& Construction
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Integrated BIM tools, including Revit, AutoCAD, and Civil 3D
& Manufacturing
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Professional CAD/CAM tools built on Inventor and AutoCAD
Integrated BIM tools, including Revit, AutoCAD, and Civil 3D
Professional CAD/CAM tools built on Inventor and AutoCAD
Link a CAD file to a model in Revit.
Type:
Tutorial
Length:
3 min.
Tutorial resources
These downloadable resources will be used to complete this tutorial:
Transcript
00:00
In Revit, you can maintain a connection between a CAD file and a Revit model by linking to the CAD file instead of importing it.
00:11
For example, you might link CAD files to a model to use the drawings as underlays for views
00:16
or to place the drawings on sheets to include in the construction documentation set.
00:21
To complete this exercise, start a project using one of the Architectural templates.
00:27
If you want the linked file to display only in a particular view,
00:31
use the Project Browser to open that view.
00:34
To link a CAD file, on the ribbon, Insert tab, Link panel, click Link CAD.
00:40
This opens the Link CAD Formats dialog, where you can configure many aspects of the file-linking process,
00:47
such as colors, layers, and positioning.
00:51
It is best practice to choose this method of linking a CAD file, as opposed to importing it,
00:55
when you expect the CAD file to have ongoing changes.
00:59
That way, whenever the CAD file is updated, changes will display in the Revit model as well.
01:04
In the Files of type dropdown, make sure the correct file type is specified.
01:09
Then, navigate to the file you want to link.
01:12
Select the file, and a Preview image appears.
01:15
If you want the CAD file to be visible in the active view only, select Current view only.
01:21
When this option is selected, Revit only links two-dimensional geometry, even if the CAD file contains 3D points.
01:29
In the Colors dropdown, you have three options.
01:33
Choose Invert to invert the objects from the imported file to Revit-specific colors,
01:38
Preserve to keep the colors the same as the CAD layers,
01:41
or Black and White to turn the CAD layers to black and white.
01:45
For this example, select Preserve.
01:48
The Layers/Levels dropdown also has three options.
01:52
Select All to display all layers from the CAD file,
01:56
Visible to display only layers visible when the CAD file was last saved,
02:00
or Specify to open a dialog for you to select the CAD layers to display.
02:05
Here, select All.
02:07
In the Import units dropdown, choose Auto-Detect to have Revit detect the units used.
02:14
You could also choose Custom factor to specify the scale,
02:17
or you could select an available unit scale.
02:20
In the Positioning dropdown, specify where to place the linked file.
02:25
The default is Auto - Origin to Internal Origin, but when another option is selected,
02:31
it becomes the default for your current Revit session.
02:35
The Place at option lets you specify the level on which to place the linked file.
02:40
For this example, enable Orient to View to rotate the inserted CAD file to Project North.
02:47
Click Open to link the CAD file to the host file.
02:51
Now, whenever you open this project, Revit retrieves the current saved version of the linked CAD file.
Video transcript
00:00
In Revit, you can maintain a connection between a CAD file and a Revit model by linking to the CAD file instead of importing it.
00:11
For example, you might link CAD files to a model to use the drawings as underlays for views
00:16
or to place the drawings on sheets to include in the construction documentation set.
00:21
To complete this exercise, start a project using one of the Architectural templates.
00:27
If you want the linked file to display only in a particular view,
00:31
use the Project Browser to open that view.
00:34
To link a CAD file, on the ribbon, Insert tab, Link panel, click Link CAD.
00:40
This opens the Link CAD Formats dialog, where you can configure many aspects of the file-linking process,
00:47
such as colors, layers, and positioning.
00:51
It is best practice to choose this method of linking a CAD file, as opposed to importing it,
00:55
when you expect the CAD file to have ongoing changes.
00:59
That way, whenever the CAD file is updated, changes will display in the Revit model as well.
01:04
In the Files of type dropdown, make sure the correct file type is specified.
01:09
Then, navigate to the file you want to link.
01:12
Select the file, and a Preview image appears.
01:15
If you want the CAD file to be visible in the active view only, select Current view only.
01:21
When this option is selected, Revit only links two-dimensional geometry, even if the CAD file contains 3D points.
01:29
In the Colors dropdown, you have three options.
01:33
Choose Invert to invert the objects from the imported file to Revit-specific colors,
01:38
Preserve to keep the colors the same as the CAD layers,
01:41
or Black and White to turn the CAD layers to black and white.
01:45
For this example, select Preserve.
01:48
The Layers/Levels dropdown also has three options.
01:52
Select All to display all layers from the CAD file,
01:56
Visible to display only layers visible when the CAD file was last saved,
02:00
or Specify to open a dialog for you to select the CAD layers to display.
02:05
Here, select All.
02:07
In the Import units dropdown, choose Auto-Detect to have Revit detect the units used.
02:14
You could also choose Custom factor to specify the scale,
02:17
or you could select an available unit scale.
02:20
In the Positioning dropdown, specify where to place the linked file.
02:25
The default is Auto - Origin to Internal Origin, but when another option is selected,
02:31
it becomes the default for your current Revit session.
02:35
The Place at option lets you specify the level on which to place the linked file.
02:40
For this example, enable Orient to View to rotate the inserted CAD file to Project North.
02:47
Click Open to link the CAD file to the host file.
02:51
Now, whenever you open this project, Revit retrieves the current saved version of the linked CAD file.
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