in the head family.

When this custom elevation tag family is loaded into a project and associated with an elevation type, it will function much like standard elevation symbols.

After the views are placed on a sheet, you get a preview of the completed elevation symbol, as shown in Figure 4.42.

Figure 4.42. A customized elevation tag for interior elevations

You can easily share Revit families between project files by loading their RFA files; however, most other types of content can be transferred with the Transfer Project Standards command. Some types of elements commonly transferred with this command include, but are not limited to, the following:

To use this command, you must first have both the source and target Revit files open; then make the target file the active project. Switch to the Manage tab, and select Transfer Project Standards on the Settings panel. In the Select Items To Copy dialog box (Figure 4.46), choose as many item categories as you'd like to transfer, and then click OK.

Figure 4.46. Select categories to be transferred between projects.

If you choose an element category containing some of the same types that already exist in your current project, you will be prompted with the option to overwrite the existing types or import the new types only (New Only), as shown in Figure 4.47.

Figure 4.47. Transferring project standards with duplicate types

The Insert Views From File command is useful for sharing Drafting Views of standard or typical details with other Revit project files. It can also insert entire sheets with all attached Drafting Views and associated properties. You can use the Insert Views From File command with the following view types:

Switch to the Insert tab, and choose Insert From File

Figure 4.48. Insert Views can be used to transfer an entire sheet of drafting views into your project.

If one or more sheets are selected in the Insert Views dialog box, all eligible drafting views placed on those sheets will be inserted into the current project as well. Note that repeating this process will not update the drafting views in the project, but instead will create new renamed drafting views and sheets. Also note that any custom view parameters are maintained during the transfer and can fit right into your customized Project Browser organizations, as we discussed earlier in this chapter.

Similar to Insert Views From File, the Insert 2D Elements From File command imports the 2D elements of the selected view as a detail group into the active view in the current project instead of the entire view. For best results, make sure you have a drafting view active before using this command. On the Insert tab, find the Import panel, choose Insert From File

For consistency, be sure to select the Transfer View Scale option to convert the scale of the active drafting view to that of the view you are inserting. You can move the elements into position using the Move command and, after placing the 2D elements, be sure to click Finish in the Edit Pasted panel or double-click anywhere outside the elements to complete the command.

Figure 4.49. Insert 2D Elements dialog box

Duplicate Types When Inserting

When using Insert Views From File or Insert 2D Elements From File, be sure to watch for warnings about duplicate types being renamed, as shown here. You may be able to use the Purge Unused tool to remove any renamed styles; however, some types may need to be manually modified.

If duplicated types cannot be removed with Purge Unused, you will need to swap the duplicated types with the originals. Find the duplicated family types in the Project Browser, right-click on it, and choose Select All Instances. This selects all instances of that type throughout the entire project. Open the Properties Palette and select a different type. You will then be able to remove the duplicated type with Purge Unused or by right-clicking on it in the Project Browser and choosing Delete. Note that the Select All Instances method does not work on line styles.