How to Create a Detail in Revit

Six steps in Revit, or one sentence in Mira.

Do it with Mira
Quick answer

Draw a callout on a plan, section or elevation for a detail tied to the model, or start a drafting view for a 2D detail that isn't. Then add detail components, detail lines, filled regions and annotation from the Annotate tab.

Or, just ask Mira, a free add-in, to draw a roof parapet detail in a new drafting view from your Pirros library's components.

The manual way

How to do it in Revit

  1. Step 1: Decide: callout or drafting view

    Picking the wrong kind of view causes most detail rework, so choose before you draw.

    • A detail callout cuts the live model. It shows the model's geometry, usually in halftone, and you draw on top of it. When the model changes, the callout changes with it. Use it for conditions that are specific to this building: a wall section at a particular grid line, a stair landing.
    • A drafting view has no model in it. Everything is drawn in 2D, and nothing updates when the model changes. Use it for typical details that repeat from project to project: a parapet, a door jamb, a slab edge. Firms that keep a set of typicals find they work best as drafting views.

    You can have both. A callout can point at a drafting view with Reference Other View, so a bubble on the plan leads to your typical detail.

  2. Step 2: Draw the callout

    1. Open the plan, section or elevation you want to detail.
    2. Click View tab › Create panel › Callout. For a section detail, click Section instead.
    3. In the Type Selector, choose Detail View: Detail.
    4. On the Options Bar, pick the detail's scale.
    5. Drag a box around the area to detail. For a section, click two points.

    To point the callout at an existing drafting view instead, choose Reference Other View on the Reference panel while the Callout tool is active, and pick the view (Autodesk Help: Create a Detail View).

  3. Step 3: Set up the detail view

    Double-click the callout head to open the new view. In the Properties palette, set Display Model to Halftone, so your detailing stands out from the model behind it. Set Detail Level to Medium or Fine to show wall and floor layers.

  4. Step 4: Add the detailing

    Use Annotate tab › Detail panel: Detail Line, Region (filled and masking regions), Component, and Insulation. Finish with text, dimensions, tags and keynotes.

  5. Step 5: Or start a drafting view

    1. Click View tab › Create panel › Drafting View.
    2. Enter a name and a scale, then click OK. The view opens and appears under Drafting Views in the Project Browser.
    3. Draw with the Annotate tab tools: detail lines, filled and masking regions, insulation, detail components, text, symbols and dimensions.
    4. Drag the view onto a sheet, or reference it from a callout.

    To reuse a drafting view from another project, use Insert tab › Import panel › Insert from File › Insert Views from File, and pick the views to bring in. Where a type name already exists in your project, Revit keeps your project's version of that type, so the inserted detail can look different from the original (Autodesk Help: Insert a Drafting View from Another Project).

  6. Step 6: Build with detail components, not just lines

    A detail built from detail components can be tagged, keynoted and updated when the component changes. A detail drawn entirely from lines is a one-off: nobody can update it, schedule it or tell what it's made of without reading every line.

    • Component › Detail Component places a 2D family: a stud, a steel shape, blocking, a flashing profile.
    • Component › Repeating Detail Component draws a run of one component, such as brick coursing or blocking at a spacing.
    • Filled regions suit materials that have no component: concrete, grout, earth.

    It's slower the first time. It pays back the second time the detail is used.

What to watch for

Drawing one detail is a morning's work. The cost at a firm is drawing the same parapet on every project because nobody can find the one drawn last year, or copying it in from an old job with someone else's line styles and text types. Over time the firm has a dozen versions of each condition and no way to tell which one was built without an RFI. Detail management is how firms find the details they've already drawn, by describing the condition rather than guessing the file name.

Or, just ask Mira to do it.

Mira is an AI thinking partner for Revit that automates the work you repeat and builds tools your team needs.

  • Type this in Mira

    Draw a roof parapet detail in a new drafting view, using components from our Pirros library.

    Mira states its plan, builds the parapet in a new drafting view from your Pirros library's components and checks the result with an after-screenshot.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions.

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Draw a callout from a plan, section or elevation, or create a drafting view, then add detail components, lines, filled regions and annotation from the Annotate tab. Use a callout when the detail should follow the model and a drafting view when it shouldn't.

Use a callout for conditions specific to this building, since it updates with the model. Use a drafting view for typical details you reuse across projects. A callout can reference a drafting view, so you can use both.

For drafting views, use Insert Views from File and pick the views. Types whose names already exist take your project's version; the rest come in as new types, so check line styles and text against your standards before the detail goes on a sheet.

It's probably a drafting view, which has no link to the model. Only a callout or section detail shows the model behind your linework. Detail lines drawn in a callout don't move with the model either; check them after design changes.

Detail components are 2D families for things you draw in details: studs, steel shapes, blocking, flashing. Unlike plain lines, they can be tagged, keynoted and updated, so one change reaches every detail that uses them.

Usually, yes. Typicals work best as drafting views because they don't depend on any one model. Converting a live callout into a drafting view takes manual work, so start typicals as drafting views where you can.

Two ways in

Try it yourself.
Or bring it to the firm.

The download is free and takes a minute. The firm conversation is where your standards, your library, and your rollout get built. Start wherever makes sense.

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