When using 2D sections and elevations in AutoCAD MEP, it’s important to know how to keep these updated, so when the model changes, these
items are changed as well. There are 3 tools that update sections and elevations – Refresh, regenerate, and batch refresh. The main difference
between refreshing and regenerating is what types of changes were made to the model. Pick the section – from the 2D elevation tab on the ribbon,
select refresh. Refresh updates what the section already has in it – if an item is deleted, modified, moved, has its layer properties changed, or the
style is updated, the refresh is a quick update. But what if the model has new objects added – or you want to add more objects to the section – or even
pick new source objects altogether – then you want to regenerate. Pick the section – then pick regenerate from the ribbon. A dialog will appear.
Regenerate lets you set the type of section – either a 3D section, which you can orbit around, see the objects in 3D, and control the size of the section
with the section boundary, or you can leave it as a 2D section with hidden line removal. If I created it as a 2D section, let’s leave it that way. You can pick
from a predefined style – let’s change this to MEP standard – so that MEP objects are emphasized, and architectural or structural objects are lightened.
Selection set lets you select additional objects, or reselect all objects. Pick reselect, and then go use a crossing window to pick the parts in the chase.
Display sets look at the object representation sets, which are defined in the display manager. Most of the time, you want one that is model based, so you
can see all the model shapes and sizes. We’ll leave this set to MEP basic 2 line model, since it shows all disciplines. Placement lets you pick a
new insertion point, or just update the one that’s already there – so leave this set to replace existing. Select OK - and the model will update. After this is
updated, I’m going to change the model by picking a reference, and then picking open Xref. I’ll pick one of the fixtures and then modify it to a new part.
Next, save and close the reference. You should go right back to the section view. Reload the xref…and then refresh the section. Notice how the part is
revised. To update all section views in a project, go to the Home tab – on the section and elevation panel, pick Batch refresh. This tool lets you update
all views in a project, just the ones in a folder or include the subfolders. This is a great tool if you have a lot of section drawings to update. Select
Close to stop the routine. So this is how I keep my 2D sections updated – as long as they are not exploded, you can keep up with all the changes in
the model.