Freeze view to create details

[iankids]

Hi All,

I have had a go at creating new details using the new freeze tool which came as part of the recent Revit Extensions Pack. The result for me was very ordinary to say the least. The attached screen shot show the input view for the freeze and the result as a detail view.

There are very few settings within the tool, so not much to change or stuff up.
Anyone else tried it out yet? Any better results?

Ian

[twiceroadsfool]

Hi All,

I have had a go at creating new details using the new freeze tool which came as part of the recent Revit Extensions Pack. The result for me was very ordinary to say the least. The attached screen shot show the input view for the freeze and the result as a detail view.

There are very few settings within the tool, so not much to change or stuff up.
Anyone else tried it out yet? Any better results?

Ian

We took one look at the tool, and got rid of it. All it is doing, is automating the process of exporting the detail to DWG, them reimporting it in to a drafting view. So if you use it to do twenty typical details.... Youll have twenty CAD imports on the next job. Completely not my cup of tea. Especially since when you DO need to make a minor change, you are now subject to exploding the cad block, which is nasty nasty. Plus all of the inherent issues of lineweights, etc, across imported CAD geometry.

Any CAD details that people want to use in a project get vetted... It takes about a half hour per detail. DWG fully exploded (in a BLANK file, NOT the project), text switched to Revit text, leaders replacing exploded hatch, ACAD hatch replaced with Revit filled region types from our template, and every line switched to a revit standard type. Lines and text (exploded dims) get replaced with Revit dims, and lines and hatch get replaced (where possible) with detail components.

When its all said and done, its basically faster to just redraw it as a drafting view in a blank revit file.

Also: We never studied it far enough to find any actual side effects... But using the Freeze extension seems to throw a TON of inconvenient parameters in to the "available fields" portion of various catagory schedules, depending on what view you froze. So far (as i said, we didnt test it very much before scrapping it) they werent a performance hit, but they were annoying.

[iankids]

Mmmm, I guess that's another another tool from the extension pack which is best described as a work in progress!! (same as the wood framing tool!).

I must say however that I am somewhat surprised that Autodesk would develop a tool which is totally at odds with good Revit practices.

I can't recall how many times I have read on these pages that, if at all possible, one should never, ever import CAD details but one should create them as native Revit families from scratch,but it must be in the thousands by now!!

Pity, seemed like a good idea.

Cheers,


Ian

[DoTheBIM]

If at all possible, one should never "import" unless you life depended on it. Use linking whenever possible. Use CAD to edit the detail in native format. Create Revit family if needed repeatedly or just continue using linking.

Of course to each their own and sometimes there may just be now way around it.... if it's just one measly import what could it hurt (sounds like someone trying to quit smoking or something). If there aren't many layers/linetypes/etc... it might not blow up in your face, but recommendations are highly for linking no matter what the situation is.

[twiceroadsfool]

Recommendations (in my humble opinion) are for getting your "standard details" created in Native Revit.

Importing OR Linking means: ACAD dims that dont always match Revit standards, Hatch that displays as solid black because Revit doesnt always respect ACAD hatch, Lineweights that dont match the rest of your project, performance issues with having DWG material littered in the project, inconvenience when you have to edit it, text styles that arent always supported (if your people arent using a native TTF in AutoCAD, which a lot arent... Thats also an issue with symbology in the text, depending on fonts), and on and on.

If you want a detail thats not live, create it as a Revit drafting view, out of revit objects, and save to file.

[iankids]

Ever since being made aware (though these forums) of the numerous problems which may occur as a result of importing cad details, I have since created all details as native revit details.

I must say I haven't as yet read any of the documentation which may be available for this tool and, mistakenly assumed that any such tool would be native revit tool.

I have now advised my co workers that this is a "do not use" tool.

Ian

[TroyGates]

The freeze tool was developed by another company (Extensions4Revit) that was acquired by Autodesk. It originally was building Revit addins for Structural use. When I first saw the addin a couple years ago I thought it was going to create view with detail components or a Revit family, but was disappointed when it actually used a dwg import instead.