Automated generation of detail item families from DWG files

[Simon-Theiner]

Hi there,

I've got a substantial collection of over 500 2D details/blocks from the AutoCAD era that I'd like to make accessible in Revit. Manual creation is nearly impossible given the quantity.

Therefore, I'm wondering if anyone has a Dynamo script that automates the creation process? The DWG files are all usable without modification (origin point, scaling, etc.).

Basically, the script should allow to select a folder containing DWGs, insert each into a Detail Item Family Template, explode DWG, and save each with the same name as *.rfa...

Can anyone assist me, or perhaps share a code snippet for a similar task that could be adapted? I unfortunately have no experience with Dynamo but am willing to learn.

Thank you!!

[Simon-Theiner]

Hi there,

I've got a substantial collection of over 500 2D details/blocks from the AutoCAD era that I'd like to make accessible in Revit. Manual creation is nearly impossible given the quantity.

Therefore, I'm wondering if anyone has a Dynamo script that automates the creation process? The DWG files are all usable without modification (origin point, scaling, etc.).

Basically, the script should allow to select a folder containing DWGs, insert each into a Detail Item Family Template, explode DWG, and save each with the same name as *.rfa...

Can anyone assist me, or perhaps share a code snippet for a similar task that could be adapted? I unfortunately have no experience with Dynamo but am willing to learn.

Thank you!!

[barthbradley]

That's not a workflow I would use.  

Using your workflow, you would be left with 500 individual RFAs that each need to be opened and "cleaned-up" - assuming your DYN Routine could work. In my experience, exploding a DWG in RVT is not always a one-step, seamless process.  Many times, it throws multiple errors. The most common one, in my experience, is the "Line too short" which is usually resolved by pressing "Delete Element(s)". But, beyond the exploding process, there remains work to be done after exploding to make the Family Project-ready, such as recategorizing all the linework to Detail Item Object Style Categories, Purging Unused, etc., etc.

If I were tasked with this job, I'd bring all 500 into one Detail Item Family, explode them all, do all the necessary clean-up work, Group and Name each Detail and then save each Group to stand-alone RFA and/or load this Detail Item Family containing the 500 Groups (e.g. individual Detail Item Families) into a Project.  Then use Load as Group to bring the Detail Items Families into other Project Environments.   

[barthbradley]

That's not a workflow I would use.  

Using your workflow, you would be left with 500 individual RFAs that each need to be opened and "cleaned-up" - assuming your DYN Routine could work. In my experience, exploding a DWG in RVT is not always a one-step, seamless process.  Many times, it throws multiple errors. The most common one, in my experience, is the "Line too short" which is usually resolved by pressing "Delete Element(s)". But, beyond the exploding process, there remains work to be done after exploding to make the Family Project-ready, such as recategorizing all the linework to Detail Item Object Style Categories, Purging Unused, etc., etc.

If I were tasked with this job, I'd bring all 500 into one Detail Item Family, explode them all, do all the necessary clean-up work, Group and Name each Detail and then save each Group to stand-alone RFA and/or load this Detail Item Family containing the 500 Groups (e.g. individual Detail Item Families) into a Project.  Then use Load as Group to bring the Detail Items Families into other Project Environments.   

[Simon-Theiner]

Interesting perspective!

I've stuck with this idea because Revit's standard library has a separate family/RFA for each object. Bringing objects together in a "collection family" or within a Revit project file could potentially enhance the ability to search through everything more efficiently.

Nevertheless, the challenge persists in having to export each group as an RFA (=> automation)

General question: How do you manage your personal libraries? Do you have a separate family for each object, or do you integrate new families into an existing project/family file?

[Simon-Theiner]

Interesting perspective!

I've stuck with this idea because Revit's standard library has a separate family/RFA for each object. Bringing objects together in a "collection family" or within a Revit project file could potentially enhance the ability to search through everything more efficiently.

Nevertheless, the challenge persists in having to export each group as an RFA (=> automation)

General question: How do you manage your personal libraries? Do you have a separate family for each object, or do you integrate new families into an existing project/family file?

[barthbradley]

When you say " export each group as an RFA", are you referring to doing the "Save As" work I mentioned above (e.g. saving each Group to a stand-alone RFA)?   If so, that's another reason why I mentioned the "and/or" approach of loading the Family containing all the Groups into a Project. There you can use Save As Library to save all the Project's Families to stand-alone RFAs.  

https://help.autodesk.com/view/RVT/2024/ENU/?guid=GUID-FC6CC53B-0010-4AF9-BFE2-6B044191A645

[barthbradley]

When you say " export each group as an RFA", are you referring to doing the "Save As" work I mentioned above (e.g. saving each Group to a stand-alone RFA)?   If so, that's another reason why I mentioned the "and/or" approach of loading the Family containing all the Groups into a Project. There you can use Save As Library to save all the Project's Families to stand-alone RFAs.  

https://help.autodesk.com/view/RVT/2024/ENU/?guid=GUID-FC6CC53B-0010-4AF9-BFE2-6B044191A645

[yes_and_no]

We had the same situation many years ago.

We even thought of outsourcing the detail library but the lack of quality stops us.

So this was what we did: we assigned all non-management staffs (about 20) to spend 30 minutes a day on details, 3 details per week. If project related, we bill to project, if not they went to overhead (actually 85% went to projects).

Everyone learned something either Revit or technical or architecture, and we had  all about 1200 details transfer to Rv in 4 months, Mostly retrace line by line or use detail component when possible...

My advice: Don't tackle them by yourself. That s a huge task if you think about it.

I m an enthusiast of details. I wd love to buy these details (in cad) from you if you can send me pdf prints of them so I can see if we can use them. I guess all 500 details perhaps be fit in around 20 sheets 3648 ? (no structure or mechanical details please).

My email hien.henryn@gmail.com

[yes_and_no]

We had the same situation many years ago.

We even thought of outsourcing the detail library but the lack of quality stops us.

So this was what we did: we assigned all non-management staffs (about 20) to spend 30 minutes a day on details, 3 details per week. If project related, we bill to project, if not they went to overhead (actually 85% went to projects).

Everyone learned something either Revit or technical or architecture, and we had  all about 1200 details transfer to Rv in 4 months, Mostly retrace line by line or use detail component when possible...

My advice: Don't tackle them by yourself. That s a huge task if you think about it.

I m an enthusiast of details. I wd love to buy these details (in cad) from you if you can send me pdf prints of them so I can see if we can use them. I guess all 500 details perhaps be fit in around 20 sheets 3648 ? (no structure or mechanical details please).

My email hien.henryn@gmail.com

[ToanDN]

It is not impossible to do but I think you meant today it is not worth your time to do.  Hire an intern or a overseas conversion service to do it for you.

[ToanDN]

It is not impossible to do but I think you meant today it is not worth your time to do.  Hire an intern or a overseas conversion service to do it for you.

[Simon-Theiner]

@yes_and_no 

Unfortunately, I cannot simply share the data as it is company property. The suggestion to convert some details each week step by step is not a bad idea, but unfortunately, we are not such a large team, and it would take a correspondingly long time. That's why I came up with the idea of automating this somehow...

@ToanDN 

I don't know where you read that it's not worth my time. Of course, it's worth my time, but I can't spend weeks converting the library, as it would cause other projects to be put on hold. That's why I'm looking for sort of automation

[Simon-Theiner]

@yes_and_no 

Unfortunately, I cannot simply share the data as it is company property. The suggestion to convert some details each week step by step is not a bad idea, but unfortunately, we are not such a large team, and it would take a correspondingly long time. That's why I came up with the idea of automating this somehow...

@ToanDN 

I don't know where you read that it's not worth my time. Of course, it's worth my time, but I can't spend weeks converting the library, as it would cause other projects to be put on hold. That's why I'm looking for sort of automation

[robert2JCCH]

This is something that past-me worked on for converting a company's CAD details over to Revit. This portion can be applied to @barthbradley 's suggestion - open this Dynamo script while in a family editor and you can import all of the CAD dwg files into a single screen.

That's of course the easy part. You then have to add to the script to separate out the views into something more readable (learn how to set up points in a grid shape and then have dynamo move each view to a point on the grid), extract all of the linework from the imports (use a package node, not the Revit explode options), clean up linetypes/naming/etc., and then once all of that is cleaned and ready, organize your cluster bomb for grouping so that they can be saved out.

Assuming, of course, you're not also including a step to add parameters to your detail families for additional control and customization.

A good portion of this workflow is supported by custom node packages which might be daunting for a new Dynamo user to discover and then use. My recommendations for node packages to look into for this sort of workflow are Bimorph, GeniusLoci, and Springs.

[robert2JCCH]

This is something that past-me worked on for converting a company's CAD details over to Revit. This portion can be applied to @barthbradley 's suggestion - open this Dynamo script while in a family editor and you can import all of the CAD dwg files into a single screen.

That's of course the easy part. You then have to add to the script to separate out the views into something more readable (learn how to set up points in a grid shape and then have dynamo move each view to a point on the grid), extract all of the linework from the imports (use a package node, not the Revit explode options), clean up linetypes/naming/etc., and then once all of that is cleaned and ready, organize your cluster bomb for grouping so that they can be saved out.

Assuming, of course, you're not also including a step to add parameters to your detail families for additional control and customization.

A good portion of this workflow is supported by custom node packages which might be daunting for a new Dynamo user to discover and then use. My recommendations for node packages to look into for this sort of workflow are Bimorph, GeniusLoci, and Springs.