Window Selection in Parts

Don’t you just hate that there is no window selection for part environment? If you need to select more than one item at a time you need to hunt and pick instead of making a window selection.

The other day I have received a 3D building from our client so we can finalize the plant layout. I import that into a single part multiple-body environment for sake of simplicity and because I don’t want to manage, vault, multiple files.

                Revit export, the model has about 750 bodies and in some cases, in parts like this, the bodies are grouped in a sequential order so you can select multiple (with SHIFT) and take off Visibility. I usually select around 50 at a time and do a SHIFT selection in the browser and turn off several at a time.

~750 bodies.

                This particular model had way too many bodies (walls, doors, windows) and the ones for my plant room were all over in the structure tree making it ready difficult to do a browser selection.

                Thought to go clever and fudge an ilogic code I had around to rename browser nodes. As long as you keep selecting bodies the code will turn them off. This worked out pretty good but it quickly turned into a “sharp shooter” point and click game and I looked for a better solution. I was a real pain to select  small bodies (door handle for example) and large ones (sectional walls) at same time.

Point and click but way too slow.

                Here is the code if you ever need it:

Dim comp As Object

Try

    While True

        comp = ThisApplication.CommandManager.Pick(

            SelectionFilterEnum. kPartBodyFilter,

            "Select a component")

        comp.Visible = False

    End While

Catch ' do nothing if error

End Try

                And here is the better solution.

                Create a new Design View Representation because the Default is locked and you can’t change it.

                Place the part in an assembly and change selection filter to Bodies.

Change your filter selection first.

Activate the unlocked design view representation for that part.

Activate the correct Design View Representation.

 Now you can do window selections and turn visibility off for several at once. When you do that remember to choose Modify Design View Representation because you want to change the part as well.

               

Window selection speeds things up.

                And that’s it, simple trick, but it saved a lot of time.

Later,

ADS.

photo credit: Snail climbs window pane (license)