Using GROUPS rather than Design Options

There are many great uses for GROUPS in Revit. I just discovered another one. If you have a design decision to make and are unsure of which way the client will go, so you decide to use Design Options.. HOLD EVERYTHING. There is a much simpler way to do it.

Create a group, let's say an arrangement of furniture. Move the group's insertion point to a known location.. like the corne of a room or in this case, the corner of the fireplace. (The insertion point is the little x/y axis that shows up when you select the group.. it's dragable).

Then delete the group! Yep.. just hit delete. (it stores in the project, trust me)

Now, create another group.. with another furniture arrangement. Move this new group's insertion point to the same location as the first group.

Now you are ready for the magic. Simply select the group and swap it out (in the properties dialog box) for the other one. BAM. Works like a champ. The insertion point holds the group's location. So for a quick design decision.. you don't have to set up Design Options if you don't want to.

There seems to only be a couple drawbacks. You can't set up a view where one of the groups is visible and another view where the other 'swapped out' group is visible. So it's a manual process. The other drawback is that the groups, when swapped out, don't retain any visual overrides.

Other than that.. this is the way to go!

Visibility Control

Ok.
Some confusion exists between the different visibility control mechanisms we have in Revit.
And it's no wonder.. There are so many possible combinations that it takes real skill to keep them all organized.

Here are the main ones that are giving people issues.. there are others to help complicate things, but we'll start with these:

1. You can select an individual object and with a right click - select Graphic Override, and make it look any way you want.
2. You can also select any individual object and with a right click - Hide it or the entire category in which it belongs.
3. Categories give you the ability to make an entire category look any way you want (and the ability to turn an entire category on/off).
4. Worksets gives you the ability to group items (even from different categories) and turn them on/off.
5. Filters give you the ability to make your worksets (and other items) look any way you want them. (All grey, All dashed and light blue, etc.).
6. Phases give you the ability to tell items when they were created and when (if at all) they will be demolished.
7. Phase Filters give you the ability to make a graphic distinction between new and existing phases (Grey Existing, Dark New, Existing Off, etc.)

Now that should make things as clear as mud.