Breaking up a Large File - Advice?

[saeborne]

Hello everyone,

In the near future, we will be working with rather large projects. I expect the file size will become too large to manage within a single file. I've searched through the forums, but haven't found answers to this particular issue.

Can anyone offer advice on strategies to break the model up under the following scenarios?


SCENARIO 1
350,000 SF Build to Suit Office Building

One revit model for the core and shell.
One revit model for the interiors.

Assume we have to issue as one set - not a separate interiors set.

QUESTIONS

If the project coversheet is developed in the Base Building RVT file, how do I bring the Interiors sheets into the drawing index?



SCENARIO 2
750,000 SF interior fit out of existing building
6 stories

One revit model for existing core / shell.
Dedicated revit model for each individual floor.

QUESTIONS

Where do you manage the sheets and views? Do you make the Level 1 floor plan in the LVL 1.RVT file? Level 2 elevations occur within the LVL 2.rvt file? If so, doesn't it become an inordinate chore to manage duplicate sheet numbers and to collate the sheets?

What about drafting views that pertain to all levels? If the a particular floor transition detail exists in the LVL 1.rvt file, how do I key it in the LVL 2.rvt file?

What if I need to house the enlarged restroom plan from both LVL 1.rvt and LVL 2.rvt on the same sheet? Can I move views and annotation from a linked view, into the housed view?

Would you ever make a 4th revit file called MASTER.rvt, and link in all the floors. The master file could be all "Paper Space" type information... But this concept sucks because you would have to handle annotation in a different file from geometry. I don't think this will work.


I realize this is a super long post. My apologies. Thanks in advance for your response.

Bryan

[Scott Womack]

When you create the Drawing List, tell it to include the linked file. We do 200,000 Kthru 12 schools, and usually only get to about 200 meg, which is manageable in one file. Each time you break-up the file, it'll cause another set of headaches. The number of SF don't matter as mush as the amount of detail you'll put into the model

Senario B This one may be worth the Core and sheel, but NOT a dedicated model per floor. That will kill you in the end. Also, if you are going to have consultants like Structural or MEP working in Revit, that will cause them nearly insurmountable problems as well

Question B NO!!


Hello everyone,

In the near future, we will be working with rather large projects. I expect the file size will become too large to manage within a single file. I've searched through the forums, but haven't found answers to this particular issue.

Can anyone offer advice on strategies to break the model up under the following scenarios?


SCENARIO 1
350,000 SF Build to Suit Office Building

One revit model for the core and shell.
One revit model for the interiors.

Assume we have to issue as one set - not a separate interiors set.

QUESTIONS

If the project coversheet is developed in the Base Building RVT file, how do I bring the Interiors sheets into the drawing index?



SCENARIO 2
750,000 SF interior fit out of existing building
6 stories

One revit model for existing core / shell.
Dedicated revit model for each individual floor.



QUESTIONS

Where do you manage the sheets and views? Do you make the Level 1 floor plan in the LVL 1.RVT file? Level 2 elevations occur within the LVL 2.rvt file? If so, doesn't it become an inordinate chore to manage duplicate sheet numbers and to collate the sheets?

You'll have to manage the views in each file. Only views from that file can go on a sheet in that file. Only a listing of those sheets can come through to the cover sheet/drawing listing.

What about drafting views that pertain to all levels? If the a particular floor transition detail exists in the LVL 1.rvt file, how do I key it in the LVL 2.rvt file?

What if I need to house the enlarged restroom plan from both LVL 1.rvt and LVL 2.rvt on the same sheet? Can I move views and annotation from a linked view, into the housed view?

Would you ever make a 4th revit file called MASTER.rvt, and link in all the floors. The master file could be all "Paper Space" type information... But this concept sucks because you would have to handle annotation in a different file from geometry. I don't think this will work.

No, There is no such thing as "paperspace" in Revit. That is 2D cad thinking. You cannot seet a sheet from one linked file in another sheet, in a sheet view. Revit does not work that way.


I realize this is a super long post. My apologies. Thanks in advance for your response.

Bryan

[saeborne]

When you create the Drawing List, tell it to include the linked file. We do 200,000 Kthru 12 schools, and usually only get to about 200 meg, which is manageable in one file. Each time you break-up the file, it'll cause another set of headaches. The number of SF don't matter as mush as the amount of detail you'll put into the model

Senario B This one may be worth the Core and sheel, but NOT a dedicated model per floor. That will kill you in the end. Also, if you are going to have consultants like Structural or MEP working in Revit, that will cause them nearly insurmountable problems as well

Question B NO!!

Thanks for your response, Scott.

I found the check box for "Include elements in linked files" for the drawing list. That was easy enough. I imagine the door schedules behave in the same manner.


I agree that lvl of detail will affect a model's performance, more that sheer SF. That said, our interior jobs will always have way more detail than our Base building jobs. That's just the way it will be.

How would I go about breaking up an interiors job?

--

Last question... I've heard you can link in elevation / section views in 2009.... How do I do this?

Thanks again,

Bryan

[Scott Womack]

I cannot remeber at the moment. I no longer have the beta loaded, and IT has not reached me for the installs yet.

Our Interiors does casework, and elevates vertually every room, multiple sides, Possibly a separate file for any floor/wall graphics work. And we still only get to 200 meg in a single combined file, with approximately 200+ 30x42 sheets in the file.

Remember that you cannot plot the sheets of a linked file. You'll have to load each file to plot the sheets that are in that file. I would not recommend more than Shell/Corre as a file breakup, with a separate file for Structural, and one for MEP. Everyone that goes into a large numer of linked files always runs into sever headaches later on. Worksets resolves the issue of multiple people in a file. We've had as many as 14 to 18 in one model file.

[sbrown]

If you use linked models you will want one that its all the documentation, it may show views from the linked model but all the callouts and sections will be created in the documentaion model if you need one drawing set this works best.

I would still say you are better with one model and using selective open instead of linked models. Linking especially interiors and architecture is a real problem. just think room and door schedules and join geometry and you'll quickly realize breaking it up into worksets that the team opens selectively will work much better than linked models.

Linked models in my experience(working right now with a sep ID model and Arch) is way more memory intensive then worksets in one file.

[saeborne]

If you use linked models you will want one that its all the documentation, it may show views from the linked model but all the callouts and sections will be created in the documentaion model if you need one drawing set this works best.


Yes... that's sort of what I meant by a "Paper Space" Revit file. One revit file that just holds the sheets and the views. All geometric changes have to occur within the actual linked file.

I'm not convinced that this will work well. In fact, I think that it will be a nightmare.

Bryan