Working far away from Project Base Point?

[Anonymous]

I am setting up my project with the correct geographical location and I am having problems with the origin being too far away. I am linking in CAD files that were exported from a Bentley Product (by another party). So the normal coordinates workflow (that I've read about) does not apply. They aren't Civil CAD files that use shared coordinates for me to copy. They are, however, located in the correct location, hundreds of miles away from the 0,0 origin.

They come in to Revit in the correct coordinate location when I link them origin to origin. Revit is making me leave my origin at 0,0, because the project is too far away. I'm able to move my project survey point, though. I'm not quite sure what that does for me. So I was thinking I could start my project at the real geographical location, with my base point at 0,0, but Revit will not let me see any section or elevation views that I create that far away from my origin. (View cropping is off, and annotations are all visible).

If I move the links back to the project origin, and then "specify coordinates at a point", to locate my building, I am able to see the sections and elevations I create. The problem is, by moving the project to the origin, the additional CAD files don't line up when I link origin to origin, because their origin is 0,0.

We have both CAD and Revit users on this project, and I want them all to be able to link in these CAD files to the correct location without having to transform... What is the proper workflow here? Is it possible to leave the base point at 0 and work on a project hundreds of miles away?

Thanks!

[Sahay_R]

Try linking Center to Center instead.

Are you talking bringing in an AutoCAD file? In AutoCAD try to use the BASE command to move the origin to a more suitable point.

[Anonymous]

Thanks but, here's more information:

- I don't want to open, modify, and save any of the DWGs that are being linked in. Essentially, I don't want my "finger prints" on them, because they belong to the Architects. Actually, I had to ensure both the DWG and Revit were set to the same units for them to align to begin with, which I also didn't want to do.

- Linking in Center to Center does not allow multiple DWGs to align to each other. The DWGs contain junk floating in space, so their centers are not the same.

- It's also a campus with multiple buildings that relate to each other.

Any other suggestions?

[dgorsman]

We solve this at the project level before detailed work starts.  Everyone works from a project origin which is much closer and still gives nice round, small coordinate values.  If you've already got detailed design work in progress, trying to get buy-in on changing is going to be difficult unless you've got a... erm... "substantial"  ... manager that everyone has to listen to.

[Anonymous]

Yeah, unfortunately we inherit the project at construction-3D coordination phase. We have no control over how the Architects set things up. (The project began circa 2008 in Bentley Aecosim Building Designer by the Architects). We are trying to set up files for the subcontractors modeling MEP content to work with..

[Sahay_R]

Understood. Then I would give the generators of the CAD file in question a call - and some very polite suggestions. They ought to cooperate to make your job easier.

[ToanDN]

@Anonymous

- Create Revit project A

- Link all the CAD file in origin to origin. Save and close.

- Create Revit project B

- Link Revit project A center to center

- Use Revit project B as your working file.

[jacques]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Yeah, unfortunately we inherit the project at construction-3D coordination phase. We have no control over how the Architects set things up. (The project began circa 2008 in Bentley Aecosim Building Designer by the Architects). We are trying to set up files for the subcontractors modeling MEP content to work with..

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Can I ask, are you trying to coordinate your package with other contractor/trades for a NetworkRail project? And the project coordinates are tied to London Survey Point?

[Anonymous]

No, this is a US project.

I ended up just linking the files in center to center, then had to specify coordinates at my basepoint, then moved each of the linked files into place relative to the coordinates. Now when I export my model by shared coordinates, it is properly aligned in Navisworks. I will just never be able to bring in the CAD files to Revit without manually moving them afterwards... 😕

[Anonymous]

- Copy all the CAD (AutoCAD or Dgn) files under new name.

- Assign in each the origin to a certain point, common to all of them.

- Load the above files in Revit.

- Each time the client gives new drawings, reassign them same new origin.

Regards, Dan

[Viveka_CD]

Hi @Anonymous

It's been a while and I just wanted to follow up here, any progress on this issue?

Were you able to try the recommendations highlighted here by the community users?

Please see Tips for Working with Project Base Points and Survey Points

Also, Consider these strategies to optimize your use of the project base point and the survey point.

You can check the model's distance from the project base point by using the measure tool on the Modify tab

Please see similar post HERE

Please mark any posts that help with "Accept as Solution" and thanks! Kudos welcome.

Regards,

[Anonymous]

@Viveka_CDnone of the solutions were a viable workflow for our situation. My response where I stated what I ended up doing is the workflow we will be using, but I do not recommend it nor want to label it as a "solution".

[Viveka_CD]

Hi @Anonymous

I see what you are saying. Sorry to hear that your workflow consumes time.

However, the recommendations by users in this thread are worth considering for future setups. Also, see the article by Ideate HERE

Please see the workflow HERE form the knowledge network.

Regards,

[dgorsman]

I think the "Please mark as solution" is actually part of the signature, as it is with many posters, it just doesn't have a clean break between the body of the post. 

Even if what you're doing is a "hack" or "workaround" it can still be a solution in the context of this thread (which is the intention of the forum feature).  Still, it's not mandatory to mark solutions and as the OP it's mostly your thread.