Forums >> Revit Building >> Technical Support >> excel - autoCAD - revit

justjames

active

Joined: Mon, Dec 10, 2012
15 Posts
No Rating

Hey all,

Using Revit '11

For right now our workaround for material schedules is excel to Autocad (linked CAD) to Revit.The table looks fine in excel and AutoCAD, but for some reason, when the information is in Revit, it is making the cell inforation in last column longer by adding additionally line spaces between text and thus making text bleed into other cell.

Attached are photos of the same cell area from each program.

This is driving us crazy.

Attached Images

This user is offline

WWHub

site moderator|||

Joined: Tue, May 16, 2006
13079 Posts

I have no help for your process because we have never seen it work. There is supposedly an add on package for this but I see no reason to buy it.

Since this is a simple room finish schedule I don't understand why you just don't use Revit.  It will work just fine for what you have shown.

This user is offline

ronmalit

active

Joined: Thu, Mar 29, 2012
113 Posts

Hi justjames

just want to share, if you aldy tried this workaround, then kindly ignore...heres what i can suggest (i still want to keep the link alive, espically data link from excel to cad)

opt1. create generic annotation family and import cad there. since it is so easy to import cad to revit. we will then explode the autocad and do some text editing, moving and line jobs to correct the format. then load the family to revit as symbols. you will do this everytime theres an update!!

opt2. simplier process in acad, during creation of data link, uncheck the cell formating>use excel formatting. this way you can manually adjust the text height of those overshooting data when u export to revit or set general "tablestyle" properties. then link to drafting view.

-----------------------------------

** dont be mad, i dont have much... i am homeless

This user is offline

justjames

active

Joined: Mon, Dec 10, 2012
15 Posts
No Rating

Ronmalit, nice!

We had not explored that option but it works well since we are at 100% cd and much of the schedule information should not (although we know it will) change...it is a room finish/material schedule by the way..which is why we did it in excel, not revit—because I don’t understand how to do those schedules yet!

Some follow up comments for all others who may encounter similar problems:

Comments from Autodesk state Revit is hesitant to add excel link feature to Revit because it takes away from the actual BIM concept and extrapolating information from model...which, if youre used to CAD does have its pitfalls but also makes sense.

Excel formatting commands (like alt+enter for new line break) does not read well after you import the CAD file that already has the excel xref into...which often leads to cell information bleeding into other cells when in Revit, because revit reads that character information differently.

For long schedules, the plug-in AutoTable dont work that well because you cannot format appearance in Revit such as breaking the table at a certain cell and continuing it elsewhere (like CAD), it has to be formed in excel and look exactly like you want it to in revit, thus you have to range export and therefore if your information is push down by cell inserts later or pulled up by deleted cells, you will have to relink anyways with corrected export range. Additionally text style does not match up perfectly; inherent problem between size measurements like picas, imperials, didots, etc.

This user is offline

Excel to autocad 2007 to Revit 2013

1

IMPORTING EXCEL

6

Link excel to revit

3

Excel -> Auto Cad -> Revit

1

Exporting Schedules into excel format

3