To start this segment, I want to make sure we are all on the same page. There are two files located in the AUGI Forum associated with this article: one called SITE_REVIT.dwg and one called PAVING AND BUILDING_REVIT.dwg. The objective is to review the process of bringing in two separate site elements.

One file is all that "dirt" we discussed in part 1 of this series and the second file is to bring in other items such as existing structure outlines, roads, paving, utilities... all that good stuff. In the interest of not convoluting a basically simple procedure, the paving and building file contains only surface elements. These files will be linked. As the civil engineer adds the underground utilities, the Autodesk Revit model will update to reflect the additions.

And now I′ll answer a question I ALWAYS get when we talk about site in Revit. YES, I wish there was a Revit Site product in addition to Architecture, Structure, and MEP.

• Start a new Revit model.
• Go to the Site Level. If you do not have a site level, create one.
• File Import / Link...CAD files.
• Find the SITE_REVIT.dwg file.
• Link the file (instead of import).
• Be sure the scaling is set to Feet.
• In the Import / Link dialog, it is OK to link the file. If you place it in the current view only, however, you will lose functionality such as adding a toposurface to the contours at a later time. To simplify the exercise, choose the same exact settings as shown in the image.

  

• Select Open.
• The site is in place. Well, okay, a bunch of lines are in place.

  

Project Orientation/True North
Wouldn′t it be nice if all of our sites were positioned at a dead 0 degrees? The world literally WOULD revolve around you and your project. But since the world does not, we have to accommodate. In Revit, we can rotate the site plan to reflect True North while leaving the other plan views at a Project North. Huh? Yes. Here are the steps for rotating a plan to True North.

• In the Site plan, type VP. Or you can right-click in the view window and select view properties.

  

• In the View Properties dialog, there is an Orientation row. Select True North.

  

• Click OK.
• Go to the Tools drop down menu. Then to Project Position/Orientation then to Rotate True North.

  

• You will see the familiar rotate icon. Cursor to the right and pick a horizontal point at a dead 0 degrees.
• Once you pick the point, move your cursor up. Type in 34.34 and hit Enter. This is the True North rotation.

  

• BE CAREFUL here. This is not like you are rotating a desk. Many things are going to be affected by this such as sun studies and renderings. Be deliberate.
• Now that the site is rotated to True North, go up to Level 1. Notice it is still positioned at a horizontal plane. This is what we want. As items are placed in the upper levels, they will be rotated to the True North in the site.
• Now we have not only the contours, but also the True North rotation. We also have vertical and lateral coordinates for the placement of our next item, the site incendiaries I like to call them, much to the chagrin of my civil engineer coworkers. (They don′t like me calling earth "dirt" either, but I just can′t resist).
• What we have done here, physically, is nothing. But we have told Revit internally that this plan is going to be repositioned to the degree of True North that we are about to specify.
• Select the CAD link, and click the Element Properties button on the Options Toolbar.
• At the bottom of the dialog, there is a shared location row. Click the wide button that says <Not Shared>.

  

• In the Share coordinates dialog, select the first choice to Publish the shared coordinate of the current project and record it in the SITE_REVIT.dwg. This will allow the linked site to read the project coordinates.

  

• Click the Reconcile button. The reason we are doing this is because the actual site drawing is not positioned correctly.
• File>Import/Link> CAD Formats.

  

• Find the file called: PAVING AND BUILDING_REVIT.dwg
• Now when we import this CAD file there are some settings we need to turn on during the import.
• Toggle on the Link button.

  

• Positioning is CRUCIAL. We want it Origin-to-origin.
• Orient to View is also a toggle that needs to be checked.

  

• Click Open.
• The secondary site objects are correctly positioned.

Now we have some coordination occurring. Granted, not every situation is going to be the same. Actually I would love to see at least one situation be similar. But, with the method described above, you will be able to bring in CAD files based on their positioning. If the CAD file′s UCS had been rotated, then Revit would respond to that rotation when you reconcile the orientation.

• On the Site tab of the design toolbar, click the Toposurface button.
• Click the Use Imported button, and select Instance.
• Pick the link.
• In the following dialog, select the Check None button.
• Select S-CONT-MAJOR and S-CONT-MINOR.
• Click OK.
• Click the Properties button.
• For the Material, add Site – Grass to the material.
• For Phase Created, select Existing.
• Click OK.
• Finish Surface.
• Go to a 3D view. Very gray and depressing. We will change this.
• Go back to the site view. You may have to turn the visibility graphics to Wireframe to see the rest of the site.
• Type VG. Then go to the imported categories tab.
• Uncheck the SITE_REVIT.
• Click OK.
• Click the Graded Region button.
• The next dialog will warn you to put the site on existing. Duh! We did that!

  

• Check on Copy internal points.
• Pick Select and Edit.
• Pick the site. Now each individual datum point will become selectable. Select one.
• Notice on the Options toolbar, it allows you to change the elevation. This will create either a cut or a fill for that area.
• Select all of the points around and inside of the walks and roads.
• In the options toolbar, select 0′-0" as the elevation.

  

• Finish Surface. This will roughly grade the topo to the paving.
• Turn off the SITE_REVIT cad file in the Visibility Graphics dialog.

  

In the next chapter, we do the fun stuff such as adding paving, a building, and plantings. Let′s discuss how to proceed in the forum, and perhaps share some examples. By all means, if you want to experiment, go right ahead.

(Discuss this Article! in the HotNews Discussion Forums.)

Submitted by Eric Wing, who has been in the building, architectural design, and structural engineering field for 15 years and has been managing, teaching, and presenting Autodesk applications for 10 of them. Eric′s activities within AUGI include: ATP Director, Survey Manager, ATP instructor, HotNews columnist and AUGIWorld columnist. He can be reached at atpmanager@augi.com