Scary remove renovation filter message

[R Muller]

"By deleting a renovation filter you will lose all elements which are shown ONLY on that specific filter.  This operation is NOT UNDOABLE."

Does this mean, for example, that an object with status "existing" that only appears in views that use one particular renovation filter will be deleted if I delete that filter?  Or does it refer only to objects that are "pinned" to a filter?

[Patrick M]

it SHOULD only affect pinned elements... but there is a case for it affecting other unpinned elements: if all filters are set to "hide" demo elements except the view setting being deleted, then all elements designated as demo will be deleted as well. It is pretty uncommon for a template to only have one renovation filter showing or overriding demo elements, but it is possible. This is also one of the double edge sword issues in AC; pinning elements is a great way to do iterative studies, since you can purge out an iteration in one swoop... but you can also purge out an entire iteration in one [unintentional] swoop

[Jeff Galbraith]

As a secondary note of caution make sure you 'reserve all' before deleting the design option.  Otherwise any objects you do not have reserved on that renovation filter that you intend to delete will actually get automatically moved to another renovation filter that remains.  We've seen issues where a team decides to delete a few design options to clean up a model and end up with 3 or 4 copies of objects on top of each other because they all got pushed to the remaining design option.  that creates a whole new problem....

[R Muller]

Thank you for your helpful comments.  I am still trying to get my head around the concept that every object has an assigned Renovation Filter (or possibly more than one Renovation Filter) as well as a Renovation Status.  Why does an object have to have a Renovation Filter?  I thought the Renovation Filter was a property of a view, not of an object.  Are any of the other types of view attributes (graphic override, etc.) assigned to each object in the view?  Suppose an object does not appear in any saved view?

As you can see, I am having trouble understanding the logic.  Does it have something to do with the "hack" to allow use of the renovation filter to create alternate options rather than using layers for this?

[Jeff Galbraith]

Yes, I think that 'hack' is a factor here.  You're allowed to define 2 things about each object with relation to the renovation palette:

1. Whether it's Existing, Demo, or New.  With this info the program can accurately show and hide elements based on the corresponding view settings.  Each object MUST be designated to one of these 3 options.  But this alone is not adequate to enable you to create and manage design options.

2.  The second piece of information is not mandatory.  It's the hack that allows you to use the renovation palette and view settings to create design options.  By default all elements are set to be visible on 'All Relevant Filters'.  The only items you need to change this setting for are the ones you assign to a design option. Now those items will remain hidden unless the view is set to show them.

[R Muller]

Jeff, thanks for this information.  Does this mean that only pinned objects would be deleted on deleting a renovation filter, since other objects, even if shown in only in views with one specific filter, would have the visible on 'All Relevant Filters" attribute set?

[Jeff Galbraith · Accepted solution]

Yes, when deleting a 'design option' filter from the renovation palette only those elements set to be visible only on that filter will be deleted.  Elements set to 'All Relevant Filters' visibility should remain intact.

[R Muller]

Great.  This means I can go ahead and clear out all the excess renovation filters, since I haven't pinned any objects to specific filters.

Maybe Graphisoft can modify the warning message to clarify that only pinned objects will be affected.

[Jeff Galbraith]

I recommend you save a copy of the file before taking the plunge just to avoid any unforeseen issues...

[R Muller]

Thanks, I saved a backup and made a new version of the file before cleaning out the excess filters.