Filters - Explorer

Ideate Filters provide a dynamic, customizable, and rule-based method to quickly filter Revit model elements based on your specified parametric conditions.

In this topic you’ll learn how to use, manage, create, and edit Ideate Filter Rules.

Use Ideate Filter Rules      

The Filter drop-down menu includes the list of loaded custom filter rules in your project. When a filter is selected, the rules of that filter are applied to the elements displayed within the Results window. Any text input made within the Search tool will act as an additional filter on the set of elements. Use the pencil icon to review or edit the active filter rule.

Example of Ideate Filters within Explorer

In the example below, the Ideate Explorer filter rule called “View_Tags-Unreferenced” returns a list of elements such as Callouts, Sections, Elevations, or View References that have no value for the Sheet Number property, meaning those views have not yet been placed on a sheet. Double-clicking on “Elevation 1-a” will open the relevant Revit view and display the unreferenced element. This filter can be used to quickly ensure that all views that were intended to be placed, are done so.

Find unreferenced Revit Views with Ideate Explorer

 

Manage Filter Rules     

To access the list of currently loaded filter rules and to edit, create or delete rules, select the ‘cog’ button within the relevant Ideate Software solution, then select “Manage Rules” or “Manage Filter Rules” as shown below for Ideate Explorer. 

The “Manage Filter Rules” dialogue, shown below, allows you to navigate the list of loaded rules within your Revit Project. The selected rule will display its Name, Category, and Description along the bottom. Use the Search (#1) to enter text values to quickly find any relevant filters rules that are loaded into your Revit project. In a new project, the list of loaded rules will be defined by the Settings option, also shown under the ‘cog’ above.

Use New (#2) or Duplicate (#3) to create and then edit a new filter rule within the Edit Filter Rule dialog (#4). Each filter rule must have have a unique name. Select one or more filter rules and use Delete (#5) to remove them from your project.

The Export (#6) and Import (#7) buttons can be used to transfer rules between Revit projects. The Import button will open within the default location for each Ideate Software solution. Refer to Ideate Explorer Sample Content and Ideate Apps>Annotate Sample Content to learn more.

Create New Filter Rules     

When creating a new filter rule, the first decision to make is which data category. The category choice determines the list of available Property Filters (#6 below). For example, if the category is <Multi-Category>, with Duct Fittings and Ducts selected, then only built-in and shared parameteres are available as property filters. However, the if the Filter Rule is based on only the Duct Fittings category, then all project, shared, and unshared family parameters (such as size) will also be available as a property filter. 

Edit Custom Filter Rules   

After creating a new filter, the Edit “Rule Dialogue” will display as shown below. The default Name (#1) can be edited as long as it does not duplicate an existing rule. The “MC” naming convention shown below is used to to indicate that the filter is a multi-category rule. The Description (#2) should be filled out to help everyone on the team understand the use for this filter. The value for Category (#3) is read-only and based on the intial data category selected during the process of creating a new filter. If a multi-category rule has been selected, then the Search (#4) and Category Selector (#5) will display to support the selection of the applicable data categories. 

 

The choice of Category determines the list of available Property Filters (#6). When selecting a property, but sure to pay attention to the option at the bottom of the Property Selector when looking for any property other than the default (Instance) setting. This property list is identical to the properties available within Ideate BIMLink.

The Phase and Phase Filter (#8) built-in Revit conditions can be used to further refine the list of filtered elements based on their phase properties. Use the “All Phases” and “None” as shown above to ensure that all elements are included regardless of phase.

When more than one filter property is used, be sure to consider the checkbox option for Elements Must Pass All Filters (#7). When this is checked and there is more than one property, this creates an “AND” condition instead of an “OR” condition (unchecked). In the example below the list of tags will be limited to only those with a Leader Type=Free end AND if the Category name include “flex”.

After making any edits to the filter rule, use the Save and Close to save it within the active project only. Use the Export option within Manage Filter Rules to save the filter for use in another project. 

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Related topicsIdeate Explorer Sample Content

 

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