Level display in the Graphical Column Schedule

Gosh... how did this one slip by me. Not for sure if it was in the initial 2009 version or one of the web updates. I guess it pays to read the new features list closely. This was one of those items that was on my wish list from day one. The ability to display the shared elevation of a Level in the Graphical Column Schedule (GCS). Well, I just found out that you can, or at least Revit does it automatically for you based on the "Elevation Base" parameter value in the Type properties of a level. The value that a particular level or level type displays throughout your project is what is displayed in the GCS.

We typically follow the lead of the architect on the majority of our projects. We link in their Revit model at origin to origin so our coordinates match up. Some of our architects standards are to start all projects off at 0'-0" and set up a shared coordinate for 0'-0" to equal 100'-0". Some start all projects off at 100'-0" and if for some reason the contractor wants to see the datum elevations of 860'-0" they will move the project to Revit's project coordinates of 860'-0". We would follow their lead and try to avoid the entire project being moved after it has been started. In some cases the right choice was to set up a shared elevation in lieu of moving all of the elements in the model to a new position. Anyways, the GCS was not friendly in displaying the shared elevation base when it was required for us to take that route. We would either miss out on the opportunity to use the GCS, place text over top of the elevations and maintain their position, or place a note on the schedule saying 0'-0" = 100'=0".

After dealing with this for a few years I just got so use to the work-arounds and kept requesting that the architect not use a shared elevation base that I stopped looking for it to be added.

Enough rambling.... if you didn't notice this behavior change (like me), hopefully this post will brighten your day.

Grouping Headers in a Schedule

When working in any Revit Platform you can find a lot of your wish list items by keeping your eye on the Options Bar. Even after using the software for a while now, I find new things that show up that I swear were not there the day before. But of course they have always been there.

Anyways... I had one of our users the other day ask me how I was able to group Length, Width and Depth under a Size field in the schedule. Something that a lot of users probably know how to do but also one of those features that can slip by you. In any case since I never like to just give out the answer, I told the user to select the Length, Width and Depth fields and than look at the Options Bar. They did, and they immediately figured it out. Go ahead, give it a try.




You can also use this Group command to display the Title of the schedule. Typically a schedule like this shows its title with the same name that the view is called. Their may be cases where you want the view name to be something other than the title of the schedule. In this case you can choose to not show the Title by going to the Appearance tab of the schedules properties and deselecting "Show Title". Than you can select all of the header fields in the schedule and select Group from the Options Bar. Now you can name the schedule whatever you want.