Override Line Appearance

The most common thing I come across in Revit is being able to manipulate lines in views. My first assumption was that it looks the way it does and I would have to cover them up by masking or filled regions. DO NOT COVER UP LINES OR CREATE NON PARAMETRIC ELEMENTS IN REVIT! There is a better way. Use one of 3 options:

1) The Linework tool. Shortcut command 'LW'

The linework tool allows you to override the appearance of any line, even making it invisible. Make sure the linetypes you need are set up in Settings-Line Styles and you may replace or make invisible any line in any view in the model. The one exception are topography lines in a terrain model. For that try the next option.

Tip: When you click on a line using this tool it will give you blue handles on each end, you may shorten any line by grabbing the blue handle. There is usually a line under the first line you click since it is a 3D model and has multiple planes associated to it. Just make any extra lines invisible.

2) Override Graphics in View command. Select an object, right click and choose 'Override Graphics in View'

You can override objects by element, by category, or by a filter you previously set up. For a terrain model, you will not be able to bold major contours if you want your contours to be dashed (adjust maj and min contours in Settings-Site Settings).

3) Visibility Graphics. Shortcut 'VV' or 'VG'

You may override any category or subcategory. For example if you want dashed bold Major topo lines and dashed thin topo lines you would go to Visibility Graphics (VV or VG) and expand topography. There you see the subcategory of Primary contours and Secondary contours. Override the lines under projections/surface. Remember anything in VG only applies to that view and can always be undone.

Another example of using the linework command is for foundation footings. The advantage to a parametric model is that everything updates as 1 change is made. So if you are drawing in footings, STOP IT. Create a wall with the foundation you want built right into it. Then use the linework tool to gray out and dash the footing lines.