Hello, Im wondering if there is a way to convert a CAD drawing into revit model lines. Our site plan is a DWG file, ive imported it and it just creates a large block, with the site plan in the direct center. Although Im willing to simply "trace" over it, after partially doing so it has turned out inaccurate.
Any help would be greatly apreatiated, this is for a High School assignment.
What you want to do is this:
Import the dwg into a revit drawing.
Explode it. You have to do a full explode, any unbroken blocks will not be editable.
You will need to select the lines by the layers, and then assign them to revit line styles. You can select all and then filter, the layers will show and you can grab them layer by layer and re-map them to revit linestyles (thin, medium, wide, hidden, etc) as appropriate. You might need to create a few revit linestyles depending on your tastes in drafting.
Do the same for Text, and Dimensions.
When its all done, select all and then copy/past the whole mess into a new blank revit file. You need to do that because exploded autocad files leaves dozens and dozens of line types and text styles and all kinds of garbage that you need to get rid of, and it will be left behind in the first file. Then save the 2nd file, and thow the first one away or keep it if you need to backtrack and re-do something maybe.
After that you can decide what to do with all the revit line work.
You might consider using the dwg as a linked underlay, and adding revit lines and objects over it as needed and doing some basic edit work in acad to the dwg if needed. That's what we do. You can override all the colors, weights or lines styles of the dwg as you like in the view and it will look fine, and you can turn off what you don't need, after you have drafted over it. If the contours are at 3d elevations, you can create a toposurface from them, which is really what revit wants. Even thought the revit site tools are very, very weak.
Have fun!
Hi!
How do you do this for items that have more than 10,000 elements? The file I am trying to convert has 13876 elements so I keep getting an error message that says imports with more than 10,000 elements cannot be exploded.
Thanks!
@Anonymous wrote:
Hi!
How do you do this for items that have more than 10,000 elements? The file I am trying to convert has 13876 elements so I keep getting an error message that says imports with more than 10,000 elements cannot be exploded.
Thanks!
Welcome to the forum.
Do not follow the advice in post # 2 above. Why would you need to explode a .dwg file into a bunch of lines? Imported .dwg files won't update if the CAD file changes. Exploded .dwg content will slow down your model, and might corrupt the model, as well.
If you need information that is in a .dwg file, link the .dwg, and put it in a workset of its own.
@Anonymous wrote:
Thanks. I just need to be able to edit the file in Revit. Right now, it is
all one piece. Am I going to have to trace the whole thing and go from
there?
What is it? Is it a civil drawing, with roads, trees, and footprints of buildings?, or is it a floor plan with walls, doors, etc.? In either case, you should not import nor explode this file. LInk it. If it is a site plan, use it as a reference for location, coordinates, etc. If it is a floor plan, link it and use it as a reference for modeling your building in Revit.
You can try this macro that will convert a linked DWG to Revit Lines:
http://archsmarter.com/convert-dwg-to-revit/
Area Object Link |
Attribute Modifier |
Dwg Setup |
Feet-Inch Calculator
Layer Apps |
List on Steroids |
VP Zoom Scales |
Exchange App Store
@Anonymous wrote:
So basically it can’t convert? This is my question too. I work for a consulting firm and we have thousands of autocad details, but I’ve only been able to link autocad files to my Revit projects. Meaning I will always have to carry both licenses for both programs. I don’t understand why it’s so easy to transfer from Revit to Autocad, but nearly impossible to transfer from Autocad to Revit without linking or exploding and basically starting over.
Because Revit isn't just lines. It isn't a "drafting" program.
Maybe in twenty years artificial intelligence will be good enough to look at some parallel lines and know from the context that they should be a Parking Space element instead of walls or railings or slab edges or pipes or whatever. But right now the only computer that can do that is the human brain.
As for building design and architecture modelling, I believe the recently released MaxiBIM is a good option.
You can link DWGs into your Revit Project and MaxiBIM can create data-rich families by reading the drawing lines and distinguish by layers for different element categories. It also provides many gadgets from quick 3D views and modification tools.
See This Video for a demonstration.
I found this beta stage product promising and you can get it now from MaxiBIM for a free trial.
Actually now you can do that, there is a plug-in called "EL Concrete" can convert from CAD TO REVIT Automatically.