State plane coordinate system for CAD link = squiggly lines

[PDSF]

Hi all.  We are having a problem with a civil Autocad background which we link to our project.  The engineer is using a "state plane coordinate system" which locates the origin about 6000 miles away, in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.  This results in their linework being extremely "squiggly" (see attachment) and difficult to work with.  Has anyone encountered this issue and/or found a solution?  The engineer refuses to change the coordinate system.  Any help would be greatly appreciated.  TIA.

[PDSF]

Also, I have read that some users block out the CAD with a new, closer origin, but the eight files (which will be updated periodically) make this difficult also.

[ToanDN]

Do a Zoom Extent and see if the files have a physical object at the origin or just the UCS coordinates?  If yes, delete it.  If no, then don't do anything.  Either way, link the files in Revit center to center and move them if needed.

[chrisplyler]

I would put two crossing reference planes, or maybe even just the end of a detail line or something, at a known point in the Revit file that is in the same place as some obvious feature of the cad file. Then I would delete the cad file. Then I would link it back in using the Manual - Center to center option, and then manually move it back into the right place utilizing the reference created earlier.

I'm only guessing but maybe that will help.

[PDSF]

Thanks for the suggestion, but we have tried linking center to center and it did not work for us.

[ToanDN]

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@PDSF wrote:

Thanks for the suggestion, but we have tried linking center to center and it did not work for us.

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It only works if the CAD file doesn't not have any elements way too far from the usable area.  If the CAD file has a point at (0,0,0) and the actual linework hundreds of km then its center is still a half of the hundreds of km from the usable area.  That's why I suggested you do a Zoom Extent and delete any elements outside of the usable area to bring the center point of the CAD file inside that area.  Make sure that when you turn on / thaw everything in the CAD file and Zoom Extent, the usable linework fills your screen.

[PDSF]

We have done this too, in fact I just went through all the seven xrefs and checked them too.  There is no linework or any other entities anywhere but in the area of the project.  The only "entities" at the origin were other xrefs which were unloaded and weren't being used by civil and I deleted those, along with all unused/unloaded xrefs. The squiggly lines remain. But thanks again for your suggestions.

[ToanDN]

Can you share a CAD file?

[PDSF]

Well, seeing as they refuse to change their coordinate system (as they have done on other projects) and are leaving it up to us to fix this, I don't see why not 🙂  The civil.dwg file is a "container" for the other seven xrefs.  I don't know if I can attach them all at one time...I'll try.  Update:  Looks like it is three attachments at a time.  I'll reply again with the other xrefs.

[PDSF]

Next 3 files

[PDSF]

Last 2 files

[ToanDN]

Try these dwgs.  There are some PROXY entities that I believe were the culprit.  I cleaned them up and link the DWGS center to center and there seems to be no graphic artifact.

The PROXY entities were there because the consultant did not export the drawings to vanilla AutoCAD format from their vertical program properly.  You can chew them on that.

[ToanDN]

...more.

[PDSF]

Thanks!  I'll check it out and report back.

[PDSF]

Sadly, it did not solve the problem, see screenshot.  These are "back" and "front of curb" layers, which are obviously ones we need to see accurately in our model.

[ToanDN]

I don't see any problem here.  In the attached file, I exploded the PROXY, not deleting them.  But for the long run, you need to tell the civil guy to export their files.

[PDSF]

Sorry but I'm not sure what you did here.  It looks like you linked the file into a Revit model and got linework we would be happy with.  What positioning technique did you use?  When I linked the test file in, I used Manual-Center.  The mouse click did position it roughly in the center of the linked file, but I got the squiggly lines anyway.

[ToanDN]

I opened​ each DWG in AutoCAD, did an Erase All and window unselect the linework to keep themnand got rid of some zombie entities. The file had proxy objects I had to explode them. Then I linked them auto center to center in Revit. Try the files I cleaned and uploaded.

[PDSF]

I did try the files you had uploaded prior to my previous message.  Thanks for your help.