The Building Coder

APS, AU, and Miter Wall Join for Full Face

Autodesk University 2022 is in full swing and brings exciting news. Meanwhile, the Revit API discussion forum continues unperturbed with other equally exciting conversations and solutions – Forge is dead; long live APS – Forma for AEC – Linked element visibility – Visibility of a specific element in a view – Miter join walls to retrieve full faces... Read more →

Revit Server and View Filter Alert

Non-API Revit Server access, exporting Outlook email text, and using a view filter to alert to missing data... Read more →

View Sheet from View and Select All on Level

Increasing numbers of of Python and Dynamo oriented topics in the Revit API discussion forum, and a final deprecated API clean-up – The Building Coder samples clean – Retrieving all elements on level – Get ViewSheet from View – Fabrication transaction in Dynamo... Read more →

Painting Stairs and Shooting for the Beams

Two Revit API discussion forum threads that I am currently involved in – Painting stairs – Ray tracing vs bounding box to find beams intersecting columns... Read more →

Flip, Mirror, Transform and Transient Graphics

How are reflections like flip and mirror reflected in the BIM element transform? – Transient elements hack – Temporary incanvas graphics API video – Shared versus non-shared parameter creation – Direct PDF export and DA4R... Read more →

Sheet View Xform, Coords, Img Export and Title Block

Today, we look at accessing and exporting sheet view coordinates, transforms, images and title block data, including the title block geometry and text values – Extracting title block geometry and text – Element coordinates on sheet – Export view as high quality image... Read more →

Transient Graphics, Humane AI, BI and Lockdown

A quick look at various methods to integrate transient graphics into Revit and pointers to articles of interest on other current non-API-related topics such as chess AI, basic income and the effectiveness of lockdowns – Transient graphics – AI learns to emulate human-style chess – Basic income as fault-tolerant engineering – Lockdown effectivity... Read more →

Simple IUpdater and other TBC Updates

A nice new minimal DMU example and updates and enhancements to several other important sample applications – Simple dynamic model updater example – ExportCncFab SortMark update – RevitLookup exception on view GetTemplateParameterIds... Read more →

Dynamo Book and Texture Bitmap UV Coordinates

The week is coming to an end all too quickly... here are some compelling topics before we enter the weekend – Explaining texture UV mapping using AVF – Más Allá de Dynamo Spanish-language book – A detailed 3D model of a human cell... Read more →

Save and Restore 3D View Camera Settings

Valerii Nozdrenkov shares a powerful solution to save and restore the complete 3D view camera settings and Ehsan Iran-Nejad publishes his set of Revit cheat sheets – Serialising 3D view camera settings – Revit cheat sheets... Read more →

Revit 2021.1 and Normalising Custom Export UV

The Revit update release is now available, and some insights on normalising UVs in the custom exporter – The Revit 2021.1 update – Normalising UVs in custom exporter – Set up your own free VPN server... Read more →

Section to Crop, Linked Boundary and Intersection

Two beautiful Revit API solutions to – Set view crop to section box and – Access room boundaries and intersections in linked models... Read more →

Changing Element Colour and Material

The question of how to change the colour and material of individual elements has come up repeatedly over time – Change element colour in a view – Assign new material to an element – Replace a material in a wall or floor... Read more →

Revit Camera FOV, Forge Partner Talks and Jobs

Today we resuscitate a five-year old Revit API answer, still as fresh and useful as ever, followed by Forge and job opportunities truly fresh off the presses – Determining the Revit Camera FOV – Forge Partner Talks – Jobs at Autodesk... Read more →

Coding, Interior Elevations and Command Line Opts

Another inspiring guide to getting started with the Revit API, creating interior elevations and revisiting the Revit command line switches – Learning to code with interior elevations – Revit command line switches updated – World-wide connectivity... Read more →

Getting Title Block Data and ViewSheet from View

Today, let's highlight two view related data access topics – Get ViewSheet from View – Title block data access... Read more →

Generating Graphics and Collecting Assets

Here are some relevant topics for today – Can you avoid generating graphics? – Read all thermal and physical assets – Collection of old add-in managers – Compiling an add-in without Revit installed – Xeokit 3D BIM and CAD viewer – Software development manager job opportunity... Read more →

Get Project Parameter Id and Prevent Updater Loop

Let me once again highlight two helpful answers in the Revit API discussion forum and the newest pair of Forge Design Automation samples – Get project parameter id from its name – Preventing an updater loop – New Forge and Design Automation samples... Read more →

Scaling an Add-In for a 4K High Resolution Screen

As high-resolution monitors grow ever more common, an important question arises on handling add-in scaling for 4K high resolution screens – Problem adapting a Revit add-in for 4K displays – Application properties for stand-alone apps – Application manifest – Separate UI component with IPC – Two solutions for adjusting Revit for 4K displays – Method 1 – Run hires monitor in low resolution – Method 2 – Adjust how Revit handles 4k displays – Discussion of the results... Read more →

11 Years and Revit API Docs Full Text Search

Happy Birthday to The Building Coder! The online Revit API documentation now supports full text search. Dynamo implements a new ViewCone functionality... Read more →

Roadmap, Rebar Curves, Wizard Zip and More

Topics for this week – Revit public roadmap July 2019 – Rebar curves – Built-in zip utility for add-in wizard – Only detail section views can be used for top view direction – Displaying an RFA family instance in DA4R – Revit 2020 alters the TEMP file system variable – Lattice multiplication... Read more →

Revit Camera Settings, Project Plasma, DA4R and AI

Here are this week's interesting items I want to share with you – Map Forge Viewer camera settings back to Revit – Project Quantum becomes Plasma – Mikako's DA4R overview – AI is affecting human game strategies – AI can convert speech to gesture – Barcelona Forge accelerator – Open positions at Autodesk... Read more →

Retrieving Section View Intersection Cut Geometry

I played around creating a new SectionCutGeo add-in to retrieve the geometry resulting from cutting a family instance in a section view. This was prompted the Revit API discussion forum thread on getting intersection lines from cut in section view – Intersection of section and family instance task – Solution options, geometry elements and view settings – Retrieving curves in the cut plane – Helper methods and external command mainline – Sample model and results – Caveat... Read more →

New Revit 2020 SDK Samples

Question: What can we do with the new Revit 2020 API features? Well, just like most of the existing functionality, the enhancements and some typical yet simple use cases for them are demonstrated by the updated SDK samples. Revit 2020 sports five brand new SDK samples – AttachedDetailGroup – CreateTrianglesTopography – Custom2DExporter – PathOfTravel – ViewTemplateCreation – This list also highlights some the most exciting areas of enhancement... Read more →

Scaling, Face and Mesh Triangle Normals

Let's look at a couple of scaling and triangle orientation issues that recently came up – Transform and scaling in Forge – ModPlus and scaling text in dockable panel – Exporting view image extents – Mesh triangle orientation – PlanarFace normal... Read more →

View Template Include Setting

A solution to a longstanding question on the view template 'include' setting – Does the Revit API provide any access to the view template 'include' settings defined by the check boxes in this form? – I can get the 'includes' via viewTemplate.GetNonControlledTemplateParameterIds. The method returns a list of parameter ids, and you can then use viewTemplate.Parameters to map them... Read more →

Floor Area Above Room and Mysterious Hide

Today, we focus on two pure programming questions from the Revit API discussion forum – Area of an exterior floor above a room – Mysterious element hiding activity... Read more →

Foreground Image Import and Visible DWG Geometry

Today, we explore how to retrieve visible DWG geometry, i.e., geometry elements contained in a CAD import instance on a layer that is visible in the currently active view, and how to import an image to the foreground instead of the default background setting – Retrieve CAD import geometry on visible layer – Import image using foreground option... Read more →

Bounding Box Filter is Always Axis Aligned

This is pretty obvious, once you think about it, and apparently worth pointing out anyway: The outline defining a bounding box filter is always aligned with the cardinal axes – Rotating Min and Max distorts the box – Rotate target elements or use a solid filter... Read more →

Boston Forge Accelerator and Aligning Plan Views

Here is a suggestion made by Arkady Gilman to align plan views. Before we get to that, I'd like to point out the imminent Forge accelerator in Boston – Boston Forge accelerator – Question on aligning plan views – Answer, view origin and outline – Suggestion for aligning views... Read more →

Switch View or Document by Showing Elements

A recent discussion on using the ShowElements method to toggle between documents and views brought up a few interesting points – Open and active an unsaved document – Zoom to selected elements – Toggle between documents and views... Read more →

MergedViews and Exporting to a Single DWG

Some insight on the use of the MergedViews property provided by the DGN, DWG and DWG export options classes and other ideas to export multiple views into a single DWG file – Question: I want to combine and export multiple views into one single DWG file. I set the option MergedViews, but the code still generates multiple DWG files for the views... Read more →

Efficiently Retrieve Crop Box for Given View

Konrads Samulis shared a very nice solution to retrieve the crop box for a given view using a highly efficient parameter filter in his comment on rotating a plan view. In digging up this old thread, I found something quite curious in the API in 18.1, that I'm not sure was there before. The method of using a temporary transaction (with rollback) to find the element id of the crop box was taking a very long time on a large model, so I did a bit of digging to see how I could improve it. I noticed that in the built-in parameter ID_PARAM of the crop box contains the element id of the view it's in. E.g., the crop box 'points' to the id of the view it is in using ID_PARAM... Read more →

Avoid Exorbitant Coordinates

Slabs created by an add-in are displayed perfectly in Revit 2015. In Revit 2016, they are not. What can be the problem? These slabs are located at an exorbitant distance from the origin. Relocating them closer to the origin resolves the problem... Read more →

Modifying Material Visual Appearance

Question: How can I set the Material Render Appearance through the API? I can see there is the Autodesk.Revit.DB.Visual.Asset class, but how do I add to the list of Autodesk.Revit.DB.Visual.AssetProperty objects for a new material? Answer: The good news is that this is possible in Revit 2018.1 using the Visual Materials API. Check out Boris Shafiro's class at AU to learn about it... Read more →

Purge and Detecting an Empty View

One topic that keeps cropping up is how to purge different kinds of Revit database elements – Purge – Detecting empty views – JavaScript debugging tips – Collection from the past... Read more →

Revit Server Download and Hiding Point Cloud Scan

Today, I have two important results to share based on hard work by Tim Burnham and Pierre Navarra – Download from Revit Server requires RSN.INI entry – Hiding a point cloud scan RCS in an RCP instance... Read more →

Revit 2018.1.1 API Docs and CropBox Setting

The Revit 2018.1.1 hotfix was released last week and solves an API issue that was already being discussed in the Revit API discussion forum. Further, Gui Talarico updated the online Revit API documentation for Revit 2018.1 – Revit and Revit LT 2018.1.1 released – CropBox setting in Revit 2018 API fixed – CropBox setting workaround – Revit 2018.1 API documentation online... Read more →

Forge, Installed Version, Move Group, Name Filter

A biggish post rather late in the week... still answering too many cases – Forge for AEC demos and sample code – Determining the starting view – Detecting installed Revit version – Detecting installed C3D version – Moving items inside a detail group – Filtering for family instances and types by family name... Read more →

Retrieving Elements Visible in View

Minho re-opened the Revit API discussion forum thread on getting the ElementId of all visible entities in a viewport, providing a good opportunity to mention Colin Stark's answer to the StackOverflow thread on determining whether a FamilyInstance is visible in a View. Question: I am looking for code to get the ElementIds of all entities inside a viewport. A viewport is a region of a big view plan... Read more →

Forgify

I am officially taking time off right now, but still jumping in here and there anyway, e.g. in an urgent case to reduce the RVT model file size before passing it into the Forge translator – RvtForgify – Forge read-write – Forge in an Enterprise Service Bus... Read more →

TTT to Obtain Section Marker Endpoint

We discussed several examples of using the temporary transaction trick TTT in the past. Here is a new exquisitly subtle variant for you to enjoy, provided by Frank @Fair59 Aarssen to get the coordinates of the endpoints for a section marker line segment. Question: I have a section marker that I would like to rotate around one of the endpoints of the line segment leader, but I haven't been able to figure out how to determine the endpoint coordinates... Read more →

Setting Active View During Idling

Here is a summary of the discussion and solution for setting ActiveView during the Idling event from the Revit API discussion forum raised and solved by Rudi 'Revitalizer' and Kinjal Desai; As per API documentation, this operation should not be invalid: no open transactions; IsModifiable is ok; IsReadOnly is ok; No pre-action events around. However, trying to do so throws an InvalidOperationException with the message "Setting active view is temporarily disabled"... Read more →

Moving the Section View Location

Today, let's recap the Revit API discussion forum thread on moving the location of a section vie raised by Danny Bentley, BIM Structural Technician at SOM in California, since Danny very kindly created a video and GitHub repo to demonstrate and share the solution, which will certainly be of use to others as well. By the way, Danny also writes Bentley's Revit Dynamo & API blog on his personal exploration of the Revit API and Dynamo... Read more →

UIView Windows Coordinate Ray Casting Tooltip

I revisited the custom tooltip implementation that I prepared to demonstrate the Revit 2013 API features including the View API and its UIView class. It class still provides the only possibility to convert back and forth between Revit model coordinates and Windows device screen points. That functionality can be combined with the ReferenceIntersector to shoot a ray through the model to determine what Revit database element is located under the current cursor position and display a custom tooltip presenting information about it or anything else you please... Read more →

Viewport Bring to Front and C++ Revit Add-In

Two topics today, on reordering viewports to determine their respective occlusion, and setting up a C++ Revit add-in project – Bringing a viewport to the front – Change the draw order of a viewport (bring to front) for cases when you need to use simplified duplicate of the same view for background, e.g., ceiling grid for example – Code clean-up – Setting up a Visual Studio C++ Revit add-in project... Read more →

Determining Views Showing an Element

The topic of how to determine all views in which a given element is visible has been discussed several times on the past, and a couple of viable solutions have been suggested. However, for large projects, performance becomes an issue. This question was raised again by Abba Lustgarten and Erik Eriksson in the Revit API discussion forum thread on finding views in which an element is visible (by geometry or actual visibility), with Erik sharing a View extension method IntersectsBoundingBox that helps alleviate the performance impact... Read more →

Flipping a Section View and Forge Webinar 3

I already created a starting point for the new roomedit3d incarnation last week, in its own repository. This week, I agreed with Philippe to retain the new project in an own branch within the Forge boilerplate code sample collection. Hopefully, that will simplify keeping my BIM sample synchronised with any future updates make to that. Now I need to get started implementing and testing the actual viewer extension functionality itself. My main topic today is something different and purely Revit API oriented, besides the next Forge session – Flipping a section view – Forge webinar series... Read more →

Vacation End, Forge News and Bounding Boxes

I am back from a very relaxing vacation. I did next to nothing, and that felt fine. Meanwhile, obviously, lots of important and exciting Forge community and Revit API related happenings – PyRevit Blog – Forge DevCon 2016 material and 2017 dates – Forge forums closing in favour of StackOverflow – Forge Accelerator in Munich – Bounding Box ExpandToContain Extension Methods – Bounding Box and Lower Left Corner of Rooms – Bounding Box of Selected Elements or Entire Model – Setting 3D section box to selected elements' extents... Read more →

Selecting RVT 3D Views for Forge Translation

By default, the SVF translation process for the Forge Viewer extracts and transmits all 2D views from a Revit RVT BIM project file, but only the standard "{3D}" view. This behaviour can be modified manually by installing A360 Collaboration for Revit (C4R), launching 'Views for A360' and selecting the desired additional views. How can I programmatically select which views are being extracted from a Revit document so they show up in the Forge Viewer? Read more →