Skinny DWF out from Revit?

[jeff.95551]

Our local jurisdiction (Scottsdale) is now requiring .dwf submission. For some reason they can't read the dwf or dwfx file that comes from Revit - they say it is 3d and their software won't handle it. I can't find any way to export as a small dwf from Revit. I exported to .dwg then exported from Autocad, and the .dwf files are 1/3 the size, but in color, which the city also apparently won't accept. I honestly haven't worked in Autocad since 2006 - there probably is a way to make that work better, but one of the reasons I fled to Revit so completely was to get away from all those stupid pen tables - I'm sure I've still got some of that knowledge repressed away, but I'd rather not dig at it. Never know what else will pop out.

Any simple options? I'm about to tell the city that if they won't take paper we'll just start building without them.

Thanks,

Jeff

[jsteinhauer]

So you published your plot sheets to DXF, and they can't read it? Does any of your plot sheets include 3D views? Maybe exclude those sheets from the set or deal with them separately. Is Raster vs. Vector come into play with DXF's? See if either of these are acceptable.

Cheers,
Jeff S.

[jeff.95551]

We don't have any isometric or perspective views - everything is plans, sections, elevations. The files seem overly large for dwf, but there aren't any options dialogs in Revit that seem to make any real difference. I haven't seen any Raster or Vector toggles or options, either. The same file exported to Acad then dumped to .dwf is about 1/3 the size. And that seems to have its own issues.

Thanks for replying

[jsteinhauer]

Is it worth going back to them and asking what they are having troubles with? Why do they only accept DWF as a file format? I would think PDF is more common. I'll look at work tomorrow to see if I can find anything to help out.

Cheers,
Jeff S.

[irneb]

Revit exports as 2 types of DWF/DWFx files: If it's a sheet or an orthogonal view the DWF is a 2D "print". If it's a 3d view then the DWF is a 3D model which can be rotated inside the viewer.

Which version of Revit are you using? I've had an issue with 2012 before where the DWF files was unreadable inside of Design Review. These days with 2013 I haven't had any issues.

Try opening the DWF file(s) after you've exported them - in Design Review (it should either have been installed together with your Revit, or it's available as a custom option from the installation, or you could download it from ADesk). See if it works for you and is what you expect. If so, then they may have some program which cannot read the newer DWF files.

Do they require DWF files, or DWFx? The later is actually a XML file which can be viewed direct in something like Internet Explorer (http://thecadgeek.com/blog/2010/03/internet-explorer-dwfx/).

[jsteinhauer]

I haven't seen any Raster or Vector toggles or options, either.

So when you go to create your DWF, you can select Raster or Vector & the quality of the document (R top left Corner ==> Export ==> DWF Properties tab ==> Print Setup). I would try both Raster & Vector with different quality levels, send all files to the City, and have them test those files.

Hope this helps,
Jeff S.

[jeff.95551]

Thanks. We're on subscription, so it is the most recent release. I have tried both the raster and the vector options, and the files sizes that result are almost the same. I don't know if it actually does anything different. Even on Raster with low quality, the files are about the same size. I don't think they are using Adesk software, and of course this is a new requirement, so they're just figuring it out. I'm not sure why, if the sheet .dwf is 2-d, the file that comes from that is 3 times the size of a .dwf that comes off the same .dwg export. (Revit==>.dwg==>ACAD==>.dwf) In theory they should be about the same file. And I can't get figure out how to get the .dwf from ACAD to come out blackline instead of color.

[irneb]

Sounds very strange. Are there any images or renderings or shaded views on that sheet? This might create a raster DWF - at least partially. But then the raster settings would adjust the sizing of the file, so that's probably not it. Have you tried opening the DWF yet? Is it displaying as you expected? If so, then they've got an issue with their program.
And I can't get figure out how to get the .dwf from ACAD to come out blackline instead of color.If you have to go through the DWG method, then you'd need to setup a CTB configuration which changes the colours to different pen thicknesses and to another colour (such as black). This you can do through the plot dialog in acad. Might have to play around till you get it just right though. But even then stuff like regions / shaded views are going to look worse for wear - so if forced into this, then stick with normal hidden line 2D views only (no shadows and no shading with no solid regions).

[DaveP]

Is the City using Autodesk Design Review?
If not, what software are they using?

[jeff.95551]

Thanks. They're not using Design Review - I don't know what they're using. I finally did the 3-step through Autocad, then with a stock monochrome .ctb. I'm not looking to make it beautiful for the city, especially after this. The .dwf files that my structures guy output from Revit are small, and they opened fast in Design Review. When I put mine from Revit in, they took a long time to open (6-7 seconds per sheet) but looked good. The engineer was using our titleblock, and none of the views had anything fancy going on. I like not killing trees, but this is a pain.

Thanks for the responses!

Jeff

[rosskirby]

I've seen the dwf file size double, or even triple, if there are sheets in there with views that have a lot hatches (I'm looking at you, floor finish plan with tons of carpet hatching), or huge schedules that take up a whole sheet (room finish schedule, don't act like you don't know what I'm talking about).

Try re-making the dwf without those kinds of sheets, and see if it makes a big difference. If so, you could try tweaking the hatches or splitting up the schedule somehow.

Regarding their inability to open/view the dwf, they might be trying to open it in AutoCAD (or some viewer or variant thereof), which might not play nicely with dwfs exported from Revit, hence their "3D error". Hell, they might even be trying to open the dwf in Internet Explorer (possible with dwfx, but not always, depending on the version of IE they have). I would ask them what program they use to open/markup the dwfs, and post back here with what they say. Then maybe we can find some way to translate from Revit to a version of the dwf they can use.