Instead of creating a fabrication model from scratch, a detailer using Revit can easily
convert design intent model provided by the engineering team into a fabrication-ready model—saving time and improving quality.
You will find the Fabrication panel on the Systems tab. Select the Fabrication Settings
button to launch a dialog box. Here, you can select the services you would like to use and
move them to the Loaded Services column to include them in your fabrication configurations.
The configurations created within the current version of the Autodesk Fabrication Products will also be listed here.
Within the MEP Fabrication Parts palette, also called the parts browser, you can select the parts you intend to use during the conversion.
To exclude parts, enable the Auto Fill Exclusion mode at the bottom left of the parts browser.
While in exclusion mode, you can deselect any parts you do not wish to use.
In the drawing area, select a design-intent duct network you would like to convert.
On the Duct Systems tab > Fabrication panel, choose Design to Fabrication. Select Finish to complete the command.
If a warning appears, there may be some additional detailing needed to compete the
design. Continue to add fabrication parts and modify the elements in the model as needed.
You can change parts in the Auto Fill Exclusion mode to view different results.
The tap fitting might work well on this design, for example.
In the drawing area, you can easily delete parts from the design and continue detailing.
This can be accomplished with tools such as Quick Connect, Route and Fill, and Multi-Point Routing.
Dragging the end connectors on straight sections will auto-fill connections between them.
Now that the Tap fitting is no longer excluded from the parts browser list, Taps will be used to make these connections.
The Design to Fabrication tool expedites the detailing process by eliminating the need to re-model every aspect of the design intent model.
In fact, it is possible to use Design to Fabrication to convert a connected MEP design intent model to an LOD 400 fabrication model.
There is one more fabrication part to be detailed. You can accomplish this by adding an End Cap.
You can select Fabrication parts directly from the parts browser—like this end cap—and place them onto parts in the drawing area.
Simply place your cursor in the drawing area to position the part, and then click to place the part.
If the service you are using contains round, rectangular, or oval ductwork, you can select Enable Palette from the parts browser.
This will allow you to make changes to the design-intent model, making it easier to convert a multi-shape duct design to fabrication parts.
If you would like to change sizes during the conversion process,
look for the option to specify new sizes on the Sizes tab in the parts browser.
During conversion, you can also specify mapping for in-line parts.
In this example, the return ducts have been converted with a different service into
fabrication parts, and the lengths of the ducts can now be optimized for manufacturing.
To start, select only the MEP fabrication parts. You might do this using a crossing window
in the drawing area and then filtering out other items from the selection set.
Next, select the Optimize Lengths tool on the contextual tab for MEP Fabrication Ductwork
to change your flange locations to manufacturable lengths.
The parts are now ready to be exported for manufacturing. For example, you can send them to Autodesk Fabrication CAMduct.
On the same ribbon tab, you will find the Export Job File tool. When selected, you can save the MAJ, or M-A-J, job file to your desired location.
The Autodesk Revit Extension for Autodesk Fabrication is used to export a fabrication
layout from Revit to a fabrication job in ESTmep, CADmep, and CAMduct.
The Design to Fabrication features in Autodesk Revit help to bridge the gap between design intent and fabrication-ready modeling—
connecting MEP systems engineering, design, and detailing workflows across the lifecycle of your projects.