by Simon Brown
For some time now, we at ARKANCE have been pushing the BIM Level 2 coordinated modelling principles, put the stark reality is, project budgeting only usually extends to 2D modelling so most projects are still progressed and designed in a 2D environment.
A lot of our users out there have Revit but are not using it to its fullest potential but could still use it instead of AutoCAD as there are several approaches a user can take. Revit and AutoCAD are fully interoperable and depending on your skill sets and familiarity of the product, these can be manipulated to suit either 2D or where required 3D BIM co-ordination. MEPlinx is a the add on to Revit that takes the pain out of drawing the detailed HVAC design and doesn’t necessarily need to produce output in a co ordinated 3D environment, although it was primarily designed to do this….some of you have this and don’t realise it could save you a lot of time in using MEPlinx in a slightly different manner to produce 2D drawings very quickly.
The basic premise is this. You would have imported a DXF file from AutoCAD in order to design calculate and route your services in MEPlinx as below:
Ordinarily you would export to a fully coordinated 3D model……but you don’t have this on a 2D project, but this doesn’t matter. Simply start a new project in MEPlinx using our standard template library as you would normally do so. As there is no 3D model to link to this doesn’t matter as you simply import your services into free space (as below):
The 3D view above shows the HVAC system. Switch to the Plan view below from your Revit project browser and select the floor of interest, in this example the ground floor is shown from the Revit properties tab.
Now all you need to do is to FILE > SAVE AS DWG for this particular ground floor.
This then creates a drawing of the Ground floor services.
Remember back at the beginning the DXF file you wrote from the original ground floor drawing in AutoCAD, well it’s time to open that original DWG file in AutoCAD the Architect provided. Now X ref or “DDInsert” (for us seasoned AutoCAD users) select the HVAC drawing file you saved in Revit…then use the 0,0,0 entry for your coordinates to position the services from the HVAC drawing to align to the floorplan. Then, hey presto! MEPlinx has done all the drawing for you and all you do is place it on the original layout. Explode it afterwards though, as everything imported will assume one big lump.
You could also import the DWG file from the Architect into Revit and merge it with the services created in MEPworx by using Revit’s INSERT ribbon and LINK TO CAD select and use the DWG file then use Revit’s visibility graphics and annotation tools to enhance the drawing to suit.
So, either way MEPlinx isn’t just about 3D and BIM level 2. So why not give it a go and save a hell of a lot of time in re drawing the services or enhancing the very basic MEPworx DXF export offering…..for those of you that don’t have it, MEPlinx as available as a perpetual licence for unlimited copies. Go here for more details:
arkance.world/gb-en/products/mepworx/meplinx