Revit exported .dwg size too big

[Anonymous]

Hello All,

This has been probably discussed already but I couldn't find it. 

The issue is, the drawings I am exporting from Revit to .DWG is too big in size. So it's difficult to share the files with customer who needs it via email. Do we have any solution to reduce the exported .DWG file size?

Please share your valuable suggestions 🙂

[ennujozlagam]

have you try when opening from autocad, audit, purged, flatten and overkill command. and see if helps. thanks

[ToanDN]

How many bytes?

[Anonymous]

Do you have a lot of filled regions or families downloaded from the internet?

We sometimes have exported DWGs over 15mb because of a hectice filled region or an over complicated mixer/plumbing fixture downloaded from a supplier in the view.

In Visibility Graphics, try and turn off a few categories - my go to's are furniture, furniture systems, plumbing fixtures, lighting fixtures, and export - see if this reduces the file size significantly. If it does - there's a family causing your issues.

Alternatively, also make sure your project is at Revit origin, and any linked in DWGs are cleaned up and flattened.

[ennujozlagam]

do you have any link cad files in your revit when exported to DWG? try to remove and link as xref in your autocad. thanks

[admin47]

Yet again up to the user to search around having to use tricks/tips/workrounds. Can't Revit just export DWG files to a reasonable size. It shouldn't be that difficult. 

[syman2000]

Depends what you are trying to export. If you export the 3d views to CAD, it will flatten the 3d and increase the file size. Also if your plan have tons of fill region, that will also increase file size. This is where ZIP tool come in handy because it will compress the DWG file.

[CharlesGoin]

I ma having the same thing happen. I have turned of a TON of stuff. I then go into AutoCAD and clean and purge and explode and purge, etc. etc. etc.. and I still end up with a basic 20,000 square foot hotel floor being 120 MB. It shouldn't be 10 MB its not that complicated. I have exported as Fine and as Coarse and no difference. Turned off about everythign I can find and still no difference. Its ridiculous.  

[RobDraw]

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@CharlesGoin wrote:

I have exported as Fine and as Coarse and no difference. Turned off about everythign I can find and still no difference. Its ridiculous.  

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If this is indeed the case, you've got some big problems.

If you share the model and or an example export, I'm sure someone will figure out what your doing wrong.

[ToanDN]

@CharlesGoin 

Do you have a lot of hatches?

[CharlesGoin]

Cant share model online. 

What I noticed when exporting in Medium and Fine, is the DWG would go up exponentially with each floor. Like it was somehow adding the next floor to the DWG of the floor above. 

When opened in AutoCAD that wasn't the case though, and no matter how much I tried to purge it and overkill, etc.. it wouldn't get smaller and in some cases it would get larger. 

I tried DXF and that was ridiculous. They were 10x the size.. and I mean in the 1.2GB range for a file that shouldn't be more than a MG or so. 

Best I could do was turn off and hide ALL patterns, in both projection and surface, turned off Cielings and Floors as well to make sure I had NO HATCHES. Go to "COARSE" and drop to 1/8" scale. 

And even then this ended up as 8 MB per floor ( Which I could live with.. it was better than 128 MB ) 

I was hoping to get the furniture, and a better look than this and the ceilings. But it is what it is. 

Almost as bad as trying to convert ADT files with multiple cut up and clipped xrefs.. those are a bigger mess. I have to DWF them out and back in to get them to be good. Sloppy architects with sloppy models annoy me. 

[RobDraw]

It isn't "what" it is. It's what you make it.

There are way too many variables to give you the answers to your situation without an example or a much more concise description and eliminating possibilities. 

You really should get someone that is allowed to access the project to look at it for you. 

[bookmyg]

"If this is indeed the case, you've got some big problems."

This isn't a one off issue.  All of the cad files I receive from architects are always huge!!

[davidkarran]

Just want to share a workaround i found. I use Diroots Prosheets for DWG export. One particular roofplan sheet, which had to display an structural IFC model, came out a whopping 390mb. I found if i temporarily isolated the IFC model in the view(removing all other elements) Prosheets(and ergo Revit) still outputs the full View on the sheets. Drawing came out at 49mb. Some witchcraft happening there but a big result. Note: I havent tried this with Revits Native DWG export. Hopefuly some folk here will benefit from this method.

[hanne_gehrke]

Thank you, fine. Do you perhaps have a solution for what I can do when I am sitting with the DWG file (huge) and do not have the Revit file it is generated from?

[davidkarran]

I'm sorry, i dont know. I used to audit explode > purge > explode more > purge more, then try copying all to a blank new DWG file. Other than that i'm not sure.

[CharlesGoin]

1. Use quick select and search for hatches and solids. select them all and delete. 
2. Select all blocks - Explode
3. Use quick select and search for hatches and solids. select them all and delete. 
4. Purge
5. Repeat

Then when no blocks, hatches or solids are left.

1. Select - ALL
2. Erase - Previous selection - Remove the "group" from the selection
3. Enter
4. Purge
5. Ungroup the group
6. Purge
7. Wblock out whats left

Its brute force.. but sometimes works.

[hanne_gehrke]

Thanks for suggestions. I have actually found a quick and very efficient way to make the drawing smaller. By using the FLATSHOT command, the drawing changed from being about 80Mb to 15Mb 😀

[eb494]

Late reply but when you go to export go click 'modify export setup' (three dots by 'select export setup'), then click the solids tab and make sure 'ACIS solids' is selected over 'polymesh'. That should reduce file size a lot, not sure why. Hope this helps

[haoxuBIMcoordinator]

Have you tried change the scale to a smaller scale? I experienced when people trying to export a dwg using 1:1 view scale and ended up a file size 32GB, once changed to 1:500 view scale, it went back to normal.