How to Create Revit Phases and Phase Filters

Planning a new addition or renovation that needs to be visualized? Revit has a tool for just that.

Phases allow you to show the evolution of your Revit project from start to finish in 2D and 3D views.

In this blog post, you’ll learn how to digitize representations of different phases of construction, such as as-built, demolition, new construction, and renovations.

Create Phases

Details: Add phases to Revit projects.

Each phase is assigned a name and a chronological order, and represents a different stage of your project.

Step 1 – Duplicate view

Duplicate an existing view that has the same discipline and view type as the phase you want to create.

To create separate phase previews of a floor plan, create multiple duplicates of an existing floor plan view.

To duplicate a view, go to the Project Browser, right-click the view you want to duplicate, select “Duplicate View”, and then click Duplicate.

Learn more about duplicating views

Step 2 – Set phase settings

Change the settings of all elements in the current view to the corresponding phase. The duplicated view will have the same phase and phase filter as the original view.

By the end of this tutorial, you’ll know how to change the settings for each view.

Note that the elements have their own phase settings, and the views have their own phase settings as well.

Convert all existing elements to the appropriate “Existing” phase:

1. Open the 3D view.
2. Select all existing elements in the view.
3. In the Properties palette, under Phasing, select Existing for “Phase Created”.

Step 3 – Add a new phase

Go to the Manage tab > Phasing panel > click Phases.

In the Project Phases tab box, click the After button under the Insert section.

Type a name for each of your new phases, and then click OK.

Step 4 – Set phase filter

Open the Phase 1 view. In the Properties palette, set Phase to Phase 1 and Phase Filter to Show All.

Remember the Phases dialog? This is where you can change what filters do to views when they are applied.

Basically, you’ll only need to use 3 of the default ones (Show Complete, Show Demo + New, and Show Previous + New).

Read on to learn how to set up all duplicate views with these three filters.

Step 5 – Add elements

Add elements to the Phase 1 view.

By default, the elements you add or create are assigned to the same phase as the view.

Step 6 – Demolition plan

To demolish elements in a phase, you must use the Demolish tool located on the Modify tab.

Click on the elements you want to demolish and they will be marked as demolished in the current phase.

After demolition, be sure to match type, trim and extend, and fix elements from different phases together in the view.

If you don’t want to merge geometry, you can use the Invisible Lines tool on the Modify tab to hide the boundary lines of any element in all views.

Step 7 – Set graphics overrides

Then you need to set the Graphic Overrides for your phases to control the color, pattern, and transparency of the elements in each phase and phase filter.

To set the graphic overrides for your phases:

1. In the Phases dialog box, click the Graphic Overrides tab.
2. Change the settings of the phase elements.
3. Click OK.

Be sure to use the foreground for coloring by checking the “Visible” box before applying the changes.

For example, you can change the color of the demolished elements to red and their cut pattern to “diagonal”.

Step 8 – Add annotations

Finally, you can add annotations to your phases, using the same tools and commands you use in other views to add and modify text, tags, dimensions, and symbols. Learn how to add annotations

Go to the Annotate tab to find the various annotation tools.

Phase Filter Settings

Details: Learn how to set up phase filters for each view.

To match each view with its phase:

1. Open the view from the Project Browser.
2. Change the phase filter and phase settings in the Properties palette.
3. Click Apply.

Infill Elements

Infill elements are patches that fill the holes created by inserts (such as windows or doors) in host elements (such as walls or roofs) when they have different phases.

You can’t delete an infill. If you do, the original insert and its host are removed.

Rooms

Rooms and room tags can only be displayed in one phase, the one in which they were created, regardless of phase filters.

To copy or transfer rooms from one phase to another:

1. Hold CTRL + select multiple rooms in view.
2. Press CTRL + C to copy all tags.
3. Open the other view.
4. Go to the Modify tab > Clipboard panel > drop-down Paste menu.
5. Click Paste Aligned to Selected View.

Learn more about Rooms in Revit

Deleting Phases

It is not possible to delete phases once they have been created. You can only combine them with the previous or next in order.

Mapping

Phase mapping is the coordination of the phases in a linked model with the phases in your project.

To set up phase mapping:

1. Select the linked model.
2. Go to the Modify | RVT Links tab > Properties panel
3. Click Type Properties.
4. Under the Others parameter, click “Edit” phase mapping.
5. Select the phase from link.
6. Click OK.

Phases vs Design Options

Design options allow you to compare different options for your project, while phasing allows you to see how your project will change over time.

Table 1 shows the differences and similarities. Learn more about Revit design options

Both Revit Phases and Options are useful for managing different scenarios of your project, but they have different purposes and applications.

Mohamed Fakhry

Mohamed Fakhry has helped thousands of architects and designers find their next project with step-by-step guidance on his blog, mashyo.com. About Mohamed

His journey began during his university years when he recognized the need for information-rich 3D models to accelerate learning and improve production processes. Now, Mohamed shares his expertise through Revit tutorials that are accessible to all.