Exporting file issues...

[blumarble]

I have several issues related to exporting to DWG files.
First, I have an imported file (2D DWG of room furniture layout) that is not being exported along with the file. It shows up in the thumbnail, but when you open the drawing it's not there.
Second, is it possible to get the crop region to not be exported?
Third, I've noticed that if I I'm exporting sheet layouts, and I export the "current view" I get only that part of the drawing that appears in the crop region as entities in model space. If I export "selected sheets" I get the same region, but now it's a seperate file xrefed into the sheet file.
For each of these, I see no way to control them.
I'd like to simply be able to export WYSIWYG to single files. Any help with these? Thanks.

[cphubb]

Well if you are exporting floor plans you probably should set a special view for exporting. We create views for all of our consultants so that the visibility is correct and all we need to do is push the button.
Details elevations etc are a little harder. Yes revit crops the MS views or xrefs them, but do you really need the entire building in section when you are exporting a door head? If you need sections create a section for export. You will save time in the long run if you set up and organize your views for a specific purpose.

[blumarble]

Yes, I'm talking about plans, not sections, details, etc. Yes, I have created specific views of partial plans setup, and it's cropping just as it should (I discovered the exported crop region boundary is actually the paperspace viewport). But I'm having to go into each file, bind the xref and insert the dwg file that was imported into Revit, but not exported from Revit. Again, I'd just like to see it give me just what I've got in Revit, and be able to get files without xrefs without having to do each export seperately.

[cphubb]

Well here is what we do. Our consultants are looking mostly for base files not sheets with xrefs. We create special views for each consultant and file them in the browser. We then create an export sheet set in the export dialog for the consultants based on what they want. Open the set push export and the location wait a minute and everything is good.
When I do export sheets for consultants I have not had any complaints about xrefs not working right. It seems that is the way they want to receive the drawings. However it would appear they already have those files linked in to their system so the dwg export is not a problem. Is the imported file linked or straight import? We have noticed the import files go with the export, the links do not

[blumarble]

OK, I think I see what you mean. I just talked to one of our consultants. They would like to get a single background -- their xref background -- that can be replaced/updated. They have the partial plan sheets setup, so they don't need a new set each time...
And yes, the room layout is linked. It would be good if we could export linked files... I guess I can either detach the link and insert it each time I need to export it, or just insert it into the exported drawing each time... Hopefully Autodesk will give us this choice in the future.
Thanks for your help.

[cphubb]

The reason for the link not exporting is maintaining the link and path would be difficult. We would have the same problem we get with nested xrefs with absolute paths in Autocad. I do not think there will be a change anytime soon regarding exporting of linked files. If they really need to be permanent they would be inserted not linked.
One way around this would be the following
Open furniture drawing
Link Background exported from Revit
Export from Revit and overwrite the background.
Reload the xrefs into the drawings
Alternately you can create a base xref file and reference everything into that. They should self update
Just some organizational thoughts

[blumarble]

Get this... I set up the overall floor plans for exporting consultant backgrounds -- and I'd planned on simply inserting the room layout background -- then exported it to a dwg file. And now the exported floor plan includes the room layout background file as an xref! So now all I have to do is open it, bind the xref, and post the new background. So, it won't do this if the entire background file is not included -- if it's a partial plan -- but it will if the entire background is visible I guess. Go figure...

[blumarble]

Wait a minute... It exported the background with my First Floor plan, but not with the Second Floor plan! Now I'm really confused. What would control this?