Revit to AutoCAD Conversion

[nlewis1771]

Hello all,

I'm not sure if this should be in AutoCAD or Revit forums but in the last couple years I'm dealing with more and more architects using Revit and having to use base files in my AutoCAD or Civil3D which were clearly originally in Revit (I'm a civil eng). I'm receiving files of all kinds of varying quality files. Some files are just OK where if I try to align property lines from a survey CAD file to a property line from the architect's base, it is "almost" correct. But other architects' files are absolutely awful where all the lines are being exploded into random lengths/ and not aligning or connecting (almost like it was somehow converted to a low quality pdf then back to a CAD drawing file). Whenever I speak to the architecture firm about the issue they act like I'm speaking a foreign language and throw up their hands like I'm crazy. To be fair, it might be driving me crazy. It causes me to have to essentially redraw site plans over and over again so they can be properly dimensioned etc. It only seems to have started in the last couple years but is definitely increasing. Does anyone else have experience with this or know what I can tell an architect firm about how to export the Revit file correctly? Or is this just how Revit conversions now function (aka absolutely terribly)?

Thanks!

[juliar123 · Accepted solution]

I have a feeling they are exploding CAD files in their file. When you explode CAD in Revit, It's messy. It breaks it into thousands of line styles and pieces. They might be brining in a CAD file of questionable value, exploding it in Revit to then manipulating it however they want it to look on their views. In turn, when they export it to you, it's rough. Exploding CAD file is a big no no in Revit, but a lot of people still do it. Most newer architects now, don't know CAD either. You could ask them to reframe from exploding CAD file in their Revit file, but it all comes down to user knowledge and experience of why you don't explode files. No matter how many times I tell my users not to, they continue to do it.  

[nlewis1771]

Thanks for the helpful input! I'll try that. It certainly sounds like the symptoms but I'm not sure why they would be working in CAD before they would be working in Revit but who knows. 

[HVAC-Novice]

You probably don't have a Revit subscription, so this may not help you. But if someone wants dwg from me, I just give them my Revit file, and let them deal with extracting what they want. I see that Civil likely never will use Revit, so dwg still is needed. 

That also wouldn't help you if the Revit file includes " manipulated" imported dwg. So short of educating the architects on how to handle that better, there likely isn't much to do. You could add a fee to your contracts if they don't provide data in a format that works for you.