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You are here: Home / Revit / How to fade far objects in Revit elevation view

How to fade far objects in Revit elevation view

December 23, 2013 by Edwin Prakoso 3 Comments

In this Article...

  • You can also override elements properties in views
  • Step by step tutorial
    • Selecting objects
    • Overriding objects view
  • Silhouette option
  • Revit views: priority topic to learn

When presenting your design, either in elevation or section view, you may want to show far objects thinner than objects at the foreground. Similar to the image below.

override_element_view

In AutoCAD, you can use a layer or override the object properties to achieve this. How can we do this in Revit?

If you use Revit 2017, you might want to check Depth Cueing option as explained here. However, if you want to know another workaround, you can continue reading.

You can also override elements properties in views

As you know, every Revit view can have different elements’ graphic properties. For example, you can show furniture in furniture layout, but hide them in a floor plan. Or you can make furniture show as halftone in architecture floor plan, but can be shown clearly in furniture plan.

We can use this behavior to achieve this effect.

All you need to do is open the elevation view. With that view active, select objects at the background. Right click then choose override graphics in view> by element…

override_graphics_in_view

Step by step tutorial

Some of you probably already figure how it works. But let’s cover about this in more details.

Selecting objects

Before we start, let’s configure our views for easier objects selection. The easiest way to select objects at the back is by seeing it from the top view. But you need to open 3D view, not the floor plan. Remember, if you select objects in a floor plan, objects that are not visible here will not be selected.

You can show both of the 3D views from the top and also the elevation view.

3D_view_and_elevation_tiled

Hint: You can see the top view of your model by clicking top at your view cube.

top_view

Now make a selection window to select the objects.

selection_window

Why don’t we use floor plan to select objects? If you select objects using floor plan, then you can only select objects visible in that view. If you have objects outside of that particular floor plan, then they will not get selected.

Overriding objects view

Now with the objects selected, click anywhere in elevation view to activate the view. It’s recommended to click the view title, to prevent you lose your selection set.

With elevation view active, right-click in any empty area. Choose override graphics in view> by element… from the context menu.

view_specific_element_graphics

In this example I change the line weight to 1, the thinnest line weight available. To give even more distance effect, I modify the color to dark gray.

If you have more objects farther than this, you can repeat the process and give the lightest color.

You can see about Revit line weight control in more details here: Controlling plot thickness in Revit.

Silhouette option

If you work on section view, there is one thing that you can do to make silhouette effect quickly.

With your section view active, in Properties Palette, click edit on graphic display options.

edit_graphic_display_options

In graphic display option, change silhouettes to thin line style. You can create your own if necessary.

graphic_display_option_dialog

Applying this effect will override graphic display for objects that are not cut. This option can make cut objects thinner (using object styles), but objects behind them will look thin.

Revit views: priority topic to learn

Revit views are very powerful and can be customized independently. Sometimes view options and settings can be confusing, but when you master it you can do many things with it.

Do you have other experience with Revit views? Things that confuse you or cool things that you did?

Share with us here!

About Edwin Prakoso

I work as a Sr. Consultant in PT Cipta Satria Informatika. I've been using AutoCAD since R14 and Revit since Revit Building 9. I occasionally write for AUGIWorld magazine and I am also active in Autodesk discussion forum. I'm a member of Autodesk Expert Elite, an appreciation for individuals who give contributions to the Autodesk community.
Connect with me on twitter or LinkedIn.

Filed Under: Revit Tagged With: override, view

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3 Comments
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Wale Olugbenga
Wale Olugbenga
9 years ago

I want to know how to create a wall coyne on Revit
and also how to create a hood round about my window in an elevTion.
Thank you

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Jimmy
Jimmy
10 years ago

A better option would be to cut 2 sections, 1 for the foreground and 1 for the background and overlay them on sheets. For the background section override the linework in the visibility graphics to be light gray. This way when new elements are modeled within the “background zone” they won’t need to have element overrides applied each time.

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Sergio Bizello
Sergio Bizello
11 years ago

Great tip. Thank you.
I think Revit could have a tool work in building section object which apply override based on a distance from cut plane and a clip line. It could yet create one or two intermediate distances for this tool, setting by the user.

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