Revit Scope Box

Controlling how elements display in Revit views is a common question I receive from users. In terms of controlling display extents withins view I often mention the much-underused function of Scope Boxes.Scope boxes have been in Revit for many years, and they are a tool that defines a three-dimensional area that can be used to set the extents of Datum Elements and View limits.

To create a Scope Box we have to open a Plan View, this is also where the bottom of the Box begins. Don’t worry about the size and height when placing the Scope Box, because we can adjust the location and size/height afterward. This can be done within any view, such as a (ceiling) plan, elevation, section, or 3D view. Follow the steps below to create a Scope Box:

Step 4 is optional, you can also change the Name and Height after placing the Scope Box. Change the name of the box in the Properties Browsers. To change the Height of the Scope Box we can open an elevation, section, or 3D view and then drag the blue shape handles.The Automatic visibility column will display the current state of visibility. We can adjust the visibility in the Override column. There are three options available, which are self-explanatory:

After you have placed the Scope Box, notice that the rotate symbol [A] is at the upper right corner, which will be your indicator for the orientation. Read here for more information.As mentioned earlier, consistency in the Grids and Levels can be done by assigning a Scope Box to these elements, which will align the 3D extents. If you modify the 2D extents to achieve a better fit later on, the changes will only apply to the view in which they are made. To save time, Revit has a nice feature we can use to “Copy” these changes of the 2D extents to other views, which is called: Propagate Extents. Creating professional and consistent-looking views on sheets can be a time-consuming task, which we can automate using a Scope Box. The Scope Box can help you out controlling views and datum extents such as grids, levels, and reference planes. It is possible to have multiple Scope Boxes in Revit, which allows you to control different views. A huge advantage of these Scope Boxes is that they are 3D, so you can drag them over multiple levels. When assigning the Scope Box, you can crop multiple views to the same boundary.After assigning the Scope Box, notice that all assigned views are uniformly cropped and now match the extent of the box. This results in a consistent-looking appearance.

In this article, we are going to take a look at what a Scope Box is used for, how to create a Scope Box, and assign it to a view. Additionally, I will give some tips and tricks you can use while working with Scope Boxes.

When you place a Scope Box, Revit will automatically show this in 3D views and all other views where they intersect with the view cut plane. To avoid any adjustment of the Scope Box, we can turn it invisible for each different View Type.

What if you wish to assign a Scope Box to a View, but the parameter is greyed out and unavailable to set? The solution for this problem has something to do with a cropped view which is probably already edited. If the crop boundary, which is defined by four model lines, cannot form a perfect rectangle, the Scope Box parameter will grey out.

When printing a view to PDF or to any printer instantly, you have the option to show or hide the Scope Boxes by selecting the “Hide scope boxes”, which is enabled by default. To learn more about creating PDFs in Revit, refer to this article for additional details and options.Scope Boxes can be a valuable tool for overcoming challenges in placing angled views on sheets in Revit. It is possible to control the angle of the Scope Box by rotating it. The rotation symbol located in the top-right corner indicates that the Scope Box is positioned correctly. The right side of the Scope Box corresponds to the right side of the view when it is assigned to the Scope Box. In the example below, you will see that the cropped view is now aligned with the Scope Box.

If you made a mistake changing the 2D extents, you have the ability to reverse any changes made to the 2D extents. When you choose to reverse these changes, the 2D extents of the datum elements will restore to their previous state. This simply means that when we assigned the Scope Box, the datum elements will return back with the consistent offset to this box. If there is no Scope Box assigned, the datum elements will lock and merge together into the 3D extents.

In addition to the cropping view extents, managing the Datum elements such as Grids and Levels is possible. We can use the Scope Box to align the extent of these elements to the border of the box. This comes in very useful when we want to create consistent-looking views. Without this method, it can be a mess and time-consuming task to align the same extents.The Scope Box in Revit can also help you create consistency for organizing Datum elements effectively. A Scope box can control the 3D extent of elements such as Grids, Levels, and Reference Planes.

Update: with Revit 2024, you can change the Height of the Scope Box by using the Height parameter in the Properties Browser. It is still possible to use the Drag symbol to adjust the height. Note that the Name and Height parameters are now only available in the Properties Browser and are no longer accessible from the options bar.Note that in this instance, the 3D extents (A) of the Levels will align with the borders of the Scope Box. The 3D extent will become locked whenever a Scope Box is assigned to it, and you are unable to move it. Yet, it is possible to drag the blue dots of The View Specific Extent (B), which is in this case independent of any other view.

Within a Revit project, you can have multiple Scope Boxes that organize your views. We can also add custom names to these Scope Boxes, making it easier to manage and keep track of them. The advantage of using Scope Boxes is that they are 3D, which means you can drag them all over the different levels of the model and crop views on each level to the same extent.You’ve probably heard that the best offense is a good defense, and that’s what this step is all about. It’s like you’re posting a “beware!” sign for out-of-scope things you think could crop up and make you stray from your goal.

Defining the scope helps you set a reasonable budget in the first place, and monitoring the scope as your team makes progress will help you stick with that number.

The more you can split your project into specific, actionable steps, the simpler time you’ll have identifying ad hoc requests and tasks that weren’t part of the original plan.

You’ve scribbled out your notes, and you’re ready to pull this all into a project scope statement that you and your team can reference. Make sure you keep it somewhere safe and accessible to everyone (a collaborative knowledge sharing workspace like Confluence is great for this).As counterintuitive as it seems, outline the tasks and deliverables you won’t complete as part of this project. With your questionnaire project, you’ll spell out that you aren’t tackling the following:

We’ve all been there. You’re dealing with a project that won’t end because teams or clients keep requesting new features, tweaks, or additions. The scope keeps expanding and the project drags on and on and on.It feels good to say “yes” to things, but project teams have the tendency to keep agreeing to requests without realizing how far they’ve strayed from the initial plan.Think of our grocery trip again. If you knew you had a long list of things to purchase (and not just eggs), you would’ve set aside more time and grabbed a shopping cart right away, rather than thinking you’d be in and out in five minutes. Now the rest of your day has to be adjusted to make up for that lost hour.

Whether it’s a trip to the grocery store or a task at work, you’re familiar with how projects can inflate beyond your original expectations. Defining your project scope will keep you and your team in check.On your way to the dairy case, you remember that you’re out of cereal. So, you grab a box. Okay, two boxes. Then you get distracted by an end cap full of scented candles. You might as well snag one of those, too. Oh, and then you realize you need some paper towels.

You need to be as realistic as possible, so make sure to involve your team members in this process. They’ll have input on other limitations you need to work with.

Chances are, you’re someone who’s guilty of an unexpectedly large shopping trip or a project that somehow ballooned beyond the initial requirements. According to the Project Management Institute (PMI), a whopping 52% of projects experience the dreaded scope creep.Managing project scope will prevent you and your team from blowing past your original end date. When you know exactly what’s required to complete a project, you have a much easier time setting a realistic deadline you can actually honor.

Yep, there are people out there who don’t get sidetracked by the paper towels or scented candles because they weren’t part of their initial shopping list. With project scope management, you can be one too.One PwC study of more than 10,600 projects found that only 2.5% of companies complete their projects 100% successfully. The rest miss their original budget or deadline (or both!).Don’t assume that your end game is common knowledge for everyone on your team. Defining your goal (i.e., what will this project achieve?) provides important context.

If you and your team start talking about how great it would be to also have an online portal where clients can submit file materials, you can remind yourself that an online portal isn’t a deliverable included with this project. You’re better off tackling that separately once this project is wrapped up and you have more resources and brain space to dedicate to doing it right.In this step, you’re breaking your deliverables down into distinct tasks and activities. What steps do you need to take to produce that deliverable? This is called a work breakdown structure.Pointing to your objective at the start makes future steps easier, as you can keep your eye on the project’s main goal and make decisions with it in mind. Most of the hard work is behind you, and now you just need to organize the information. At the top of your project scope statement, you’ll include a few nuts and bolts elements like your project’s: You don’t have an infinite amount of team members, time, and money. And, if your project requirements continue to expand, your resources are going to be strapped. Use these tips and the above steps as your guide, and you’ll stay focused on exactly what needs to be done and deliver winning projects more efficiently. Don’t worry — you can always grab cereal and paper towels next time. Before you even realize what happened, your five-minute stop at the grocery store turned into an hour-long shopping trip. What was supposed to cost you $5 ended up costing closer to $100. And honestly? The last thing you needed was another candle.

You’re not completing this project in fantasy land. There are real-world project constraints (budgets, timelines, and resources) you’ll need to work with. You’ll define those in this step.Defining and managing your project scope enables your team to deliver projects efficiently in accordance with the original requirements, rather than letting them continue to snowball.

When it comes to managing scope, understanding what you won’t do is just as important as understanding what you will. Just think: If you had written “don’t buy scented candles!” on your shopping list, you would’ve been way less likely to get sucked in by that fragrant end cap. Because you know how you can get when it comes to candles.You can’t see into the future, which makes defining your project’s scope seem challenging. How are you supposed to know from day one everything that your project will entail?

To put it simply, your scope (and the project scope statement you create) serves as the project touchstone. It’s something that the project manager and team can return to and use to guide their project-related decisions.Imagine that you work as part of a marketing agency, and you and your team want to create a templated questionnaire for intake of all new clients. Here’s how you would define your scope: Want to make this even simpler? Our project plan template has an entire section dedicated to project scope, plus other helpful sections (like milestones and reference materials) to help your projects run smoothly. You take the walk of shame to the front of the store to grab a shopping cart. Then you toss a few more purchases into the cart as you make your way back to the dairy case to grab those eggs (you forgot about those for a minute, didn’t you?).In order to avoid scope creep, your entire team needs to be able to refresh themselves on what’s included (and what isn’t). Keep your project scope statement within Confluence, so everybody can easily refer back to it.

Project scope is everything that’s needed to complete a project, including tasks, time, and resources. So, project scope management the process of overseeing and regulating all of those things so that you can complete your project on time and within budget.If you put that in the context of your work projects, this is known as “scope creep” — and it’s evidence of why defining and managing project scope is worth making a list ahead of time.This association makes it less likely that you or someone on your team will drag a grid/level head in one view and not realize they’ve moved it in every view. Because it’s controlled by the scope boxes.

To edit the scope box, go to a 3D view, select it, and go to the Properties palette. You can change the name, height, and visibility of the scope box in views.✨ Tip: Create dependent views that have different crop regions but share other view properties. To do this, create a parent view with no scope box assigned, then create dependent views from it and assign different scope boxes to them.

Hopefully this has given a little insight to how powerful scope boxes can be for getting your zones perfectly setup. Let us know your workflow. Do you use scope boxes? If you don’t do you think this workflow can help you? Step 4: Create individual 3D view templates for each trade and system and apply it to all 3D views you have created. Be sure to assign the correct scope box to the view template. Check that you are using the subcontractor’s 3D view and applicable filter in the view template. Step 1: Your subcontractors send you their models, not broken out by zone. It is encouraged that your subcontractors create 3D views based on their system (i.e. supply,return, chilled water, sanitary, etc.) so you can utilize their view filters in your model.

In order to avoid any mistakes from the team members, they should be turned off all the time unless you need to add/modify them. I would recommend using a temporary view when working on them since it wouldn’t impact the primary view settings.To assign the scope box to view/views, you don’t need to select the scope box in plan views, elevation, section or 3D views. You can find a list of scope boxes already created so just select one of them to assign to the view/views.

Setting up scope boxes is one of the most important tasks for the project. Managed and organised scopes make the documentation easy, but make sure it is managed by your project BIM manager.

Many scope boxes can be difficult to manage (you cannot select all the instances in the project unless you use the third-party plug-ins). You don’t need a scope box for a single view. Make sure the scope box should be created when they are used many times in multiple views.

In the example below, the grid default 2D extension seems overextended. At the same time, the levels are too close to the building for proper clarity. Drag the blue dots to resolve the issue.

Many users completely ignore the scope box tool. It’s understandable, as these green boxes look a little silly and can be annoying. That said, the moment you start working on larger projects with multiple wings, scope boxes are a must. Controlling the crop region of multiple views becomes incredibly simple. Managing the extents of levels and grids is also much easier.

Have a look at the Instance Properties of your plan view. Under Extents, you will find the Scope Box parameter. Assign the scope box you’ve just created to the plan view. To create a Scope Box, you have to be in either a Plan View or in a Reflected Ceiling Plan. However, once a scope box is created, it is going to be visible in the other view categories: sections, callouts, elevations and 3D views. In elevations and sections, the scope box is only going to be visible if it intersects the cut line. You can adjust the extents of the scope box in all view categories. Have a look at the option bar when creating a scope box: you can give a specific name and enter a height value. This is your only chance to give a specific value number to the height.

Using Scope Boxes resolves the issue of inconsistent 3D extents among multiple levels and grids. However, it doesn’t solve the issue of 2D extents disparity among multiple views. In the example below, the datum elements are adjusted in Elevation 1 but remain problematic in Elevation 2.

That’s where scope boxes come into play. Scope boxes are used to control the extents of elements like grids, levels and reference planes. Each of these elements can be assigned to a specific scope box, limiting the 3D extents to the dashed green line limit.Managing the visibility and extends of levels and grids can be a nightmare. On projects with many levels, getting the grids to share the same extends is complicated.

Maybe you messed up the 2D extents and you want to go back to default. Select the Datum element and use the right-click menu. Click on Reset to 3D Extents. The grid 2D extents will go back to the initial position after you first assigned the Scope Box. That means you will revert to the automatic gap that was described in tip #8.This behavior is specific to scope boxes: if you use the Reset to 3D Extents tool to an element without a Scope Box, the 2D extents will perfectly match the 3D extents.

As you see, the Crop Region of the view now perfectly matches the scope box limits. The blue dots that can usually be used to modify the crop region are now invisible: that’s because you can’t modify it.

Did you like these tips? We’ve got more for you! Learn about the use of scope boxes for 3D views, for datum visibility and how to integrate the tool in a template. Download our brand new, free seasonal publication in the link below.

In the example below we assign all the grids to a scope box. The 3D extents of all grids are now the exact same. That also includes the bottom and top elevation value of the grid.An archaic workflow would be to manually adjust the crop region of each view. That would probably work. But what if the project changes and the area affected gets bigger? You have to adjust all the crops again?The moment a scope box is assigned to a view, the Crop Region is locked and can’t be modified. Also, you can’t use the Do Not Crop View tool. To see the whole project in a view, you’ll have to create a different plan or remove the scope box temporarily.In addition to controling the extents of a crop region, a scope box can also be used to control the angle of a view. In the project below, a scope box is created and rotated to fit the angled shape of the building. Then, the view is duplicated and the extents are assigned to the new scope box. The crop region is automatically adjusted to fit the angle. Removing the scope box from a view will revert the crop angle back to default.

When you assign a scope box to datum elements, the 3D extents will become locked to the limits of the scope box. Dragging the open blue circle won’t work. However, you can adjust the blue dots to modify the 2D extents of the grid.You learned that 2D extents are not affected by scope boxes. However, when you assign a scope box to datum elements, Revit will automatically create a small gap between the 2D and 3D extents. This is to provide better default visibility to the levels and grids values.