revit!

[deanmcminn]

i have a 3d model created in autocad , i am trying to import it to revit , as you know it comes in as a block i need it to come in or be converted to a normal version so things can be selected indivdualy.

 

can anyone think of a solution ???

[RobDraw]

Don't do it.

 

What kind of model is it?

 

AutoCAD models cannot be imported into Revit and be usable. It needs to be recreated in Revit in order to be usable. You can however use it as a guide for tracing.

[ReMark]

Just out of curiosity what does become of a 3D model created in AutoCAD when imported into Revit? Can it be that it is no longer treated as a solid or a surface?

[RobDraw]

As far as simple solids go, I'm not actually sure about that.

 

In general, AutoCAD objects like walls or ductwork do not have the same "intelligence" that similar Revit objects have. Any intelligence that AutoCAD has with those types of objects, does not get translated to Revit.

[ReMark]

I did find a reference to two possible ways of doing it but since I do not have Revit I cannot test either. Found it over at the AUGI website in a thread from 2009. The link is below. See posts #4 and #7 by Norton_cad.

 

http://forums.augi.com/showthread.php?101085-3d-autocad-to-revit

Edited September 19, 2013 by ReMark

[SLW210]

I moved your thread to the Revit General forum.

[tzframpton]

i have a 3d model created in autocad , i am trying to import it to revit , as you know it comes in as a block i need it to come in or be converted to a normal version so things can be selected indivdualy.

 

can anyone think of a solution ???

As Rob has already stated, this workflow is discouraged and most companies do not allow it. Even from the lips of Autodesk, if you import and explode a DWG file, your Revit model will eventually become corrupt. And you surely cannot convert anything from a DWG file that enable items to be selected individually. Best, and only viable option... recreate it in Revit from scratch.

 

Just out of curiosity what does become of a 3D model created in AutoCAD when imported into Revit? Can it be that it is no longer treated as a solid or a surface?

Nothing "becomes" of it per-se, it acts like an XREF. It's a mass that is imported into the model environment. The motivation behind discouragement of this method is because of the drastic performance hit, the inability to control the linework, and the "cuttable" abilities that Revit is widely known for are nonexistent with anything DWG. Granted, there are workarounds and there are some procedures that mitigate all these letdowns, but one must remember that Revit is not an application designed to deal with DWG file formats. IIRC, the only reason DWG became available to import and work with is because so many people griped about it in the early releases of Revit. So the developers finally did it to pacify the whiny cries of the ones holding on for dear life the AutoCAD mentality.

 

Revit 2014 has made some drastic improvements. You now can "explode" a DWG solid model, but most still don't trust it quite yet. Things become selectable and editable to some degree. Read here, and scroll down to "Some of the other paraphernalia": http://autodesk-revit.blogspot.com/2013/03/whats-new-in-revit-2014.html

 

HTH

[PotGuy]

http://www.cadtutor.net/forum/showthread.php?81522-Adding-information-to-an-imported-Revit-Family-Model

 

I posted something similar about this issue not too long ago about a Revit family made from AutoCAD DWG's. If you read tzframpton's response you'll see why it's not a good idea.

[Organic]

As Rob has already stated, this workflow is discouraged and most companies do not allow it. Even from the lips of Autodesk, if you import and explode a DWG file, your Revit model will eventually become corrupt. And you surely cannot convert anything from a DWG file that enable items to be selected individually. Best, and only viable option... recreate it in Revit from scratch.

 

It comes down to a CAD management issue. If it is an existing project where the model exists in AutoCad, or the model was created in AutoCad by another consultant, then the project should be done in AutoCad. There is no point wasting time and budget by recreating the model from scratch in Revit.

 

For new projects Revit could be used. Although for existing non Revit started projects or projects in partnership with non Revit firms, Revit is not suitable.

 

Best, and only viable option... recreate it in Revit from scratch.

 

No, that is not a viable option. If you worked where I work you would get a warning for wasting time and budget if the job was one of those randomly selected to be audited by the QA team.

[tzframpton]

It is not necessarily a CAD Management issue. Most firms who've seen the light with Revit choose Revit over AutoCAD for a reason. And a good reason at that. It takes a small amount of effort to recreate a Revit model from an AutoCAD file anyways. AutoCAD is too time consuming, unintelligent and has no parametric relationship abilities like that of Revit, so it's in the best interest of anybody to simply recreate it the right way.

 

And there's not a single person who just starts out in Revit who hasn't asked if what the O.P. asked is possible. It's a very common question.