Mastering Autodesk Revit Architecture 2016. Krygiel Eddy

dragged from the ribbon if you hover over other floating panels while dragging.

Figure 2.7 Panels can be relocated anywhere in the UI.

      To return a panel to the ribbon, hover the mouse pointer over a floating panel and the panel’s border will appear. Click the arrow in the upper portion of the gray bar at the right of the floating panel.

On some panels, you will find special features that can be accessed from the panel’s title bar. An example of these features can be seen in the Annotate tab of the ribbon. In Figure 2.8, the small arrow on the Text panel is known as a dialog launcher and will open the Type Properties dialog box for Text (not shown in the figure). Clicking the down arrow on the Tag panel exposes an expanded panel that displays the Loaded Tags and Symbols command.

Figure 2.8 Special panel features

Using Other Aspects of the UI

      Now that we’ve covered the fundamental elements contained in the ribbon, let’s look at other important aspects of the UI.

OPTIONS BAR

The Options bar is located directly below the ribbon and is a contextually sensitive area that gives you feedback as you create and modify content. In Figure 2.9, you see the options available below the ribbon when the Wall tool is active. You can also use the Options bar when an object already placed in a project or family is selected.

Figure 2.9 Options appear in a bar below the ribbon.

      An especially important and frequently used option is included with any annotation symbol – the ability to include or exclude a leader. This will help you place tags in the clearest location within your documentation while maintaining a parametric relationship to the associated model element. Look for this option when you use the Tag By Category command from the Annotate tab in the ribbon.

PROPERTIES PALETTE, PROJECT BROWSER

The Properties palette contains the instance parameters of whatever you’re currently working on. In this palette, you will find the Type Selector, a selection filter, and the Edit Type button (Figure 2.10). You’ll learn more about filtering selected objects in Chapter 3, as well as much more about parameters in Chapter 14, “Designing with the Family Editor.”

Figure 2.10 Properties palette

The Project Browser (Figure 2.11) is a hierarchical listing of all the views, legends, schedules, sheets, families, groups, and links in your project. You can expand and collapse the project tree by selecting the + and – icons.

Figure 2.11 Project Browser

      You can search for elements by right-clicking on any item in the Project Browser and selecting Search from the context menu. The simple search function will highlight any view, sheet, family, or type with the matching text in its name.

The Project Browser can also be filtered and grouped into folders based on a number of user-defined parameters (see Figure 2.12). To access the Browser Organization Properties dialog box, right-click the Views portion at the top of the palette. You can also access this tool in the View tab under the User Interface flyout button. Learn more about Project Browser customization in Chapter 4.

Figure 2.12 Browser Organization Properties dialog box

The Properties palette and Project Browser can be undocked from the main UI and can also be placed on a secondary monitor simply by dragging or double-clicking the top border of either palette. You can also drag these UI elements onto each other to use them in a unified tabbed or stacked palette, as shown in Figure 2.13. Dragging one palette onto the top border of the other will create a tabbed palette, whereas dragging it just below the top border will result in a stacked palette.

Figure 2.13 Properties palette and Project Browser combined in a tabbed or stacked palette

STATUS BAR

      The status bar at the bottom of the UI provides useful information about selected objects and active tools. When you start a tool, the status bar will display prompts about the next step required of the tool. For example, select an object and start the Rotate command; the status bar will read “Click to enter rotate start ray or drag or click the rotation center control.” It is also useful when you are using the Tab key to toggle between object snap points or when selecting chains of elements.

      Toward the middle of the status bar, you will find toolbars for worksets and design options. At the far right end, you will see a filter icon next to a number. When you select objects in a view window, the number of selected objects will be displayed here. Click the Filter icon to open the Filter dialog box and refine the selection set. The five icons next to the Filter icon determine which objects in your model are eligible for selection. We will discuss selecting elements in greater detail in Chapter 3.

DRAWING AREA

      The drawing area is the window into your design space. As shown previously in Figure 2.1, you can tile several views from any number of open files or you can maximize the view windows. When the view windows in the drawing area are maximized, press Ctrl+Tab on the keyboard to cycle through the open views. To reverse the cycling, press Ctrl+Shift+Tab.

If you decide to use tiled views when you work in Revit, you should be aware of a subtle limitation. You’ll be able to zoom into only the extents that are defined by the drawing area. If you want to get around this limitation, here’s a helpful tip: Create a new sheet, but then delete the sheet border. This is your “working” space for any view of the project. Now you can create duplicate views of any of your project views and assemble them in this working space (Figure 2.14). Zooming in and out is much more fluid, and you’re not limited to the extents of one drawing area. You can create a keyboard shortcut to activate and deactivate views, which is helpful as well.

Figure 2.14 Working sheet view

VIEW CONTROL BAR

The view control bar is at the bottom of every view and changes slightly depending on the type of view (Figure 2.15). For example, sheet views have only four buttons and perspective views don’t have a scale option. In Figure 2.15, we have tiled three view windows to illustrate some of the differences in the view control bar. From top to bottom, you can see a drafting view, a plan view, and a 3D view.

Figure 2.15 View control bar examples

      Some of the buttons in the view control bar are just shortcuts to view parameters