Acquire Coodinates - Total Confusion.

[Dave F.]

Hi
I'm using RS4

I'm going stir crazy with shared coordinates. Please help.

I have a site plan DWG with a rectangular building on it. The bottom left corner of this building is set out at the coordinates of X = 374597.5012 Y = 164464.5581

I link the DWG using Origin to Origin option. It comes up with error:

Imported objects located a large distance from the model might not display properly. The center-to-Center option will be used.

I then put a Spot coordinate to the bottom left of the building: N -18755 E -47850

Next I Acquire Coordinates (Tools > Shared Coordinates) & select the link.

The coordinates only change to N -18643 E -47625.
Should they change to the same as the dwg?

What am I doing wrong?

The same happens if I Share Location via the properties dialog.
What's the difference between these two?

The DWG was created form Microstation, would that make a difference?

Any help would be gratefully received.

Cheers
Dave F.

[JamesVan]

First, make sure the units are appropriate. For example, most civil engineers work in decimal feet, so a line that is 50 units is 50 inches to an Architect but 50 feet to an Engineer. You can set this option when linking into Revit at the lower left of the dialog.

Next, place the DWG manually or center to center (as the error forced you), then use Acquire Coordinates. Finally, check the properties of the spot coordinate itself to see whether you're getting Project or Shared coordinates. You're probably looking for Shared. As a rule of thumb, you should always work as close to Revit's "Project" origin as possible and set the shared coordinates to the large numbers most civil engineers provide.

[Firmso]

Hi
I'm using RS4

I'm going stir crazy with shared coordinates. Please help.

Try this http://forums.augi.com/showthread.php?p=716083#post716083

[Dave F.]

Thanks for the replies.

I've tested it on another project & it works just fine, so it's something to do with these specific dwgs.

I've tried playing around with all the unit settings I can think of.
Do you know if any others are read from AutoCAD? I'm using Arch. Desktop '07.

[dtownsend]

It could be the file is out of the view range that you currently have opened.

I have found that if you go into 3D then try and import the problematic CAD file it will typically work. It is usually with civil files or files that have elevation (Z Plane) attached to them...that is my theory on why they do not show up.

You may also want to create a view that has unlimited view range set if after you bring the file in using 3D view and are unable to find it in your other plan views.

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I have never really got the whole shared coordinates and autocad drawings to work well together. AutoCAD imports seem to use the Revit internal coordinates when importing into Revit.

After you get the drawing file into Revit it will place it to the internal coordinates (really means nothing to you). Drag the file and align it with your Revit project. Then once everything is lined up you can set-up your shared coordinates if you'd like, using specify coordinates at a point.

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Also - I don't think using Arch. Desktop 07 instead of just plain AutoCAD will have any effect on this.