Revit Architecture - How do i import files from Autocad to Revit Architecture 2010

[widya28]

I've using revit architecture suite 2010. And i want to convert a 2D drawing that use autocad into revit architecture.

So, in revit architecture i try to import using "import CAD" button. And before that, i already explode the CAD file and turn it into proxygraphics = 1.
I also change the import units as millimeter & change the positioning as Manual-Center, in Import Cad Formats.

But unfortunately, when i already import it gaves me a message,

"Some elements were lost during import. ActiveX and some proprietary components cannot be imported"

and

"Some numerical data within the imported file was out of range. This numerical data has been truncated."

And after that,it doesn't import any drawing at all in revit.

Any idea how can i import the CAD file into Revit Architecture?

[tomnewsom]

Is your AutoCAD drawing located a long way from the 0,0 origin point? Revit doesn't like that...

[martijnderiet]

So, in revit architecture i try to import using "import CAD" button. And before that, i already explode the CAD file and turn it into proxygraphics = 1.

Try NOT to explode the drawing when you import it. You can still select all the CAD-lines, you just have to cycle through with the tab-button.

[nancy.mcclure]

widyaiswarapratiwi, a few pointers for importing in DWG to Revit:

a) Investigate/cleanup the DWG first. Audit, purge it, see where the origin is relative to where the Revit model is to be positioned. RA2010 has a ~2mile radius limitor, so if the CAD origin is further away from where you will be building the model you will have to do some extra work. Insert Center-to-Center in that case, and manually reposition the DWG and research on Shared Coordinates to manage that new location.

b) Consider linking the DWG rather than importing. If your intention is to fully build up a Revit model just using the DWG as a visual reference, then linking is a cleaner option and you can release the link after. Importing I reserve for when I want to use the vector linework from CAD as a background to my model.

c) Even if importing, MINIMIZE any exploding of the DWG. Revit allows for a 'partial explode' which lets you choose exactly which layer you want to manipulate/edit. Just hiding or changing line graphics can be managed in the VG panel to an intact DWG.

Hope that helps!

[widya28]

Thank's all for the solution.

i already tried, and it can link and import the drawing, but it just a half of the drawing.
Did i made a mistake, so it works like that?

Do you have any suggestion?

P.S. i include the picture from the CAD drawings and after it link into Revit

[tomnewsom]

Wow, that's a complex drawing. Consider only importing the layers you need

[tolifiers]

Hi from Theo at Auckland New Zealand

i was working for a while for Pumpkin Patch Auckland helping with their store design on Revit
We had to use their signage which was text & graphics in a circular logo, and revit could not scale
the text on the graphic with out messing it up. So i took the autocad flat logo, imported it into sketchup pro 8 , dragged it into 3D, scaled it up and down to what ever i liked , really easily, then imported it directly into a revit family, and imported that family into the revit project.

For now if that is an option, revit really likes sketchup files !!! for some reason ? why it hates autocad files beats me, we all use it ... i think autodesk has lost the plot a little !!! hey guys wake up its the users your are making these programs for , not your selves....

If you have lots of autocad 3d bits , or library bits that are not being resized or need editing, then sketchup pro is an option to bring things into that program, i also placed colours on these models that matched on revit with the RGB numbers, so its an option for the time being, that will help you get your drawings out with out having to muck about trying to convert stuff.

PS also a pet hate while i have my 2 seconds worth, the lovely ribbon !!!!!! i have removed it from autocad as it wastes my time, and revit i have dumped as much as possible all my tools on the tool bar, because the ribbon gets in my way, when i am in a hurry, i dont want to be looking for tools to use, who else thinks the same way ?

thats my 5 cents worth cheers Theo

[MikeJarosz]

Did anyone notice the unregistered Acad notice in the Window title?

That's a lot of work to put into a hot copy!!!! Then post it on a Autodesk-sponsored website.

[nextvkin]

Not necessarily a hot copy, could be a 30-day trial version....

[ttiefenbach]

"Some numerical data within the imported file was out of range. This numerical data has been truncated."

This error means you have some element in the DWG file that is WAY up in space. Go to an elevation in AutoCAD and look for a point or line or something that is WAY up above or below everything else at zero. I've seen this error a lot lately in CAD files, especially older CAD files that we've upgraded.


"Some elements were lost during import. ActiveX and some proprietary components cannot be imported"
Upgrade the file to the latest version of AutoCAD and try and explode what you can of the proxy graphics.

PS, if the OP was using a "HOT" COPY" of Autodesk products, it wouldn't show "UNREGISTERED".

[MikeJarosz]

This error means you have some element in the DWG file that is WAY up in space.

This situation has interested me for some time. Because I know programming, I know how software implements numbers. It looks to me that the factory chose a number format (double precision maybe?) that imposes a relatively small upper limit. Anyone interested in why numbers sometimes behave funny in their CAD system should Google "floating point numbers". There's a good one titled "The Perils of Floating Point"

The manual advises users to keep the building within one mile of the origin. It isn't always so simple. The Port Authority of NY & NJ owns the airports, bridges, tunnels, PATH train, etc. etc. etc. in the NYC - NJ area

Like most Government agencies, they want it their way. Their way consists of an origin point in eastern Pennsylvania, a hundred miles or so from NYC. Why? It puts all of their properties in the ++ quadrant. The common origin also enables them to plot eveything together without moving any of the properties.

It gets better. The shoreline of the Hudson River in New York is basically at sea level. To the Port Authority, it's at +300 feet! Why? Their tunnels. It puts them in positive z.

If anyone saw the open bathtub at the World Trade Center, you would have to say it was deep. It's about 70 feet below street level. To the Port Authority, bedrock was at +240.00!

While we were doing the Trade Center in Revit 6.0, the one drawing that remained in Acad was the building location plan with survey data. I calculated that a one second error in an angle from a point in Scranton PA to working point 1 at the site would intercept an arc of about 42 inches. I was grateful that Acad allowed seconds to have four decimal places.

Anyone from the factory listening? Make the Revit distance from origin a bigger number format. C'mon. We'll all have 64 bit machines soon.

[cdatechguy]

If you keep getting the "out of range" error...try importing the DWG into a Detail Component, and then load the detail component into your project. Since Detail Components are 2D only it ignores the 3D information in a DWG...

I've had issues where I bring something in, fix it all just so I can bring in the DWG into Plan view, but when I bring it into an elevation view I cannot scale the DWG... making it a DC fixed that.

[juanpabenavides907258]

I fixed this problem in a simple way, I first copied all the elements that I wanted to export into Revit in a new Cad file
(To orignal codinates), then I exported that Cad File to Revit (Origin to Origin).