By Dennis Collin
There is frequently a need within Revit to be able to show model components in views to indicate size or position of such elements as floor or ceiling tiles, brickwork, blockwork or even panels.
Revit can achieve this quite easily by defining a fill pattern to represent an array of such features. There are two types of fill patterns in Revit, drafting patterns and model patterns. Drafting patterns resize with scale of view e.g. crosshatch for blockwork or insulation. Whereas model patterns are of a fixed size with say a grid layout of 600mm square representing a layout of acoustic ceiling panels.
These pattern styles can be saved in project or project template files and are often assigned to material definitions for easy recognition and identification in plan, section and elevation views.
Although the out of the box content has some pre-set patterns, there is usually a requirement for additional patterns to reflect the varied and bespoke nature of buildings and the materials used for construction.
Fill pattern creation and modification can be accessed via the Manage tab>Additional settings panel.
Selecting fill patterns allow users to modify an existing pattern or create a new one from scratch.
The image below shows the creation of a basic model fill pattern called floor tiles.
The pattern is named and a simple 450sq horizontal grid is defined, which displays in the preview window. It is important to ensure that the Pattern is set to ‘Model’ to maintain its correct size and behaviour.
Materials can then be accessed, and appropriate fill patterns can be assigned for the correct display of model elements that have the material and its associated assets assigned.
For non-rectangular grids or for complex graphics like roofing tiles for elevational views, the complex pattern definition must be used by way of an ASCII text based ‘PAT’ file. This process I will cover in a future post.