Importing CAD Details

[tj6TCQ5]

I am just looking for feedback on the setup we use for our standard details from CAD being used in Revit.

I started working for my firm about a year after the person who established the Revit Template left and I just been hired fresh out of school with a degree in Engineering Technology so I had limited experience and a lot to learn. The person who created the template seemed to understand a lot and had set up a number of things preemptively. The general notes and details were never imported into Revit but instead were CAD files with the standard title block printed separately to mostly match the Revit one.

In order to call out the details on plan/section the template had the detail sheets setup and "place holder" details for each one with just that text in them. This allowed for the details to be placed on the sheets since you can't place an empty detail on a sheet. These sheets were never printed through Revit, instead in CAD. The pdfs were made both in CAD and Revit then combined for the final set.

I didn't like seeing the slight differences in the title blocks or minute variances in spacing so I decided to link in the details into Revit. The trick here was to go back and delete the "place holder" text from all the details after they were placed, then linking in each CAD detail sheets, each an individual CAD file. I sometimes need to scale up/down the detail to fit our standard square size but that is an easy conversion. This may seem tedious but in actuality 95% of it is already setup in the Revit template so linking in the CAD file takes 10 secs, and the CAD side is almost exactly the same as what I do for CAD projects except I have to scale the details which are already cleaned up and prepared for the Revit link. I double check the formatting as Revit tends to hate tabs within text which are dependent on text style in CAD. I have already converted our standard notes to Revit.

My boss has only shown two concerns with how we handle Revit. First, that the standards be locked and only accessible from one location to insure consistent/approved changes (between CAD and Revit), and second, that we not share the details' information (Non-alterable and with regards to our own intellectual property) when collaborating with clients. His belief is that they pay for the pdf or printed plans, not the CAD detail dwgs or comparable Revit details. 

I believed my method accomplishes both without requiring the tedious task of converting all our details to Revit or even sharing them directly with our clients. 

I was looking for peer review as to if my process might have short falls with regard to industry standards of practice of if anyone has a suggestion for a better way to circumvent the detail import process. Only a few of our jobs each year are Revit based, though I'd like to improve that, but knowing more always helps.

[Ahmed_Muharram]

hi 

what you do is common in some firms, nut i don't agree with it as using revit as a BIM tool is to have information within the model.

as you have a standard details why not converting them to detail item families or even 3D families if this required in you LOD.

you will then have full control of what you see and the exact same sheet in the whole project.

for the sharing with clients it depends on the contract and the scope of work, some clients require delivery of full revit models with sheets and families, if it's in your contract you have to deliver if not don't deliver it :).

[hmunsell]

in our firm we used summer interns and converted all our Standard CAD Details into Revit Drafting View Details and placed them all into a RVT file. Then, you can use the Insert > Insert from file > Insert views from File. point to the RVT file holding all the converted details and you can import them as needed.

you can also use the Reference Other View option when placing a Section or Callout to point to a detail in the current file.

[Jason.P]

I would highly recommend starting to convert all your details from AutoCAD and create new ones in Revit. This has more upsides then down. For one all the details will need to be veted and reviewed for current content and standards. It is much easier to load files form a revit file and to archive and create a working library through Revit. As for ownership of content. Yes you own it, and sharing models is now a standard practice. If yoru boss is really concerned about it, you can create a release form that can be implemented with your BIM execution plan at your start up meeting that states all the property or families and details etc etc is yours...and all that fancy jazz. 

[rkhattar · Accepted solution]

I would strongly advise creating library revit files for all your typical details. 

Recreating all new drafting views that are linked into project revit files.

As for IP concerns you can always export to an IFC file and re-open the IFC in revit before issuing this file to clients. 

This will protect any advancements to 3D model famlies you may create.

Basically all you need are basic level views for the client to navigate through and perhaps a 3D view. 

All sheets and typical detail views can be purged out of your file prior to submission.

(This comes down to the contract between your company and the client)

The 3D model 90% of the time is just used for co-ordination, so details and the like aren't required to be in the shared model. Unless this is specifically requested by the client.

Hope this helps