VIEWS & SHEETS

Color Elements.

Colour elements by parameter value so the model reads at a glance: by system, by phase, by workset or by any project parameter.

01 · THE PROBLEM

Wanting to tell which system, phase or workset an element belongs to just by looking at the plan leaves Revit users one path: build a rule-based View Filter by hand and pick a colour for every value yourself. That set of filters only lives in the view it was built for — open another view, or switch what you're colouring by, and you start over.

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Building a filter by hand for every parameter value

Filters in Visibility/Graphics are rule-based: every system, phase or workset value needs its own filter, its own rule, its own Cut/Projection colour — a project with a few dozen values means repeating that exact sequence a few dozen times.

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No palette generated from the value count

Whoever builds the filters picks each colour by eye, with no palette generated from the value count — two adjacent systems easily end up near-identical colours that are impossible to tell apart on a full-size plan.

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The filter set doesn't travel to another view

A finished set of filters is tied to the exact view it was created in; open a different plan or a new 3D view and it's back to the dialog, the rules, the colours — there's no 'apply this filter set to that view' button.

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Sharing it means sacrificing the View Template

The only way to share a filter set across views is to bundle it into a View Template — but that locks every other override on those views too (crop, scale, detail level), with no way to isolate just the colouring.

02 · FEATURES

What it does

Two free add-ins on the Autodesk App Store do something similar. Color By Parameter stops at colouring by parameter or category and clearing it again, and hasn't been updated past Revit 2022. Color Splasher was once more popular, but its developer, BIM One, dropped support — it now survives only as a community-patched open-source build. Color Elements keeps the same familiar motion — pick a parameter, colour it — but adds what neither of those add-ins covers:

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Colour by data

  • Colour by any parameter you choose
  • Palette generated from the value count, editable by hand
  • Applies to the active view only, leaving others untouched
  • Saved as view filters for later reuse
Colour by data
TOOL INTERFACE · RUNNING IN REVIT

Operational interface and functional overview

The interface is matched to the tool window running in Revit.

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