Revit Tip: Visibility/Graphics: View Template, Filter, and Link Control

Use Visibility/Graphics Overrides (VG/VV) strategically to maximize clarity, performance, and consistency across your Revit views.

Adopt a clear control hierarchy

• Start at the template: lock appearance with View Templates; avoid ad‑hoc overrides in production views.
• Prefer Category and Filter overrides over per‑element overrides; element overrides are hard to audit and slow to maintain.
• Use Object Styles for global graphic standards; use VG for view‑specific needs.

Essential settings to standardize in View Templates

• Model, Annotation, and Imported Categories: define Cut/Projection lineweights, colors, and patterns consistently.
• Halftone and Transparency: apply halftone to context (e.g., existing, linked backgrounds) and use moderate transparency (20–40%) for overlapping systems.
• Detail Level and Parts Visibility: tie to view type (coarse for plans, fine for details) to reduce per‑view tweaks.
• Underlay and Lighting: keep off in documentation views to prevent accidental visual noise.

Filters: your precision instrument

• Build rule‑based Filters for disciplines, phases, QA checks, and element statuses (e.g., “Not Tagged,” “Missing Mark,” “Demo”).
• Color‑code QA filters boldly (magenta/orange), but switch them off in published templates.
• Name filters with a stable convention: Discipline_Purpose_Rules (e.g., MEP_Clearance_QA).
• In 3D coordination views, combine Filters with section boxes to isolate systems rapidly.

Revit links: control without chaos

• In VG > Revit Links, set Display Settings to Custom; manage Model/Annotation/Imports individually.
• Use “By Host View” when the link follows your template; switch to Custom when you need distinct graphics.
• Enable “Apply host view filters to linked models” for unified QA visualizations across teams.
• Halftone linked context (existing/civil/landscape) and suppress non‑essential categories (e.g., furniture) in technical views.

Fast, clean workflows

• Keyboard: VG/VV opens Visibility/Graphics; use it, then “Apply to View Template” to make changes stick.
• Temporary Hide/Isolate is for exploration; don’t leave hidden elements in deliverable views—reset and make it a Template or Filter rule.
• Linework tool is for rare exceptions; prefer category/filter logic to maintain consistency.
• Audit: use “View > Reveal Hidden Elements” and review per‑element overrides; eliminate them in favor of filters.

Performance and print reliability

• Too many per‑element overrides and imported CAD layers degrade performance—consolidate into categories or filters.
• Avoid grayscale printing surprises: if you rely on color filters, test print setups early.
• Purge unused Filters and Imports to keep templates lean.

Pro tip: maintain a small set of “Temporary QA” templates (bold colors, high contrast) to verify modeling standards, and separate “Issued” templates for publication.

Need help standardizing your firm’s View Templates and Filters? Consult with the specialists at NOVEDGE for Autodesk Revit subscriptions, add‑ins, and best‑practice guidance, or connect via novedge.com.