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LECTURE NOTES: CLASS 03

AGENDA:

1. Dimensions and Constraints

2. Selecting and Manipulating Content
3. Editing Tools

1. Dimensions and Constraints

Dimensions are elements which report sizes and distances in individual views. Dimensions show only in
the view in which they were created although they may be duplicated when creating a new view from
an existing view by selecting the Duplicate with Detailing option.

Constraints are non-view specific elements that allow you to create and lock in relationships between
elements. Constraints may be defined with dimensions such as locked distances or equal values, or with
other tools such as Align. Constraints defined with dimensions may be retained even when the
associated dimensions are deleted.

There are two types of dimensions in Revit: Temporary and Permanent. Temporary dimensions appear
as you are placing content or when an element is selected. Permanent dimensions are created by
picking points or by converting a temporary dimension.

Temporary
dimensions react by
default with
elements according
to the values
specified in the
Temporary
Dimension
Properties dialog accessed from the Additional Settings pulldown on the Manage tab of the Ribbon.
These settings can easily be overridden by moving the witness lines for temporary dimensions.

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Selecting a component or element in the drawing will display the temporary dims for that element. If
you pick the Dimension value, you can type in a new value and the selected object will move to reflect
the new distance. If the witness line for the dim is not attached where you want it, you can move the
witness line by picking the blue control box on the witness line, or by picking and dragging it to a new
position. To convert a temporary dimension to a permanent one, pick the blue dimension symbol below
the dimension.

Temporary dimensions display only

when a single element is selected. It is
possible to force the display of
temporary dims for multiple objects
by selecting 2 or more elements and
then choosing Activate Dimensions on
the Options bar. This will decrease
performance.

Permanent dimensions are specifically created or placed and may appear in a modifiable or non-
modifiable state. To make a permanent dimension modifiable, select the geometry which it references.
Values that can be changed will display in blue. Picking the blue text will highlight the value and let you
change it. This will move the selected element.

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Permanent dimensions may be placed with the Dimension Tools accessed from the Quick Access
toolbar, various tabs on the Ribbon, or with the keyboard shortcut, DI. On the Ribbon's dimension panel,
found on the Annotate tab, select the type of dimension you wish to create: Aligned, Linear, Angular,
Radial, or Arc Length. Next, on the Option Bar, set the Prefer pulldown option to Wall Faces, Wall Centre
lines, Faces of Core, or Center of Core depending on where you want the witness lines to be placed. Set
the Pick field to Individual References. Select each element face or center to dimension and then pick a
point to set the dimension location.

If more than one possible witness origin point is in the same area, you can toggle between them by
floating your cursor over the area and pressing TAB until the desired origin reference is highlighted in a
grey color, and then pick to select that reference.

Automatic Aligned Dimensions allow you to dimension one or more walls, including offsets, openings,
intersecting walls, and intersecting grids in a single step. To create automatic dimensions, start the
Dimension command and on the Options bar set the Prefer field as required, set the Pick field to Entire
Walls, and then choose the Options button to set the Auto Dimension Options to enable dimensioning
of openings, intersecting walls and / or intersecting grids as well as opening options such as Centers or
Widths. Pick ok, select the wall or walls to dimension and then pick point for the Dimension location.

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After you place any permanent

linear or angular dimensions, a
padlock icon will appear below
each dimension segment. If you
pick this symbol you can open
and close the lock.

Locking a dimension segment will

create a design constraint
between the two elements which
are being dimensioned, making it
impossible to change the
distance between those two
elements without removing this constraint.

If you add a lock to a dimensioned element, it will create a constraint that can be retained even if you
delete the dimension. This is not usually recommended as it can lead to an over-constrained model. If
you select any constrained building element, it will display lock symbols and alignment lines to help
show the source of the constraints.

In current versions of Revit, you can use the Reveal

Constraints tool found on the view control bar to
highlight all of the constraints in the model in red,
even if the constraints have no visible associated
dimensions.

It is not necessary or desirable to lock every

dimension you create. Only add locks to critical
dimensions where you need to establish a design relationship or you want to keep something from
moving. The more constraints and locks you create, the more complex the project will become
increasing the chance of design conflicts appearing while you work. Think of constraints as a
temporary measure and delete them when you no longer need them.

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A second type of constraint which may be created with dimensions is the Equality constraint which will
appear as an EQ with a line through it when you create or select a multi-segmented dimension. Picking
the EQ symbol will change all of the dimension values to EQ and will move all of the dimensioned
elements so the distances between them are equal. This equality relationship will be maintained even
when the overall distance changes.

If you assign equal constraints to a set of dims, but still want to display the actual dimension values
instead of the EQ symbol, select the dimension, and in the Properties palette, set the Equality Display to
value. It is possible to add a lock to a dimension that is also equally constrained.

To remove equality constraints from a dimension, select the dimension and then pick the EQ symbol to
toggle the equality constraint off. The equal spacing will be maintained unless the overall distance is
modified.

Selecting a constrained object will display the constraint references as dashed lines. To hide the display
of Constraints, type VG to open the Visibility / Graphic overrides dialog and in the Annotation Categories
tab, clear the checkmark under visibility for the Constraints category

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You can move a witness line for a permanent dimension by selecting the dimension and then picking or
picking and dragging on the blue control box on the witness line. To change the Witness line gap for a
dimension, pick and drag the blue control box at the end of the witness line.

To add or delete witness lines from a dimension,

select the dimension and on the Ribbon, choose
Edit Witness Lines.

When you are Adding and Deleting Witness Lines,

all of the reference points for the selected
dimension will be shown in blue. Picking one of the
blue lines will delete that witness line. To add a new
witness line, select a new reference edge or point
and a new blue line will appear along with the new
witness line.

To reposition a dimension text value, select the dimension and then pick the blue control box below the
text. On the Options bar you can choose to draw a leader from the text to the middle of the dimension
line.

In current versions of Revit, it is possible to

add additional text above, below, before, or
after the default dimension text value. It is
even possible to replace the true dimension
text value with your own static text entry
although this will generate a warning. To
add text or replace the default dimension
text, select a dimension and then pick one
of the dim text values to open the
Dimension Text dialog. Add or replace text
elements as required and pick OK.

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2. Selecting and Manipulating Content

Many of the methods used for editing an element are only available when an object is selected. To aid in
selecting objects, Revit highlights objects when you float your mouse over them and a tooltip appears
identifying the object that will be selected if you pick it.

If several items are in the same area, presses TAB to cycle the selection until the desired element is
highlighted and then pick it to make the selection.

When you select an object, it will change color, any element specific editing controls and dimensions
display on or near the element, applicable editing tools become available on the Modify panel or the
Right-click menu, and the Selection Control in the Properties Palette will display the number of selected
elements. The Ribbon will also show a "Modify_Element" tab with appropriate tools.

If you select multiple elements with

a crossing or window selection and
then pick the Filter icon from the
Selection panel on the Ribbon, it
will open the Filter dialog showing a
list of all selected categories and
the number of elements in each of
those categories. Choose the Check
None button to clear the list,
choose the categories you want and then pick OK to apply the current selection criteria and close the
dialog box. Only elements in the filtered categories will remain in the selection set.

When multiple items are selected, you can also use the Selection Control window in the Properties
palette to access the properties for any selected category.

Create Chain selections of end-connected wall or line segments by highlighting an element and pressing
TAB to highlight the entire chain. Pick to select all highlighted elements.

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When you select an element, various controls and grips will appear on or near the element which may
be used to move or resize it. Different types of controls appear for different elements and in different
types of views. Drag controls appear as blue filled grips at the ends of lines and wall segments (in plan
views). Picking and dragging these control points will change the endpoint location for the segments
attached to that grip. In an elevation or 3D view, the controls display as arrows indicating Shape Handles
which may be used to resize or reshape the selected element.

Flip Controls are double arrow icons which appear on

some elements and are used to change the
orientation of an element by mirroring its position.
Flip controls are used to change the orientation of
wall to flip the exterior side, to mirror a window
within a wall, or to change the swing and hinge
directions for a door.

Pin Controls allow you to lock down an element

to prevent it from moving. Pins do not constrain
one element to another, but lock its position in
space so it cannot be moved until it is Unpinned.
To pin one or more elements, make the
selection and pick the Pin tool from the Modify
panel. You might want to Pin your structural
grid or if you are doing an addition to an existing
building, you could pin it down to ensure that it
is not accidentally moved.

Use the Undo tool to cancel the most recent action. You can use the CTRL-Z keyboard shortcut or the
Undo icon on the Standard toolbar. Selecting the dropdown arrow beside Undo tool allows you to undo
multiple commands in single step. To Redo steps which have been Undone with the Undo command use
the Redo tool, or Redo pulldown on the Standard toolbar. CTRL-Y will also Redo actions.

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The Modify tab on the Ribbon provides access to a series of general tools for editing geometry,
modifying elements, measuring and dimensioning, and creating parts, assemblies, and groups. The
modify tab will automatically activate whenever you select one or more elements. You can also switch
to the

Other familiar tools on the Modify|Element

tab of the Ribbon include the Cut, Copy, and
Paste commands which are used in many
software programs to create duplicates of
existing objects. The usual keyboard
shortcuts, CTRL-C for Copy, CTRL-V for Paste,
and CTRL-X for Cut work for these options.
When you are pasting elements, look in the
Paste dropdown menu for advanced options
allowing you to paste the copied object into the same coordinates on one or more specific levels.

The cursor menu provides two options when an object is selected, that can be very useful including
Create Similar and Select All Instances. Create Similar can also be accessed from the Ribbon or with the
shortcut CS. Select All instances uses the shortcut SA.

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The Move tool allows you to move objects with more precision than can be attained with the interactive
pick and drag method of moving selected objects. Picking and dragging an object to define the move
point makes it more difficult to specify precise dimensions for move displacements. The Move tool lets
you use Object snaps such as endpoints, midpoints, etc. to precisely align one set of objects to other
existing elements or references.

While moving objects the Options bar will show options for constraining the move in a single horizontal
or vertical direction. (Ortho) as well as a Disjoin option and also a Copy option. Holding the Shift key will
also constrain moves or copies to a horizontal or vertical direction.

Use the arrow keys to Nudge selected objects in small increments in a vertical or horizontal direction.
The nudge distance will be dependent on the current zoom level.

When you select certain elements such as furniture or other placed components, the Options bar will
display a checkbox for “Moves with Nearby Elements”. If this option is enabled the selected elements
will automatically maintain their relative position to nearby walls. Only elements with edges which are
parallel to a wall will be affected by this option.

The Copy tool is very similar in function to the Move tool. It does not use the windows clipboard and is
used to create copies in the current view only. If you want to create more than one copy at a time,
choose the Multiple option on the Options bar. The Copy tool does not allow you to copy a hosted
element such as a door or window to a different host wall.

The Create Similar is another useful method for

creating a copy of a selected element. This tool is
available for most Revit Architectural elements and
allows you to place a copy of a hosted element
outside the original host. For example a door may be
“copied” to an adjacent wall. The Create Similar tool
copies the general Type parameters for an element,
but does not copy specific, instance parameters such
as unconnected wall heights for a wall element.

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Elements may be Rotated precisely with the Rotate tool on the modify panel. The default rotation base
point will be defined at the centre of the selected elements but you can pick and drag the rotation origin
symbol to any location to act as the base point. You can then define the rotation angle by picking two
points or by typing in an Angle value on the Options bar.

The Space bar may be used to Rotate elements as you are adding them and also after they have been
placed. Selecting a door or window and pressing the Space bar will Flip the element through its available
options. The Space bar may also be used to Flip the orientation of a wall. Selected components will be
rotated in 90 degree increments.

The Mirror tool is another useful option on the Modify panel which allows you to create a reflected copy
of one or more elements across an axis. The Mirror axis may be defined by selecting an existing edge or
center reference in another element such as a door, window, wall, etc. or by selecting the Draw tool on
the Options bar, you can pick two points to define the axis. If you do not wish to retain the original
object, clear the Copy checkbox on the Options toolbar.

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The Array tool allows you to create multiple copies of one or more elements in either a linear or a radial
pattern. Arrays may be defined by specifying a number of elements in the array and a distance or angle
between elements or an overall distance or angle to fill. To specify an incremental distance, choose the
Move to 2nd option. To specify a total distance or angle to fill, choose the Move To Last. Both settings are
found on the Options bar.

When you create an array, by default, the Group and Associate option will be selected. This option will
create a relationship between the arrayed objects which can be modified after the array has been
created. A grouped linear array will have a parameter for the number of elements in the array.

Radial Grouped arrays offer even more controls including the number of elements in the array, the angle
between elements, the total angle to fill with elements, and the radius of the curve for the array.

Moving an element in a grouped linear array can resize the entire array. If the arrayed element is not
hosted, dragging and element can also reorient the array of objects.

If you delete an element from an array, you will no longer have access to the parameter for the number
of elements in the array and it will break the array into a series of model groups with one element in
each group.

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3. Editing Tools

The Align command on the Modify panel is an extremely powerful and useful feature which allows you
to move elements against or in line with each other. After moving objects into alignment, a Padlock icon
will appear, optionally allowing you to create a constraint between the elements. If constrained, when
one element is moved, it will drag the aligned element along with it.

Unlike the previous editing tools, when you use the Align tool, you first choose the object you are
aligning TO and then you select the object to move. When you choose the alignment references, Revit
will automatically determine the center or face of elements in most cases.

When aligning objects to walls, the Options bar will display an option to Prefer. Wall Faces, Wall
Centrelines, the Face of the Structural Core or the Core Centreline.

The Align tool may be used to align surface patterns such as tiles or bricks with existing elements. Tile
patterns for example may be aligned to coincide with a selected wall. The keyboard shortcut for Align is
AL.

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The Trim tool allows you to Trim or Extend one or more elements. As with the Align command, you first
select the tool and then you select the objects to which you wish to apply the tool. When you select an
object, the Modify panel on the ribbon will display three Trim tools: Trim Extend to Corner, Trim Extend
Single element and Trim Extend Multiple Elements.

The trim extend to corner allows you to

create a clean, closed corner from two non-
parallel elements such as walls or lines.
When you trim to a corner, pick both
elements on the side you wish to retain.

The Trim Extend Single and Multiple options

allow you to choose first a trim/extend
boundary and then the element you wish to
trim or extend. When you select the second
element, Revit will display a blue dashed line to indicate the result of the operation.

The Extend options will be obvious but if you are familiar with the AutoCAD Trim command, the trim
operation may seem unusual. Unlike AutoCAD where you select the boundary and then choose the
portion to remove or trim off, Revit asks you to specify the boundary and then the portion you wish to
retain.

The Split tool allows you to break a wall or line at a selected point. If you choose the option to “Delete
Inner Segment” on the Options bar, Revit will prompt you to select two points along the wall or line and
will trim out and remove the portion between those points. Split with Gap allows you to preset a gap
size of up to 12 inches to create with a single pick. To combine two wall segment after splitting, pick one
wall and then drag the control grip over the endpoint of the second segment.

The Offset command allows you to move or copy elements in a concentric or parallel manner. The offset
distance may be specified on the Options bar or, if you choose the Graphical setting, you can specify two
points to define the offset distance after first selecting the object to offset. To offset an entire chain of
elements, highlight the first element, press TAB and then pick to offset the entire chain.

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Exercise Notes

In the following exercise you will learn how to apply dimensions and constraints to your preliminary
model to practice how to define relationships between elements. You will also practice manipulating
elements with various editing tools and control features.

1. Open the project you were working on in lesson 2. If level one is not active, double click this level in
the Project Browser to make it current. Type ZF to Zoom the view to Fit.
2. Start by defining the overall dimensions for the building footprint and locking them. From the Quick
Access Toolbar, choose the Dimension tool. On the Options bar, choose Wall Faces and Pick
Individual References. Select the face of the brick component on the lower, horizontal wall on the
left side and then the same face on the horizontal wall at the top of the plan. Note that the face of
the brick is not the outermost line in the wall but actually is the second edge in towards the interior.
This is because we are using a complex wall style with a sill element between the block on the lower
section of wall and the brick on the upper section of wall.(If you switch into the default 3D view and
zoom in on a corner of the building, you can confirm the presence of this element.) While you are
adding dimensions, use the wheel on your mouse to zoom in and out as required. After you select
the two brick faces, drag your cursor away from the building and pick a point to locate the
Dimension.
3. After you place the dimension, the dim value will appear in blue and a padlock icon will appear
below the dimension. The dim value should be 38 feet, but if not exactly that value you can select
one the walls and then change it.
4. Pick the wall at the front of the building and the dimension value should highlight in blue. If it
doesn’t highlight automatically, select the Activate Dimensions button on the Options Bar and it
should change color. Pick the blue dimension value and it will highlight in a field where you can type
a new value. Set the distance to 42 and hit enter. The wall will move, remain selected, and the dim
value will still be blue. Take note of the square footage shown on the Room Tag in the adjacent
office. Pick the dim value again and change it to 39 and hit enter. The wall will move again and the
square footage shown will automatically update.

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5. When a dimension runs between two objects and you change the dimension value, the selected
element will be the one that moves to reflect the new distance. Hit ESC twice to clear the current
selection and pick the other dimensioned wall at the back of the building. If the dimension text does
not turn blue, it cannot be modified and you will need to choose the Activate dimensions button on
the Options Bar. When dim text is editable, change the value to 44 and hit enter. This time, the wall
at the back of the building will be the one that moves. Pick the dim text again and change it to 42 to
pull the wall back down.
6. When you add a dimension, a dimension lock icon will appear allowing you to lock the dimension
value right away. If you need to manipulate the dimensioned element as we have just done, to
move it to the correct distance, the lock will not appear until you select the dimension. With the wall
still highlighted, pick the dimension, to switch the selection and then pick the lock icon below the
dimension to toggle it on and lock the value.
7. Pick the dimensioned wall at the back of the building and if no dims appear, choose Activate
Dimensions. The 42 foot dimension will remain black indicating it cannot be modified. Select the
wall at the front of the building and try the same thing. The 42 foot dimension cannot be changed.
8. Add a second dimension between the inner face of the front wall and the closest face on the wall at
the North side of the office. Select the front wall and change the value of the highlighted dim to 16.
Since the exterior wall is selected, it does move to make the office length 16 feet, but because the
back wall is locked at a distance of 42 feet, it is also shifted to maintain this distance. With the wall
still selected, change the value to 14 and then back to 16 and watch how the front and back exterior
walls shift back and.
9. Add third dimension between the front exterior wall and the inset exterior wall containing the front
door. Position the dim to the left of the front door but do not lock it.
10. We want to keep the 16 foot office, but we also want to change the dimension by the front door to
a reasonable value. Perhaps, 8’-0”. The solution is to remember that the wall you select will be the
one that moves when you change the dim value. If we select the wall that is hosting the front door,
it will move and the office dimension will be maintained. Try it now. Pick the wall with the door,
activate its dimensions, and change the value to 8 and hit enter. Change it to 10 and hit enter again
to see that only the selected wall is moving. Hit CTRL-Z twice to Undo two steps and revert to the
original dimension.

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11. To see what can happen when you don’t think about what is selected and what is constrained to
other elements, let’s try it the wrong way.  During this exercise, if any warning boxes appear
telling you that an insert conflicts with a wall, just click in the drawing area to close the warning. (It
happens if the end of a wall runs into a door opening.)
12. Pick the bottom exterior wall, and change the dim value to the front door wall to 8 feet. It moves
the exterior wall so the distance to the front door wall is the correct 8 feet, but the office is now the
wrong size.
13. Pick the same exterior wall to activate its dimensions again. This time pick the office dimension and
change its value back to 16.Now, we lose the 8 foot dim. Okay. We’ll lock the 8 foot dim first. CTRL-Z
to get the 8 foot dim back. Pick the dim and lock it.
14. Pick the exterior wall at the bottom of the office and activate the dimensions. Change the office
dimension to 16 again. Because the exterior wall is the one selected, and two other exterior walls
have a locked dimension to the selected wall, the entire building shifts up to resize that office! I
think you’ll agree, the way we did this back in step 10, when we planned it, worked much better.
15. At this point, it is very likely that the shifting around of walls has created a conflict between some of
the walls and one or more doors or windows. These are easy to fix by picking and dragging the door
or window away from the conflicting wall. (or vice versa depending upon what is already
dimensioned and locked or constrained. You should be able to select an element, hold down your
mouse button, and drag it to a new position all in one step. Be careful as sometimes this option will
lead to inadvertent moves when you select objects.
16. Select the 16 foot dimension inside the office and lock it. If any doors or windows around the office
are conflicting with walls, move them by picking and dragging them to the correct location.
17. Take a look at the doors and windows around the office. Are all of the windows oriented to the
same side of the wall? Pick one of the windows to select it. Pick the blue, Flip arrows which appear
on one side of the window to change the side of the wall on which the window is placed. With the
window selected, press the Space bar and it will also flip the window. Ensure all of the windows are
oriented to the outside face of the exterior wall.
18. Try picking the door to the office and toggling the orientation of the door through its four possible
Swing and Hinge configurations. You can do this either by picking the two sets of blue flip arrows, or
by selecting the door and repeatedly pressing the space bar. When the door is in the correct
direction, opening into the office and against the north wall, zoom in to the door.

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19. Pick the door and then pick the witness line control bar on the temporary dimension at the top of
the door to toggle the witness line location between the centre and the face of the opening. Toggle
the witness line at the wall to the face closest to the door. Pick the dim value and change it to 4”.
Make sure you type the “mark to indicate inches, as just a number 4 will indicate 4 feet with the
default unit settings.
20. To lock this relationship between the door and the adjacent wall, add a permanent dimension and
lock it. As soon it is locked, hit the Delete key and a warning dialog will appear indicating you are
deleting a constrained dimension. Pick OK to finish the delete operation but still retain the 4 inch
offset constraint between the door and the wall. This method will allow you to create dimensional
constraints in a number of locations in the design but only display an actual dimension in one
location.
21. To see how the door will move with the wall, unlock the 16 foot dimension inside the office, and
reposition the interior wall by picking it and dragging it to the North. The door will move with the
selected wall to maintain the 4 inch dimension. When you pick the wall, it will display a dashed line
and a lock symbol to indicate the constraint between the door and the wall. Set the dimension back
to 16 feet and then lock it again. With nothing selected, pick the Reveal Constraints tool on the View
control bar. Red dimensions will appear wherever constraints have been added. Toggle the Reveal
constraints back off.
22. So far, our building has been able to shift its exterior walls to reposition or resize the building
perimeter without regard to a fixed location. Locking the position of your building to keep it at a
certain location can be done with the Pin tool. If we were first creating a structural grid for this
building, we could Pin the grid and then constrain the walls to the grid. In this example we don’t
have a structural grid, but we can still lock the building down and anchor its position by Pinning one
of the exterior walls. Select the 42 foot wall which we dimensioned first. On the Edit toolbar choose
the Pin tool. Repeat for the adjacent exterior wall at the front of the building. This corner of the
building is now locked down and the walls will no longer move. If you select either of the pinned
walls you will see that the Activate dimensions button is no longer available. If you try to move the
walls by picking and dragging, you’ll see that they no longer respond.

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23. Toggle the Reveal Constraints tool again. No symbols appear that are related to the Pinned walls.
Pins are different than constraints. Pins will not only keep you from moving an element, they can
also restrict the types of edits that can be applied to an element. No more than one Pin should be
added to a project. Select the front wall and pick the Pin icon to unpin it. After you Pin an object,
even if you Unpin it, the pin icon remains. To get rid of it, delete the once-pinned object, and then
hit CTRL-Z to undo and bring it back. The pin icon will be gone.
24. Zoom in around the front of the building on the left side. Type DI to access the Dimension tool and
then pick the left face of the building, the centre of the window, and then the outside face of the
next exterior wall to create a multi-segmented dimension locating the window relative to the walls
on either side. Pick a point to place the dimension below the exterior wall and then pick the EQ
equality symbol to toggle the equality constraint on. The window will reposition to the exact centre
of the wall in which it is hosted and the dimension values will change to EQ.
25. Add a single dimension to show the overall length of the wall hosting the window. Select the short
exterior wall on the right side to enable the dimension value for the newly created dimension.
Change the value to 15 and then again to 17 and watch how the window continues to shift to
maintain its position in the middle of the wall.
26. Zoom out so you can see the width of the building. Pick the last dimension you created and on the
Options Bar choose Edit Witness lines. Each of the existing witness lines will highlight and a new
witness line will appear attached to your cursor. Pick the outer faces of each of the remaining
exterior vertical walls to change the single dimension to a multi-segmented dimension showing the
widths of each of the three sections of the building. After the last witness line has been added, pick
in an empty area to complete the operation. (Do not cancel or hit escape to finish or the witness
lines will be removed.) Pick the Equality symbol to modify the width of the three sections to the
same distance.
27. Draw an overall dimension showing the entire width of the building. Pick the main exterior wall on
the right side of the building so you can modify the overall building width with the last dimension
created. Set the dimension value to 58. Change it to 54 and then to 52. Note how each of the three
sections of the building shift to maintain their equality and as the individual sections change width,
the equally constrained window also moves at the same time to maintain its own centered position
in the wall.

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28. After using equality constraints, you have a few choices as to how to deal with them since you
probably don’t want too many EQ values showing instead of actual dimension values. Also, where
we are showing an overall dimension we do not want to show all of the incremental dimensions as
well. The last dimension in a string is left out as the value can be calculated by subtracting the other
increments from the overall value. If you wish to maintain the actual Equality constraint but not
show all of the dimensions, delete the dimension but retain the constraints as we did with the four
inch door opening offset. After deleting the Equal dimensions, draw new dimensions to show the
distances where required. The other option is to toggle the equality constraint off after moving the
objects and then edit the witness lines to remove the last witness line in the string.
29. If you remove equality constraints, and wish to keep the elements from moving, lock the dimensions
by picking them and toggling their lock icons.
30. Create a set of equality constraints between the front door, the two adjacent windows, and the
adjacent exterior wall faces.
31. Zoom around the front section of the building so you can see the horizontal walls along the South
side. Type AL or pick the Align tool from the Tools toolbar. Pick the exterior face of the lower
exterior wall on the left side to define the “Align To” reference. Pick the exterior face of the lower
exterior wall on the right side of the building and it will shift down to perfectly align with the first
wall. A dashed line and a lock icon will appear allowing you to create a locked alignment constraint
by picking the lock. Repeat the process with the office walls to make the lower offices on both sides
of the building, the same size.
32. Another useful place to create alignments is between the faces of interior walls and exterior walls
such as at the intersection of the two, main North/South interior partitions and the exterior walls on
either side of the front door. It is likely that even if they were initially drawn in the correct
alignment, the resizing of the building has changed their locations. Zoom in to the connection
between the interior partition and the exterior wall. Type AL and pick the inside face of the vertical
exterior wall and then the corresponding face on the interior partition. Lock the alignment. This type
of lock alignment can even be added when the two elements are already aligned. Create the
constraint with both North South walls.

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33. Add 4” door offset constraints to the remaining interior doors. Continue to constrain and dimension
the remaining elements, moving them into the positions shown on the lesson handout drawing.
34. After all dimensions are in place, pick and drag the room tags into the middle of the rooms. As the
tags are repositioned use the Smart Alignment lines (dashed green lines) to align the tags between
rooms. These lines will appear when moving many types of elements.
35. Save and close the Project file. Don’t forget to back up your work to a removable disk for
safekeeping. We will continue with this project in the next lesson.

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 3' - 2" 5' - 8" 17' - 4" 13' - 10" 9' - 0 1/8"

2 3

8' - 0"
Washroom Mechanical
9' - 0"

4 5

6' - 0"
10

12' - 9"
9
Office Office

17' - 0"
2 3

Office
7' - 8"

9' - 5" 9' - 5"

6

17' - 8 1/4"

6' - 4"
6
42' - 0"

5 8
16' - 2"

Reception

14' - 0"
4
8 7

Office Office
1 7
16' - 0"

16' - 0"
8' - 0"

8' - 8" 4' - 4" 4' - 4" 4' - 4" 8' - 8"

17' - 4" 17' - 4" 17' - 4"

52' - 0"