Importing Revit RFA Families in BricsCAD

Command: IMPORT

Overview: In this lesson, you learn how to import Revit family files in BricsCAD BIM.

Lesson Objectives

After completing this lesson, you will be able to:

• Import a Revit RFA family file to BricsCAD. 
• Use BimInsert command to insert a RFA file as a BIM component.
• Insert RFA files from the components panel. 

General information before getting started

• Revit family files created in versions before 2011 cannot be imported.
• Currently, families can only be imported with their geometry. The parameters and properties are attached to the families cannot be imported.
• Revit version 2019 family files are currently not compatible with BricsCAD.

Procedure: Importing RFA family files 

1. To import an RFA family in your project, click the File menu, and then select Import. 

The import file dialog box displays.

2. Select the .rfa file format (1) in the Files Of Type list and choose the .rfa file you want to import.

3. Click Open to import the Revit Family.

When the RFA family file is imported the geometry from this file is included in BricsCAD as separate 3D solids.

Procedure: Inserting RFA family files with BIM Insert 

Note: It is recommended to have Dynamic Dimensions (DYN) active, which allows to type the distance in the dynamic entry field.

If Dynamic UCS (DUCS) is ON, the section plane aligns to the face of a 3D solid under the cursor.

1. Select BIM Insert from the No Selection Quad.

The file explorer opens.  By default, it is set to the .dwg file format and takes you to the library of predefined doors and windows. Browse to the folder where you place your .rfa family files.

2. Select the .rfa file format (2) in the Files Of Type list and choose the .rfa file you want to import.

The selected file is attached to the cursor (3).

Note: If this family object happens to the face of another solid, it will align with the face under the cursor.

Note: The dynamic dimension shows the distances from the nearest parallel edge on the face of the 3D solid.

The following illustration shows inserting a Revit family sofa when the DYN is on.

3. Do the following to place the selected RFA family file using the dynamic dimension fields:

• Hit the TAB key to select one of the dynamic dimension fields, then type a value and hit the TAB key to lock the dimension.
  The locked dimension will turn red.

4. Press Enter to accept the insertion. 

Procedure: Inserting RFA family files from the components panel

1. To insert an RFA family folder in the components panel, add the RFA root folder path to the components path in the settings. To do so, open the Settings dialog box and place your RFA folder in COMPONENTSPATH. In this way, all folders inside the root folder will be categorized as components in the panel.

The following animated gif shows how to add the RFA root folder path to the components directory path.

The RFA family files are ready to insert in the model space.

2. Drag and drop the RFA file from the components panel into your model space.