Revit to NON-Revit consultants.... recommendations?

[mmonty1269]

What is the best way to handle (export) Revit files when I need to send "cad" files to my consultants. - I cant help it if they arent up-to-speed yet. I've been working with them for MANY years, and while they are not yet onto the Revit platform, I still need to work with them! LOL!

[STHRevit]

I hear your pain. It is a daily issue with us as well.

It really depends on how much effort you want to put into it. You can create an export file that will place your exported elements on your office protocol. This can be quite time consuming, or you can simply export your model, sheets or views to dwg format and let the consultant deal with the unique layer names.

It is really a very simple process.

[cliff collins]

In the past, we just exported to Autocad, using the default AIA layer standard,
and sent to our outside consultants. Never had any complaints or issues.

Fortunately for us, most of our consultants are all using Revit now. ( which brings along some more challenges........)

cheers

[jessica.146534]

We've always just exported to ACAD using the default object styles too, with no complaints. The consultants we typically use end up graying-out anything we draw so they can put their info (ie. mechanical) in black so they don't care what layers everything ends up on.

[mmonty1269]

They're screaming ..."There are a bazillion lines that make up the walls and when we update our drawing, we have aaaaaalll these lines to deal with....."

Maybe change all the wall types to "generic" prior to exporting? - more work for me, but I dont wanna hear 'em complain....

BTW - They are planning on Revit, they're just figuring out when they're gonna have time for training seminars. ;)

[bearden383]

As long as you are consistent with your exports you probably won't get many complaints. Before we started using Revit we would get DWGs that were exported and they worked fine. The problem lies with the naming convention. We would often get new drawing updates but the file names would be different and ridiculously long and hard to decipher. Please use the Auto-Short naming. This way your consultant gets files that will be named the same no matter who in your office is creating the DWGs.

[twiceroadsfool]

No need to change out the walls.

Set up an "Export Plan" and other "Export views" that have certain items set to Coarse level of detail, so they get 2 lines for the walls.

In the past, ive tailored the ExportLayers file in all the different offices ive been in. if you have the offices CAD standard handy, its not that bad. Takes a few hours. You wont get it perfect, the way Revit classifies objects and uses those classifications to make CAD exports doesnt coincide with how you would set up layers if you were actually MAKING a CAD file, but those are the breaks for them not working in Revit.

It also doesnt tie XREF's together for various sheets, the way they would in CAD. You can clean up the LAYERS, but the bottom line is the CAD export files are pretty nasty. Id be advising them to use them as underlays but not to actually work in them.

[j_starko]

last firm I was at, they told the consultants I was doing all the drawings in revit ( no prob) and then went on to say I could do what ever they wanted me to do as far as layers for their cadd exports ( boo )

it took literally 3 days of exports. phone calles, adjustments, re-exports and re-adjustments before their tech was happy with the output.

the icing on the cake was the following week, at a coordination meeting, the head tech said that they were confused why I had set up all the layers to match theirs ? " you should have just left it. we gray it all out anyways "

Now just hit export, and don't modify the output. It names the layers fairly logically, I say let the autorad wizzards sort it out on their end.