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Coordination View Template (A Structural Perspective)

Coordination among discipline models is a key component in a building information model (BIM) workflow. Coordination view templates are an integral part in a structural workflow environment. We tend to focus more on view templates for production purposes and to be included in document sheet sets. In this article, I will delve into an advanced procedure for developing coordination view templates for plans, floor slabs, and 3D views.

View Templates

A brief overview on view templates: A view template is a collection of view properties such as view scale, discipline, detail level, and visibility settings. The use of view templates in Autodesk® Revit® workflow has its advantages. A number of view templates can be predefined with specific properties and visibility settings in order to maintain consistent standards and to streamline project coordination and drawing document sheet sets.

In the examples below, I will outline the process for creating different coordination view templates—each containing predefined visibility and graphic display settings. 

The Plan Coordination View Template

When creating a plan coordination view template, the first thing to do is to create a plan view. This can be done by duplicating a structural plan view. There are three options for duplicating a view: 1) Duplicate View creates a copy of the plan view with model geometry only; 2) Duplicate view with Detailing creates a copy of the view with both the model geometry and the detail geometry; 3) Duplicate as Dependent creates a copy of the view and remains synchronous with the primary view and all other dependent views (if more than one dependent view is created from the same view). Dependent views are usually created for projects with large footprints that are split into segments as partial plans. The partial plan segments can be placed on multiple sheets. When you make changes to dependent segments of a view, the changes affect the parent view as a whole.  For the purpose of simplicity in this article, option 1 will be used.

Let’s create a plan view for our coordination view template. From the project browser select an already defined structural plan view.

  1. Right click on the view
  2. Select Duplicate View
  3. Select Duplicate
  4. Rename it to Coordination Level 03 (or its corresponding level)
  5. Repeat the process to duplicate all the view levels needed in the project

Figure 1: Duplicate view

Configuring Visibility Graphics 

From the View tab under the Graphics tab, click Visibility Graphics (Shortcut VV, VG) under Visibility Graphics Overrides.

  1. Click Revit Links tab 
  2. Select the Arch.rvt link; under Display Settings select By Host View
  3. From the RVT Link Display Setting Basic tab
  4. Click the Custom Radial button
  5. From the Discipline drop-down list, select Coordination and Click OK    
  6. Click the Model Categories
  7. From The Model Categories tab drop-down list, select Custom
  8. From the Show Model Categories in view from the Filter drop-down list, check Architectural discipline and uncheck all others
  9. From the Visibility column, select all model categories
  10. From the Projection/Surface, select the lines column
  11. Under Line Graphics select a color of your choice. From the color palette select Red or another color of your choice to represent architectural discipline. I like to use reds because it stands out the most and is our standard for coordination
  12. Click Apply and OK to close

Repeat steps 9 through 12 for the Cut option.

Repeat the steps above to change graphic overrides for the pattern projection/Surface and cut. There is an additional step to add an override pattern of choice. Solid fill works nicely for walls and columns.

Figure 2: Visibility Graphic Overrides plan coordination linked model

Figure 2a: Visibility Graphic Overrides plan coordination linked model

Creating the Floor Plan View Template

Once Visibility Graphic Settings are predefined you are ready to create the view template. From the View tab under the Graphics tab:

  1. Click the View Templates drop-down list
  2. Select Create Template from Current View
  3. Enter a name for the view template

I often use the name _Coordination Plan Level ##. Notice that an underscore is placed as the prefix to the name for the purpose of sorting and organization in the Project Browser. You can use numbers or other alphanumeric characters. Tip: you can filter views by discipline filter and view type filter. I use filter by discipline Structural and leave the View type filter as the default <Plans, Structural, Area Plans> because this is a structural Coordination View Template.

Additional settings can be applied in the View Templates (i.e., View Scale, Display Model, Detail Level, Filters, Links, View Range, etc.) You can get as granular as required for your project-specific needs in order to streamline repetitive graphic settings and be more efficient. Be brave and play around with different settings. The possibilities are endless.

Figure 3: Plan view template arch background in red 

The Slab Edge Comparison View Template

To create a Slab Edge Comparison view template to compare and coordinate the Architectural Floor Slab with the Structural Slab Edge: 1) Duplicate a plan view; 2) Rename it to Coordination Slab Edge Level 03.

From the View tab under the Graphics tab:

  1. Click Visibility Graphics (Shortcut VV, VG) under Visibility Graphic Overrides.
  2. Click the Model Categories tab
  3. From the Show Model Categories in view from the Filter drop-down list, check Structural discipline and uncheck all others
  4. From the Visibility column, select all model categories
  5. Clear the checkbox under Visibility.
  6. Select None to clear the selection
  7. Select the floor and hit the checkbox
  8. From the Projection/Surface, select Line
  9. Under Line Graphics choose the color green from the color palette or another color of your choice to represent the Structural discipline
  10. Click Apply and OK to close

Figure 4: Creating the view template

  1. Click Revit Links tab 
  2. Select the Arch.rvt link; Under Display Settings Click >>
  3. By Host View
  4. From the RVT Link Display Setting Basic Tab
  5. Click the Custom Radial button

Note: Steps 1 through 5 are the same as the steps in the Coordination view template.

     6. Click the Model categories
     7. From The Model Categories tab drop-­down list, select Custom
     8. From the Show Model Categories in View from the Filter drop-down list, check Architectural discipline and uncheck all others
     9. From the Visibility column, select all model categories
   10. Uncheck Visibility for all categories
   11. Select None to unselect categories
   12. Select the Floor category
   13. From the Projection/Surface, select the Lines column
   14. Under Lines Graphics select a color of your choice. From the color palette select Red or another color of your choice to represent architectural discipline
   15. Click Apply and OK to close

Figure 5: Slab Edge Comparison view template linked model

Figure 6: Slab Edge Comparison view template linked model

Creating the Slab Edge Comparison View Template

Once Visibility graphic settings are predefined you are ready to create the view template. From the View tab under the Graphics tab:

  1. Click the View Templates drop-down list
  2. Select Create Template from Current View
  3. Enter a name for the view template

I use _Coordination Slab Edge Comparison. Make additional changes to the view template per project requirements.

Apply the View Template to Views

From the Project Browser select the views to which you will apply the view template.

  1. Right-click and choose Apply View Template; the Apply View Template dialog box opens
  2. Select the _Coordination Plan View Template
  3. Click Apply Properties
  4. Click OK

Repeat the same process to apply the _Coordination Slab Edge Comparison View Template to Slab Edge Comparison Plans

Figure 7: Apply the view template

Figure 8: Slab Edge Comparison view template graphic

Creating a 3D View Template  

You can follow the steps outlined above to modify the Visibility Graphic Settings for 3D views and to create a 3D View Template.

Create Category-Based Discipline Filters 

To create category-based discipline filters:

  1. From the Manage Tab under the selection tab, click Edit
  2. From the Edit Filters dialog box, click New
  3. Provide a name for the filter in the dialog window
  4. From the Categories Filter list, select a discipline
  5. Place a checkbox for each of the categories to be included in the filter
  6. You can also apply Filter Rules if you want to be more specific on what to include/exclude from a filter.
  7. Click OK

Repeat the steps above to create category-based filters for other disciplines.

Figure 9: Create category-based discipline filters

Apply Category-Based Filters

The next step is to apply the Category-Based Discipline Filters to a view. Add category-based discipline specific filters to a plan or 3D coordination view. The cool thing about filters is that they can be applied to any view.

  1. Open the Visibility/Graphics dialog. Click View tab graphics panel (Visibility/Graphics) or VV or VG
  2. From the Visibility/Graphics dialog, select the Filters tab
  3. Click the Add button
  4. Select as many filters as needed. Use the Shift or Control keys to select multiple filters
  5. Click OK

In the Visibility Graphics dialog window:

      6. Under Projection/Surface, change the override color for each of the filters
      7. Change the Fill Pattern Graphics Pattern Overrides color
      8. Change the color for patterns and cut
      9. If needed, change the transparency

Filters can also be used to exclude elements from a view.

Figure 10: Apply discipline-specific filters

Figure 11: 3D Coordination view

Save the View Templates to the Revit Template

You can save the view templates to your corporate Revit template or container file to use on other projects. 

In Conclusion

By implementing the process outlined here you can quickly determine where coordination is needed. This can also be accomplished with coordination review if copy/monitor was used early on in the design phase. Coordination views can be used, especially if Structural has already taken floor slab ownership and copy/monitor is no longer an option and the Architect continues to make design changes well into construction document phase. Coordination view templates in conjunction with filters can also be used for model quality control review. Use coordination view templates to streamline your workflows and save time. 

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