Creating View Filters

To set up view filters, you can go to the View tab and click Filters. Another way to access filters is to type VG in any floor plan to access Visibility/Graphic Overrides. Next, select the Filters tab and click Edit/New to open the Filters dialog box, shown in Figure 2.1. This dialog box lists the names of several filters that are in Revit by default depending on the template you start with. Think of accessing filters through Visibility/Graphic Overrides as a back door. Both paths get you to the same place; however, remember that Visibility/Graphic Overrides changes are per view, and because changes to Filters can be project-wide, accessing Filters through Visibility/Graphic Overrides may be confusing.

When creating a new filter, notice that until you select items from the list of categories, you cannot proceed, nor can you select another filter. As with the Visibility/Graphic Overrides dialog box, you can filter the list of categories so that only the relevant categories are displayed, as shown in Figure 2.2.

Select the categories you want to be part of the filter set, and you are ready to apply the filter rules. Let's say we are creating a Sprinklers filter set. We would choose Pipe Accessories and Fittings, Pipe Placeholders, and Pipes. Under Filter Rules, we could then filter by System Classification, which contains the case-sensitive words Fire Protection, as you can see in Figure 2.3.

In the previous paragraph, I mentioned System Classification, which for many filters is the default setting. Due to the large number of filters that you may well end up using in your project template, I advise you to change this so you filter by System Abbreviation instead. This helps to identify and separate your systems in a way that is clearer to your end users, and it is more flexible than the default System Classification setting.

Here's an example. The default Mechanical - Supply filter rule is set to Filter By “> System Classification” with the rule “contains” and the value “supply.” This may not be a problem for small projects, but for larger ones with multiple supply systems, it just won't work. This limitation is especially obvious for piping systems, where distinguishing between all the supply and return systems is critical. System Abbreviation has the necessary flexibility to allow for distinguishing among hundreds of systems. To create new system filters, the easiest method is to select an existing system filter and then click the Duplicate icon. Once the system filter is duplicated, make sure the proper category elements are selected and then rename the filter rule to the name by which you want to filter.

To apply these filters to your views, you can go to the View tab on the ribbon and then select Visibility/Graphic Overrides. Next, select the Filters tab (see Figure 2.4).

On the Filters tab, click Add. This brings up the filters that you have created, so select the filters that apply to your project. Once the filters are loaded, you can turn the filters on and off and adjust line weights, colors, and patterns. It might be a good idea to test whether your filters are working properly by turning them off one at a time and ensuring that the appropriate elements are turned off in the view.

Mastering filter options will give you the ability to create your models with the standards that your office has developed over years of producing CAD drawings.

Prior to the introduction of duct and piping systems as system families in Autodesk^® Revit^® MEP 2012, filters were also used to control the color and the linetype of pipes and ducts. Some companies may still choose to do it this way, but the main benefit of using the duct and piping systems is that the color and linetype are set globally instead of per view. This benefit is most obvious when you start creating additional views such as sections and callouts and you need to keep adding the filters to get the colors of the systems. Since Revit MEP 2012, the proposed workflow is to control color and linetype with duct and piping systems, and use filters to control the visibilities of elements. Keep in mind, if you are using linked MEP models, you will have to use a view filter to change the colors and other overrides in the linked file. Or, using an option new to Revit 2016, you can override the graphics of the linked file and specify the linked view you want to see and its associated view filter(s).

Another type of filter is the selection filter. Selection filters allow you to create and save a filter set for selected items only instead of an entire object category. To do this, select your objects, and from the ribbon, choose Save Selection, as shown in Figure 2.5. Give the selection set an appropriate name.

Once created, access the Filters dialog box again and notice that the filters are shown slightly differently: there is now a section labeled Rule-based Filters and another labeled Selection Filters. With your new selection filter highlighted, you can see that the Categories and Filter Rules panels are deactivated because you are applying the rules to the selection only, as indicated in Figure 2.6.

Discipline Example: Filter for Wire Types

To create a filter for wires, do the following.

1. First, click the Filters button located on the Graphics panel of the View tab.
2. In the Filters dialog box, click the New button in the upper-left corner.
3. Give the filter a name that clearly identifies its purpose or the types of elements to which it applies. You can use the Select option and select a wire in the view to create a filter for the selected items only.
4. Use the Define Criteria option to create a filter for all of the instances of the desired type that you want to display.
5. In the Categories section of the dialog box, select the Wires check box to apply the filter to wires.
6. In the Filter Rules section of the dialog box, choose the Type Name parameter from the Filter By drop-down list.
7. Set the condition to Equals in the second drop-down list, and choose the name of the wire type to which you want to apply the filter in the third drop-down list.
8. This creates a filter that affects only wires with the type name chosen, as shown in Figure 2.7.

To apply the filter to your view:

1. Access the Visibility/Graphic Overrides settings for the view and select the Filters tab.
2. Click the Add button in the lower-left corner, and choose the filter you created for the wires from the Add Filters dialog box.
3. Click the Override button in the Lines column for the filter. Set the Weight, Color, or Pattern overrides for the filter to display the wire as desired. Figure 2.8 shows floor boxes with underground wire in the same view as receptacles with wire as it is normally displayed.