When creating Revit families, it’s crucial to see the entire family model in plan view while creating or modifying it. However, Revit doesn’t provide this ability by default. An extrusion added based on a higher reference plane may disappear, which can be frustrating.

The “Ref. Level” Floor Plan for families is considered the “plan view.” However, it has a default Cut Plane offset elevation of 4′-0″, so anything above 4′-0″ won’t be visible while working in the family. This struggle is unnecessary when creating families taller than 4′-0″.

To change the Cut Plane elevation for specific views in a Revit model, select the Edit button for the View Range parameter in the Extents category of the view’s Properties palette. In the View Range dialog box, change the Cut Plane Offset to a distance higher than the family modeling. The Cut Plane Offset cannot be higher than the Top Offset, so you may need to change both of these heights.

Note that finding the View Range parameter in a family view is different than in a model view. You must select and highlight the view name to see the View Range parameter. If the view name is not highlighted, you won’t see the View Range parameter.

Even if you have a cut plane of something like 20′-0″ in the family, the cut plane elevation in the actual model will dictate how the family is seen in the model.