version: "1.0.0" name: views description: Creating, framing and navigating views. Covers finding views, new plans, 3D views, sections and elevations, section boxes and crops, hiding categories, view templates, opening a view and zooming, and taking a picture of the result. Use it for "make a 3D view of the house", "cut a section through the stair", "show me the kitchen", "open the level 2 plan" and similar tasks.

Views

Read revit-scripting and pyrevit-library first. The functions below are in pyrevitlib; check any of them with lookup_pyrevit_api.

from pyrevit import revit
from pyrevit.revit.db import query, create, update
from pyrevit.revit import ui

Which tool

Don't create a view only to look at something: capture_view(view="3d", elements=[...], direction="southwest") renders a temporary 3D view of model categories, framed on those elements, and leaves nothing behind.

To see what you just showed the user, call show_elements and then capture_view(mode="viewport"): it renders the active view exactly as zoomed and panned, with the temporary isolate, without depending on the Revit window. Use mode="screen" only when you need the selection highlight, and expect view_obscured if another window covers Revit.

Finding views

• query.get_all_views(view_types=[DB.ViewType.FloorPlan]) lists views. Filter by type or name; projects have hundreds of views.
• query.find_view("Level 1") finds one by name or id, and raises with similar names when it's missing. query.find_plan_view(level) finds a floor plan of a level.

Creating views

Run these in run_modify, inside with revit.Transaction("..."):. Names are made unique automatically ("Name (2)").

• Plan: create.create_plan_view(level="Level 1", view_name="L1 - Furniture", plan_type="floor"). Plan types: floor, ceiling, structural.
• 3D: create.create_model_3d_view(view_name="House 3D", direction="southeast", elements=None, model_only=True).
• direction: southeast, southwest, northeast, northwest, south, north, east, west, top.
• elements frames the section box on those elements; the default frames the whole model.
• model_only hides levels, grids and annotation. Leave it on: level and grid extents otherwise ruin the framing.
• Section: create.create_section_view(start, end, view_name=None, bottom=None, top=None, depth=10). It looks to the left of start → end: a line drawn west to east looks north. depth is the far clip in feet.
• Elevation: create.create_elevation_view(side="south", view_name=None) looks at the whole model from that side. It works with elevation marker types that have one view slot, by rotating the marker. Templates often already have South/North/East/West elevations; reuse them (query.find_view("South")) when they show the model.
• Template: pass template="<template name>" to any of these. Prefer the project's templates to setting graphics by hand.
• Sheets: create.create_sheet(...); see the drawings skill.

Framing and visibility

• update.set_section_box(view3d, elements=None, padding=2) fits a 3D view's section box.
• update.orient_3d_view(view3d, "northwest"), or update.set_3d_view_camera(view3d, eye, target) with DB.XYZ points.
• update.crop_view_to_elements(view, elements=None, padding=3) crops a plan, section or elevation to elements; update.set_crop_region(view, curve_loops) sets a non-rectangular crop.
• update.hide_non_model_categories(view) hides every non-model category.
• update.hide_categories(view, ["OST_Furniture"]) hides categories permanently; view.HideElements(ids) hides elements. SetCategoryHidden takes a category's Id, not the Category; the function handles that.
• Scale and detail: view.Scale = 50, view.DetailLevel = DB.ViewDetailLevel.Fine, view.DisplayStyle = DB.DisplayStyle.ShadingWithEdges.

Navigating

• ui.request_view_change(view) asks Revit to make the view active after the script finishes. Zoom it in the next call. Don't set revit.active_view inside an agent run: every run is inside a transaction group, where changing the active view directly can fail.
• ui.zoom_to_elements(elements) zooms the active view to elements; ui.zoom_fit() fits everything visible.
• Or use show_elements(ids, zoom=true) on the active view.

Before you report done

• [ ] Every new view has the name, type (view.ViewType) and level (view.GenLevel) that were asked for.
• [ ] capture_view(view="<its name>") shows the content. An empty or tiny image means the crop or section box is wrong, or the view is on the wrong level.
• [ ] Counts you report (hidden categories, framed elements) come from the model, not from a loop wrapped in try/except: pass, which reports success when every call failed.

Raw API, when pyrevitlib doesn't cover it

• View types come from DB.ViewFamilyType filtered by ViewFamily.
• DB.ViewPlan.Create(doc, type_id, level_id), DB.View3D.CreateIsometric(doc, type_id), DB.ViewSection.CreateSection(doc, type_id, box).
• DB.ElevationMarker.CreateElevationMarker(doc, type_id, point, scale), then marker.CreateElevation(doc, plan.Id, index). Index 0 to 3 is the direction; check view.ViewDirection.
• view3d.SetOrientation(DB.ViewOrientation3D(eye, up, forward)). The constructor is public; no reflection needed.