Sketch modes in Revit

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To create certain elements in Revit, you draw them by sketching.

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Some elements, such as floors and ceilings, are sketch-based.

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When you create them, Revit goes into sketch mode.

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Other elements, such as walls, are line-based.

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When you create them, Revit does not go into sketch mode.

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For example, on the Architecture ribbon in the Build panel, click Wall.

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The ribbon changes to the Modify Place Wall contextual ribbon.

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In the Draw panel, you see a gallery showing the various tools you can use to place the wall,

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and the line tool is selected by default.

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But since walls are line-based, the program only prompts you to select the points needed to sketch the path of the wall.

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So, in this case, you can click to specify the start point and end point of the wall.

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Options related to the tool selected in the gallery appear on the options bar.

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After creating one wall, click Modify to end the command.

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Compare this to what happens when you start the Floor tool.

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On the Architecture ribbon, in the Build panel, click Floor.

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When creating sketch-based elements such as floors and roofs, or forms such as extrusions and blends, Revit goes into Sketch mode.

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Since you are creating a floor, the ribbon changes to the Modify Create Floor Boundary contextual ribbon.

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In the Draw panel, the boundary line option is selected because to create a floor you must sketch the perimeter boundary of the floor.

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Note that in addition to the draw panel,

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the ribbon includes a mode panel,

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and you must exit out of sketch mode by clicking either Finish Edit Mode, the green check mark,

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or Cancel Edit Mode, the red X.

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You cannot simply click Modify or press Escape to end the command.

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When in sketch mode, the gallery in the Draw panel contains all of the available drawing options.

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Select the Line tool.

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On the options bar, make sure Chain is selected,

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then start sketching lines to represent the boundary of the floor.

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After creating three lines on the contextual ribbon, click Finish Edit Mode.

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Since the lines you sketched do not form a closed loop,

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Revit displays an error informing you that the lines must form a closed loop.

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Click Continue.

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Then, with the Boundary Line and Line tool still selected,

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create one more boundary line to form a rectangle.

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Then click Finish Edit Mode.

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This time, since the sketch does form a closed loop,

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Revit creates a floor and the command ends.

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Since the floor is currently selected, in the Properties palette, in the type selector,

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you can see the type of floor, and you can change its type if necessary.

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Click Modify or simply click in a blank spot in the view to deselect the floor.

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As you have seen, when creating sketch-based elements such as floors,

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Revit goes into sketch mode,

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and you must create a closed sketch to define the perimeter of the element.

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But when creating line-based elements such as walls,

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you simply indicate the path for the elements.