With Ideate Explorer, you can review the information in your Revit model in many different ways. Most users are familiar showing elements within the Entire Project or limiting the elements to only the Active View.
Did you also know that you can select elements in the Revit canvas first, and then choose the Current Selection option? If Ideate Explorer is not open and you have selected elements in the model, it will default to Current Selection when Ideate Explorer first opens. You can always change the Display setting to Current Selection after selecting elements in the Revit Model.
Tip: A selection box drawn from left to right will only include those objects completely contained within the selection box. While a selection box drawn from right to left will include any object that overlaps the selection box rectangle.
This is a great way to see how many elements and what categories have been selected. In my example image below, I can quickly see that the room I selected has 147 Revit elements. I'm only getting the categories and instances for the elements that I have selected in the Revit canvas.
OK, so that's quick and easy! There is no clutter or extra information in the Ideate Explorer results pane. It's showing you only the information you need. Ideate Explorer will remember these selected elements in the results pane even if you clear the selection by choosing the None button in the Ideate Explorer dialogue. You can continue to work with these elements until you switch the Display setting to Entire Project or Active View. How about when you change the Display setting to show the Entire Project? Is there a way to limit what Ideate Explorer is showing you in the results pane without selecting objects in the Revit canvas? Of course, the answer is YES!
Switch the Display setting to Entire Project and select the None button on the Ideate Explorer dialogue to clear any previous selection.
Let's say we just want to work with Walls and Wall Tags. Check the box to the left of those categories in the results pane category tree. Switch the Display setting to Current Selection, and voila...Ideate Explorer only shows those two categories in the tree!
You can now clear your selection using the None button on the Ideate Explorer dialogue. You can expand or collapse categories and select other elements if you like. Ideate Explorer will keep the original category list as long as the Display setting is set to Current Selection. You can even add elements in the Revit canvas, and they will be added to the Current Selection results pane category tree.
If you switch the Display setting to Active View or Entire Project, your temporary Current Selection settings will be cleared.
About the Author
Richard W. Taylor - Associate AIA - Technical Evangelist Ideate Software
Richard Taylor has over 25 years of experience working for companies that develop architectural and engineering software solutions such as Intergraph, Bentley, and Autodesk. He has over 15 years of Revit experience, and was part of the original development of Revit while at Revit Technology Corporation. He worked 12 years at Autodesk where he presented, taught, and worked to improve features in Revit. Richard holds both a Bachelor of Science in Architectural Studies and Masters of Architecture from the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. Richard is currently a Technical Evangelist for Ideate Software Solutions and continues to work with AEC clients worldwide, developing, and consulting on BIM solutions. In his spare time, he is active in his local community and is an elected member of the local Planning Board where he evaluates new developments, regional planning, and design criteria. @Rwtaylor_Revit
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