When creating your own structural column, make sure that you set Structural Material Type inside the family to the proper material that it is meant to represent. You can select from five different material types: Other, Steel, Concrete, Precast Concrete, and Wood. This material property is different from the material that you assign to the family to give it surface and cut patterns and rendering appearance. This is what tells Revit Structure how the family behaves as it interacts with other structural elements and as it displays in certain views. For instance, a concrete beam that frames into a concrete column behaves differently than a steel beam that frames into a steel column or a steel beam that frames into a concrete column. Figure 4.8 shows the automatic behavior that is derived from this setting.

The Structural Material Type parameter helps determine whether the two elements should join their materials together with a construction joint or place the steel beam with a setback dimension. Each material behaves differently based on common industry conditions when it interacts with different materials. The Graphical Column Schedule also uses this setting, which allows you to schedule only columns of a certain material type. This makes this option one of the most important and the first one you should set when creating your column families.

Figure 4.8. The Structural Material Type setting within a structural column family helps determine how other structural elements attach to the column.

No, It Really Is Not the Right Material

When you are working with concrete, you might want to join two separate elements together to remove a construction joint. Let's say you need to join a concrete column to a concrete slab, and part of the column must be poured with the slab. To join these monolithically, both elements need to have the same material assigned to them. You keep checking the materials, and both the column and the slab have the same concrete material assigned to them. You have toggled among all three different Detail Level settings, and you still cannot get the construction joint to be removed. One last thing to try would be to edit the family and check the Structural Material Type setting referenced in the Family Properties panel

This setting affects the family only when your views are set to a coarse detail level. If your column family is going to be a steel or wood material, you will probably want to have this option set to From Project Settings. That way, Revit Structure will automatically place symbolic lines to represent the column in a plan, section, or 3D view when set to a coarse detail level. You can control the display of this symbolic line by the subcategory Stick Symbols under the Structural Columns category. It also controls the symbols that are displayed for the Top and Bottom connection types that are set in the Structural Settings dialog box for the project and an instance parameter of a column. You can control the display of these symbols through the Connection Symbols category under the Annotation Categories tab in the Object Styles dialog box. For most companies, this will be the industry standard for showing steel or wood at reduced scales, which would also be shown in Revit Structure's coarse detail level view.

When using concrete or precast concrete, you would typically show the true double-line representation of the shape in all detail levels. For this reason, set the Symbolic Representation option for these families to By Family. This tells Revit Structure to not automatically place symbolic line work and symbols for those families.

This is another setting that affects the family only when your views are set to a coarse detail level. Beam Cutback in Plan refers to the stick symbol symbolic line, which Revit Structure automatically generates for a beam family when its Symbolic Representation option is set to From Project Settings. If set to From Bounding Box, the symbolic line will be cut back from the bounding box of the column; if set to From Geometry, the symbolic line will be cut back from the geometry of the column. You are probably wondering, "What is a bounding box?" A bounding box is an invisible box that Revit Structure places to the extents of the geometry inside the family. This concept is best shown with a sloped column, as in Figure 4.9. Revit Structure uses this box to help it make decisions during its automated process. In the scenario of a beam framing into a column, the Symbolic Cutback Distance setting in the Structural Settings dialog box will start its offset dimension from the bounding box or the geometry of the column, depending on the settings in the Column family.

Figure 4.9. For the column on the left, Beam Cutback in Plan is set to From Bounding Box; for the column on the right, Beam Cutback in Plan is set to From Geometry.

When Structural Material Type is set to Concrete or Precast Concrete, this parameter becomes available to help control the visibility of hidden lines that should or should not display in your concrete column families. There are three settings for this parameter: Edges Hidden by Column Itself, Edges Hidden by Other Members, and All Edges. Figure 4.10 shows the various displays that Revit Structure will produce depending on what your family is set to.

In some cases, you may need an exact duplicate of your family with a different family name. The only difference between the two families may be the Display in Hidden Views setting. Sometimes you may have to create duplicate families with different settings so your column with special conditions displays properly once it's in your project.

Figure 4.10. Setting the Display in Hidden Views option in the Structural Column family produces various plan displays.

The Single Pick option is the initial state that Revit Structure starts in after you select one of the structural column placement tools. This allows you to place columns one at a time and easily adjust settings between each placement.

To use the Single Pick option, follow these steps:

This method is useful for placing columns that are not on grids or that require a more specific location or rotation. Even after the columns are placed, you can use the spacebar to rotate them by selecting one or more columns and pressing the spacebar.

If you use this method for grid intersection placement, take care to ensure that you are placing the column at the correct intersection point rather than at another unexpected intersection point. Keep an eye on the status bar located in the lower-left area of your Revit Structure session dialog box to verify where the column is being placed. Setting the Visibility properties of a view to show only grids and columns may help you select the correct intersection point.

The On Grids option allows you to select groups of grids for placement. Revit Structure will place a column on each intersection for all the grids that you select. This can be a quick method for getting columns into your project. Even if there is not supposed to be a column on a particular grid intersection, it can still be more efficient to place a column on it and remove it afterward.

Ask yourself which way you can do it faster. Should you place 50 columns by using the Single Pick option, or should you place 55 columns with the On Grids option and erase 5 of them afterward? Figure 4.14 shows that you can place 30 columns onto your gridlines in a matter of seconds.

For grid intersection placement, perform these steps:

Using this method will help ensure that all columns are accurately placed at the exact intersections of the grids. This will also ensure that the columns will properly be attached to the grids so that when the grids move, the columns will move with them. When columns are properly placed at grid intersections, they will continue to display in the Graphical Column Schedule (which we discuss later in this chapter).

If you have architectural columns modeled in your project, you can use them to place your structural columns. As shown in Figure 4.15, Revit Structure will place a structural column at the center of all architectural columns that you select. If this method of placement fits in with your modeling workflow, this can be a quick method of getting columns into your project.

For At Columns placement (which requires an architectural column to place a structural column), perform the following steps:

Figure 4.15. When you use the At Columns option, Revit Structure will place a structural column at the center of each architectural column that you select.

If you are using this method to place your columns and the architectural columns that you're selecting are from an outside client, make sure that architecturally the columns are accurately placed. Usually an architectural column will be in the form of a column surround, so when you place the structural column you place it within the surround. Communicating the behavior of the columns to those who created them will help achieve an accurate placement.

Some companies may use the structural linked model to display structural columns in their model, so this can be an excellent way to collaborate and keep your documents coordinated.

The style and justifications will react differently depending on the type of element and the material that you are attaching to. Concrete-to-concrete attachments will result in an automatic join in which neither the column nor the target will be cut. A steel column can cut to a steel beam, but a concrete column cannot. We encourage you to spend a few minutes playing around with the different style and justification types to see how they react with various material types and elements. Knowing these limits will help you put constraints in your model that will save you time further into your project. Figure 4.18 shows examples of various style and justification combinations.

Figure 4.18. Setting the proper attachment style and justification can eliminate tedious detail cleanup.

Revit Structure is capable of dealing with most of the requirements of how a structural column must perform. The tools provided to place structural columns into your project as well as help maintain their behavior with other elements work in sync with how you need to work with them when you are modeling. Placing a slanted column is one of those examples where Revit Structure offers tools specifically for modeling elements that are more specific to how they perform. Yes, placing a slanted column in many ways is similar to placing a vertical column; however, how it behaves and adapts to changes in the model can be quite different.

Some projects have several grid intersections with columns, which can make your schedules quite lengthy. For this reason, you can set the number of vertical rows to display in the schedule (Figure 4.29) before the schedule automatically splits into a new segment (it remains part of the same schedule). When you modify Column Locations per Segment, you are specifying the maximum number of vertical rows you want to display.

Select the option Group Similar Locations to combine columns that have the same (exact) information into the same vertical row (Figure 4.30). The Group Similar Locations option can also be used to change the properties of a group of structural columns all at once. This approach may be easier than selecting columns one-by-one and changing their properties.

Figure 4.28. Changing the properties of a Graphical Column Schedule

The Grid Appearance tab, shown in Figure 4.31, appears when you click the Edit button for the Grid Appearance parameter in the Instance Properties dialog box for the GCS. You may have to adjust the Horizontal Widths options of the vertical rows to accommodate level names that are too long to display legibly in the schedule. Perhaps you may have to widen the vertical rows where the graphics of the structural columns display to provide adequate room for text in tags.

You may also have to adjust two of the Vertical Heights options, Above Top Level and Below Bottom Level, when structural columns exceed the GCS's upper or lower boundaries. As Figure 4.32 shows, the columns in the GCS are shown at their modeled size and length when a column is dropped well below Level 1 for a utility pipe.

The last setting in the Vertical Height options is called Between Segments. Use it to set the dimensions between columns that are broken up into multiple segments, as shown in Figure 4.29. Breaking them into multiple segments will shorten the overall width, thus allowing you to put more than one schedule on a sheet while keeping all information inside one schedule.

Figure 4.29. A GCS split into five segments with a vertical height between them of 1/2″

Figure 4.30. A GCS with Group Similar Locations checked can eliminate redundant cell values.

Figure 4.31. Setting the grid appearance of the GCS

The Text Appearance tab, shown in Figure 4.33, appears when you click the Edit button for the Text Appearance parameter in the Instance Properties dialog box for the GCS. You have seen several images in previous sections that show ways you can display the line work and column information for a GCS. Here you can also make changes to the automatic text that Revit Structure displays in the schedule.

Another way to fit level names that are too long to display legibly in the vertical level row of the GCS is to adjust the text's Width Factor value. When you are grouping similar columns, you can also do this in the Column Location field. This allows you to fit more grid intersections in the box without having to adjust the width of the grid intersection location row. You can set other text formats, such as bold, italic, and underline, to help achieve the look you want.

Figure 4.32. When columns exceed the segment's lower bounds of the GCS, adjust the vertical height of the Below Bottom Level value in the properties of the GCS.

Figure 4.33. Setting the text appearance of the GCS

Clicking the Edit button of the Hidden Levels option in the Instance Properties dialog box of a GCS takes you to the Levels Hidden in Graphical Column Schedules dialog box, shown in Figure 4.34. Here you can turn off the display of a level by clicking its check box. All levels will appear in the schedule regardless of their 3D extents. For example, if you have created levels in your project for the sole purpose of tying together geometry or have levels for both top of slab and steel, select these levels so that Revit Structure will hide them in the GCS.

Figure 4.34. Selecting levels you want to hide in the Graphical Column Schedule

By default, Revit Structure displays the lowest (bottom) and highest (top) levels in the GCS. You can modify the Bottom Level and Top Level settings to display only columns between a specific set of levels.

For example, suppose you have all the columns modeled on your project and you have to issue a Foundation package. You want to include structural column information for only the first lift of columns to obtain dowel reinforcing or anchor rod information. Set Bottom Level to Level 1 and Top Level to Level 2. With these settings, the GCS will show only column information for columns between Levels 1 and 2. When the next issue comes and you need to include the additional column information, you can change the Top Level setting back to the default.

Here's another example: Suppose you want to schedule only the penthouse columns on Level 10. To do so, set Bottom Level to Level 10 and Top Level to Penthouse Roof.

The Column Locations Start and End options work in a similar way to the Top Level and Bottom Level settings, except that they use the grid intersections. You can specify a grid intersection to start from and one to end with.

For example, suppose you have three zones, Zone A, Zone B, and Zone C, and you want to separate your GCS into three different zone-specific schedules. This separation helps anyone reading the documents to easily find the grid intersection. For each GCS, set the Column Locations Start and End options to show only the extent of grid intersections for each particular zone.

Once you have the overall look of the GCS in place and you have it set up the way you want, you can move on to adding annotations to display structural column properties that you need for documentation or to put information into the model.

Most of the parameters that you tag are either project or shared parameters. When creating such parameters, you must specify Instance or Type. You establish each parameter depending on the type of project and the various stages of packages you need to issue.

Figure 4.35 shows a typical steel column, which can display information such as the following:

Figure 4.36 shows a typical concrete column, which can display information such as this:

You add text parameters for this information to the structural column families. Tag families are created with labels that pull the required information from the properties of the columns to be displayed in the GCS. You can combine multiple labels inside one tag as well as add a prefix and/or suffix to the information that is being display. For example, within the properties of the column you can specify an anchor rod's information and its embedment as two separate parameters. The value for the embedment can only read 0′-9″. When you create the label, you can string the two parameters together with a suffix so it all reads continuously on one line as 4 - 3/4″ DIA (0′-9″ EMBED). The same method can be applied for information in concrete columns such as VERTICAL and OC TIES. It is not necessary to call this out in the parameter value when it is already mentioned in the parameter name. Build it directly into the tag.

You can add spot elevations to the GCS by selecting the Annotate tab on the Ribbon and choosing Spot Elevation from the Dimension panel. As Figure 4.37 shows, not only can you use spot elevations to indicate the top and bottom elevations of columns and any other elevations that you need for documentation, but you can also use them to help control the placement of the column geometry in the model. A GCS you create simply to help control the placement of the column geometry and serve as a model consistency check can be maintained easily.

Figure 4.37. Using spot elevations in a GCS can help you annotate live information from the modeled geometry.

You know that Revit Structure displays symbolic symbols for steel shapes and their connection types in other views when they are set to a coarse detail level; the GCS does the same thing. Chapter 2 describes in great depth how Revit Structure controls these symbols for a structural column and how to create new ones as well as set their display for a project. Since structural steel is usually shown with single symbolic line work, these symbols are available only when you're working with steel shapes or families that have Structural Material set to Steel. If available for a structural column, these symbols can be found in the Graphics group of the column's properties. Making use of their display in the GCS will put the finishing touches on a well-displayed and well-documented schedule.

Modeling Base Plates

Revit Structure offers families for placing base plates as modeled geometry into your project. You can load these families from the Imperial LibraryStructuralConnections folder. These families are face based and are part of the Structural Connection category. We attempt to take these families to the next level so we can schedule them and so they can serve as an interference check for the architect when plates and bolts tend to project outside a wall or column enclosure.

We continue to experiment with placing base plates as modeled geometry in each project, along with using text-based parameters in schedules for our documentation. Typically each new version lets us take this concept a bit further. Modeling base plates is probably not a wise approach for all your projects, so do it selectively. Keep in mind that modeling this amount of detail in a large project can decrease the performance of the model. We feel that eventually the software will catch up to this level of detail, so we are trying to dig in at whatever level we can to keep the BIM method of thinking going.

For example, we decided to develop anchor rod and a base plate families and set each as shared in the properties. We nested the new families inside the base plate connection family so that we can place them into a project as base plate connections. Since we specified these families as shared, they show up as individual families under Structural Connections in the Project Browser, as shown here. Therefore, we can easily duplicate them and create new sizes as needed.

In the base plate connection family, we can select the anchor rod and base plate types (using a Family Type parameter) to create base plate connection types, which we can then schedule. These families eventually can become attached to columns when we place them into a project. Here is the overall look of the concept.

This is now a pretty advanced family and reacts well when properties of the elements change. When the anchor rod size changes, the grout changes with it, and the holes in the base plate change in size accordingly. Also, when the base plate changes size, the anchor rods and its components change with it. Visibility and subcategories are also assigned to the different components. This way, only the base plate displays at the medium detail level; everything shows up at the fine detail level. We can turn off components in the Visibility/Graphic Overrides dialog box of the view from the subcategory setup.

We continue to look at this concept, and the process still has a few kinks we need to work out. A few questions come up. For example, should this base plate, grout, and anchor rod be part of the column family, or should it be a stand-alone connection as it currently is? What happens when there are more than four anchor rods? We hope that the ability to push the limits of Revit Structure in this way will eventually become part of the GCS.

Revit Structure gives you the ability to display only those columns that are on grids or those that are offset, and it still gives those columns a location mark based on the grid names that are intersecting them. Revit Structure creates the location marks automatically using a set of rules. In some cases, the program tries to be flexible in allowing you to choose what is displayed. After determining the best grid to reference, Revit Structure displays this value in the properties of the columns, under the Constraints group in the Column Location Mark parameter. If more than one grid can be referenced to the offset column, Revit Structure allows you to select which column location mark you want to display. Figures 4.38 and 4.39 show that the read-only behavior of this parameter changes depending on where the column is located.

Figure 4.38. The Column Location Mark parameter sometimes displays as a read-only value.

Automatically scheduling offset columns, determining their location mark, and giving the user a bit of flexibility can be complex. You may have to resort to other methods to get the GCS to perform the way you want it to.

Automatic Scheduling of Off-Grid Columns

In the properties of a GCS, you can choose Include Off-Grid Columns. With this option checked, all columns—regardless of their placement on a grid—should be placed in the GCS as long as the 3D extents of the grids cross the horizontal and vertical planes of the column(s). Revit Structure will continue to give the offset column a location mark referencing the closest grid intersection based on a set of calculations.

Figure 4.40 shows that if an offset column's bounding box (the extent of its geometry) intersects or its edges touch a grid, its location mark will reference the closest grid intersection.

Figure 4.39. The Column Location Mark parameter's read-only behavior is sometimes removed to allow you to select a different location mark.

Figure 4.40. Offset columns with a bounding box intersecting the grid have a normal location mark.

Figure 4.41 shows that if an offset column's bounding box (the extent of its geometry) does not intersect or its edges do not touch a grid, its location mark will reference the closest grid intersection, with an added annotation indicating the offset from the referenced grid.

Figure 4.41. Offset columns with a bounding box not intersecting the grid are noted with an added dimension in the location mark.

Also included in the properties of the GCS is a setting called Off-Grid Units Format. This setting, which behaves just like any other unit format override (similar to dimensions), is located just below the Include Off-Grid Columns parameter. This override allows you to have some control over the display of the offset dimension value that is placed after the grid mark in the Column Locations row.

What Determines the Offset Column Location Mark?

Revit Structure calculates which grids the offset column is closest to and assigns to the column those grids for a location mark. To learn about these calculations, in Revit Structure's Help guides search for "Determining off-grid column location marks."

How the GCS displays and annotates offset columns may not be to everyone's liking. Remember that a simple rotation or size modification of an offset column can change what gets displayed for its Column Location in the GCS. An offset column is not necessarily denoted as being offset. To avoid this behavior, sometimes a quick duplication and modification to an already created structural column family will do the trick. If that doesn't quite work, you might want to try creating extra grids that will keep the column on a grid intersection. Any of these methods will work, but you will have to decide which one is best for each particular project.

Modifying the Family

In this first method we'll discuss how you make a few quick edits to an existing column family (or if you are creating your own family, keep these edits in mind). In short, you will make changes to the column family that allow Revit Structure to shift what it considers the center of the column. Make sure that you are not making changes to the normal structural column family, but that you save this family under a different name using a suffix of -Offset or something similar. One of the rules for displaying a structural column in a GCS is that it must be centered on a grid intersection (unless you have the Include Off-Grid Columns parameter checked). We'll make a few quick edits to a duplicated structural column family so it has instance parameters to adjust the location of the Center (Left/Right) and Center (Front/Back) reference planes inside the structural column family. The basic procedure looks like this:

1. Edit or open a column family that will be uniquely named for its offset behavior.

2. While in the floor plan view: Lower Ref. Level, create new reference planes parallel to both of the Center (Left/Right) and Center (Front/Back) reference planes.

   You can find these reference planes by viewing their properties and looking at the Is Reference value. These reference planes should currently be placed at the center of the column.

3. In the properties of the new reference planes, reassign the Is Reference values to the appropriate center name in the pull-down menu and select the Defines Origin check box.

   This step will automatically set the old reference planes located at the center of the column to Not a Reference and set the origin of the column to the new reference planes' intersections.

4. Place a dimension between both of the reference planes, as shown in Figure 4.42, and add an Instance parameter label to them defining the column offset.

After loading the family into the project, you can use your new family when you want to display an offset column. Just make sure that you are placing the column so the reference planes in the family that are defined as the origin are located on the grids that create the intersection. If using this method is not feasible, consider using another grid type as a centerline and using a unique grid name mark to display in the GCS.

Figure 4.42. Redefining the column centerline reference planes and origin in a structural column family

Why the Workaround?

Revit Structure automatically schedules offset columns in the GCS. You also have the option to not display the offset columns in the schedule. But like anything else, there will be cases where Revit Structure's automatic methods do not perform to your standards. In such cases, you can resort to other workarounds that go beyond the current capabilities of Revit Structure.

Using a Grid as a Centerline

In our next example, you create a new grid type by duplicating your standard one and naming it something like Centerline. Set its Type Parameter: Symbol value to None so you will see the gridline only when you place it in your project. Assign a color to it so it stands out from your normal grid when viewing it on screen. Place your offset columns on this grid line. Since it is still a grid, you will have to give it a name and set its 3D extents. If the grid you want to associate it to is named Grid C-2 and its offset is from Grid C, then you could name the Centerline C* or something similar. It would then show up in the GCS as C*-2, as shown in Figure 4.43.

You can add a note to the bottom of the schedule that states something like this: "Columns shown in schedule with '*' after the grid name indicates columns that have been offset from a grid. See plan for offset dimension." This approach allows you to see the offset centerline in all views because it behaves as a grid; since the grid type is not assigned a symbol, the bubbles will not display either. An offset column usually needs a centerline to denote its offset dimension, which makes this method easy because you don't have to place a separate detail line in every view in which you need to show the column.

Figure 4.43. Creating a new grid type along with a unique grid name to schedule offset columns

Why Are Some Columns Missing in My GCS?

There are times when a column appears to be on a grid intersection but doesn't appear in the GCS. Even if a column isn't on a grid, it should at least show up if you've selected Include Off-Grid Columns in the properties. If this is the case, you might want to check the 3D extents of the grids. In order for a column to be referenced to a grid intersection, at least two intersecting grids' 3D extents must cross the column's plane. The 3D extents might cross in the horizontal (plan) direction but might not be pulled high or low enough to intersect its plane in the vertical direction. It could also be the other way around.

Remember, grids have a 2D extent and a 3D extent. The 2D extent is specific to the view in which it is being displayed. This sometimes makes it misleading in looking like the grid is intersecting the column. Cut a couple of quick sections that look perpendicular to the grids that are intersecting to see if this is the problem. In order to see the grid you must be cutting a section that is directly perpendicular to the grid, and its 3D extents must be in your view extents. You may have to cut several sections before you can actually see the grid.

If you go through all of the motions, everything checks out, and you still can't figure out why your columns are not showing up in the GCS, you should also check the Column Style setting in the column's Instance parameters. This setting may have been switched to a slanted style, which does not allow the column to be scheduled. A column can still be modeled vertical while being set to a slanted style as well.

Earlier we discussed setting the Structural Material property for a structural column family. Not only does this setting dictate how members frame to the column or how it displays in views, but it can be used to display or not display columns in the GCS. To use the Structural Material property to display columns in a GCS, first open the GCS's Element Properties dialog box. Under the group Other, you will find an Edit button. Click this button to open the dialog box shown in Figure 4.44. By default, Revit Structure has all five material types checked. Deselect any you don't want to include in that GCS.

This method of displaying columns can be useful when you have certain columns with material types that you don't want to appear in the GCS. Maybe you have a few wood columns scattered throughout a project or a concrete structure that has a few steel columns that will be scheduled in a Basic Schedule. Deselecting those structural material types will remove them from the schedule.

Figure 4.44. You can remove columns from the GCS based on their structural material type.

If you want only a portion of those steel, wood, or concrete columns removed, you will have to apply phasing or some additional filters to remove them in a more selective way.

Applying phases to a GCS works the same way that it does when applying them to other views. The GCS provides a phase and a phase filter that you can apply to help drive which columns will be displayed. We'll discuss phases in much greater depth in Chapter 16. The same methods and procedures discussed in that chapter can be applied to the GCS.

You can use phases to help control the visibility of existing columns in the GCS. This is probably the easiest way to remove them from the schedule (as long as you are assigning these elements to the Existing phase by setting the Phase Created parameter to Existing). Follow these steps:

You can use phases to display columns in the GCS depending on the project stage. You may even create schedules just to see how columns are modeled or to reveal the various stages at which they will be issued. When using phasing does not quite get you 100 percent satisfaction, you can apply filters, as you'll see next.

Filters let you be a bit more selective in determining what columns show up in the GCS and—in some cases—how they display inside it. Filters can be a selection of elements that you save or a set of rules that you put in place to determine what is put into a selection set as your model progresses. Figure 4.45 shows a Define Criteria filter called Do Not Schedule that does the following: It finds all the project elements from the Structural Columns category, and if the value of an element's Comments parameter equals Do Not Schedule, then that element becomes part of the selection set. As this parameter value changes, columns continue to be added or removed from the selection set that the filter creates. This can be a much better method than just saving a selection set and manually having to add and remove elements as they are modeled in your project.

Figure 4.45. Using a Defined Criteria filter allows you to selectively display columns in a GCS.

After your filter is created, you will have to apply it to the GCS view using the Visibility/Graphic Overrides dialog box.

To make a Selection Set filter, perform the following steps:

Then you have to apply this filter to a view in the Visibility/Graphic Overrides dialog box.

To create a Defined Criteria filter (which is rule-based), follow these steps:

After you save your filter, you can add or remove elements or change the filter rules (choose the View tab

To apply a filter to a GCS view, perform these steps:

Filters can be powerful tools for developing GCSs that will help you document your model. In some cases, you can use existing parameters such as the Comments field, or you may need to create your own. Filters can be used to help create separate GCSs for zones of a building.

Adding a parameter called Scheduled Zone will allow you to give each structural column a property indicating the zone the column belongs to. You can use a filter to select only those columns in a particular zone. Each time you create a GCS, those filters are applied to show only the columns for a particular zone.

Adding a parameter called Column Usage will allow you to give each structural column a property explaining its purpose in your project. Maybe the column is being used as a pier, or a hanger, or even a smaller post, and you don't want it to show up in the GCS because it will be scheduled with a different method. You can apply such values as Pier, Hanger, or Post and use filters to prevent those columns from displaying in your GCS.

As you can see, the possibilities of using filters in the GCS are endless. They can give you the freedom you need to produce great-looking column schedules. You can take advantage of filters in any other view throughout a project using the same procedures and methods. When used properly, filters are a great way to add flexibility when producing your documentation.