BIMIO Palette

Goal. See all the filters of a view at a glance, with their state and full appearance, without opening Visibility/Graphics.

1. Click the Palette button in the View panel of the BIMIO tab.The BIMIO · Palette window opens in Propagate mode. If the active Revit view accepts filters, it comes preselected as the source.

   

   assets/shots/palette/fig-03.pngFreshly opened Palette window with the active view loaded in the Source drop-down

2. Open the Source selector and choose the view or template you want to inspect.The list groups views and templates under separate headers (View and Template), each with a label for its type (Floor Plan, Section, 3D View…). Only views that accept filters appear.
3. Scan through the filter table.Each row shows the filter name, whether it is enabled (On) and visible (Vis), a real preview of its projection and cut lines (colour, weight and pattern), its surface patterns, the transparency and the halftone. The row order is the actual priority order in the view.

   

   assets/shots/palette/fig-04.pngSource table with several filters and their line and pattern previews

• Switch views in the drop-down as many times as you like: the table reloads instantly without touching the model.

Goal. Change colours, patterns, line weights, transparency or halftone of a view's filters, even several filters at once, and save it to the model.

1. Select the source view and locate the filter you want to tweak.
2. If you want to edit several filters in one go, select their rows (Ctrl-click or Shift-click) before touching anything.With several rows highlighted, any change you make in a cell (a graphic editor or an On, Vis or Halftone checkbox) is applied to all the selected rows at once.
3. Click the Lines cell (under Projection / Surface or Cut) to open the line editor.Choose the line pattern, colour (Revit's standard colour picker opens) and weight from 1 to 16, with a live preview. The No override button removes the line override entirely.

   

   assets/shots/palette/fig-05.pngEdit lines dialog with a preview of a red dashed line of weight 4

4. Click the Patterns cell to open the surface pattern editor.Configure the foreground and background pattern and colour separately. The Clear button removes both patterns.
5. Click the Transp cell to adjust the transparency.Type a value from 0 to 100 or drag the slider; the two are synchronised.
6. Tick or untick the On, Vis and Halftone checkboxes directly in the table where appropriate.
7. Click Apply changes to source to write all the changes to the source view.Everything is saved in a single transaction (one undo in Revit). If the view's filters are controlled by its template, Palette warns you and writes nothing: edit the template instead.

• Until you click Apply changes to source, the changes live only in the table: you can experiment freely and close without saving.
• Multi-editing is ideal for unifying the transparency or halftone of a whole family of filters in a couple of clicks.

Goal. Change the order of a view's filters to control which one wins when several affect the same element.

1. Load the view in the Source drop-down and select one or more filter rows.
2. Use the up and down arrows on the right-hand side of the table to move the rows.You can move several selected rows at once; they keep their relative order.
3. Click Apply changes to source to commit the new order to the view.The table order becomes the actual priority order. Filters not managed by the table are repositioned after them, keeping their configuration.

• Remember that in Revit the filter placed higher up takes priority: put the filters whose overrides you want to win at the top.

Goal. Copy the filters of a source view, with their configuration, to dozens of views and templates in one go.

1. Choose the source view or template and tick the checkbox of the filters you want to propagate.The header checkbox ticks or unticks them all. If you tick none, the rows highlighted in blue are used.
2. In the destinations table, tick the views and templates that should receive the configuration.Use the search box to filter by name, type or class. The header checkbox ticks everything visible after the search. Enable Hide template-locked to hide the views whose filters are controlled by a template.

   

   assets/shots/palette/fig-06.pngDestinations table with the search box in use and several views ticked

3. Optional: click Select missing so Palette automatically ticks only the destinations that are missing any of the ticked filters.This is the way to propagate only where it is needed, something the Revit interface does not allow. Template-locked destinations are excluded.
4. Choose the insertion position: High priority (the new filters are placed at the top) or Low priority (at the bottom).
5. Decide which channels to propagate with the Graphic overrides, Visibility (on/off) and Enabled state checkboxes.An unticked channel keeps the value each destination already had. For example, untick Visibility to unify the graphics without touching what each view shows or hides.
6. Click Propagate configuration to destinations and confirm in the dialog.The summary states how many filters are going to how many destinations, and warns you if some ticked destinations are hidden by the current search.

   

   assets/shots/palette/fig-07.pngPropagation confirmation dialog with the filter and destination counts

7. Review the result report.It states how many destinations were updated and lists the ones that were skipped and why (for example, filters controlled by their template). Each destination is processed in isolation: if one fails, only that one is rolled back and the rest complete.

• The window stays open after propagating, so you can chain several batches.
• The entire propagation is a single transaction: one Ctrl+Z in Revit reverts the whole thing.

Goal. Discover where the filters of two views or templates have drifted apart and decide, difference by difference, which side wins.

1. In Propagate mode, click Compare views…
2. Choose View A and View B in the two drop-downs.Both views and templates are valid. If a view is locked by its template, a warning appears: the effective state (the template's) is shown and copying towards that view is not allowed.

   

   assets/shots/palette/fig-08.pngCompare views dialog with two templates selected and the differences table populated

3. Read the differences table.Each row is a filter present in either of the two views: the In A and In B columns summarise its state (visible, hidden, disabled, overrides) and the Difference column shows identical, only in A, only in B or differs with the channels that differ (graphics, visibility, enabled). The footer summarises how many are identical and how many differ.
4. In the Action column, choose the copy direction per row: A → B or B → A.Only feasible directions are offered: the source side must have the filter and the destination cannot be template-locked.
5. Optional: use All different → A→B or All different → B→A to bulk-mark all the differing rows, and Clear actions to empty the selection.
6. Click Apply actions.Each copy transfers the filter's presence, graphic overrides, visibility and enabled state. When it finishes, the table is recalculated and shows the reconciled state; failures are listed with their reason.

• The comparator is perfect for auditing why two supposedly twin sections print differently.
• When you close the comparator, the main window fully refreshes to reflect the changes.

Goal. Define a project filter from scratch with categories and AND/OR rules, without going through the Revit editor.

1. Switch to the Project filters tab with the top-right switcher.The table lists all the project's filters with their categories, parameters, number of rules and where they are used.

   

   assets/shots/palette/fig-09.pngProject filters mode with the list of project filters and the bottom counter

2. Click New.The filter editor opens.
3. Type the filter's name in the Filter name field.The name must be unique in the project; it is checked against both rule-based and manual selection filters.
4. Tick the target categories in the left-hand panel.Use the search box to locate them and the Select all and Clear buttons for bulk operations (they act on the categories visible after the search). The list of available parameters is recalculated from the common categories.
5. Build the rules in the right-hand panel: for each condition choose the parameter, the operator and the value.The operators depend on the data type (equals, does not equal, contains, begins with, is greater than, has a value…). For text, integers and element parameters, the value field is an editable drop-down with the values that already exist in the project; Yes/No parameters offer a fixed drop-down with Yes and No; for numeric values with units you type in the project's units and a hint shows the symbol (mm, m²…). Below each rule you can read the resulting sentence, for example: Comments contains core.

   

   assets/shots/palette/fig-10.pngFilter editor with two conditions and the natural-language sentence beneath each one

6. Combine rules with All (AND) or Any (OR) and, if you need to, click + Group to nest a group with its own AND/OR.You can reproduce structures such as A and (B or C). Each rule and each nested group has a ✕ button to remove it. Nested groups are preserved exactly as they are when saving and reopening.
7. Click Save filter.The editor validates that there is a name, at least one category and complete rules; if any condition cannot be written to Revit, it is discarded and you are told exactly which one.

• If you save a filter whose rules were left incomplete (with no parameter chosen), Palette blocks the save to avoid creating a rule-less filter that would match every element in its categories.

Goal. Clean up and maintain the project's filter catalogue.

1. In the Project filters tab, use the search box, the Group by drop-down (Category, Parameter or Kind) and the Unused only checkbox to explore the inventory.The Used in column shows how many views each filter is applied in; unused ones appear as unused in amber and the bottom counter shows how many orphans there are. Hover over the cell to see the full list of views. The header checkbox ticks or unticks all rows visible after the search in one go.

   

   assets/shots/palette/fig-11.pngFilter list grouped by category with two filters marked as unused

2. To edit a filter, double-click its row or click its Edit button.The same rule editor from the previous workflow opens with everything loaded. If the filter uses exotic rules the editor cannot represent, a warning tells you that on save only the name and categories will be updated and the original rules will be kept intact.
3. To duplicate, tick one or more filters and click Duplicate.The copy is literal: the same categories and the exact rule tree, with a new name (copy, copy 2…). Manual selection filters are duplicated with the same chosen elements.
4. To rename, tick exactly one filter and click Rename.Type the new name; if it is already taken by another filter, Palette rejects it.
5. To delete, tick the filters and click Delete; confirm in the dialog.The confirmation lists the names, warns you that they will also be removed from every view and template that uses them, and alerts you if part of what is ticked is hidden by the current search.

• The Unused only + Delete combination is the fast route to purging orphaned filters inherited from old templates.
• Manual selection filters also appear here, something Revit's filter list does not offer.
• Duplicate, Rename, Delete and Export… act on the filters with the checkbox ticked; if none is ticked, they use the highlighted row.

Goal. Save the rule-based filter definitions to a portable file so you can reuse them in other projects.

1. In the Project filters tab, tick the filters you want to export.If you tick no checkbox, the highlighted row is exported; if there is no highlighted row either, all the project's rule-based filters are exported. Manual selection filters are always excluded because they are not portable rules.
2. Click Export… and choose the name and location of the .json file.The save dialog proposes filters.json with the type Palette filter library (*.json).
3. Confirm the success message, which states how many filters were exported and the path.

• The library stores definitions, not appearance: the colours and patterns a filter has in each view do not travel in the file.
• Version the file alongside your office standards: it is readable, diffable text.

Goal. Create in the current project the filters defined in a library exported from another project.

1. In the Project filters tab, click Import… and select the library's .json file.If the file is not a valid Palette library, it is rejected with the reason.
2. Wait while Palette resolves and creates the filters.Each category and parameter is resolved against the current project (built-in categories, built-in parameters, shared parameter GUIDs or names). Each rule is validated before being written; anything that cannot be resolved is skipped and reported, instead of silently creating broken filters. If a name already exists, the imported filter gets the copy suffix.
3. Review the import report.It states how many filters were created and lists the skipped items with their reason (for example, a rule on a parameter that does not exist in this project, or an element value that was not found).

   

   assets/shots/palette/fig-12.pngImport result dialog with the count of created filters and the list of skipped items

• Files from older library versions (flat format, without nested groups) are also read correctly.