7 Tips To Master Revit Snaps

Snaps are used in Revit to accurately place objects and align them with other elements in views. In this 7-step guide, you’ll learn how to get the most out of different types of snaps.

Snaps Settings

The settings window contain check boxes to turn snaps on and off. You can also change default angles and dimension increments.

To change settings of snaps:

1. Go to Manage tab > Settings panel > click Snaps.
2. Check boxes for turning ON.
3. Click OK.

Learn how to customize your workflow by reading my previous post on keyboard shortcuts.

Snap to PDF

The option to Enable Snaps will be greyed off when your PDF is raster and doesn’t include vector information.

Want to convert your raster PDFs to vectors? Read our blog post on Tracing images into Revit.

To snap to lines of a PDF page:

1. Increase the DPI while linking or importing the PDF into a view.
2. Select the PDF page in the view.
3. In the Properties palette, check the Enable Snaps box.
4. Click Apply.

Read more about Revit to PDF conversions and settings.

Center of Circles

To snap to center of circles, press “SC” on keyboard.

Another way to align with circle centers:

1. Select the circle.
2. In the Properties palette, check the Center Mark Visible box.
3. Click Apply.

Turn Ortho ON or OFF

While drawing, copying or moving elements: hold down the “SHIFT” key and notice how the status of Constraint box field in the options bar changes.

To turn OFF ortho: release the SHIFT key or uncheck the Constraints box.

The orthogonal mode helps us to draw walls (families in general) and detail lines with a fixed angle of 0 and 90.

Snap Between Two Points

This feature will help you place an element between two points in 2D and 3D views.

To snap between two points in a view:

1. Before placing a component, right-click in the view.
2. Select Snap Overrides > click Snap mid between 2 points.
3. Click on the first point. (You are now in a temporary “snapping mode”).
4. Click on a second point to add the element in the middle.

This feature is only available for Revit 2022.1 and newer versions.

Note that the snap overrides menu contains other commands: You can switch between them by pressing the “TAB” key while moving the mouse pointer over shapes, lines and points.

Now you know the steps to efficiently use snaps in any sketch mode, including the conceptual modeling environment…

3D Snapping

To turn on 3D snapping:

1. Go to Massing & Site tab > Conceptual Mass panel > click In-Place Mass.
2. Assign a name to the mass > click OK.
3. Within the Draw panel, select a tool (Line, Start-End-Radius Arc, or Rectangle).
4. Check the 3D Snapping box in the Options bar.

To use other snapping commands while sketching in a 3D view:

1. Place the first point of the line.
2. Right-click > Snap overrides > Select a command.

✨ Tip: After creating surfaces, click Finish Mass. Go to Architecture tab > Wall or Roof drop-down > Select to create it By Face > Select the 3D surface to convert it to a solid family.

Snap to Topography

If you want to update a topography by inserting a new version over the old one, snapping is required for compatibility and accuracy.

The easiest way to snap to topography boundaries is to add a reference plane using topography points in edit mode.

For snapping topography surfaces in plan views:

1. Select the topography.
2. Within Modify | Topography tab, click Edit Surface.
3. Go to Work Plane panel > click Reference Plane.
4. Sketch a reference plane on the edge of the topography.
5. Click Finish Surface.

The ability to select topography lines to add hatch patterns or other details in all views is still just as important. To work around this problem, we export the view to a two-dimensional DWG file and then import it back.

To snap to topography lines in plan, elevation and section views:

1. Go to the view that you want to use the topography snaps in.
2. Export the view as a DWG.
3. Insert the DWG back into the view.

✨ Tip: When you are done with imported or linked files, don’t forget to remove them, and purge the project.

With these seven tips for Revit snaps, you can create precise models quickly and efficiently.