Archibus Smart Client Extension for Revit

Exporting to DWG Format

Note: You can publish to SVG, GIS, and KML directly from Revit, so the ‘Export to DWG Format’ is not a required step for the publishing operation. However, publishing to DWG is still an option.

If you use the native Revit features for exporting a floor to a drawing, Rooms will appear as finished polylines with the Room Number in Extended Entity Data (xdata). The Catalog command in the Smart Client Extension for AutoCAD can then use this information to convert the polylines into Archibus room asset symbols.

To export to DWG Format:

  1. Invoke the Revit File / Export command. Select the Options button to call up the Export Options dialog and make certain that the "Export room areas as polylines" option is checked. Optionally, change the default naming format for the drawing (for example,"XC.rvt-FloorPlan-02.dwg") to a form more typical of a large portfolio inventory (for example, <Building Code><Floor Code>.dwg or "XC02.dwg").
  2. Press OK to save the drawing, usually to your project drawings folder, for example, \Archibus\projects\hq\drawings.
  3. Open the drawing in the Smart Client Extension for AutoCAD. The Extension will present the Add Drawing dialog for you to set the Building Code and Floor Code.
  4. Your rooms will be on the A-AREA-BDRY layer. One option at this juncture is to use the AutoCAD CHANGE command to change these boundaries to the RM layer, the default room layer in Archibus.

    Another option is to use System / Schema / Control / Drawing Standard Settings to add the A-AREA-BDRY, A-AREA-BDRY$, and A-AREA-BDRY$TXT to your layering convention. Specify the Room or "rm" table as the asset table for these layers.

Now you can use the Catalog command to connect the polylines to the asset records already in the database. The Catalog command will use the Room Number that Revit placed in the polyline xdata and the Building and Floor Code to find the associated record.

Once in DWG format, you can continue on to publish enterprise graphics from your data or to read the DWG files into the GIS environment.