Contact Us
Help Files
Video Library
Blog
Email Support
Ideate AutomationHow to...
  • Publish to DWG

    • Publish to DWG

    Ideate Automation can be used to export the sheets and/or views from your Revit model to DWG. There are two methods that you can use to create DWGs. The first method, uses Ideate BIMLink and has the added benefit of dynamically defining a sheet or view list. The second method uses a predefined Revit Sheet/View Set name. See below for details on each of these methods.

    Publish Dynamic Sheet/View Lists to DWG

    Revit sheet/view sets are a pain to manage because they are not rule based. It’s easy to identify which sheets or views should be included in a DWG export process when there are only 10 sheets/views to pick from, but in the real world this is hard to manage.

    With Ideate Automation + BIMLink you can create a dynamic list of sheets or views based on built-in or custom Revit and Ideate BIMLink properties, and then use that list to define the list of sheets/views to be exported to DWG. Examples of the types of dynamic sheet/view sets you can create within BIMLink for use with Ideate Automation include:

    To publish all the sheets that are defined in a project as DWG files, follow the steps below.

    1. Close Revit if it is still open. Before we launch Ideate Automation we need to ensure that the required Revit versions are not in use.
    2. Launch Ideate Automation from the Desktop or shortcut.
    3. From the Home page, select the New button to create a new task.
    4. Browse to the  Ideate Software Scripts\01 Publishing\DWG folder, then pick the script at the right called “IBL-Export-DWG_Dynamic”.
    5. Review the description of this task below, then pick Next.
    6. Set each of the required variables for this task as follows:
      • Revit Files  — pick one or more Revit files. 
      • Export Folder — Pick a location to place the DWG files.
      • DWG Export Setup — specify your preferred setup name, or leave blank to use the default. Learn more about DWG Export Setups in the Autodesk help files.
      • BIMLink Sheet List value, the default value of “Sheets” will use this link definition as defined within your project, if it exists. If it does not it will import it from your library. NOTE: If you’d like it to always be defined from the version in your library, you can edit the script as shown to the value ‘OverrideExisting’
      • Leave the File Name Parameter value as “Sheet Number”. This will result in the ‘short name’ option found within Revit for DWG file naming.
      • Leave the last two variables as they are and select Next.
    7. On the Confirm Tasks Selection page, review all variables and note that the Task name is editable.
    8. Ensure that Revit is not open, then select Save and Run.

    Your export results will include one DWG file for each of the views that are dynamically defined within the BIMLink Link definition called “Sheets”. As the project evolves the sheet list will dynamically grow or shrink per the BIMLink definition, which can be customized as needed. 

    Contact support if you need help customizing your scripts.

    Publish Revit Sheet/View Sets to DWG

    If you prefer to publish to DWG by using a pre-defined Revit sheet/view set, you can use the scripts found under Automation Scripts\03 Publishing\DWG. In these scripts, instead of using the BIMLink Sheet/View List, you can use your pre-defined sheet/view set name from your Revit project (or leave the value blank to use the saved default sheet/view set value).

    Desired File Name Revit Option Automation Script

    Variable Settings
    A102 default short name AUT-Export_DWG no change needed
    IBL-Export_DWG_Dynamic
    rac_basic_sample_project-Sheet - A102 - Plans default long name AUT-Export_DWG-Long no change needed
    rac_basic_sample_project-Sheet-A102 N/A IBL-Export_DWG_Dynamic ${revit_file:revit.filename.noextension}-${view_parameterValue}
    20221212-A102 N/A AUT-Export_DWG ${today.yyyyMMdd}-${view_parameterValue}
    IBL-Export_DWG_Dynamic
    2022.123456-A102 N/A AUT-Export_DWG ${Revit.CurrentFile.ProjectInfo.PROJECT_NUMBER}-${view_parameterValue}
    IBL-Export_DWG_Dynamic
    18-003-ABC-XX-D-A-00001 N/A AUT-Export_DWG See below for other file naming tips
    IBL-Export_DWG_Dynamic

    File Naming Tips

    The default file naming for many of the scripts that export to DWG is controlled by the variable ${view_parameterValue}. This value is in turn controlled by either a sheet or view name parameter. The default value for the sheet elements is to use the parameter called “Sheet Number” while the default value for view elements is to use the parameter called “View Name”. You can substitute your own parameter value if so desired though you must ensure that the parameter value is unique within the project to avoid the problem of one view name overwriting another.

    For example, to comply with ISO 19650 standards, many people are managing the required sheet number value within a custom parameter name. In the example shown below, the sheet number is combined on the title block to include two custom parameters called Project Code and Originator, both of which are stored under Project Information.

    Both the AUT-Export_DWG and IBL-Export_DWG_Dynamic can be used to deliver unique dwg file names by adjusting the File Name variable to:

    ${Revit.CurrentFile.ProjectInfo.Project Code}-${Revit.CurrentFile.ProjectInfo.Originator}-${view_parameterValue}

    Any parameter found under Project Information can follow this syntax to become part of the file naming.

    Submit feature or issue request for Ideate Software

    Thank you for taking time to inform us about a bug or feature request.

    By entering your data above and clicking ‘SUBMIT’ you are consenting to the collection and use of that data to respond to your comments and inquires, as described in our Privacy Policy. We may also transfer the data you submit in the ‘Email Us’ form to our VAR partners for the limited purpose of a sales follow-up. Please review our Privacy Policy for more details on how and when we collect data and what we use it for.