How to Convert CAD Details to Revit

How to do it in Revit

1. 1

   Step 1: Decide how the detail should end up

   The right method depends on whether you will reuse the detail.

   • Trace it. Rebuild the detail with detail components, filled regions and detail lines over the imported DWG. It's the slowest way, and the only one that gives you a detail built from components that you can tag, keynote and update. Use it for typicals.
   • Explode it. Turn the import into Revit lines, text and filled regions. It's quick, but every line is loose and the CAD file's styles come into the project with it. Use it for a one-off.
   • Leave it as an import. Place the DWG in a drafting view and put that on a sheet. Nothing to clean up, but you can't edit or tag anything in it.

   Start in a drafting view either way. A CAD detail has no model behind it, and a drafting view keeps the linework out of your plans and 3D views.

2. 2

   Step 2: Make a drafting view

   1. Click View tab › Create panel › Drafting View.
   2. Name the view the way your firm names typicals, set the scale to the detail's scale, and click OK.

   The view opens and appears under Drafting Views in the Project Browser. Keep it open: an import with Current View Only lands in the active view.

3. 3

   Step 3: Import the DWG

   Set line weights before you import, because Revit assigns them from the DWG's pen numbers as the file comes in. The arrow at the corner of the Insert tab › Import panel opens Import Line Weights, where you match each pen to a Revit line weight (Autodesk Help: Define Line Weights for Imported DWG or DXF Files). AutoCAD SHX fonts map to TrueType fonts through the shxfontmap.txt file; fonts you don't map come in as a similar font, with unpredictable results.

   1. Click Insert tab › Import panel › Import CAD. If you only want the DWG as a backdrop to trace and then remove, use Insert tab › Link panel › Link CAD instead. A linked file can't be exploded.
   2. Select the DWG. Use one detail per file: a sheet of details comes in as one import.
   3. Check Current View Only, so the import behaves like annotation and stays in this view.
   4. Set Colors to Black and White if the detail is going on a sheet. The default, Invert, keeps the drawing in color.
   5. Set Layers to Visible, or to Specify to choose layers. Layers you don't select are left out.
   6. Leave Import Units on Auto-Detect, or set the units the DWG was drawn in. Dimension something after import to check the scale.
   7. Click Open (Autodesk Help: Import and Link Options).
4. 4

   Step 4: Trace it with detail components

   1. Select the import and click Pin on the Modify panel, so it can't move while you trace.
   2. Right-click it and choose Override Graphics in View › By Element, then check Halftone. Your new work now reads clearly over the CAD linework.
   3. Rebuild the detail from Annotate tab › Detail panel: Component › Detail Component for studs, steel and blocking, Repeating Detail Component for brick coursing, Insulation for batt insulation, Region › Filled Region for concrete and grout, and Detail Line in your firm's line styles for the rest.
   4. Retype the notes as Revit text or keynotes, so they follow your text standards.
   5. Select the import and delete it.
5. 5

   Step 5: Or explode it and clean up

   1. Select the import. To skip layers you don't want, click Query on the Import Instance panel, pick an object on that layer and click Delete. The layer never becomes Revit elements.
   2. Click Modify | <file name> tab › Import Instance panel › Explode › Full Explode. Partial Explode breaks it down one level, into nested blocks you can explode in turn.
   3. Select the exploded lines and change them to your firm's line styles in the Properties palette. Change the text to your text types, and the filled regions to your fill patterns.
   4. Delete the line styles the DWG brought in under Manage tab › Settings panel › Additional Settings › Line Styles, then run Manage tab › Settings panel › Purge Unused.

   Revit won't explode a linked file, or an import that would become more than 10,000 elements (Autodesk Help: Explode Imported Geometry). For a big DWG, delete layers with Query first, or trace it instead.