Stairs Representation During Upgrade

In versions prior to Revit 2013, sub-categories for stairs are as follows:

Stairs

∟Down Arrow

∟Down Text

∟Hidden Lines

∟Stairs Beyond Cut Line

∟Stringers

∟Stringers Beyond Cut Line

∟Up Arrow

∟Up Text

However, in Revit 2013, sub-categories for stairs are totally different from the ones of 2012. They include:

 Stairs

∟<Above> Cut Marks

∟<Above> Nosing Lines

∟< Above > Outlines

∟< Above > Riser Lines

∟< Above > Supports

∟Cut Marks

∟Hidden Lines

∟Nosing Lines

∟Outlines

∟Riser Lines

∟Supports

∟Treads/Risers

Stair paths

∟<Above>Up Arrows

∟Down Arrows

∟DOWN Text

∟Up Arrows

∟Up Text

So, when upgrading customized Visibility/Graphics settings of pre-2013 stairs, what will happen?

Revit 2013 provides automatic mapping between old and new sub-categories.  As a result, new categories and sub-categories will derive the settings from the old ones when opening old stairs in Revit 2013.

On the other hand, which new sub-categories will the old ones map to?  That is, which new sub-category will control the visibility of old stairs sub-elements?

So when upgrading old stairs file in r2013, basically there will be no change for the old stairs representation, and the new sub-categories will automatically derive the settings from old ones.

But when we have a mixture of old and new stairs in one project, how can we customize them to the same representation?

Let’s summarize the new sub-categories that control parts of both new and old stairs first.

So from the description above, basically when the old stairs upgrade to Revit 2013 and mix with new stairs in the project, we just need to simply uncheck the visibility of <Above>Riser Lines and Riser Lines, then the representation for them will be almost exactly the same in all the views. There will only be some tiny differences with the supports edge appearance. Note that even the material assigned to the old stairs will automatically be derived to the new runs and landings. See the following examples.