Create Views with Revit API + python

We need to create Views for many different tools. You will learn how to get correct ViewTypes and how to create views.

Revit API

❓How to create Views with Revit API?

When you’re creating a view in Revit, there are a few things to keep in mind. First, you need to know what kind of view you want to create:

ViewPlan (FloorPlan, Ceiling Plan, StructuralPlan, AreaPlan)
ViewSection (Section, Callout, Detail)
View3D (Isometric, Perspective)
ViewDrafting
ViewSheet
Legend View

Once you have an idea of what kind of view you want to create, it's time to check Revit API documentation for specific methods on how to create such view.
👇 Scroll through these tabs to see Create methods.

RevitAPI - ViewSection - CreateSection.png

RevitAPI - ViewSection - CreateCallout.png

RevitAPI - ViewSection - CreateDetail.png

RevitAPI - ViewSection - CreateRefferenceSection.png

RevitAPI - View3D - CreatePerspective.png

0️⃣ Get all ViewFamilyTypes

Let's start by getting all of the ViewFamilyTypes.

You will see across all of the methods, we always need to provide viewFamilyTypeId. So let's start by getting and filtering all of View Types so we can use it later on.

Usually you will need to create some User control so they can choose specific ViewType, but I will just use a random one.

code

#🎴 ALL VIEW TYPES
view_types = FilteredElementCollector(doc).OfClass(ViewFamilyType).ToElements()

#🔎 FILTER CERTAIN VIEW TYPES
view_types_plans      = [vt for vt in view_types if vt.ViewFamily == ViewFamily.FloorPlan]
view_types_sections   = [vt for vt in view_types if vt.ViewFamily == ViewFamily.Section]
view_types_3D         = [vt for vt in view_types if vt.ViewFamily == ViewFamily.ThreeDimensional]
view_types_legends    = [vt for vt in view_types if vt.ViewFamily == ViewFamily.Legend]
view_types_drafting   = [vt for vt in view_types if vt.ViewFamily == ViewFamily.Drafting]
view_types_elevations = [vt for vt in view_types if vt.ViewFamily == ViewFamily.Elevation]
view_types_ceil_views = [vt for vt in view_types if vt.ViewFamily == ViewFamily.CeilingPlan]
view_types_structural = [vt for vt in view_types if vt.ViewFamily == ViewFamily.StructuralPlan]
view_types_area       = [vt for vt in view_types if vt.ViewFamily == ViewFamily.AreaPlan]

1️⃣ How to Create ViewPlan?

Let's start by making a few ViewPlans.

ViewPlan is every horizontally cut plan that we use in Revit, such as Floor Plan, Ceiling Plan, Structural Plan, Area Plan... And they all use the same method.
👇 This is the method that we need to use.
ViewPlan.Create(doc, viewFamilyTypeId, levelId)

I have already shown you how to get viewFamilyTypes so now it's about getting other arguments.

You can Copy-Paste these snippets and they will create views in your project!

👇 ViewPlan Snippets

code

# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
#⬇ IMPORTS
from Autodesk.Revit.DB import *

#📦 VARIABLES
doc          = __revit__.ActiveUIDocument.Document
active_view  = doc.ActiveView
active_level = doc.ActiveView.GenLevel

#🎴 ALL VIEW TYPES
view_types = FilteredElementCollector(doc).OfClass(ViewFamilyType).ToElements()

#🔎 FILTER VIEW TYPES
view_types_plans = [vt for vt in view_types if vt.ViewFamily == ViewFamily.FloorPlan]
floor_plan_type  = view_types_plans[0]


#🎯 Create Floor Plan
with Transaction(doc,'Create Floor Plan') as t:
    t.Start()
    view = ViewPlan.Create(doc, floor_plan_type.Id, active_level.Id)
    t.Commit()

__author__ = '🙋‍♂️ Erik Frits'

code

# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
#⬇ IMPORTS
from Autodesk.Revit.DB import *

#📦 VARIABLES
doc          = __revit__.ActiveUIDocument.Document
active_view  = doc.ActiveView
active_level = doc.ActiveView.GenLevel

#🎴 ALL VIEW TYPES
view_types = FilteredElementCollector(doc).OfClass(ViewFamilyType).ToElements()

#🔎 FILTER VIEW TYPES
view_types_ceil_views = [vt for vt in view_types if vt.ViewFamily == ViewFamily.CeilingPlan]
ceil_plan_type  = view_types_ceil_views [0]


#🎯 Create Create Ceiling Plan
with Transaction(doc,'Create Ceiling Plan') as t:
    t.Start()
    view = ViewPlan.Create(doc, ceil_plan_type.Id, active_level.Id)
    t.Commit()

__author__ = '🙋‍♂️ Erik Frits'

code

# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
#⬇ IMPORTS
from Autodesk.Revit.DB import *

#📦 VARIABLES
doc          = __revit__.ActiveUIDocument.Document
active_view  = doc.ActiveView
active_level = doc.ActiveView.GenLevel

#🎴 ALL VIEW TYPES
view_types = FilteredElementCollector(doc).OfClass(ViewFamilyType).ToElements()

#🔎 FILTER VIEW TYPES
view_types_area = [vt for vt in view_types if vt.ViewFamily == ViewFamily.AreaPlan]
area_plan_type  = view_types_area[0]


#🎯 Create Area Plan
with Transaction(doc,'Create Area Plan') as t:
    t.Start()
    view = ViewPlan.Create(doc, area_plan_type.Id, active_level.Id)
    t.Commit()

__author__ = '🙋‍♂️ Erik Frits'

code

# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
#⬇ IMPORTS
from Autodesk.Revit.DB import *

#📦 VARIABLES
doc          = __revit__.ActiveUIDocument.Document
active_view  = doc.ActiveView
active_level = doc.ActiveView.GenLevel

#🎴 ALL VIEW TYPES
view_types = FilteredElementCollector(doc).OfClass(ViewFamilyType).ToElements()

#🔎 FILTER VIEW TYPES
view_types_structural = [vt for vt in view_types if vt.ViewFamily == ViewFamily.StructuralPlan]
struc_plan_type  = view_types_structural[0]


#🎯 Create Structural Plan
with Transaction(doc,'Create Structural Plan') as t:
    t.Start()
    view = ViewPlan.Create(doc, struc_plan_type.Id, active_level.Id)
    t.Commit()

__author__ = '🙋‍♂️ Erik Frits'

2️⃣ How to Create ViewSection?

Sections are a little harder to make because we need to work with BoundingBox

I will leave example only for making regular section, hopefully in the future I will update it.

👇 Here is the method to create a Section.
ViewSection.Create(doc, viewFamilyTypeId, sectionBox)

👇 ViewSection Snippets

code

# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
#⬇ IMPORTS
from Autodesk.Revit.DB import *

#📦 VARIABLES
doc          = __revit__.ActiveUIDocument.Document
active_view  = doc.ActiveView
active_level = doc.ActiveView.GenLevel

#🎴 ALL VIEW TYPES
view_types = FilteredElementCollector(doc).OfClass(ViewFamilyType).ToElements()

#🔎 FILTER VIEW TYPES
view_types_sections = [vt for vt in view_types if vt.ViewFamily == ViewFamily.Section]
view_type_section   = view_types_sections[0]

#🟦 BOUNDING BOX
origin   = XYZ(5,5,0)
pt_start = XYZ(0,0,0)
pt_end   = XYZ(10,10,0)
vector   = pt_end - pt_start

offset = 5
W = 5
H = 5
D = 5

# SECTION - DIRECTION
fc = -1
if pt_start.X > pt_end.X or (pt_start.X == pt_end.X and pt_start.Y < pt_end.Y):
    fc = 1

# SECTION - ORIENTATION
curvedir = fc * vector.Normalize()

t        = Transform.Identity
t.Origin = origin
t.BasisX = curvedir
t.BasisY = XYZ.BasisZ
t.BasisZ = curvedir.CrossProduct(XYZ.BasisZ)

# SECTION - CROPBOX
sectionBox           = BoundingBoxXYZ()
sectionBox.Transform = t                            #apply orientation
sectionBox.Min       = XYZ(W*-0.5 -offset, 0 -offset, D*-0.5 -offset)
sectionBox.Max       = XYZ(W* 0.5 +offset, H +offset, D* 0.5 +offset)


#🎯 Create Structural Plan
with Transaction(doc,'Create Structural Plan') as t:
    t.Start()
    view_section = ViewSection.CreateSection(doc, view_type_section.Id, sectionBox)
    t.Commit()

__author__ = '🙋‍♂️ Erik Frits'

3️⃣How to Create View3D

Creating 3D Views with Revit API is straight-forward. We just need to decide between Isometric or Perspective.
👇 Here are their methods.

View3D.CreateIsometric(doc, viewFamilyTypeId)
View3D.CreatePerspective(doc, viewFamilyTypeId)

👇 View3D Snippets

code

# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
#⬇ IMPORTS
from Autodesk.Revit.DB import *

#📦 VARIABLES
doc          = __revit__.ActiveUIDocument.Document
active_view  = doc.ActiveView
active_level = doc.ActiveView.GenLevel

#🎴 ALL VIEW TYPES
view_types = FilteredElementCollector(doc).OfClass(ViewFamilyType).ToElements()

#🔎 FILTER VIEW TYPES
view_types_3D = [vt for vt in view_types if vt.ViewFamily == ViewFamily.ThreeDimensional]
view_type_3D  = view_types_3D[0]

#🎯 Create 3D - Isometric
with Transaction(doc,'Create 3D Isometric') as t:
    t.Start()
    view3D = View3D.CreateIsometric(doc, view_type_3D.Id) 
    t.Commit()

__author__ = '🙋‍♂️ Erik Frits'

code

# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
#⬇ IMPORTS
from Autodesk.Revit.DB import *

#📦 VARIABLES
doc          = __revit__.ActiveUIDocument.Document
active_view  = doc.ActiveView
active_level = doc.ActiveView.GenLevel

#🎴 ALL VIEW TYPES
view_types = FilteredElementCollector(doc).OfClass(ViewFamilyType).ToElements()

#🔎 FILTER VIEW TYPES
view_types_3D = [vt for vt in view_types if vt.ViewFamily == ViewFamily.ThreeDimensional]
view_type_3D  = view_types_3D[0]

#🎯 Create 3D - Perspective
with Transaction(doc,'Create 3D Perspective') as t:
    t.Start()
    view3D = View3D.CreatePerspective(doc, view_type_3D.Id) 
    t.Commit()

__author__ = '🙋‍♂️ Erik Frits'

4️⃣ ViewDrafting

ViewDrafting is probably the easiest one to create

👇Here is the snippet

ViewDrafting.Create(doc, viewFamilyTypeId)

👇 ViewDrafting Snippet

code

# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
#⬇ IMPORTS
from Autodesk.Revit.DB import *

#📦 VARIABLES
doc          = __revit__.ActiveUIDocument.Document
active_view  = doc.ActiveView
active_level = doc.ActiveView.GenLevel

#🎴 ALL VIEW TYPES
view_types = FilteredElementCollector(doc).OfClass(ViewFamilyType).ToElements()

#🔎 FILTER VIEW TYPES
view_types_drafting = [vt for vt in view_types if vt.ViewFamily == ViewFamily.Drafting]
view_type_drafting  = view_types_drafting[0]

#🎯 Create Drafting View
with Transaction(doc,'Create Drafting') as t:
    t.Start()

    view =  ViewDrafting.Create(doc, view_type_drafting.Id)
    t.Commit()

__author__ = '🙋‍♂️ Erik Frits'

5️⃣ Create View Sheet

👇Creating ViewSheet is a little different because we don't need to provide viewType but we need to get TitleBlockId instead.

ViewSheet.Create(doc, title_block.Id)

P.S. If you want to create a ViewSheet without title block you probably need to provide ElementId(-1) . I haven't tried it, but knowing Revit API this should work.

code

# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
#⬇ IMPORTS
from Autodesk.Revit.DB import *

#📦 VARIABLES
doc          = __revit__.ActiveUIDocument.Document
active_view  = doc.ActiveView
active_level = doc.ActiveView.GenLevel

#🎴 ALL TITLE BLOCKS
all_title_blocks = FilteredElementCollector(doc)\
.OfCategory(BuiltInCategory.OST_TitleBlocks)\
.WhereElementIsElementType().ToElements()

if not all_title_blocks:
    import sys
    print('There are no TitleBlocks in the Project! \nPlease Try Again')
    sys.exit()

selected_title_block = all_title_blocks[0]


#🎯 Create Drafting View
with Transaction(doc,'Create Drafting') as t:
    t.Start()

    new_sheet = ViewSheet.Create(doc, selected_title_block.Id)
    t.Commit()

__author__ = '🙋‍♂️ Erik Frits'

6️⃣ Create Legend View

If you're trying to create a legend in Revit, the bad news is that there are no methods in Revit API for creating then. The good news is that we can just duplicate any of the existing legend without detailing and we will have a new legend.

So for your tools where you want to create legends you need to verify that at least 1 Legend exists, so we can duplicate it! Otherwise, stop execution of your script and alert user that project needs to have at least 1 Legend to execute it.

👇I got all Legend views and checked if it's empty, then there are no Legends in the project and I need to alert user.

code

# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
#⬇ IMPORTS
from Autodesk.Revit.DB import *
from pyrevit.forms import alert

#📦 VARIABLES
doc         = __revit__.ActiveUIDocument.Document
all_views   = FilteredElementCollector(doc).OfCategory(BuiltInCategory.OST_Views).ToElements()
all_legends = [view for view in all_views if view.ViewType == ViewType.Legend]

#✅ Check Legend in the Project
if not all_legends:
    alert("There has to be at least 1 Legend View in the project! "
          "Please create one and try again.", exitscript=True)

Once you made sure that you have a legend in the project, take random one and just duplicate without Detailing.

And there you have it, a new empty Legend View.

code

#👉 GET RANDOM LEGEND
random_legend = all_legends[0]

#🆕 CREATE NEW LEGEND VIEW
new_legend_view_id    = random_legend.Duplicate(ViewDuplicateOption.Duplicate)
new_legend_view       = doc.GetElement(new_legend_view_id)

#🔎 Change Scale
new_legend_view.Scale = 100

⌨️ Happy Coding!

— Erik Frits

Create Views with Revit API + python

We need to create Views for many different tools. You will learn how to get correct ViewTypes and how to create views.

❓How to create Views with Revit API?

0️⃣ Get all ViewFamilyTypes

1️⃣ How to Create ViewPlan?

👇 ViewPlan Snippets

Create FloorPlan

Create CeilingPlan

Create Area Plan

Create Structural View

2️⃣ How to Create ViewSection?

👇 ViewSection Snippets

Create ViewSection

3️⃣How to Create View3D

👇 View3D Snippets

Create Isometric 3D View

Create Perspective 3D View

4️⃣ ViewDrafting

👇 ViewDrafting Snippet

Create ViewDrafting

5️⃣ Create View Sheet

6️⃣ Create Legend View

⌨️ Happy Coding!

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