Two parties of the same discipline independently developed the design for a shopping centre. One of them asked me how to go about “merging” their files with a view of generating construction drawings. If they had decent internet infrastructure and invested in Collaboration for Revit they could have collaborated from the word go to model up a file that does not duplicate any work. As this is not always possible there are other methods to employ.
In Revit there are two options that immediately present themselves. Depending on the situation the first option is probably better, as one deletes no geometry form either file.
- Link File A into File B. Switch off the relevant model categories through Visibility Graphics Overrides or hide individual model elements within views. If collaboration is employed (Central files) then the links may be brought in on their own workset.
- Delete the elements from within B file that duplicates elements from within file A. Link file B into file A and then use the “Bind” command to make the geometry native to file A. The downside is that elements that are hosted to the deleted geometry also stand a good chance to be deleted, or to be orphaned such that they must be re-hosted.
Below can be seen there are three Revit links into this file. This is typical of BIM workflow where separate disciplines need to coordinate.
Visibility Graphics is a view instance property, so if it is to be used to stitch off model categories in multiple vies it might be considered to encapsulate them into view templates. Make sure to set the display settings to custom if the model categories are to be overridden.
Set the model categories to display as custom as well.
If help is needed to manage linked files, BIM workflows and the like, remember Micrographics understand the workflow and can guide you to collaborating successfully with others. Give us a call and initiate the conversation.
