Delete DWG layers in Revit

[E-Key]

Hello everybody!

I imported DWG file into Revit family drawing, exploded it and converted all lines to Revit objects. But in View Properties>Visibility>DWG/DXF/DGN Categories I have a list of old DWG layers. On this way I have two questions:
1. Is it possible to remove unused layers from Revit file?
2. If DWG layers are used by imported AutoCAD entities, is it possible to merge DWG layers?

Thanks

[Steve_Stafford]

Object Styles > Imported Objects tab

This represents the layers that were imported. You can select them and delete them here.

[E-Key]

Object Styles > Imported Objects tab

.There's no Imported Objects tab in Object Styles, but I have DWG layers in Visibility

[Steve_Stafford]

Are you still using 7.0 by any chance? I'm using 8.0 and I don't get the same results. If I import and link a dwg I can't explode it unless I use Manage Links to Import it. Then I can explode it. Once exploded the Imported Objects are gone from both the Visibility Graphics and Object Styles. The linestyles that were created are still there along with text and dimension styles. No left over pieces parts in the view properties though.

[SCShell]

The linestyles that were created are still there along with text and dimension styles. No left over pieces parts in the view properties though.
Hey Steve,

That brings up a question that I have. How can I then delete all of those imported line and text types from a project once I delete the imported DWG drawing?
(They tend to get kinda long in the pull downs for text and line types.)

Thanks in advance
Steve

[Steve_Stafford]

...How can I then delete all of those imported line and text types from a project once I delete the imported DWG drawing?...Lines you can delete from Settings > Linestyles (one at a time...yes...one at a time) and text from File > Purge Unused (make sure you uncheck everything first then browse to the text category at the bottom, only shows up in the list if you are using it at all)

[SCShell]

Thanks Steve!

[tonyisenhoff]

I'm able to purge the layers by selecting "Object Styles", but it doesn't give me the ability to purge the actual drawing name... The delete button is gray'd out. I no longer need it and it just clutters things up.

Can that be deleted?

Any thoughts?
Tony Isenhoff

[Chirag Mistry]

you can also delete fill patterns...one at a time (which kind of sucks..coz I got hundreds in my file) in the fill patterns settings

[DaveP]

Lines you can delete from Settings > Linestyles (one at a time...yes...one at a time) and text from File > Purge Unused
I've tried this before and couldn't tell whether there was actually anything on the Linestyles I was deleting. If I "purged" a linestyle that had graphics on it, it looked to me like the graphics just picked another linestyle at random to assign themselves to.
Is there a way to tell if you're purging an unused Linestlye vs a used one?

[drewj]

I'm able to purge the layers by selecting "Object Styles", but it doesn't give me the ability to purge the actual drawing name... The delete button is gray'd out. I no longer need it and it just clutters things up.

Can that be deleted?

Any thoughts?
Tony Isenhoff
Did anyone figure out how to remove the drawing names after the sub-categories are deleted?

I have drafting views, I inserted the dwg file. exploded it, converted it. the 1st 10 or so I created I dont have the dwg left over, the ones I am doing today are leaving a trail.

[DaveP]

.... exploded it, ....
There's your problem, right there.
I sympathize with you, but at this point, there's probably not much you can do about it.

You should pretty much never explode a DWG. You're going to be much better off to Link it in, trace over it with real Revit objects and then Remove the Link.

You might have some luck with the ReviTTools add-on.
www.reviTTools.info (http://www.reviTTools.info)

There's a function for managing DWGs, but I can't say for sure if it will help with your problem.

[drewj]

There's your problem, right there.
I sympathize with you, but at this point, there's probably not much you can do about it.

You should pretty much never explode a DWG. You're going to be much better off to Link it in, trace over it with real Revit objects and then Remove the Link.

You might have some luck with the ReviTTools add-on.
www.reviTTools.info (http://www.reviTTools.info)

There's a function for managing DWGs, but I can't say for sure if it will help with your problem.
its odd that only some of the imported dwgs stayed around, I wonder what is in those dwgs that isnt in the others in order to cause them to stick around.

I think I will put up with the silly names in the file rather than re-draw the details.

Actually, I will cut and paste it into another file, problem solved... silly names gone!

thanks for the reply

Drew

[Scott Womack]

Once an Autocad dwg has been exploded, there is no real way to "Purge" it. In fact if the file was 100K in size, that 100K is permanently in that file. Only way to get rid of it is to cut-and-paste the geometery into another file.

As to not "retracing" the details, I understand the perspective, the face that intuitively it appears much longer to link the file, trace it, recreate text, etc. that the explode and convert. In fact over time, and with a deeper understanding of how the "under-the-hood" aspects of Revit work, the retracing, and conversion of the detail to a true Revit drawing detail will save countless hours down the road. After 6 years of production using Revit, I've found that making detail component families, and retracing vertually all of the "standard" Revit details is what lead to some of the largest productivity gains.

[drewj]

Once an Autocad dwg has been exploded, there is no real way to "Purge" it. In fact if the file was 100K in size, that 100K is permanently in that file. Only way to get rid of it is to cut-and-paste the geometery into another file.

As to not "retracing" the details, I understand the perspective, the face that intuitively it appears much longer to link the file, trace it, recreate text, etc. that the explode and convert. In fact over time, and with a deeper understanding of how the "under-the-hood" aspects of Revit work, the retracing, and conversion of the detail to a true Revit drawing detail will save countless hours down the road. After 6 years of production using Revit, I've found that making detail component families, and retracing vertually all of the "standard" Revit details is what lead to some of the largest productivity gains.

Thanks for the reply Scott. I just wonder why when you select a line after exploding it from an import symbol Revit reports that it is a Revit Detail Line as you seem to be saying that it is not a true revit detail line.

If you were to import a dwg, explode the dwg, you would get Revit elements wouldnt you? with maybe some objects in the background "under-the-hood" if you like. So if you remove the left overs in the background are you left with revit elements or some alien elements?

Do you get what I am asking? I feel like I am being a little circular in my point.... sorry if its not totally clear what my point is.

EDIT I just tried a test, inserting a dwg, exploding it and deleting the resultant objects, each stage I purged and compacted while saving, here are the results:

Import of DWG 560 - 736kb
Explod 736 - 1408kb
Deletion 1408 - 560kb

So the file size ended up where it started, but above you seem to imply that you cant remove the additional file size. so now I am more confused haha!!

Drew

[Scott Womack]

Do what you need to do. A couple of the programers within the Factory have told me this. Autodesk has never written anything saying tthis has been fixed. All of the long-time users have run into problems with AutoCAD files Linked in, imported in and explodes within projects. Thus the comments.

Exploding an AutoCAD file, depending upon how the original AutoCAD file was created, will leve Linestyles, Line Patterns, Fill Patterns etc. all through the drawing. LAst time I checked (which was on Revit 2010) these did not automatically purge.

You sound a little like me several years ago, that you'll have to learn things the hard way. Good Luck!

[drewj]

Do what you need to do. A couple of the programers within the Factory have told me this. Autodesk has never written anything saying tthis has been fixed. All of the long-time users have run into problems with AutoCAD files Linked in, imported in and explodes within projects. Thus the comments.

Exploding an AutoCAD file, depending upon how the original AutoCAD file was created, will leve Linestyles, Line Patterns, Fill Patterns etc. all through the drawing. LAst time I checked (which was on Revit 2010) these did not automatically purge.

You sound a little like me several years ago, that you'll have to learn things the hard way. Good Luck!

Haha, thanks Scott, you are probably right there! Its more a case of me wanting to understand completly what is going on. thanks again for the imput.

[Dave Jones]

Do what you need to do. A couple of the programers within the Factory have told me this. Autodesk has never written anything saying tthis has been fixed. All of the long-time users have run into problems with AutoCAD files Linked in, imported in and explodes within projects. Thus the comments.

Exploding an AutoCAD file, depending upon how the original AutoCAD file was created, will leve Linestyles, Line Patterns, Fill Patterns etc. all through the drawing. LAst time I checked (which was on Revit 2010) these did not automatically purge.

You sound a little like me several years ago, that you'll have to learn things the hard way. Good Luck!

Interesting topic especially for me who is in the middle of converting Acad details to Revit. Thousands of them. What I've been doing is, in Acad, separating parts and pieces into separate files by wblocking them, exploding them down to lines and arcs, deleting all annotation, hatches, dimensions, any non linework, changing everything to layer 0, changing all dim styles, table styles, text styles, etc to Standard, and super purging the result. I've automated this process with programming. That result is imported into a Revit detail component family template and full exploded (scale at something large). Revit accepts really fine detail this way. The detail component part family is saved and then nested into another detail component family to create an assembly like the attached. The assembly detail component is loaded into a Revit project. The interesting thing is, using the attachment as an example, the file size total of all of the components is 1.368MB. I did a Save to New File before I created the attached .png file and the result is only a 744kb file. The biggest thing for me, being a specialty detailer is that I need more detail than tracing geometry in Revit can give me (see the fastener in the attached file). This may indeed bite me in the butt down the line but for the time being it's giving me what I need to get my project detailing done and I'll deal with the problems as they arise.