Forums >> Revit Structure >> Technical Support >> How do you handle dimensioning not-to-scale stuff in Revit?

mccoolj

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Joined: Wed, Dec 29, 2010
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I'm needing to show some not-to-scale representations of stuff in some of my details, and I'm curious how other Revit users are doing that. Since it won't let you replace the dimension text with anything of a similar format to dimensions, how do deal with dimensioning stuff that just won't fit if you actually drew it to scale, or something that is much longer in one dimension than the other, so that it is not clear when done to scale? For instance, in Autocad, I might just draw a generic "J" shape and overwrite the dimension on the long leg as being 10' long, while the curved portion is only a foot. Revit won't let you overwrite the dimension with another dimension unless it's part of some other text like "10'-0" TYP" or something. If you actually drew that to scale to use the dimensioning tools, you wouldn't really be able to see the curved portion very clearly by the time you got the long leg in view. So how do the rest of you address stuff like that? Thanks.

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WWHub

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I love Revit because it doesn't permit dimension over-rides without context.  So in your case, I would override with

NTS - 5'-0" (whatever the dimesion is)

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gregroberson

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WWHUB is right, people cannot "trick" you.  The replace with text simply will not allow the input to begin with a number.  So youu nay have to swith "10'-0" TYP" to "TYP 10'-0"" 

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mccoolj

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Actually, you can start the replacement dimension text with a number, as long as it has some text anywhere in it. I used "10'-0" TYP" as an example because that's one I had used last week in RS2012. However, this isn't about tricking anyone or being tricked - it's about communicating better, which sometimes requires not being to scale. This is especially true when dealing with very long, slender elements where one dimension appears insignificant compared to the other longer dimension at scale. At my previous job working with steel joists, we routinely drew stuff at an exaggerated or disproportionate scale because you couldn't convey 1/32" differences in angle thickness on an 80' long joist if you drew it to scale. The thickness dimension doesn't even show at that scale. While that is an extreme case, there are plenty of other times where it would be better to be able to show something at a different scale on X versus Y axes. So I was just wondering if any other users had figured out a good way to do that.

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itsmyalterego

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There IS a work-around. 

Like others, I only suggest doing this in details across break lines,  NTS instances... because "tricking" revit is bad practice...

So when you replace text on a dimension, in the text override you can right click, say "insert unicode control character"  and then US -- Unit Separator. 

This will insert an invisible character.  It'll trick revit into allowing a clean-looking override without extra text.

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WWHub

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I really don't understand why you ever need an incorrect dimension with stating that it is NTS.....

It almost always comes back to bite you later. 

There are reasons to not have something to scale but no reason not to say it is NTS.

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mccoolj

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Awesome. Thanks! And I completely agree that 99% of the time Revit's enforced scaling discipline is desirable and "tricking" it is bad practice. I'm just wanting this for those times I want to explain something better in a detail with a little side sketch that accentuates key dimensions but still has clean-looking dimensioning (i.e. not having to put "TYP" in a dimension text override to get it to accept the override dimension when there's only one instance of it on the project, etc). Thanks again.

Jason

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JBarron222

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I just duplicate my dimension family and associate a "Blank" TTF with it.  Then you can place a blank dimension string and type regular text as you wish. 

Of course I don't like to draw out of scale unless absolutely neccessary.  However, this practice is good for dimension strings that give information orther than a distance value...

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