topic Re: State plane coordinate system for CAD link = squiggly lines in Revit Architecture Forum

State plane coordinate system for CAD link = squiggly lines

pdent2 — Mon, 12 Jun 2017 23:09:22 GMT

Hi all. We are having a problem with a civil Autocad background which we link to our project. The engineer is using a "state plane coordinate system" which locates the origin about 6000 miles away, in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. This results in their linework being extremely "squiggly" (see attachment) and difficult to work with. Has anyone encountered this issue and/or found a solution? The engineer refuses to change the coordinate system. Any help would be greatly appreciated. TIA.

Re: State plane coordinate system for CAD link = squiggly lines

pdent2 — Mon, 12 Jun 2017 23:41:39 GMT

Also, I have read that some users block out the CAD with a new, closer origin, but the eight files (which will be updated periodically) make this difficult also.

Re: State plane coordinate system for CAD link = squiggly lines

ToanDN — Mon, 12 Jun 2017 23:55:35 GMT

Do a Zoom Extent and see if the files have a physical object at the origin or just the UCS coordinates? If yes, delete it. If no, then don't do anything. Either way, link the files in Revit center to center and move them if needed.

Re: State plane coordinate system for CAD link = squiggly lines

chrisplyler — Tue, 13 Jun 2017 14:28:27 GMT

I would put two crossing reference planes, or maybe even just the end of a detail line or something, at a known point in the Revit file that is in the same place as some obvious feature of the cad file. Then I would delete the cad file. Then I would link it back in using the Manual - Center to center option, and then manually move it back into the right place utilizing the reference created earlier.

I'm only guessing but maybe that will help.

Re: State plane coordinate system for CAD link = squiggly lines

pdent2 — Tue, 13 Jun 2017 16:12:35 GMT

Thanks for the suggestion, but we have tried linking center to center and it did not work for us.

Re: State plane coordinate system for CAD link = squiggly lines

ToanDN — Tue, 13 Jun 2017 20:27:13 GMT

@pdent2 wrote:

Thanks for the suggestion, but we have tried linking center to center and it did not work for us.

It only works if the CAD file doesn't not have any elements way too far from the usable area. If the CAD file has a point at (0,0,0) and the actual linework hundreds of km then its center is still a half of the hundreds of km from the usable area. That's why I suggested you do a Zoom Extent and delete any elements outside of the usable area to bring the center point of the CAD file inside that area. Make sure that when you turn on / thaw everything in the CAD file and Zoom Extent, the usable linework fills your screen.

Re: State plane coordinate system for CAD link = squiggly lines

pdent2 — Tue, 13 Jun 2017 21:51:34 GMT

We have done this too, in fact I just went through all the seven xrefs and checked them too. There is no linework or any other entities anywhere but in the area of the project. The only "entities" at the origin were other xrefs which were unloaded and weren't being used by civil and I deleted those, along with all unused/unloaded xrefs. The squiggly lines remain. But thanks again for your suggestions.

Re: State plane coordinate system for CAD link = squiggly lines

ToanDN — Tue, 13 Jun 2017 22:12:49 GMT

Can you share a CAD file?

Re: State plane coordinate system for CAD link = squiggly lines

pdent2 — Tue, 13 Jun 2017 22:26:40 GMT

Well, seeing as they refuse to change their coordinate system (as they have done on other projects) and are leaving it up to us to fix this, I don't see why not 🙂 The civil.dwg file is a "container" for the other seven xrefs. I don't know if I can attach them all at one time...I'll try. Update: Looks like it is three attachments at a time. I'll reply again with the other xrefs.

Re: State plane coordinate system for CAD link = squiggly lines

pdent2 — Tue, 13 Jun 2017 22:27:23 GMT

Next 3 files

Re: State plane coordinate system for CAD link = squiggly lines

pdent2 — Tue, 13 Jun 2017 22:27:59 GMT

Last 2 files

Re: State plane coordinate system for CAD link = squiggly lines

ToanDN — Tue, 13 Jun 2017 23:06:15 GMT

Try these dwgs. There are some PROXY entities that I believe were the culprit. I cleaned them up and link the DWGS center to center and there seems to be no graphic artifact.

The PROXY entities were there because the consultant did not export the drawings to vanilla AutoCAD format from their vertical program properly. You can chew them on that.

Re: State plane coordinate system for CAD link = squiggly lines

ToanDN — Tue, 13 Jun 2017 23:07:01 GMT

...more.

Re: State plane coordinate system for CAD link = squiggly lines

pdent2 — Tue, 13 Jun 2017 23:10:17 GMT

Thanks! I'll check it out and report back.

Re: State plane coordinate system for CAD link = squiggly lines

pdent2 — Tue, 13 Jun 2017 23:39:13 GMT

Sadly, it did not solve the problem, see screenshot. These are "back" and "front of curb" layers, which are obviously ones we need to see accurately in our model.

Re: State plane coordinate system for CAD link = squiggly lines

ToanDN — Wed, 14 Jun 2017 00:33:24 GMT

I don't see any problem here. In the attached file, I exploded the PROXY, not deleting them. But for the long run, you need to tell the civil guy to export their files.

Re: State plane coordinate system for CAD link = squiggly lines

pdent2 — Wed, 14 Jun 2017 01:03:01 GMT

Sorry but I'm not sure what you did here. It looks like you linked the file into a Revit model and got linework we would be happy with. What positioning technique did you use? When I linked the test file in, I used Manual-Center. The mouse click did position it roughly in the center of the linked file, but I got the squiggly lines anyway.

Re: State plane coordinate system for CAD link = squiggly lines

ToanDN — Wed, 14 Jun 2017 01:33:45 GMT

I opened each DWG in AutoCAD, did an Erase All and window unselect the linework to keep themnand got rid of some zombie entities. The file had proxy objects I had to explode them. Then I linked them auto center to center in Revit. Try the files I cleaned and uploaded.

Re: State plane coordinate system for CAD link = squiggly lines

pdent2 — Thu, 15 Jun 2017 16:07:56 GMT

I did try the files you had uploaded prior to my previous message. Thanks for your help.