Tag: save out

Save all groups in a project to file – If the API can't do it, sometimes a Journal can

Luke Johnson

As part of meeting his RTCNA requests, Harry posted this idea for saving all groups to file:

  • API can be used to generate a text file listing all model groups. 
  • this text file can be used as input to a journal file that saves each group to its own file

Its good to keep this general principle in mind when working with and around Revit – if it doesn’t seem possible, try and think about it from a different direction. Usually there is another way to attack the problem you are facing. Don’t give up… just find the unobvious answer, make it work, and then share it with the rest of us!

View the demonstration video at:
#RTCNA Wish 6: Save all groups to file | Boost Your BIM
 
via https://twitter.com/BoostYourBIM/status/480096851555672065

How to determine if a Family is In-Place or not

Luke Johnson

Here is an easy way:

  1. Install Case Add-in Manager
  2. Using the Add-in Manager, install Batch Export Family RFA’s tool (I am running v2012.11.13.0)
  3. Open a Revit project and run the tool
  4. After families have been exported, you will be presented with an error message that tells you which families are in-place (see below).

NOTE:  The Case exporter also creates folders for each Category as it exports.  Nice.

This was in response to:

Save All Families in a Project to RFAs and Folders AUTOMATICALLY

Luke Johnson

This is awesome.  Let’s say you have a project with heaps of families in it, and you want to save them to individual files.  There is an API add on that does exactly this.  How do you get it and use it?

First of all, download this file (Chapter 24) from the Sybex resource page for the book Mastering Revit Architecture 2011.

Now:

  1. This is a ZIP file, so unzip the file.
  2. Browse in the contents to:
    c24ExampleApplicationExampleApplicationbinDebug
  3. Copy everything from this folder to:
    C:Revit Projects
  4. Copy the two .addin files from the c24 folder to the correct location as shown below:
        * For a specific user:
              o For Windows XP – C:Documents and SettingsApplication DataAutodeskRevitAddins2011
              o For Vista/Windows 7 – C:UsersAppDataRoamingAutodeskRevitAddins2011
        * For all users:
              o For Windows XP – C:Documents and SettingsAll UsersApplication DataAutodeskRevitAddins2011
              o For Vista/Windows 7 – C:ProgramDataAutodeskRevitAddins2011
    Refer to this post at The Building Coder for more information.
  5. Restart Revit 2011

Now, on the Add-Ins ribbon, there will be a new section for the Revit Family Export Utility:

When you run this with a Project open, it will prompt you for a directory, and then it will save all the families from the current Project to .rfa family files, and it will put them into appropriate directories (by Category) for you!

This is a very cool tool – thanks to Don Rudder for his great chapter in the book, and for this excellent API demonstration.

Consider some ways you could use this:

  • Load a bunch of families into a project and get this tool to sort them into appropriate folders for you.
  • You have an RVT but you do not have the RFA files for families loaded into the RVT – use this tool to get them all out quickly.
  • Transfer all RFAs from one RVT to another by saving them out and then loading them all in at once.

How do I get at those images!

Luke Johnson

So, someone has inserted images into your file, and you can’t save them out!

Sure, you can go to File – Raster Images, but that doesn’t really help.

Try this:

The answer is simply to ‘export’ the view to DWG, and Revit will make the images you need.

For a nice, clean, step by step:
1. Make a new drafting view.
2. Select the image / images you want to ‘save out’
3. Copy to Clipboard
4. Paste them into the Drafting View
5. Export to DWG
6. Have a look at the folder that you exported to – there are your images!