True 3D RCP View of a Stair in Revit

I was asked recently if there could be a way to show a true reflected ceiling plan (RCP) of a stair in Revit.  If you set up a conventional RCP view in Revit, it will display the underside of a stair above as if it has a smooth sloping soffit regardless of the construction.  A steel of timber stair will look just like a monolithic stair above - it shows the outline of each run and landing plus any supports, but no back of riser lines.  It makes no difference changing the view discipline to 'Structural'.

You can check which subcategories it is displaying by changing the view overrides:
<Above> Outlines   and   <Above>Supports

 

For more info, refer to Stair Subcategory Visibility

For a metal or timber stair, you would expect to see the undersides of the risers;  a precast stair might be the same.

Workaround

There is a way to achieve this, but of course it is a workaround that has several downsides.  What you need to do is create a plan callout of the stair, but it must be made as a detail view.  For more information on the downsides, refer to Detail Plan Callout Views.

When you create a callout from a floor plan view, you have a choice of making it a detail or a floor plan view. 

These behave very differently and are not interchangeable, so you need to choose the right one from the start.  Normally I would strongly advise to never use a Detail Plan View callout, but this is one exception to that advice - so go ahead and create a Detail Plan view.

 When you go to the callout view, it shows a true 3D representation of the stair, without any cutlines or representations of what is above.  It also cannot host a stair path arrow (amongst other things).

Detail View plan callout of a stair

This callout view can be converted to a reflected ceiling plan view by following a few steps:

• Select the callout and change its properties:
• Show In = Intersecting Views

 

• Parent View = <none>

 

• Far Clipping = Clip without Line
• Far Clip Offset = a suitable view range distance to see the whole stair

• Go to a section view that cuts through the plan callout
• You should see the callout as a horizontal section line (if not, check its extents to see it is withing the section extents) - select it

• Click on the 'Flip Section' double arrow symbol - it should now be looking upwards

• Go to the callout view, and it should be a reflected ceiling plan

RCP Detail callout view

The subcategory display of this will be quite different from a normal RCP view - refer to Showing Concrete Stairs under tread finishes

The riser lines will be controlled by the 'Treads/Risers' subcategory.  The Nosing Lines and Riser Lines subcategories will not affect this kind of view.

I would only recommend using this workaround for detailed RCP views of stairs.  I would not use it on an overall RCP of the whole floor - I would accept the fact that undersides of risers will not display on the overall.

 Stairs index page

RTC Europe 2015 - Revit goes to Budapest

Danube from Pest Castle

RTC Europe is over for another year. The 'Revit Technology Conference' concept is broadening its horizons - it is now all about BIM, not exclusively Revit. This year the event was held in Budapest - the home of Archicad.  Graphisoft were very much in evidence at the event, what with sponsorship and organising tours and competitions.  I think this is a very healthy thing for the industry.  Autodesk and Revit need some effective competition otherwise they will stagnate.

As always, I learned a few more tricks about Revit - in fact quite a few more than normal this time, so this was a very fruitful conference.  We also saw a number of interesting new products on show, such as Enscape, Fuzor and Avail, along with established ones like the Ideate Revit add-ins and CAD Learning - the latter were doing a wonderful job of organising free Revit certification at the conference.

Corinthia Hotel, Budapest

What a spectacular venue for a conference:

Corinthia Hotel Atrium

Stairway to RTC, Corinthia Hotel

Grand ballroom, Corinthia Hotel - main RTC venue

Site Visit to Graphisoft Park

The day before the conference started, a few people went on a tour of Graphisoft Park, outside the centre of Budapest.  We had a guided tour around the technology park set up by the owners of Graphisoft in order to create a good working environment for the Archicad programmers (amongst others).  The park was created on the site of old gasworks, and some of the old buildings were refurbished.

Gasworks Towers at Graphisoft Park

Graphisoft Park, Budapest

Graphisoft Headquarters, Budapest

Original specs on first Mac used for Archicad

Pecha Kucha

This sounds like a Hungarian invention but was actually started in Japan - it is a presentation competition.  Each competitor has 20 Powerpoint slides and 20 seconds to speak on each one.  The inaugural Pecha Kucha event at RTC, sponsored by Graphisoft, was won by Joe Banks of Brisbane, Australia - that means free attendance for him at the next European RTC in Porto, Portugal in October 2016.

Shopping in Budapest

Knockdown sale on Vasari?

Retro mobile phone shop

Revit filter operators - Why Not Or?

Google search logo on 1st November 2015

Google can do it . . . .


So, Why Oh Why (YOY) can't Revit allow 'OR' operators in view and schedule filters?

Revit and and and and and and . . . .

Revit Schedule filter operators

Revit view filters operators