topic Re: modifying cad fixtures in Revit MEP Forum

modifying cad fixtures

Anonymous — Wed, 26 May 2021 14:23:36 GMT

Hello, I need help in editing fixtures imported from a CAD file. The fixtures have already been set up and positioned by the architect, however, once imported to Revit, and exploded plumbing becomes difficult because the normal connectors that Revit has are not there. Additionally, trying to add the connectors is not possible because they are not editable

Re: modifying cad fixtures

RobDraw — Wed, 26 May 2021 14:45:45 GMT

There are several ways to deal with this. The simplest is probably using the connector families that come with Revit and place them accordingly.

Re: modifying cad fixtures

hmunsell — Wed, 26 May 2021 17:01:30 GMT

by "Fixtures" are you referring to Sinks and Toilets?

I'm suppressed they stayed intact when you imported and exploded them. personally, id use the Arch model locations as reference and place your own.

Re: modifying cad fixtures

Anonymous — Thu, 27 May 2021 05:27:32 GMT

yes, I meant sinks and toilets. Probably replacing will work but will probably take a while. However, the client is already familiar with the architectural design and is probably expecting the same familiar fixture design. Thanks, again this is the only option left.

Re: modifying cad fixtures

iainsavage — Thu, 27 May 2021 05:46:14 GMT

I agree with @RobDraw

What I have are dummy “plumbing fixtures” which just have a couple of small extrusions in them to hold hot, cold and waste connectors. You drop these fixtures on top of the Architect’s fixtures and use them to connect pipe to and generate the flow rates.

Re: modifying cad fixtures

Anonymous — Thu, 27 May 2021 06:33:19 GMT

In my case, the fixtures can not be connected to any connector, they are literally uneditable.

Re: modifying cad fixtures

iainsavage — Thu, 27 May 2021 07:01:02 GMT

If I understand your original post correctly you don’t have any Revit plumbing fixtures, you only have imported CAD blocks? There is no way to connect pipes in Revit to a dumb CAD block.

You need to add Revit plumbing fixtures to do so.

Option 1: Per @RobDraw and my own suggestion you need to drop in plumbing fixture families which contain only the connectors. You just place them on top of the CAD blocks. From a presentation point of view you will still see the Architect’s CAD fixtures but you will have the ability to connect to the separate plumbing fixture connectors.

Option 2: Per @hmunsell you can add proper Revit plumbing fixtures but in that case you will then see the geometry of the Revit fixtures as well as (or instead of) the Architect’s CAD fixtures.

You can’t just connect to a CAD import - it isn’t a Revit family. It has zero intelligence or connectability.

Re: modifying cad fixtures

hmunsell — Thu, 27 May 2021 12:10:28 GMT

Out of curiosity.... is the Architect using AutoCAD Architecture or are they using another software and exporting to a 3D DWG? Regardless, you still really only have the options mentioned in this post, I am just curious 🙂.

Re: modifying cad fixtures

Anonymous — Thu, 27 May 2021 15:16:09 GMT

the architect used Archicad and exported it to dwg.

Re: modifying cad fixtures

ToanDN — Thu, 27 May 2021 15:44:30 GMT

Create a plumbing family for each fixture and import the CAD model in.

Re: modifying cad fixtures

fabiosato — Tue, 08 Jun 2021 09:33:17 GMT

Hello,

You can ask him to export in IFC format, and you can use Graphisoft plug-in to link or open it.

Personally I prefer to open and save as an RVT file, then link the RVT file.