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posted 08/22/07 by Lisa Crounse Working with Revit Files in Impression

We get a lot of questions about working with Revit files in Impression. Here is a high level summary of what you need to do to get your Revit files ready for Impression. (Credit goes to the Impression Help system)

Prepare the Revit Drawing

The basic steps for preparing a Revit drawing are as follows:

1. Make a copy of the Revit file. Save the file locally to prevent accidental modification of the source drawing.

2. In that copy, prepare the view you want to stylize.
- Create a new view if necessary.
- Delete any geometry that is not required for the illustration.
- Set the rotation or viewpoint of the objects in the view.

3. Add the view to a new sheet.

4. Export the sheet to a DWG (preferred) or DWF format. This activity creates three files:
- Large DWG file representing the 3D model.
- Smaller DWG file representing the view.
- PCP file containing the plotter configuration files.

Open and Stylize the Revit Drawing in Impression

After you have exported your Revit file, as described above, open and stylize the view in Impression.

1. Open the smaller DWG or DWF file that contains the view.
Note: Specify a plot style as the file is opened in order to preserve information about how the original drawing was rendered.

2. Edit block styles, or explode blocks in order to apply styles directly. Many materials textures are converted to blocks in Impression. To apply stylizations, do one or more of the following
- In the Styles palette, under Block Styles, select the block style and edit its settings in the Style Editor.
- Explode the block. Then set the resulting objects to be bylayer (to inherit the layer style) or apply the style as an object override.

3. Edit textures that are imported as hatch fills. Some materials are imported as hatch fills, which can be edited just as you would edit any other hatch style.

4. Apply styles and area fills to finish the drawing. See Apply Appearance Styles and Add Fill to Closed Areas.
NoteWhen Impression imports 3D views, “hidden” objects are deleted or clipped. If objects in the foreground need to be removed, you may want to update the original drawing and then update the CAD geometry.

Have some suggestions for how we should better address Revit/Impression interoperability? Please post your suggestions to the Impression Wish List.

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