February 10, 2016

Did You Know That Revit Windows Can Have Transparent Glass In Elevation Views?

Amended on March 8, 2016 - Special thanks to José for contacting our technical support team on the workflow steps and Ron Palma and Sash Kazeminejad for researching the steps while I was teaching class. IX

Hi folks, IX here. One of the Senior Application Specialist here at Ideate, Inc.

Have you ever been in an elevation view and thought WHY CAN’T I SEE THROUGH THE WINDOW! I CAN IN A 3D VIEW!!!! Well okay maybe you’re not yelling it… J

Well you’re in luck: you can! Nope I’m not joking, teasing you or pulling your leg. You really can… Come on, you should know me by now.

So, you’ve gone to Visibility Graphics in your elevation view, unchecked the Glass subcategory under the Window category and you can still see through the glass.

You’ve also played with the transparency of the glass material. And you STILL can’t see through the glass in elevation views.

The reason why you’re unable to see through a window in an elevation view has nothing to do with the material assigned to the glass. You can change the glass material to different levels of transparency and you’re still not going to see through the window glazing in an elevation view.

What’s happening is the window family “Opening cut” option for “Transparency” is not checked for “Elevation” views. Yep that’s it.

Here are the steps to get windows in Elevation to be transparent:
  1. From your Revit Project file, select the windows family that is not appearing transparent in an elevation view and select the “Edit Family” button on the Ribbon.
  2. In the Family Editor, in a 3D view, “cross a window” over the family model elements.
  3. Select the “Filter” button from the Ribbon --> Selection panel.
  4. Uncheck all Categories except the “Opening cut” category, then hit the OK button.
  5. On the Options Bar place a check in the “Elevation” options.
  6. Save your Window family.
  7. From the Ribbon select the “Load into Project” button OR the new to Revit 2015r2 “Load into Project and Close” button.
  8. If you are still unable to see through the window. Go to Visibility Graphics for your elevation view and make sure that the Glass subcategory under the Window category is unchecked.
Your Window Family will now be transparent… it’ll be 100% transparent, but now you can see through your window.


Check out this short video on the above steps.

Enjoy workflow tips and tricks.  
Cheers,
IX

For more information on training and consulting for the various products Ideate services, visit our website.

Eugene O'Day
AEC Senior Application Specialist
Eugene A. O’Day, IX, with more than 25 years of architectural and mechanical experience, offers a trained focus on all things Revit and BIM. Teaching is a passion of his. Eugene has been an instructor in undergraduate degree programs, has traveled worldwide teaching Autodesk solutions to major corporations, has taught at accredited ATCs throughout the Northwestern region, and is a frequent and popular instructor, speaker, and presenter for AUGI® CAD Camps, Revit – and related product user groups. He has also been a trusted public school district advisor on new drafting instructor hires. At Ideate, Eugene provides training and support for Revit Architecture, Revit Structure and AutoCAD. Eugene is also a Revit Architecture Autodesk Certified Professional.