Integrated BIM tools, including Revit, AutoCAD, and Civil 3D
Professional CAD/CAM tools built on Inventor and AutoCAD
Any referenced datasets can be downloaded from "Module downloads" in the module overview.
Transcript
00:05
NARRATOR: Now the other place that's context sensitive
00:08
is when you make selections on screen.
00:10
So if we look at our status bar it says click to select.
00:14
It also gives us some other options tab for alternates
00:17
and control and shift.
00:18
So let's talk about that a little bit.
00:20
If I click and select this wall here on screen,
00:24
notice that it will highlight the wall in the model,
00:27
but it will also show you properties
00:29
that pertain to that wall on the Properties palette.
00:32
And sometimes it will even show you options on the Options bar
00:37
as well.
00:37
If I wanted to select another wall,
00:40
you might be tempted to just come over here and click it.
00:42
But notice it that will deselect the first wall.
00:45
So that status bar message was telling you
00:47
that if you hold down the Control key
00:49
this is how you could select more than one element.
00:53
And as long as the Control key is held down,
00:55
you're in an additive selection mode
00:57
and you can add to your selection.
00:59
Now look right here on the Properties
01:01
palette there's a dropdown and it says currently for me
01:04
walls and then in parentheses for.
01:06
So it's indicating that I have four walls selected.
01:10
Now if I hold that control key down
01:12
and I select something that's not a wall like this grid line,
01:15
that'll change to common and then 5,
01:18
because I have now five elements selected
01:20
but they're not the same category.
01:22
So it's just saying common and it's only showing me
01:24
the properties they share in common, which in this case
01:26
isn't anything.
01:27
Now if I want to deselect that grid without losing the walls,
01:30
I could hold the key down and then
01:32
remove the grid from the selection
01:34
or remove another wall from the selection
01:37
and you'll see the quantity reflecting that.
01:39
Now we're working in a floor plan view,
01:41
but you could just as easily be working in any other view.
01:43
So maybe sometimes it might be more
01:45
convenient to work in a different kind of view
01:47
like perhaps a section view.
01:50
So I could double click that view,
01:52
or perhaps in elevation view, so I could double click that view.
01:56
Now if you change your mind and you no longer need a view open,
01:59
notice that the tabs will appear across the top here
02:02
and you could simply click this small little x here
02:05
to close a tab that you no longer need.
02:07
Now I'm going to leave the South elevation open for a minute.
02:10
And notice that selection works the same here.
02:13
So I can select that window in the elevation view or I
02:16
could go back to the floor plan and select it there.
02:19
Now, one thing that's really important to understand however
02:21
though is it doesn't really matter where you select it
02:24
or what you do to it because in Revit, you're
02:26
working on a single model, and these views are just
02:29
different vantage points into that model.
02:32
In other words, they're not separate drawings.
02:34
Let me show you what I mean by that.
02:36
OK.
02:36
I'm going to select that window and double
02:39
click the level 2 floor plan to open that floor plan view.
02:43
Now you can see in the middle of the screen
02:46
that the window is still selected.
02:48
But let's get a better look at that.
02:49
If you want to increase the magnification on screen
02:52
it's very easy to do.
02:53
The easiest thing to do is use the wheel on your mouse.
02:56
So I'm going to put my pointer kind of near that window
02:58
and then just start rolling the wheel of my mouse to zoom in.
03:01
Now if you go a little bit too close,
03:03
you can just roll in the other direction to zoom back out.
03:07
If you want to change the centering on the screen,
03:10
hold that wheel in and drag side to side.
03:13
And that allows you to recenter the screen.
03:16
That window is still selected here.
03:18
And if you look at the Properties palette,
03:20
it's telling us properties about that window.
03:23
Well, what would happen if I actually move that window
03:26
or maybe deleted that window?
03:28
Well, notice that if if I deleted it,
03:30
disappears here in the floor plan,
03:32
but what about the South elevation?
03:34
Let's click back to that tab and notice
03:36
that it's missing here as well.
03:38
So it's really important that you understand
03:40
that behavior in Revit is that making a modification in one
03:46
view it's not a separate disconnected drawing,
03:48
it's just another vantage point into the model
03:50
and changes you make are reflected everywhere.
03:53
So that's an important aspect of working in the software.
03:57
Making these selections it's easy enough
03:59
to use the Control and Shift key but that's not
04:01
the most efficient way in the world.
04:03
So let me just show you a few speedier ways
04:06
to make more complex selections.
04:09
The two most popular ways to do it is to make a box selection,
04:14
and a box selection is if you click and hold
04:17
your mouse down on screen and drag either to the right
04:20
or to the left.
04:21
Now when you drag to the right it makes a solid box
04:24
and you must completely surround an element
04:27
in order to select it.
04:28
So notice how nothing is being selected
04:31
until I make a box that's big enough
04:33
that it can completely surround some of those elements.
04:37
And then when I let go, you can see on my Properties palette
04:40
that I've just selected
04:45
and drag motion.
04:46
Now if I click anywhere an empty space
04:48
it will drop that selection and deselect everything.
04:50
If I click and drag the opposite way and get that dash box,
04:55
now all I need to do is just touch those elements in order
04:60
to select them.
05:01
So notice that here I'm getting the three grids
05:04
and I go a little further and I'm getting the trees.
05:06
And when I let go, I've got eight elements selected
05:09
but I was able to do that with a much smaller box selection
05:14
because I only needed to touch those elements.
05:17
So I encourage you to practice a little bit further
05:20
with making selections and switching between views so
05:23
that you can sort of see how the user interface adjusts
05:27
as you're working and how modifications made in one view
05:31
affect all of the views.
05:33
And that will give you a good deal
05:35
of comfort with how the Revit user interface is
05:38
designed to behave.
Video transcript
00:05
NARRATOR: Now the other place that's context sensitive
00:08
is when you make selections on screen.
00:10
So if we look at our status bar it says click to select.
00:14
It also gives us some other options tab for alternates
00:17
and control and shift.
00:18
So let's talk about that a little bit.
00:20
If I click and select this wall here on screen,
00:24
notice that it will highlight the wall in the model,
00:27
but it will also show you properties
00:29
that pertain to that wall on the Properties palette.
00:32
And sometimes it will even show you options on the Options bar
00:37
as well.
00:37
If I wanted to select another wall,
00:40
you might be tempted to just come over here and click it.
00:42
But notice it that will deselect the first wall.
00:45
So that status bar message was telling you
00:47
that if you hold down the Control key
00:49
this is how you could select more than one element.
00:53
And as long as the Control key is held down,
00:55
you're in an additive selection mode
00:57
and you can add to your selection.
00:59
Now look right here on the Properties
01:01
palette there's a dropdown and it says currently for me
01:04
walls and then in parentheses for.
01:06
So it's indicating that I have four walls selected.
01:10
Now if I hold that control key down
01:12
and I select something that's not a wall like this grid line,
01:15
that'll change to common and then 5,
01:18
because I have now five elements selected
01:20
but they're not the same category.
01:22
So it's just saying common and it's only showing me
01:24
the properties they share in common, which in this case
01:26
isn't anything.
01:27
Now if I want to deselect that grid without losing the walls,
01:30
I could hold the key down and then
01:32
remove the grid from the selection
01:34
or remove another wall from the selection
01:37
and you'll see the quantity reflecting that.
01:39
Now we're working in a floor plan view,
01:41
but you could just as easily be working in any other view.
01:43
So maybe sometimes it might be more
01:45
convenient to work in a different kind of view
01:47
like perhaps a section view.
01:50
So I could double click that view,
01:52
or perhaps in elevation view, so I could double click that view.
01:56
Now if you change your mind and you no longer need a view open,
01:59
notice that the tabs will appear across the top here
02:02
and you could simply click this small little x here
02:05
to close a tab that you no longer need.
02:07
Now I'm going to leave the South elevation open for a minute.
02:10
And notice that selection works the same here.
02:13
So I can select that window in the elevation view or I
02:16
could go back to the floor plan and select it there.
02:19
Now, one thing that's really important to understand however
02:21
though is it doesn't really matter where you select it
02:24
or what you do to it because in Revit, you're
02:26
working on a single model, and these views are just
02:29
different vantage points into that model.
02:32
In other words, they're not separate drawings.
02:34
Let me show you what I mean by that.
02:36
OK.
02:36
I'm going to select that window and double
02:39
click the level 2 floor plan to open that floor plan view.
02:43
Now you can see in the middle of the screen
02:46
that the window is still selected.
02:48
But let's get a better look at that.
02:49
If you want to increase the magnification on screen
02:52
it's very easy to do.
02:53
The easiest thing to do is use the wheel on your mouse.
02:56
So I'm going to put my pointer kind of near that window
02:58
and then just start rolling the wheel of my mouse to zoom in.
03:01
Now if you go a little bit too close,
03:03
you can just roll in the other direction to zoom back out.
03:07
If you want to change the centering on the screen,
03:10
hold that wheel in and drag side to side.
03:13
And that allows you to recenter the screen.
03:16
That window is still selected here.
03:18
And if you look at the Properties palette,
03:20
it's telling us properties about that window.
03:23
Well, what would happen if I actually move that window
03:26
or maybe deleted that window?
03:28
Well, notice that if if I deleted it,
03:30
disappears here in the floor plan,
03:32
but what about the South elevation?
03:34
Let's click back to that tab and notice
03:36
that it's missing here as well.
03:38
So it's really important that you understand
03:40
that behavior in Revit is that making a modification in one
03:46
view it's not a separate disconnected drawing,
03:48
it's just another vantage point into the model
03:50
and changes you make are reflected everywhere.
03:53
So that's an important aspect of working in the software.
03:57
Making these selections it's easy enough
03:59
to use the Control and Shift key but that's not
04:01
the most efficient way in the world.
04:03
So let me just show you a few speedier ways
04:06
to make more complex selections.
04:09
The two most popular ways to do it is to make a box selection,
04:14
and a box selection is if you click and hold
04:17
your mouse down on screen and drag either to the right
04:20
or to the left.
04:21
Now when you drag to the right it makes a solid box
04:24
and you must completely surround an element
04:27
in order to select it.
04:28
So notice how nothing is being selected
04:31
until I make a box that's big enough
04:33
that it can completely surround some of those elements.
04:37
And then when I let go, you can see on my Properties palette
04:40
that I've just selected
04:45
and drag motion.
04:46
Now if I click anywhere an empty space
04:48
it will drop that selection and deselect everything.
04:50
If I click and drag the opposite way and get that dash box,
04:55
now all I need to do is just touch those elements in order
04:60
to select them.
05:01
So notice that here I'm getting the three grids
05:04
and I go a little further and I'm getting the trees.
05:06
And when I let go, I've got eight elements selected
05:09
but I was able to do that with a much smaller box selection
05:14
because I only needed to touch those elements.
05:17
So I encourage you to practice a little bit further
05:20
with making selections and switching between views so
05:23
that you can sort of see how the user interface adjusts
05:27
as you're working and how modifications made in one view
05:31
affect all of the views.
05:33
And that will give you a good deal
05:35
of comfort with how the Revit user interface is
05:38
designed to behave.
Often users prefer to use the keyboard to execute commands. Many of Revit’s commands have predefined keyboard shortcuts. You can also customize and edit keyboard shortcuts for nearly every command.
A tooltip will appear after a short pause.
Figure 1–21 Hover over a tool to see a tooltip. Keyboard shortcuts appear in parenthesis
The predefined keyboard shortcut for the Wall tool is: WA. To use a keyboard shortcut, simply type the two letters on the keyboard, DO NOT press enter following the key strokes. Pressing enter repeats the last used command, so if you do press enter, it will run the desired command (wall in this case, then immediately cancel it and run the previous command).
If you want to see all the shortcuts, you can open the keyboard Shortcuts dialog. To do so, on the View tab, on the Windows panel, click the User Interface dropdown. Then choose: Keyboard Shortcuts. (optionally, you can just press ks. That’s right, Keyboard Shortcuts has a keyboard shortcut!
You can easily modify existing keyboard shortcuts or add shortcuts to commands that do not have them. Or you can just search the list to help you learn the default ones.
As already noted, the easiest way to change view navigation and centering is to use the wheel on your mouse. Roll the wheel to zoom in our out. Position the point over a point that you want to remain onscreen before you zoom. Drag with the wheel held down to pan and re-center the screen. Double-clcik the wheel to zoom to fit the screen.
You can also find some zoom commands on the right-click menu and on the Navigation Bar on the side of the screen (see ).
Figure 1–22 Use the wheel mouse, right-click or the Navigation Bar to zoom and pan
There are many ways to select elements in a Revit model. The more comfortable you are with selection, the easier it will be for you make detailed edits.
o Drag left to right to make a solid edged box that only selects elements completely surrounded by the box (see the left side of Figure 1–23).
Figure 1–23 Window and Crossing box selections
o Drag right to left to make a dashed edged box that selects anythig it touches (see the right side of Figure 1–23).
Figure 1–24 Make a selection and then use Filter to remove some categories
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