Highlight Cloud¶
Draws an AutoCAD-style red cloud to highlight an area of a drawing, for example to draw attention to a coordination issue or a change. There are three ways to draw one, all on the same split button.
At a glance¶
| Runs in | Revit 2024 |
| Ribbon | Integra Tools tab → Annotation Tools panel → Highlight Cloud split button |
| Works in | Plans, ceiling plans, sections, elevations, drafting views, legends and sheets. Not 3D views or schedules. |
| Creates | A group of red detail arcs on the Highlight Cloud line style |
The three options¶
Click the top half of the split button to use the option shown, or the arrow underneath to choose another. The button remembers the last option you used.
| Button | Option | How you draw it |
|---|---|---|
  |
Cloud Rectangle | Drag a box. |
  |
Cloud Polygon | Click the corners, then press Esc. |
  |
Cloud From Lines | Turn detail lines you've already drawn into a cloud. |
Cloud Rectangle¶
- Choose Cloud Rectangle.
- Hold the mouse button down and drag a box round the area. Let go to finish.
Tip
Unlike Revit's own box selection, you need to keep the mouse button held down while you drag. Clicking twice won't work.
Cloud Polygon¶
- Choose Cloud Polygon.
- Click each corner of the area in turn. Lines show the shape as you go, including the closing side back to the first corner. Snaps work as normal.
- Press Esc when you've clicked the last corner. The shape closes itself, so don't click the first corner again.
You need at least three corners.
Cloud From Lines¶
Useful for awkward shapes, or when you want to set the outline up carefully first.
- Draw the outline with straight detail lines, end to end.
- Select them, then choose Cloud From Lines. Or choose it first, select the lines, and click Finish on the Options Bar.
The lines can be picked in any order and drawn in either direction, and an open outline is closed automatically. They must form one connected run of at least two straight lines. The lines are replaced by the cloud.
Good to know¶
- The arcs are the same size on paper whatever the view scale, so clouds look consistent across drawings.
- Each cloud is a group, named Highlight Cloud plus a number, so it moves and deletes as one. Ungroup it if you need to edit individual arcs.
- The whole cloud is one undo step.
- It's not a Revit revision cloud. It doesn't add a revision or appear in the revision schedule, and Construction Issue doesn't remove it. Use Revit's own Revision Cloud tool for revisions.
- The Highlight Cloud line style (red, lineweight 5) is created automatically the first time you draw a cloud in a project.