© 2012 Autodesk MP2005 Autodesk Revit Architecture Room Data and AutoCAD MEP: You Did What with the Xdata? Jeff Campbell Senior Applications Specialist, Burns & McDonnell Jason Schaeffer BIM Manager/Software Developer, Henderson Engineers, Inc.

© 2012 Autodesk Class Summary 1. Learn how to utilize the hidden data in Revit DWG exports. 2. Discuss how the data was extracted and used inside of AutoCAD MEP on a large scale project. 3. Discuss the “Gotchas” that we ran into. 4. Learn how to fit a square peg into a round hole

© 2012 Autodesk Learning Objectives At the end of this class, you will be able to:  Export room polylines from Revit Architectural for use in AutoCAD MEP  Use the AutoCAD MEP API in order to generate spaced from the Revit generated polyline files  Use the AutoCAD MEP API in order to gather extended data found in the Revit generated polylines to populate space information  Lear how this process was implemented on a large scale project

© 2012 Autodesk Class Rules Class Format is LECTURE (we will treat this more like a discussion) Class Rules: Set your phones to Vibrate Relax and Have Fun Class ID is MP2005 …Your going to need a bigger boat moment

© 2012 Autodesk The project – Carcharodon carcharias

© 2012 Autodesk Project details  Multi Design Firm Project  Multiple software packages being used  26 buildings  Told you we were going to need a bigger boat

© 2012 Autodesk Statement of the problem How do we effectively share room data information between Revit Architecture and AutoCAD MEP without a large manual effort. The square peg into the round hole issue!

© 2012 Autodesk What we had to work with  Revit’s ability to export a DWG polyline of the room boundary  Revit API (Application Programing Interface)  AutoCAD MEP API (Application Programing Interface)  Two really crazy application specialist!

© 2012 Autodesk Idea number 1 – Database linking  Export polyline DWG of rooms from Revit Architecture  Utilize the ODBC export of the Revit project model database  Utilize the AutoCAD MEP API to generate spaces from polyline DWG  Utilize the AutoCAD MEP to tie the Database from Revit to space in AutoCAD MEP

© 2012 Autodesk The 64 bit question…  All our Autodesk products are 64 bit  All our Microsoft products are 32 bit  There’s no way to write a program to target both platforms

© 2012 Autodesk The solution – A bigger boat

© 2012 Autodesk Deus ex Machina  Luckily, the Revit room export creator had planned ahead  The room boundaries had Xdata attached  ElementID  Room Name  Room Number  We’re in business!

© 2012 Autodesk The process  Go through each room file  Create a space file with the same name  For each room create a space in the space file  Set the properties of the space to match those in the room Simple! But…

© 2012 Autodesk Gotchas  Sometimes the room files have “issues”  Limit rework of previously tagged spaces  New space file = new tags required  We need a room by room sync  That was a close one!

© 2012 Autodesk Next Steps  Automatically creating the tags  Not possible in that version of the.NET API  Not feasible to use ObjectARX in our budget and timeframe  ADN support gave us some ideas to try later

© 2012 Autodesk Conclusion  The API in Revit and AutoCAD MEP are a powerful and valuable tool  Don’t be afraid to look outside of the box to solve complex problems  With the correct tools and a little ingenuity it is possible to turn a round hole into a square hole so the peg fits.

© 2012 Autodesk Conclusion

© 2012 Autodesk Autodesk, AutoCAD* [*if/when mentioned in the pertinent material, followed by an alphabetical list of all other trademarks mentioned in the material] are registered trademarks or trademarks of Autodesk, Inc., and/or its subsidiaries and/or affiliates in the USA and/or other countries. All other brand names, product names, or trademarks belong to their respective holders. Autodesk reserves the right to alter product and services offerings, and specifications and pricing at any time without notice, and is not responsible for typographical or graphical errors that may appear in this document. © 2012 Autodesk, Inc. All rights reserved.