Importing AutoCAD to Revit Visibility

[limartin]

Let me preface this to say that after all of 12 hours of JIT training, I have jumped in to a project pretty much full time. While we use Revit Architecture, we are not architects. We specify theatrical systems and use the Arch/MEP/Structural models to locate our equipment and clearances, review the model and cut our CAD backgrounds. Eventually, we will make the shift to Revit full time, but until then (and hours more training), we are going back and forth. I keep the User's Guide open on my second monitor and refer to it as needed.


Today, the User's manual has failed me and I turn to the more learned members of the Revit community. My issue is that I am importing a layout from CAD to Revit and cannot get it to appear in the RCP. I have laid out our winches on the ceiling plan in CAD and wish to overlay the CAD to help place them in the model. The Structural model is out of date and not updated as yet, so I need our CAD layout as a guide. I have checked the Workset visibility, the Imported category is greyed out in the RCP, I have adjusted the level constraints to match the View range of the RCP to no avail. It drops into the plan view just fine. It also appears in the 3D view just fine. I am at a loss as what else to check. If I can't solve this, I will just start working at plan level and then adjust the height of my equipment when I am finished.

I will be up front and say that I have also posted this query in another discussion board, in case anyone thinks this post looks familiar.

[cliff collins]

In a section view, make sure that the Cad dwg is at the proper Level (i.e. at the ceiling height you want it to be placed at). It may be sitting at the Floor Level, so you cannot see it in the RCP view. In section, you will only see it as a thin (usually) colored line--since you are looking at the edge of a 2D plan. Make sure Imported Categories are turned on in the section view.

If it is at the floor level, you can simply move it up in a section view--use Move and check disjoin. Also, make sure you set your Workplane to the ceiling plane when adding content so that it is located in the correct plane (in the z axis).

Be careful when bringing .dwgs into Revit--Import can sometimes populate ALL views with the Cad dwg--and casue major peformance problems when Revit has to display and keep track of multiple cad imports in lots of views! There is a box which you can check when importing cad for "current view only" ( as I recall). In other words--make sure you are bringing in the .dwg only into the view you need it in.

Better still, use Link instead--this way you can make changes to the cad dwg and then update the linked cad file in Revit by reloading it in Manage Links. This will also avert the possibility of Importing it into all views by mistake.

What you are doing is a very common workflow, and should work well. Just be very mindful about managing cad files inside Revit, and delete / remove them when you are finished.

[limartin]

Thanks for your prompt reply, Cliff. I did all that you described but to no avail. I can see the thin blue line in section, but no matter where I put the line, it does not show up in the RCP and the Imported Images in the Vis Graphics window are still greyed out. There is something I am too inexperienced to know how to do, however, and that is to set the work plane to ceiling. When I try to set it in the RCP view (set up by the architects, not me) the choices do not include a ceiling plane. Is there a setting I need to change?

Sorry for being so dense.

[cliff collins]

To set the Work Plane, in the Ribbon, go to Architecture>Set Work Plan (at very far right/top of screen)

Choose Set, then use Pick a plane.

Use the Tab key to highlight / select your ceiling. This will set the workplane at the face of your ceiling, so elements you add will be located properly.

Study up a bit on Revit Families, esp. "Hosted" and "Face-based"--these are two distinct types of families which are created from two different family templates,
and they work just the way they sound. Hosted families need a Host--such as a wall or ceiling, to attach to.

Face-based families will locate themselves on a face--such as a ceiling, but they do not REQUIRE the ceiling as a host, and arte therefore free-er to move about,
and do not cut a hole in the host--for example a host based light fixture needs a ceiling to host it, and the family cuts a hole into the ceiling host.

A face-based light fixture recognizes only the face of an element such as a wall, ceiling, roof, floor, etc.

As for your Cad import, you might try deleting it, and then Link it into the project in a floor plan, then in a section--move it up,
make sure Import Categories are turned on in the ceiling plan view, and you should be able to see it.

Another way might be to create a new Level at the ceiling, and name it Ceiling, then set the workplane by Level from the list.

Hope this helps. If not, you might try posting a small portion of your Revit file, and the cad .dwg-- so we can take a look.
To do that, simply copy / paste the ceiling, walls, etc. where you are working into a new project, then save it. Make sure the file size is as small as possible,
then go to advanced and manage attachments and upload it.

[limartin]

Issue update:

First - thanks so much for your prompt and patient response. I have bunches to learn and each day is a learning challenge. I'm the only person in the company using Revit on a daily basis and am grateful for such a learned forum.

That said, the problem is solved. Unfortunately I have no real idea how I did it. I went back and tried what another forum had suggested which was setting the import to foreground, but because I had imported it to the RCP, I couldn't see it anywhere to set the image to foreground. However, when I went and checked the Vis Graphics tab once again, the image location was there, greyed out, but the check box was empty. (Previously, the checkbox was checked but everything was greyed out.) So, I checked it and lo, and behold, the link appeared. That only took all day. But the excercise was a good learning experience and something to file away for later.

Thanks again!

[vgonzales]

Link CAD is better than Import CAD. Sometimes an imported CAD file that has errors will cause Revit to crash. I usually Audit the CAD file prior to linking to a Revit file. I try to link a CAD file with the "Current View" option checked. I seldom need to see a CAD file on multiple levels or views. "Current View" option places the CAD file in only one view and no where else in Revit. Once you do this, you are able to select whether the CAD file is in the "foreground" or "background".

If you do have "Current View" unchecked, it means that you are placing the CAD file on a specific level visible in every view in Revit 2D and 3D. For example, if you placed a CAD file on the Second Floor level floor plan, it will be visible in 3D and 2D views where the Second Floor Level is visible. On your Second Floor Reflected Ceiling Plan, the CAD file will not be visible since the view is cut typically 7'-0" above the Second Floor plan and looking upwards away from the Second Floor level.

[MikeJarosz]

If an NYC user helps you out, do we get free tix? :lol:

Seriously, there is an NYC Revit User Group that meets at the Pratt Manhattan Center once a month usually from 6 to 8 pm. It's free, and there's usually food to bribe you with.

Check this out: http://www.meetup.com/NYC-RUG/