This paper discusses the fllwing features f Revit Building Shared Crdinates Named lcatins Publish and acquire Vs Saving lcatins Shared Crdinates and wrkset enabled files Revisin 1 (Versin 9.0) David Driver. Terminlgy:... 1 Linking Revit Files... 2 Psitinal prperties as set in the imprt dialg bx... 2 Sharing crdinates... 2 Named Lcatins... 5 Once Shared Crdinates are established... 6 Differences between saving lcatins and publishing crdinates.... 7 Differences between publishing Vs Acquire crdinates.... 7 Sme ntes n wrkset enabled.... 7 File linking and shared crdinates are cnfusing because: 1) The terminlgy invlved des nt really help explain the behavir f the cmmands invlved 2) The behavir has n crllary functin in AutCAD. 3) When yu use sme f these feature in a hst drawing yu are really changing the linked file NOT the file yu are wrking in. Terminlgy: There are tw main cncepts yu need t understand and keep in the back f yur mind as yu read this. These are Shared Crdinate system and Named (and saved) lcatin. These tw cncepts have everything t d with the behavir f hw 2 r mre prjects behave as they are linked. Shared Crdinates Frm the help file: A Revit Building prject has internal crdinates fr all the elements that cmpse the mdel in a prject. Thse crdinates are knwn t this prject nly. This is acceptable if yu have a standalne mdel whse psitin is nt relevant t ther mdels r t a site, but if yu want the psitin f this mdel t be knwn t ther linked mdels, yu need t share crdinates. In shrt the shared crdinate system Named Lcatins A named lcatin is saved in the linked file and can be used t set up multiple instances f ne linked Revit file in a hst Revit file. By default, if yu have nt created a named lcatin it will be saved as Internal. The fllwing files are referred t in the text that fllws Prject A.rvt created ffset frm Prject B.rvt created rughly at prject rigin and true nrth is t the rigin, prject nrth and true nrth right, but prject nrth is up are same Site.rvt Pads and prperty line
Linking Revit Files When wrking with linked files yu have several different ptins abut t cntrl the psitinal behavir f the linked file. A) At the time f linking = ptins in the imprt dialg bx B) As a prperty f the linked Revit prject Psitinal prperties as set in the imprt dialg bx Nt Shared Crdinates: Center t Center: Gemetric center f hst (site) and linked file (Prject A) used fr placement Origin t Origin: Origin f hst and linked files are used fr placement Manually place uses the same ideas as autmatically place s are nt screen capped here. These placement ptins wrk just like an AutCAD XREF while the files are linked there is n cmmunicatin between them Sharing crdinates Shared crdinates allw crdinatin between linked Revit files. Shared Crdinates keep track f the lcatin f a linked file with respect t its hst. Inserting WITH shared crdinates Cnfusin #1. When yu select the shared crdinates as the insertin psitining ptin, What the end result is will depend n if yu have already established a shared crdinate system between the prjects. If nt, yu will receive this message And the prjects will be place center t center as in the previus image Center t Center. The end result f this functin is NO DIFFERENT than using center t center. Yu still have nt established the shared crdinate system. This must be established.
Withut shared crdinates Original Mved int place N ther dialgs ccur. Link behaves just like an AutCAD Xref Establishing a shared crdinate system: This can be accmplished either by using the menu pick r by a prperty parameter n the linked prject. In either cast yu are changing the linked file NOT the hst. Using the prperty parameter describes a bit mre what is happening than using menu picks: Menu picks Tls> Shared Crdinates>Publish crdinates Then selecting the linked file t publish the crdinates t. Linked file prperties parameter The prperties f the linked file prject B cntain the instance parameters name and shared lcatin. If the shared lcatin has nt been established picking n <nt shared> gives:
I talk mre abut named lcatins later in this dcument but picking [Recncile] will d the same thing as publish menu picks earlier. Once publish is cmplete the hst file (site) and the linked file (PrjectB) nw share crdinates. This means that any mvement f the linked prjectb will prmpt yu t save the changes the next time yu save the hst revit file. These ptins are available als n the manage links page Once the lcatin has been saved, any further mvement will give yet anther dialg warning: While dd this is being saved int the linked file prjectb, this makes mre sense when yu have mre than ne file yu are attempting t wrk with. Saved lcatin Mved int place
Shared lcatin dialg bx pens with warning nted abve Named Lcatins Up t nw, each time linke file prject b is mved the lcatin is just saved t the default name Internal. Yu can stre multiple lcatins as named lcatins. A named lcatin is simply a saved lcatin fr a linked prject file. A named lcatin is stre in the linked file. Nte: yu cannt publish crdinates frm a hst file that has multiple named lcatins. S it makes sense t keep ne file (yur site file) as the master lcatin file (where yu mve yur buildings) and the named lcatins in the building prject files. Prject B mved t suth pad Open prjectb prperties and shared lcatin Use the duplicate t create a new named lcatin called SuthPad OK back t the revit file and nw bth instances f the linked file use the shared crdinate system. Using the same dialgs yu can nw use these named lcatins t mve the linked file back and frth between the tw lcatins = = = >>>
Once Shared Crdinates are established They affect all prjects linked tgether regardless f which file is linked int the ther. Prject A linked Mved int place Nw all three files share a cmmn crdinate system. Prject is placed Center t Center because n shared crdinate system exists between prject A and site (hst) Site prject is saved and clsed Prject B pened Prject A is mved and rtated then prject and shared lcatin are saved. Prject A linked int prject B using shared crdinates as psitining Because these tw prjects share the crdinate system when they are linked they will be related t each ther the same way they are in the site Prject A s native rientatin Named lcatins are stred in the file linked int the site. Prject B has named lcatins Internal and SuthPad. These can be use t mve the linked prjecta while wrking in prject B Using Settings> Manage Place and Lcatins t access named lcatins Setting SuthPad current Mves the linked file prject A int its place relative t this named lcatin defined in prject B. ( as if yu were ding dcumentatin fr the suthern building instead f the nrth.
Prject B is cpied nt secnd pad. The cpy des nt share crdinate syste, Differences between saving lcatins and publishing crdinates. Publishing crdinates was used t establish the link, saving lcatins is used t recrd changes f a linked file. Als frm the help file: When yu publish shared crdinates frm a hst prject t a linked prject, this changes the linked prject. The hst prject's True Nrth and shared rigin are recrded in the linked prject, based n the current lcatin f the linked instance. This lcatin is nw named in bth the hst prject and the linked prject. Mre than ne lcatin f the link can be recrded. Saving lcatins nly recrds the lcatin f the linked file. And des nt mdify true nrth r shared rigin. Differences between publishing Vs Acquire crdinates. Help file: Yu shuld derive shared crdinates frm nly ne file. That ne file defines the crdinates fr all ther files that cmpse the prject. Acquire crdinates frm ne file and then publish thse crdinates t ther files. Publish lcatin published t linked file Sme ntes n wrkset enabled. While directly frm the help file I thught I wuld put the fllwing in here just as a handy reference. In sme cases, yu may need t link prjects that have Wrksharing enabled. In these cases, yu shuld cnsider the fllwing: Selective pen f wrksets: When linking a Wrksharing-enabled building mdel, yu can specify which wrksets t pen after the link is made. In the Add Link dialg bx, under Open Wrksets, select Specify. This enhances perfrmance by reducing the quantity f cmpnents that must be pened and drawn. Changing the linked wrksets: While wrking in a hst file with Wrksharing-enabled linked files, yu may decide that yu need t see additinal wrksets f ne f thse linked files. T d this, g t the Manage Links dialg bx and use the Relad Frm cmmand. Yu can then specify the additinal wrksets yu need pened. Linking a building mdel int multiple hst prjects: Althugh the same Wrksharing-enabled building mdel can be linked within multiple hst prjects, the specific wrksets pened in each hst prject must be identical. The user wh creates the first link determines the status fr all ther linked files. Hst files with Wrksharing enabled: When the hst file has Wrksharing activated, yu must keep in mind which wrkset the link is placed in. Links cnsist f tw parts: the link symbl and the link instance. When yu initially place the link, bth the link symbl and the link instance are placed in the active wrkset. Hwever, link instances can be reassigned t different wrksets. In general, yu shuld try t keep all instances f a link n the same wrkset. TIP:When pening a Wrksharing-enabled hst file, it is pssible t specify which links are laded when the hst file pens. A link is nly laded if the wrkset that the link instance is assigned t pens. If yu chse nt t pen that wrkset, the link is nt laded.