Importing CAD - Automatically replace CAD Block with Revit Component?

[Mr_R]

Hi All,

I'm working on a large scale (400 hectares) housing estate in Revit, and this is the first time I've worked on a project in revit which uses 3D terrain (my previous experience has been with internal refurbishments). Someone else in the office has produced a 2D site plan in AutoCAD 2012, but as the project is moving from sketch design into planning/detail design we've begun moving everything into a Revit model in order to co-ordinate the plot layouts with the roads and landscaping being designed by the civil engineers.

I'm looking to automate the process of placing the 400 odd houses if it's possible. I've created a separate revit model for the house (there's only a single type) which I want to import as a linked file, so if the design changes I can do that outside of the integrated model.

Is there a way to tell Revit that wherever it finds a cad block of a certain name it should place an instance of this linked model?

I hope that makes my question clear! Many thanks for any help :)

R

[Alfredo Medina]

Welcome to the forum. I don't think there is a way to do that with the available tools. It sounds like a task for a programmer, and not an easy task, because the location of the houses implies not only an insertion point in (x,y) but also an elevation (z), and an orientation in relation to the North (azimuth).

[Mr_R]

Hi Alfredo,

Thanks for the reply. I had a feeling that that would be the case - thanks for your time anyway!

[jsteinhauer]

I second Alfredo's comment. It might be something possible for a person that knows the API, so try posting in that forum. If I were to do it I would setup nodes within my ACAD block to help place the house. There would need to be at least two nodes, and i don't think you could mirror any of them. The nodes would have to be self aware for X,Y & Z placement, and would have to have two different names. A program would have to be able to look through the ACAD link find those two points and match them up with similar points within your house model. Not an easy task. Depending on how complex your house model is, you could run into performance issues in your site file.

I have used Revit for site models in the past, and it is not that strong. It is comparable to previous versions of Revit MEP. IMHO, AD has not invested the proper amount of time & money to develop this portion of the tool.

Cheers,
Jeff S.

[gbrowne]

Robert, if you do find a solution, and your 'puter is able to run it, (its a lot of topo!) could you please stick a jpg on here for us to see. It sounds like some project! Best of luck.

GB