Editing Linked Revit Files in 7.0

[mmodernc]

Is it possible to open a linked file from the host file and edit it in Revit 7.0 like you can with an XREF in ADT or an embedded bmp in MS Word? I cannot seem to do it other than as in 6.1 where you had to have two Revit sessions open, modify the linked file in one session and use the manage links function in the other session to reload it into the host file.

[beegee]

You don't need two sessions open to edit a linked file.

You go to Manage Links under the File tab, go to the Linked RVT's, unload the rvt you wish to edit, do you worst to it, save it , close , then reload it into the parent again under the Manage Links tab. Same in 7.0 as 6.1...

[rhys]

It would be good though to be able to edit with an xref edit like function. I find using 2 instances of Revit a useful way of working which would be even better with dual monitor support.

[mmodernc]

I use dual monitors but when there is a relationship between one linked file and another e.g. if you make a building wider it may overlap the other, it helps to have them both in their location in the host file when you edit.

[ariasdelcid]

Agreed. Is very frustrating not being able to edit the linked file directly from the current file. Activate view like function?

[beegee]

I would use shared co-ordinates for this.


For example, say you have two buildings A and B linked into a site plan. Buildings A and B are close together so that if you amend one, you need to be aware of the relative location of the other.


Within the site plan file, Settings > Locations & Co-ordinates > Publish Co-ordinates for each building. You will be prompted to save the modified locations in the child file before you close the parent file. Close and save the site plan. Open the building file to be modified and link the site plan into that, choosing to place by shared co-ordinates. You can now proceed to modify this building while viewing the correct location of the adjacent building.

It sounds more complex than it is, give it a try – its brilliant !



I use dual monitors but when there is a relationship between one linked file and another e.g. if you make a building wider it may overlap the other, it helps to have them both in their location in the host file when you edit.


Agreed. Is very frustrating not being able to edit the linked file directly from the current file. Activate view like function?

[mmodernc]

I get the following message when I go to link the host file to one of the linked files:

the model you are linking has other models linked into it.
These models will not be visible in this project.

[beegee]

Sorry, my notes should have read ... " link the adjacent building into the file of the one being modified ", not the site plan. (Revit only allows linking 1 level deep, so unfortunately the site plan doesn't work as a link back.)

So if you are going to modify A, link B into A using shared co-ordinates, so that you can work with the correct layout visible.

[mmodernc]

Thats better-thanks - But if there is also a boundary on the site plan I have to be careful I don't get too close to what then?
I still think this whole thing could be dealt with the same way as xrefs in ACad. It is a Windows program after all. Could the Factory look into this please - for those of us doing multi unit medium density housing/industrial this is most important. I think it has been a wish list item for a while and was really hoping it would have been streamlined or at least brought up to the level of AutoCAD functionality by 7.0.

[mmodernc]

Hmmm I just got the site plan to link into the model no. 2 file but as usual without the files linked to the site plan. This could be interesting. But if you had ten linked files in the site plan this could also be confusing.

[beegee]

You can link the site plan with the site boundary lines into the model file that you intend to edit. The other models in the site plan will be unloaded, but the property lines will link. You would then proceed to link the other building(s) as discussed above.

Yes, linking of files can ( and will ) be improved in the future, I'm sure. In the meantime, you can achieve what you want with shared co-ordinates.

[mmodernc]

Sorry BeeGee, I refuse to roll over and die on this one. I have run out of lives and I have been asking for this for four plus years. I was on a project which consisted of a dog-legged site with a fair dip in the knee. We had to get 16 villas and townhouses on it utilizing the slope to as much advantage as we could. I consulted with a few Revit heads and we all agreed that the best way of handling the job was to have e the modelled site as the host file and link in the townhouse and villa models. In the end we ended up with about nine different designs/models which we linked to the master file to create the sixteen and these were the result of the evolution of at least 25. Each villa/townhouse was pretty close to the other plus you had the boundary of the site and the access roads and the effect of the slope etc. to consider. So you make one villa wider and you nudge/squash the next five. The nudging was OK but what if you had to make minor modifications to the others. We did try the backward linking thing but it was all so clumsy the Revit project died and they went back to Autocad to finish it off. Unfortunately my job died with it. All because of a simple thing like not being able to edit a linked file in place. I mean in AutoCAD you can edit xref in place by simply selecting the xref and right clicking and selecting "edit xref in place". You can activate a view on a sheet. WHAT IS SO BLOODY HARD ABOUT EDITING A LINKED RVT IN PLACE?

[beegee]

My responses to your original question addressed how you can use shared coordinate linking to edit a file while viewing surrounding conditions and constraints ( buildings and boundaries.) I was pointing out that the functionality is there to do it.

You want that process to be easier to manage and I agreed that the linking and editing of files could be improved. Whether that improvement takes the form of an XRef edit-in-place, or some other process doesn't matter much, provided the functionality is there. I'm sure if it was simple to program, the developers would have done it already. I know they are aware of the limitations with linking and will be addressing this in the future.

[Steve_Stafford]

We did try the backward linking thing but it was all so clumsy the Revit project died and they went back to Autocad to finish it off. Unfortunately my job died with it. All because of a simple thing like not being able to edit a linked file in place.Sorry but this seems a little bit extreme to me. Editing a linked file in-place is a nice wish, but blaming the failure of the project on it...hmmm.

[mmodernc]

And a piece of sticky tape over a pitot tube can make an airliner crash.
But as a corollary I wouldn't have even dreamed of attempting the above project in anything else than Revit.

[PeterJ]

I started to look at something similar on a scheme of some 275 houses which never came to fruition but the way I got around it was to make some parametric families that represented pretty accurately the sizes of the houses and then played with them. They were instance based so I could just drag them out or squeeze them as need be.

We didn't get beyond laying out some road and having a good think about the house relationships before the client decided they were going to do something else with the land for the time being. However, my next step was to be scheduling out the families and using them to work out how many house types I had and start making the house types. The house types would have been in separate files and I might then, had push come to shove, linked them back into the host site model for more detailed landscaping work or any renderings that might have been required, but the last step is outside my normal line of work so I would probably have left it be.

[mmodernc]

The families idea sounds interesting. One of the big advantages with using a linked Revit file is that there are no limits on z placement. You can even place a spot level on the floor of a linked model and control the model's height by changing the value of the spot level. This was great for sloping topography where you are not only setting out in the x-y plane but in the z axis as well. There are other advantages such as the control over which plan view you want to display irrespective of where the model is placed in the z axis relative to the cut plane of the plan view in the host file. Plan regions also come across with the linked file which is also very useful because obviously on a sloping site you often have to split levels