Revit's Most Hidden Commands (part 5) - Selection Locks

The title of this post is somewhat ironic - because the command in question is right there on screen, all the time in Revit.  However, it is remarkable how many Revit users never see it and don't know what it does.

I'm talking about the Selection Locks at the bottom right of the screen, in particular the one called "Drag Elements on Selection". 

It used to be called 'Press + Drag'.  I didn't like it then, and I don't like it now.

In the words of Captain BIMCad, it is the "Little Button of Evil".  I am glad that someone else considers this little icon to be the bane of Revit Users lives.

It is astonishing how many Revit users do not have this set correctly - unfortunately the default out of the box Revit setting is wrong.    Just Plain Wrong!   Downright Evil!

The correct setting is for the little evil icon to have a red cross on it so that users cannot select and move an element with one mouse movement - something that is all too easy when trying to make a multiple selection by dragging the mouse.  When  "Drag Elements on Selection" is disabled, the user would have to select an element, let go of the mouse button then click and move again - that is a more definite action that is unlikely to be done by mistake.

To solve this once and for all, you need to have a BIM manager that sets this properly in your Revit.ini file, and an IT team who understand how to roll out Revit.ini files to all users (that is a challenge in itself).  The fall back position is to manually check (and change) the setting on every computer in your office, for every user profile, including whenever a new person joins the company.

The other selection locks are extremely useful, but cause endless confusion because most users just don't see what is right in front of them.  The same settings are also available from a drop-down menu below the selection icon at the far left of the ribbon.

It is really important that everyone makes the best use of these, so that you can avoid accidentally selecting things like underlays, linked files and pinned elements.  Obviously you just disengage the locks when you do need to select any of those elements.  and remember to re-engage the locks afterwards.  But never, ever disengage the 'Drag Elements on Selection' lock - it should always have a red cross on the evil icon, and not be ticked/checked in the drop-down menu list.

Selecting Individual Components Within a Revit Repeater

Repeaters in Revit are made up of an array of adaptive components that have been placed on one or more nodes of divided path/surfaces, and then arrayed using the Repeat command.  This can only be done within the Conceptual Massing Environment (CME) or the "Point World" as Andy Milburn refers to it - this means that it could be done in an external mass or adaptive family, or within an In-Place Mass family in a project. 

Once a repeater is created, Revit treats it as a single object, but you can also select individual components within the repeater. When you try to select a component, Revit will always go for the whole repeater by preference, and it can be tricky to actually select a number of individual components.  Here are some notes on the curious inconsistencies between different situations, and some hints on how to make the process easier.

Select Components Within a Repeater

• You can hover the cursor over a component and press the TAB key to highlight it, before selecting it.  This is a standard Revit technique but it is not as easy as usual, particularly if you try to select more than one component - after picking the first component, when you press the Tab key it often highlights an element within the adaptive component or even a different component to the one that the cursor is on.
• You cannot select components inside a repeater by dragging the cursor around them.
• There is no command for selecting all the components in one row or column on the repeater.  It would be really useful if there was a method somewhat like selecting mullions on a curtain wall.
• You can use the "Select All Instances" command by right-clicking on a selected component within a repeater - but it has some limitations (see next section):

Select All Instances

Different rules again, that you need to learn:

• In the external mass family editor, you can right-click on a selected component within a repeater to pick all instances in the view or family.  This means that you could select and change multiple instances - particularly useful for resetting all back to the default family type.

• In a project, In-Place mass (edit mode) - If you select one of components in the repeater, then right-click, both Select All Instances options are greyed out - this is seriously restrictive as this would be the most useful situation to be able to change multiple instances, particularly by view.  

 

• In-Place mass (edit mode) - If you select the family type from the Project Browser, then Select All Instances you get different results, depending on what you try to do:
• • If you select a type that has been used in the active mass family, then Select All Instances Visible in View will be available - however, it just selects the whole repeater as a single entity (not the components within it) 
   
   
  • If you select a type that has not been used in the active mass family, then Select All Instances Visible in View will not be available
  
   
  • Select All Instances in Entire Project will be available whichever type you select - and it does select individual components. However, it will also select instances outside of the active mass in the project - seriously restricting what you can do
  
   
  • None of the element properties are available - this is because it selects the repeater as well as the individual components.
  
  • Try reducing the selection by excluding the repeater - it then displays some of the system parameters (comments and Mark), but the type selector is greyed out, even if this type has not been used elsewhere in the project. 
  
   

• In a project, but outside the in-place mass editing environment, you can Select All Instances in Entire Project only. This means it will select components inside repeaters within in-place masses for which you cannot change the selected components to another type (because they are inside a mass) - unless you edit the mass.  It is a "Catch 22" situation.

So the end result of all this is that in a project (in-place mass) you have to select them all individually.  This can be a slow and tedious process, but there is one way to improve it slightly:

Hot Tip

The best way to quickly pick a number of components is to select the whole repeater, then isolate it in the view - then it is much easier to individually select each component in the repeater (usually no need to tab-select)

Once you have selected multiple instances of components within a repeater, you may want to change some of their properties - refer to Repeater Instance Properties

Revit Repeaters Index Page

Revit Stair & Railing Selection

Go to Revit Stair & Railings Index Page

The new Revit 2013 Stair and Railing tools brought with them some tricky changes to the selection process that might catch you out.

Selection filters now have some new subcategories for stair components, stair annotation and railing components. All the new stair subcategories have been prefixed with the word “Stairs:”, which makes them easier to find in a list; new stair tags are likewise prefixed with "Stair". Sadly this logic was not applied to new railing subcategories: Top Rails, Handrails and Supports do not have a Railing prefix in the filter, so they don't show in the list in a sensible order.  In fact it can get quite confusing because we now have "Stairs: Supports" and "Supports", which are two entirely different things so you have to remember that the latter is for railings only.

When you look at a typical selection filter list the railing subcategories are jumbled up with the rest - this becomes important when you need to specifically exclude some of the subcategories from your selection (see further on).

The same naming convention is used in the properties dialog box.  At least it is consistent, if annoyingly wrong!

Railing Terminations and Extensions cannot be selected, nor do they list with separate subcategories - they are only accessible through the type properties of Top Rails and Handrails.

Visibility / Selection

Any of these railing or stair components can be Tab-Selected or selected by dragging across them.

The rules for selection/display of Railing Supports are mysterious and confusing:

• In section and 3D views they are visible at all detail levels.
• In plan views they are only visible in Fine detail level;
• Railing Supports below the cut plane in plan views are visible (fine detail level only), and can be selected by dragging or tab-select;
• Supports above the cut plane are only visible during pre-selection or selection highlight (fine detail level only);  they cannot be selected by any method except changing the view range cut-plane or going to another view on the next level up;
• In Medium or Coarse detail level below the cut plane in plan view, they can be selected by dragging, in which case they display a pin only (no graphics);
• In Medium or Coarse detail level below the cut plane plan view, they can be tab-selected (location by guesswork), in which case they do not display a pin but do show a highlight line at their origin (no graphics);

Medium or Coarse Detail Level

Fine Detail Level- railing supports visible

Hidden supports visible when railing is selected

 
It is important to note that railing supports can be selected even when not visible in plan - but only below the cut plane in medium or coarse level of detail.

Invisible Supports selected

Pinned Elements

If you select by dragging across a stair, you may get pins showing up on the stairs. These are actually for the Top Rails, Handrails or Supports, which are now separate sub-components (somewhat like curtain wall components) - this means that you can often get numerous confusing pins showing up on screen. This applies to new style railings on both old or new type stairs, but not old style railings.
You can also Tab-Select these railing sub-components individually.  Again, they display pins, but each behaves slightly differently (and differently to curtain wall sub-elements).

Once you have successfully selected a railing sub-component the displayed pin behaves slightly differently for each category, as described below.

Pinned Element Properties

You can unpin them to unlock and change some of the instance properties:

• Type selector becomes available for all railing sub-categories when unpinned - so you can change the type (Type Selector grayed out when pinned)
• Unpinned railing supports allow the "Hand Clearance" instance property to be changed
• Type properties can be accessed and modified without unpinning them (any sub-category)

Pinned Railing Support

Unpinned Railing Support

Stair Component Properties

Stair components do not have pins, but some of their properties can be changed without editing the stairs.

• Runs and landings allow height property changes - this will have knock on effects to adjacent components - refer to Modifying Landings
• Stair supports may allow changes to cut properties of free ends

Sub-Category Selection Limitations

Depending on how you select elements (multiple selection by dragging across screen or tab-selecting), you will encounter some inconsistent limitations to what you can do with selected stair components or railing sub-categories:

• Move Command (Multiple Selection).
  • If you have any pinned Railing Supports explicitly included in your selection of elements (ie, in selection filter list), it will not allow you to move the whole selection.  Therefore you have to remove the supports from your filter selection list before moving the selection.  This will surely catch out anyone but a railing expert.
  • This does not apply to Top Rails, Handrails or any stair components - whole selection can be moved even when they are explicitly shown in the selection list and pinned.
• Move Command (Individual Selection).
  
  • If you individually select any stair components, they cannot be moved without first editing the stair - in fact the Move command is greyed out;
  • If you select a (railing) support, you can move it after unpinning it - within reason (beware of how much it moves - it measures up the diagonal even if you give a horizontal distance);
  • If you select a handrail or top rail, it cannot be moved even if unpinned - but it lets you try!
   
  
• Delete Command (Individual Selection) 
  • Stair components cannot be deleted without editing the stair
  • Railing Supports, Top Rails and Handrails can only be deleted after unpinning them
  • Deleted Railing Supports can be reinstated by selecting the host Handrail and clicking Reset Rail, but it will reset all changes to supports on that handrail
  • Deleted Top Rails and Handrails can be reinstated by resetting the host Railing
  
  
  
• Edit Rail Command 
  
  • Unpinning a Handrail or Top Rail seems to make no difference to allowing it to be edited - can be edited when pinned
  • However, if a pinned Rail is edited, it will flag the Handrail or Top Rail as unpinned
  • Repinning a Handrail or Top Rail will remove all edits and reset it to original state - beware, as it is easy to lose work, as you might think that the pin command will lock all your changes!
  • Likewise, repinning a Railing Support will restore it to its original location
    
  
   
  
• Groups
  • If any stair or railing sub-component is explicitly selected, but its host is not selected, then the Create Group command will be greyed out and unavailable
  • In which case, you need only add the host element (stair or railing) to the selection to enable the Create Group command
  • If a railing is added to a group, all its hosted elements will go with it
  • If a stair is added to a group, its components will go with it (run, landing, support), but its railings will not be added (unless explicitly selected)
   
• Design Options
• The rules for adding selections to design options are subtlely  different from creating groups:
  
   
  • If Top Rails, Handrails or Railing Supports are explicitly selected along with their host railing they can be added to a design option
  • If Top Rails, Handrails or Railing Supports are explicitly selected without their host railing they cannot be added to a design option
  • The same rules apply to stair components
  • If a railing is added to a Design Option, all its hosted elements will go with it even if they are not explicitly selected
  • If a stair is added to a Design Option, all its hosted elements will go with it, including its railings, even if they are not explicitly selected.  This is different behaviour to creating groups

Go to Revit Stair & Railings Index Page