Copy Revit Model View Contents

Following on from my previous post on copying sheets between Revit projects, I figured out another tip that might be useful when copying views in Revit - this was prompted by a question about how to copy a 3D view and its contents.  This is a tricky workaround, but could be useful in some situations.

Copy View Contents

If you want to copy a 3D view or any model view for that matter, I have previously described how to do it here.  But supposing you want to copy the contents of that view too?

What you need to do is to save out the view as a Revit project, then insert it into the project that you want to copy it to.

You might try to use the official Revit command for saving a view - its in the Revit menu

But it is very clunky to use for two reasons (hint: if you are in a hurry, skip to 'Shortcut' below):

1. It is really, really slow to open the cascading menus
2. You have to be very dextrous and patient to get at the command - first click on 'Save As', then wait about half an hour, oh, I mean second;  then click on (or hover over) library; wait again; then move the mouse in the opposite direction to the little arrow pointing to the right, and choose 'View'

• At the top of the Save As menu it claims that this can be used to save out ANY view.

• Well, it simply is not true:  it does not seem to like saving 3D views.  And the list of model views can be very limited - it only a few model views are listed

• Eventually I figured out that it only list orthographic views with annotation on them 

• And it still won't allow you to save out a 3D view even if you lock it and annotate it.  Very frustrating!
• And it won't list a dependent view either, even if annotated
• Oh, I forgot to mention that the 'View' part of Save As will be greyed out if you try to access it in the middle of doing something else.  First you have to cancel that command, then try again.
• During beta testing of the new ribbon back in v2010, we all told Autodesk how bad this part of the menu was, but it has never been fixed 7 years later.
• Why would you bother to use this method, when there is a much quicker way?  Its your choice:

Shortcut

1.   Why not try the right-click menu in the project browser instead?

• If you right-click on a plan view or an elevation/section, it will give you an option to 'Save View'

• But, only if the view is annotated, otherwise it will be greyed out
• A 3D view will also be greyed out

 

• BUT, right-click on a sheet, and the 'Save to New File' option will be available.

• So, all you need to do is place a 3D view onto a blank sheet, and it will let you save it out as a new Revit project file.  This will be a very lean file with only elements visible in the 3D view, plus anything hosted in the elements - like doors and windows (even if not visible);  curiously it also takes Revit linked files with it, even if they are not visible in the view (another Revit glitch)

2.  Select the view crop boundary of the 3D view (or camera if it is a perspective)
3.  Then go to the other project that you want to copy the view and elements to
4.  Paste the view/camera into the project
5.  A separate operation is required to import the elements in the view:  you need to insert the elements as a group, by one of two methods

a). Load as Group

• From the Insert tab on the ribbon, 'Load as Group'

•  Locate the file that you previously saved out.  Revit will default to looking for a project file (RVT), even though it can also load a 'Group' file

• When loading a Group, it will not give you an option to place it in a specific location so you would need to place it then move as appropriate

If precision location is important, use method b):

b). Insert Revit Link

• Link the Revit file using Origin to Origin, or whichever means you need to get the precise location
• Select the linked file, and you get an option to 'Bind Link'

• This will convert the link to a group
• Then you can ungroup it to achieve the same status as in the original project

As I said, it is a little laborious but it should do the job.

Postscript

Michael Dunn has pointed out that this method transfers more hidden objects than I thought - not only does it export Revit links that are not visible in the export view (as I stated above), but it also exports hidden phases.  There could be other hidden elements exported when you 'Save As', so you'd best check the exported file before importing it to another project.

Links for Copying Sheets & Views

Copying views between Revit projects
Copying Sheets between Projects
Duplicating Views with Linework Overrides (within projects)

Copying Views Between Revit Projects

I figured out how to copy perspective views between Revit projects a few years back.  I see that this topic has been addressed in various blogs and forum posts, but maybe not comprehensively, so I reckon its worth putting it all in one place for reference.

There are several methods to copy views, depending on what view type and where you are in the project browser.

• Copying a view between projects is quite different from using the 'Duplicate' command because that command only works within a project.

• Selecting a view in the project browser does not generally allow you to copy it - the copy icon is not available, nor is there a 'Copy' option when you right-click on a view name (Drafting views and schedules are the exception).
• Copying views between projects does not usually copy associated annotation objects, with the exception of drafting views.  Annotation has to be selected and copied separately after the view is copied.
• None of the following methods will work between different Revit sessions - however, I see no reason why anyone should open more than one Revit session anyway.

Copying Drafting Views & Schedules

Drafting and schedule views can be copied from one project to another by two methods:
Method A - Copy & Paste

• Select a drafting view or schedule in the project browser
• Right-click and choose 'Copy to Clipboard'

 

• Go to the other project
• 'Paste' from Clipboard

• Regardless of where the focus is (Project Browser or canvas), it will paste the view into the other project

Method B
You only need to open the project to be copied into, and use the 'Insert from File' command

• Then select the project that you want to copy views from - it will list allowable view types, and even preview them.

• It will also allow you to copy sheets that have only drafting or schedule views on those sheets.
• As soon as sheets have other view types on them (including legends), it will not even list them in the Insert Views dialog box

 Method C

• If a drafting view that you have copied by method A or B contains callouts to other drafting views, they will be copied across into your project, even if they are not on the sheet (in the case of inserted sheets) - and the callouts will link correctly.  
• NB. this does not occur when drafting view callouts are contained on other views types that are copied (sections, detail or plan views etc).
• If you try to copy a plan or section by selecting its view crop boundary, you can also select a drafting view callout on that view - it will also be copied to clipboard.  However, when you paste the view, it will bring along the callout but disassociate it from the drafting view (which it does not copy across).

Copying 3D Views (isometric or perspective)

Copy Method 1.
If you have a 3D view open, you can select the view crop boundary, then right-click and copy or else use the copy to clipboard icon from the ribbon.

 

Copy Method 2.
If you have another view open, you can find the view name (to be copied) in the project browser, then right-click on it and select 'Show Camera'

It will show the camera definition of the selected 3D view (be it isometric or perspective)

 

Then you can copy to clipboard

Paste Method 1
If you are in a plan view in another project, all you need to do is 'Paste Aligned to Current View' and the identical 3D view definition will be created in the same location.

Paste Method 2

• If you are in a 3D view in another project, when you try to paste the 3D view it will not give you the option to paste to the current location.  
• You have to paste to a Selected level (choose the appropriate one);  
• if you try to 'Paste from Clipboard' you will not be able to get the view into exactly the same location as it was in the first project - so that is not recommended.

Copying Plan Views

You can use the same method (1) for copying plan views between projects:

1. Select the view crop boundary of the plan view, 
2. copy to clipboard
3. Go to the other project
4. Paste - Aligned to Current View or to Selected Level

• If you paste to Current View, it will create a new plan view associated to the same level as the current view;  if the original associated level name exists in the new project it may be named 'Temp.Level 1' regardless of the associated level or the original name;  if you paste again, it will create a new plan view named 'Temp.Level 2' 
• If you paste to Selected Level, it will create a new view associated to that level - again named 'Temp.Level 1' (or the next number in sequence), not the actual level number.

• It will not copy associated annotation from the original view, unless you select those at the same time as the view crop boundary
• It will copy most view properties of the original view, but not an associated View Template, even if that same view template exists in both projects.

Copying Section Views

You can copy a section view easily by selecting the section marker in plan (or the section view crop boundary in the section view itself)

• When you paste the section into another project you need to remember to go to the same level it was copied from before pasting to Current View (or Selected Level) otherwise the heights will be different.
• Section view properties will be copied, with the exception of assigned view templates.

Copying Elevation Views

You can copy an elevation view either by selecting the elevation marker or the individual elevation itself;  if you copy the whole marker it will include associated elevation views

 

Copying Area Plan Views

You can copy Area Plans by selecting their view crop boundary.

• When you paste them, they may retain the view name - if the associated level from the view in the original project does not exist in the new project; otherwise it will rename to a temp view name.
• You can paste them to multiple selected levels, in which case the views are renamed with a number suffix, which do not relate to the levels that they become associated with - so you need to rename them

Copying Detail Views & Callouts

• You can select a callout from a plan, section or elevation view, then Copy to Clipboard

• Alternatively you can select the view crop boundary and right-click to copy it
• You can then go to the recipient project and paste Aligned to Current View or to Selected Views or Same Place (but not to Selected Levels)

• The detail view will be created and a callout placed on the view that you selected;  if a detail view of that name already exists it will rename the new one with the next number suffix.

Copying Legend Views

I have not found a way to copy legend views between projects - legend views do not allow view crop boundaries.  So, what you need to do is to create a new legend view in the project, then copy and paste all the annotation objects from the original legend view in the other project.

Make sure that your new legend view is the same scale as the original, otherwise text and symbol size will appear to change.

Copying View Templates

View templates have to be copied by a totally different method:

• Open both the projects that you want to copy from (donor) and to (recipient)
• In the recipient project, go to 'Manage' 'Transfer Project Standards'

• Click on 'Check None' to deselect all items in the list
• Select View Templates

• Click OK to proceed - it will copy all view templates from the donor project into your active project - you have no choice in the matter.
• NB. If you want to copy only a few view templates, you could create a new intermediate project;  import all view templates into that; remove the ones you don't want from the intermediate project; then transfer the remaining ones from the intermediate project into the recipient project.
• When you copy views from one project to another, it copies most view properties, but not assigned view templates.  In that situation, you would need to transfer the view templates separately (as described above), then manually reassign to each copied view.

More on Copying Sheets and Views

Refer to this link to find out how to copy sheets between projects
Also Copying contents of 3D views between Projects
and  Duplicating Views with Linework Overrides (within projects)

Please add a comment if you know more or better ways to copy views between projects.