Imported DWG is on it's side in Revit

[trevcampbell]

Hi,

I have created a model in Inventor. Front being the front view etc, etc. I then imported it into Revit and it's on its side. Can anyone tell me why and how I would fix this?

Thanks

[Lewis.Young]

Hello,

Admittedly I don't have experience with Revit, but seeing as you've had no responses, i'll give it a stab in the dark!

i suspect there's orientation options when importing the DWG and they're not configured properly.

Instead of using the viewcube in Inventor to define the orientation, you should instead look at the triad (X, Y and Z) in the bottom corner. When importing you should be able to configure which direction is "up" for example.

This is probably a question more suited to the Revit forum (https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/revit-architecture-forum/bd-p/133) , so i'd post your question there and then post back here if you get a solution 🙂

Lewis

[Cadmanto]

I don't know a whole lot about Revit either, but here are some links that may help.

https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/revit-mep-forum/rotating-linked-cad-file/td-p/5096568

https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/advance-steel-forum/ifc-imported-with-incorrect-rotation/td-p/7036590

https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/infraworks-forum/rotation-angle-issue-when-import-fbx/td-p/7003826

Windows 10 x64 -16GB Ram
Intel i7-6700 @ 3.41ghz
nVidia GTS 250 - 1 GB
Inventor Pro 2018

[dgorsman]

Another wild stab in the dark...

Mechanical design typically uses the Y-axis as "up", while other disciplines typically use the Z-axis as "up".  There's some valid reason for this which escapes me at the moment... something about CNC/automated milling systems...  we routinely get compressor and skid package models in IGES format like that.

The point being you'll need to do some translation on axis directions when going from one discipline to others.

[EvanGu]

Revit and Inventor display the model in different camera, but the coordinate system is same. Because the coordinate system is not visible in Revit 3D view, I also include AutoCAD for comparison.

As you can see in the same ViewCube (Top/Front/Right), the model orientation of the DWG file in AutoCAD and Revit are exactly same, and in this orientation, the Inventor ViewCube shows Front/Bottom/Right, but its coordinate system is the same as AutoCAD's, it means there's nothing different in the models, just in different camera.

To get the same model orientation with same ViewCube in Inventor and Revit, you can try

1. click Front in Inventor ViewCube, your screen is Front view now
2. right click the ViewCube, select Set Current View as Top
3. export to DWG and import it in Revit

[jtylerbc]

---

@EvanGu wrote:

As you can see in the same ViewCube (Top/Front/Right), the model orientation of the DWG file in AutoCAD and Revit are exactly same, and in this orientation, the Inventor ViewCube shows Front/Bottom/Right, but its coordinate system is the same as AutoCAD's, it means there's nothing different in the models, just in different camera.

To get the same model orientation with same ViewCube in Inventor and Revit, you can try

1. click Front in Inventor ViewCube, your screen is Front view now
2. right click the ViewCube, select Set Current View as Top
3. export to DWG and import it in Revit

---

The ViewCube in AutoCAD is highly misleading unless the "Orient ViewCube to current UCS" option is turned off.  The coordinate systems of AutoCAD and Inventor are different.  In AutoCAD, XY is the "Top" view (in the GCS).  In Inventor, XY is the "Front" view if nothing has been redefined.

I have no experience with Revit at all.  However, I don't think Revit really comes into play, because by the time you get to Revit in this process, the problem has already happened.  When transferring files between Inventor and AutoCAD, it always rotates the model 90° as a result of the differently defined coordinate systems.  Changing the "Top" or "Front" definition in Inventor does nothing to change this, as the export (or import) process matches the orientation of the coordinate systems, not the names on the ViewCubes. 

@EvanGu, did you actually try using the technique you suggested?  I just attempted it, and unless I missed a step somewhere, it did not have any effect on the results.  If this method does actually work, I'd like to find what I'm doing wrong so I can use it as well.  Currently, when I transfer models between AutoCAD and Inventor (in either direction), I simply rotate the model in the receiving system.  I've found no way (short of building the model initially sideways) to get it oriented correctly in the receiving system automatically.

[EvanGu]

@jtylerbc Thanks for your comment. I should not add step3, after exporting to DWG, 

1. click Front in Inventor ViewCube, your screen is Front view now
2. right click the ViewCube, select Set Current View as Top

As you said, XY is Top view in AutoCAD, and it's the Front view in Inventor. My attempt is to change the Front view to be the Top view.

[Charles.Jones4ZT4K]

Great explanation. Had to experiment a few times, but it finally worked. Thanks.