Link or import files

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After completing this lesson, you will be able to link CAD and PDF files into Revit,

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manage linked CAD files, move linked files to the project base point, and pin linked files.

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The objective domains covered are, 5.1a, understand the difference between imported and linked files and, 5.1b, manage linked files.

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When starting a structural project, design data from an architect or a surveyor is often used as a starting point for your design.

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There are two methods to bring CAD data into Revit, we can even link files or import files.

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When using linked files, the connection back to the original file is maintained.

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So if a newer version is issued, then we can simply reload that to update our Revit model.

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If we import files, then this is embedded into the Revit model, and hence, cannot be updated or reloaded.

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Go ahead and open up the model 001 link or import files.

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Once the model's open, notice in the project browser that we currently have the site plan open.

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In this particular project, the site plan has the project base point and the survey point already visible on screen.

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Click on the Insert ribbon, and here we can go ahead and Link CAD.

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Once we're in the Link CAD Formats dialog box, you'll notice in the Support Files folder, we have Grid Setting Out Imperial.dwg.

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This is the file we're going to import into our Revit model.

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In the lower half of the dialog box, we're going to start by preserving the AutoCAD colors.

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We're going to make sure that we bring all of the AutoCAD layers through into our Revit model.

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And we want to automatically detect the units used.

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So the CAD file is set to feet and inches, and our Revit model is also set to feet and inches.

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The positioning is auto - center to center.

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This is going to ensure that the centroid of our CAD model ends up in the centroid of our Revit model.

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It's inserted around the internal origin point of Revit.

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And here, we're going to place this at level 1.

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For our survey, I would suggest that we uncheck correct lines that are slightly off axis.

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And also, in this example, we don't need orient to view activated.

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So let's go ahead and open the file.

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So you now noticed that the CAD file is inserted into our Revit project.

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We're now going to go ahead and move it from its local datum, which is the intersection of grid A1 to the project base point.

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First, we select the CAD file.

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Up in the context ribbon, you'll notice we have the Move tool.

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We're going to snap to the intersection of grid A1, and position this on the project base point.

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To ensure that the CAD file doesn't inadvertently move away from this selected position,

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we'll select our link to Auto CAD model, and on the Context ribbon, we will pin the file.

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Next, we go ahead and import a PDF file.

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In the project browser, note that we have a drafting view.

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Let's activate the drafting view by double clicking on "Pile Cap Standard Details".

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On the Insert ribbon, click PDF.

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In our Support File folder, go ahead and select 001.pdf.

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In the Import PDF dialog box, let's ensure that the resolution is set to 300 DPI, and go ahead and click "OK".

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We'll then place our PDF on the drafting view.

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Note that we can actually enable snap on the PDF.

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If you require snaps when working with PDFs, you can select the PDF,

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and on the Modifier Raster Images context ribbon, you'll notice here we can enable snaps.

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Let's switch back to the site plan.

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So here we have our original linked AutoCAD file.

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Now, of course, the architect or surveyor may resend through a more up-to-date version of this file, or indeed the file name may change.

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If we are required to reload this, on the Insert ribbon, we can select Manage Links.

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In the Manage Links dialog box, you'll notice we have a number of tabs at the top to control the various different files that we can link in.

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The default one is Revit.

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In our example, we've used an AutoCAD file, so we can go ahead and click CAD formats.

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So here, you can see that we have our Grid Setting Out Imperial file.

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Currently, it's loaded in.

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We have our file size and the saved path for this file.

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If I need to reload it, I can click the Reload button.

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Or if the architect or surveyor has sent through a new file with a different file name,

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then I can go ahead and Reload From, and I can then simply specify a new CAD file.