Moving forward in time, lets now show only the elements in the New Construction phase.

Set the
phase filter to Show New and only one wall will be displayed, as shown in Figure 10.30.
Figure 10.30 Showing only new elements
Now comes the final phase filter setting, Show Complete (Figure 10.31). This shows only the
existing elements that remain undemolished from all previous phases up to the phase assigned to the
view. Elements that are demolished in any phase are not displayed, and neither existing nor new
elements are overridden. This phase filter is most often used for camera views where a rendering
may need to be generated of the finished conditions without any sort of graphic overrides.
Figure 10.31 Showing finished conditions
Creating and Using Groups
Its easy to think of groups as functionally similar to blocks in Autodesk

AutoCAD

tools or cells in
MicroStation, but groups can be much more. They are great at maintaining repetition within your
project, but there are some major differences:
Creating groups is quite easy. And whether its a 2D or 3D group, the insertion point for the
group is easily defined and modified. The same cant be said of simple 2D blocks in other
applications.
Updating groups is a breeze. Its easy and intuitive to modify a group after its been created.
Practically anyone on your team can do it, which means that design workflow will not bottleneck
in your project team.
Copying groups throughout your project is also a breeze. Groups can be copied across different
levels, rotated, and even mirrored.
There are a few good practices that youll want to keep in mind when using groups. But theyre so
straightforward that youll wonder how youve ever worked without them.
Creating Groups
You can create two kinds of groups in Revit. One kind is just for geometry, and theyre called model
groups. The other is just for view-specific content like text, tags, dimensions, and so on, and theyre
called detail groups. You can create one kind of group or the other explicitly. But if you try to create
a group with both model and detail elements, Revit is smart enough to create a separate detail group
thats associated with the model group.
To demonstrate this, open a new project using the default template and start by drawing four walls,
as shown in Figure 10.32. Add the dimensions shown in the figure as well.
Figure 10.32 Four walls and dimensions
Select the walls and dimensions you just created, and click the Create Group button from
the contextual ribbon on the Create panel. Keep the default name Group 1 for both Model Group and
Attached Detail Group (Figure 10.33).
Figure 10.33 Creating the model and attached detail group
Now select the group of walls and copy it to the side of your original group. Youll notice that only
the model-based group is copied, which is fine for now (Figure 10.34).
Figure 10.34 Copied group
Associating the detail group is simple. Select the group and then click the
Attached Detail Groups button from the Group panel, and youll see the dialog box shown in Figure
10.35. Select the check box for Group 1 from the list and click OK.
Figure 10.35 Attached Detail Group Placement dialog box
The results are fairly straightforward (Figure 10.36). Both groups are now identical with geometry
and dimensions.
Figure 10.36 Identical groups
Modifying Groups
Now that youve created two identical groups, lets add a door to one of the walls that belong to the
group, as shown in Figure 10.37. But dont add the door to the groupjust place it in one of the walls
as you would with any nongrouped wall.
Figure 10.37 Adding a door outside of Edit Group mode
Now select the group to the left (the one with the new door) and click Edit
Group from the Group panel. Youll enter a special editing environment, shown in Figure 10.38, and
the nongrouped elements will be grayed out. This color is to alert you that you are in Edit Group
mode. Here youll be able to add, remove, and attach other elements to your group.
Figure 10.38 Edit Group mode
Now add the door to the group by selecting the Add function from the Edit
Group panel. Youll notice that you cant add the door numbers because this is a model group and
tags are 2D components. Now finish the group by selecting the Finish button (the green check), and
youll notice that both groups have a door in the same location (Figure 10.39).
Figure 10.39 Finished group
The process is essentially the same for modifying any group: Enter Edit Group mode, make the
changes and/or additions, and then finish the group.
Creating New Groups
Sometimes the easiest way to make a new group is to copy and modify an old one. To do this, first
duplicate the group. A quick way to do this is to right-click the name of the group you want to
duplicate in the Project Browser and choose Duplicate from the context menu, as shown in Figure
10.40.
Figure 10.40 Duplicating a group
Back in the view window, select your group. Notice in the Type Selector that you can swap
between groups in the same way you can swap between types within a family. Using this method,
highlight the group you created at the beginning of this exercise and swap the new group you created
by duplicating. Exchange Group 1 for Group 2 so you have one of each group type on the screen.
Select Group 2 and enter Edit Group mode for this second group. Edit it by making it 136 square
(4m), as shown in Figure 10.41; then finish the group.
Figure 10.41 Modifying the second group
Groups have insertion points that you need to consider before you exchange one group for another.
When you create a group, the insertion point is initially at the geometric center of all the elements in
the group. The groups origin is also identified by x- and y-coordinates.
But keep in mind that as you edit the group, the insertion point doesnt move until you
deliberately relocate it. This can be seen in Figure 10.42; editing the geometry for Group 2 retains the
same insertion point that was active when the group was initially created. Even though weve
modified the group, the insertion point remains where it was originally when the group was created.
group. Once this happens, the previous graphic issue is resolved since walls easily join across
groups, as shown in Figure 10.54.
Figure 10.54 Resolved wall graphics
Best Practices for Groups
Groups are great for creating and maintaining design iteration within a single project. And theyre
also great for maintaining consistency across multiple projects because groups can be saved and
loaded across multiple files. They can even be linked as separate RVT files and then converted to
groups at a later time.
As with everything in Revit, there are some important exceptions that you will want to note. Nearly
every time a problem crops up with groups, its the result of ignoring one of the following best
practices:
Dont put datum objects in your group. Avoid putting datum objects (levels and grids) inside
your group. First, you cant manage the extents of the datum objects unless youre in Edit Group
mode, which can create conflicts elsewhere in your project. Of course, you will have the option
to not include the datum objects when you bind your link. Again, doing so doesnt necessarily
create a technical hurdle, but it can create a lot of confusion. Weve seen situations where
duplicate levels are deleted only to find out that those levels were hosting content in the project.
Dont nest groups. In other words, avoid creating groups within other groups. Although nesting
can save time in some situations when the design is preliminary and your team is trying to
distribute content and design ideas quickly, youll likely find a point of diminishing returns as the
design evolves. You cant get to all the features and functionality of Revit when youre in Edit
Group mode. And if youre nested deep into groups and trying to modify project properties, youll