Detailing in Revit Model? CAD vs Revit

[noconnorG728Y]

Hello Ladies and gentlemen.

We are almost at the stage of doing construction details document with this project that have 15+ (building) models in this site plan (attached image). There are a few of us concerned about the idea of doing CAD details in AutoCAD without the coordination call-out but if we do the details in the individual model, the site model size will be an issues. We don't know which way to go.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank in advance.

Niall 

[hmunsell]

as long as your doing the details IN Revit and not importing or linking DWG files, it shouldn't effect the file size that dramatically. Where you get into trouble is when you use DWG Details and import or link them into Revit. i have seen model size shrink by 75% just by removing the DWG Detail links.

[shellyk]

I would highly recommend detailing within Revit, especially for such a large product. The automation of the callout tags is priceless in getting all the project views and referrals straight. 

Creating new views within a revit model does not affect the file size much, I don't think you will have a problem .

Good luck! And please accept this solution if it helped (:

[Anonymous]

Please do not detail in Autocad, been there done that and it was a disaster.  

Doesn't matter if you insert the detail DWGs one by one, the entire sheet contents inserted in a Revit sheet, or generate the sheet entirely in CAD and make a dummy scheduling sheet in Revit. You will be losing vital time-saving functionality and creating more graphical inconsistencies on your drawings.  But the most important part is that you will be generating more work for yourself and additionally slow your model significantly. 

I have seen resistance to drafting 2D details in Revit from Project Managers losing their minds because this generates a lot of rework, because if you follow Revit's suggested method of detailing, it is too easy to mess things up inadvertently, things that you finished and crossed off your list, now you need to be addressed again and again.

Now please do not detail on a live view, (graphically dressing-up a live model callout).  It goes contrary to what a lot of people say,  but inexperienced users can mess up your model pretty quickly without noticing while working on a detail, and someone working on a view will ruin a detail while making a callout look nice on a section.  Or even worse inadvertently delete a detail.  This will get worse especially if you have various levels of Revit expertise within your firm.

Do yourself a favor and do a drafting view and place a callout that references that view, they will be connected by reference.  Adds one little step, but it will be bulletproof without surprises.  It is so much easier to work in case or redesign your building and a detail that you need somewhere else doesn't apply to a specific callout, you can delete callouts without worrying you deleted a detail and a ton of work.

Hope this helps!

[syman2000]

It is better to built company detail using Revit so you can reuse the same Revit detail for future project. If you stuck doing it with CAD, your next project will stuck doing the same process. This is the major trap a lot of company are dealing with. Company need to stop doing the bare minimum and go full transition over to Revit. There will be pain points, but it is worth it once you have them all developed.

[noconnorG728Y]

Thank you everyone for the suggestion and opinions. It is really helpful moving the project forward.....

[chughes]

I disagree with the comment about not detailing in a live view.  If you do not detail in a live view (assuming the detail is not a 'generic' detail) how do you know if the model and the detail are coordinated?

I suggest modeling *over* the live view and, at the end of the modeling process, turn the visibility of model elements off in the detail view template.  Completely cover the live model with appropriate detail items, note it up, and then turning the model off at the end of the detailing process gives a granular insight into the large scale model elements coordinating with small scale detail items.

You can still reuse the detail in the future with the 'Import 2D elements' feature.

[noconnorG728Y]

Hello,

We are creating a master detail library in 2019. What can we do if we need to import the details in 2020 or 2021? It actually upgrade the master detail to 2020 or 2021.

Thank in advance

Niall

[hmunsell]

don't have to do a thing.... the details will upgrade automatically if you pull them into a newer version. that said... you WILL NOT  be able to use the 2019 Details in a older version of Revit, like 2017.  We have this issue all the time. we still have some older projects due to client requirements. my staff wants to use one of the "New" details they made for 2020 and I have to tell them they cant (at least not easily).