Creating a titleblock sheet to match the one from AutoCAD

[mrdavie]

(There's too much information on the internet. Sometimes it's easier to ask the question again, rather than Google the question)

I have temporarily inserted an AutoCAD titleblock into my new titleblock family in order to line things up in Revit to match the AutoCAD titleblock as closely as possible. The AutoCAD titleblock utilizes ARIAL NARROW (width factor 1.0). With the font heights matching, the text in Revit does not come close to matching the text in AutoCAD. The main difference is the length of the line. What do I do?

[rosskirby]

Can you post an image of the difference between the two?  I'm not sure I'm following you; I got lost when you said that the "main difference is the length of the line."

[Jason_S]

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@mrdavie wrote:

 The main difference is the length of the line. What do I do?

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By this, you mean, the length of the text line, correct? 

Cyan font imported cad file, Black font Revit version.

If so you will have to adjust your text width for that specific text type in Revit.

I had to adjust mine to match the AutoCAD font width and height.  Not sure why they don't read that information the same. I was able to get mine to look the same in both software packages by trial and error.

[mrdavie]

OK! well that is exactly what I had to do - fiddle with text width factor AND whether or not the text is bold. I would hope that dealing with TrueType fonts in both applications, if the exact same font is selected with the exact same width factors, etc., they would be exactly the same. Not the case.

[mrdavie]

The attached shows the bottom right corner of the title block. The AutoCAD titleblock is inserted. (Blue fonts). Both fonts are the exact same size, Arial Narrow with width factor set to 1.00. As the response below yours indicates, the fonts in Revit will have to be tweaked to exactly match those in AutoCAD.

[CoreyDaun · Accepted solution]

the translation from AutoCAD to Revit is imperfect, to say the least. Create the Text as normal in Revit and locate  it based on the AutoCAD import, but for the purposes of comparing the two, plot both the AutoCAD border and the Revit border separately to PDF and compare those, since it will be the final appearance that matters anyway (as opposed to the "on-screen" appearance).

[mrdavie]

Great idea. Thanks!

[mpwuzhere]

Just making sure.....when your using the font in Autocad, are you using the SHX or TTF version? You can get titleblocks to match pretty darn close, but you have to abandon the SHX fonts when you do it.

[mrdavie]

Does anybody make a .SHX font for Arial? I think it is only a TTF.

[damo3]

So your moving to Revit? Nice. Setup your revit titleblock lines to match closely, then, delete your autocad titleblock and let it go!! Now your in Revit, build a new titleblock to suit with what Revit gives you. And to maintain sanity in the future, don't waste time with a font you have to modify. Eg width factor.

Trust me, if you can't let go of AutoCAD and the small stuff, you will always be frustrated with Revit.

[mrdavie]

Tell that to the Boss.

[damo3]

Well in my instance, i did. Its all about education. Some bosses just really don't realise how difficult some things are in Revit to try and memic from AutoCAD. Like you said, they assume Autodesk products, so same thing and its not. 

If i ever came across something i could see was going to be a pain in the a** or affect productivity, i simply told management. "If i do it this way, i will spend X amount of time and $$$ and this is the effected workflow or if you can live with this slight variation, i can fix it right now". Most times common sense prevailed.  I realise not all bosses are as reasonable. if your really lucky some bosses welcome the oppurtunity to change things and freshen up documents. 

I am guessing you haven't told them / discovered the limitation in revision numbering? Good luck with that one. That was one i didn't win. Had to come up with a noteblock work around so we could keep revisions T1, P1 etc.