Filters and revit performance

Firstly, sorry if I'm posting too many threads. I notice that there is not much activity in the Revit section. I've been learning a lot lately and I feel like if someone would post questions, I just might be able to help for once.

 

I've been looking into creating new conduit types and filters to change color/hide systems. So far I created one for our Data - Main conduit; I followed this video for the most part:

. Before I started making 4-5 more of these I wanted it know if there is anything I should know about filters. Will having 4-5 filters per view slow down Revit while moving around a view? Is there a better way to change color of conduit systems and hide them quickly. Currently we're simply selecting stuff and hiding the element in view. We started adding more systems to the model and I feel like "hide element in view" is going to be time consuming and cumbersome. I'm thinking we could also use worksets to divide data and power but I don't think we want to do that for sub-systems like emergency, UPS, ect.

No need to apologize. CADTutor.net is a great place to get both superior AutoCAD support and beginner/intermediate Revit support under one roof, instead of using multiple sites for inquiries. Me and Rob are the resident Revit users that answer questions consistently and we're both fine with that.

 

First off, regarding Filters, there is one thing you do need to know that many people don't know up front. The #1 rule of Filters is, the order matters. This is why Move Up and Move Down buttons appear in the Filters dialog. The top Filter takes precedence. Keep this in mind if you ever see quirky visuals happening when Filters are applied, or if you ever need to "stack Filters" to combine them to enhance your visibility control.

 

Second, Filters do not affect performance in and of itself, but can indirectly affect performance. For instance, if you apply a Filter with transparency and Solid Fill settings, with a bold dash dot linetype, this taxes the regen in a View so performance can be affected. But simply applying a Filter does nothing to performance. In fact you can use Filters to help performance. For instance, I have a Filter named "All" and it literally has all categories checked and no criteria applied. I'll add it to 3D Views and change the lineweight only, and it is set to 1, which simulates "Thin Lines" mode and knocks out the thickened lineweight silhouettes which is known to hinder Revit's regen performance.

 

Filters are great, but takes time to become efficient with them. My advice is to push through the apparent inefficiency and one day it'll "click" and you'll never live without them. Be sure to transfer your Filters into a Template after each job. I always find myself creating new intuitive Filters and it's great to save them for the next project.

 

Worksets. The thing about Worksets is this: never use them as a first approach "simply" for visibility control. Now, hear what I'm telling you... I'm not saying never use them for visibility control, because the beauty of Worksets is in fact the visibility control. I'm saying don't use them as a FIRST approach for visibility control. Use them for the intended purpose which is to organize and control the project better. So if you want to divide your electrical systems into Power and Lighting, then great... set up some Worksets and run with it. Use Show and Hide in the respective Views to keep Conduits and Electrical Categories visible, hidden or Filtered in the ways that best suit your office's standards. Just never say to yourself "I want to hide this stuff in another View so I'll make a Workset". Never, ever create Worksets "just" for Visibility. Use Filters.

 

End note: You can also explore Materials for coloring things, such as Conduits. What's great about Materials is that it is a project override so you don't have to mess with Filters for each View, and the colors will transfer over to Navisworks. Just a thought, but try both Filters and Materials and see which one works best for you.

 

-TZ

Edited April 18, 2015 by tzframpton
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