SCexport - acnicholas/scaddins GitHub Wiki

SCexport

Introduction

SCexport is a revit add-in I created to speed up and standardize file exports from whithin a Revit model.

Select which sheets you want to print/export and grab a beer while you wait.

SCexport main form

SCexport can export the following files

  • PDF (using Adobe Acrobat,PDF24 or Revit native PDF export)
  • DWG
  • DGN (currently disabled)
  • DWF

Other useful functions are:

  • Assign revisions to multiple sheets.
  • Quickly open and move back/forward through sheets.
  • Print.

Requirements

  • Adobe Acrobat (optional for pdf export) Revit versions less than 2022 only
  • PDF24 (optional for pdf export). See PDF24 Setup Revit versions less than 2022 only
  • Ghostscript (optional for alternate pdf export) This is removed in version 2024+
  • Postscript printer driver. I recommend this (optional for alternate pdf export) This is removed in version 2024+

PDF24 Setup

PDF24 can be used for revit versions 2018-2021. If you would like to use PDF24 for pdf creation, there's a lttle bit of setup required:

  1. Download and install PDF24 from here
  2. Adjust the settings as per the image below:

PDF24 setting

Options

Context menu

Options that can be accessed via right clicking the main window.

SCexport context menu

  • No View Filter. Rmove any existing filters from this view.
  • Show Latest Revisions Only. Filter the sheet list to show only the latest revision.
  • Filter by... Smart-ish filter to try and filter by the current item.
  • Options. Open the options dialog.
  • Open Selected View. Open all selected views (don't select too many unless - you're getting a coffee)
  • Load Saved View Set. Filter the sheet list by saved view sets.
  • Save View Set. Save the current selection to a new set.
  • Add Revision. Add a selected revision to all selected views.
  • Copy Sheets. Send all the selcted sheets to Copy Sheets.
  • Remove Underlays from Views. remove underlays from all views on all - selected sheets. be careful!
  • Rename Selected Sheets. Renames sheet numbers and/or names using Rename.
  • Fix Scale Bars. If your project has any kind of scalebar parameter, SCexport can attempt to assign the correct scale to it by matching it with each sheets viewports. You will need to define the scalebar parameter(s) in the options dialog.
  • North Points On/Off If you have a Yes/NO[boolean] parameter in your title block whih is used for north point visibility, use these to toggle it. This parameter can be difined in the options dialog.
  • Create User Views. Copy all the viewports on the selected sheets, remove their viewports and assign them to a defined view category.
  • Verifiy Sheets. Check all sheets to make sure that the page size can be determined.

Advanced Options

SCexport advanced options dialog

Create Project Config File. This will create a generic project config file for the currently open file. See XML Project Configuration File.
Text editor. Notepad is boring for editing xml files, change that here.
Postscript Printer Name. This is the printer driver used by Ghostscript to create pdf's, make sure this printer is set up to print to file.

Configuration via Project Information Parameters

Configuration for SCexport can be done via a XML config file (see below), or via setting up some Project Information parameters within Revit. Below is a table of Parameters that can be used:

Revit Parameter Name Description Revit Version
Primary SCexport Settings Name(1) Name of setting 1 2018+
Primary SCexport Settings Format Export format for setting 1.
See XML Replacement Strings 		2018+
Secondary SCexport Settings Name(2) Name of setting 2 2018+
Secondary SCexport Settings Format Export format for setting 2.
See XML Replacement Strings 		2018+
Primary SCexport PDF Settings Name(1) PDF setting 1 (Revit native)
Will attempt to load a Revit PDF Export
Setup of the same name		 2022+
Secondary SCexport PDF Settings Name(2) PDF setting 2 (Revit native)
Will attempt to load a Revit PDF Export
Setup of the same name		 2022+
Primary Post Export Script Script to run on completion(1)..
See PostExportHook 		2018+
Primary Post Export Script Args Script args (1) 2018+
Primary Post Export Extensions List of extensions to run hook on(1)
This is a list of extensions (including the '.').
Each item should be separated by a semicolon		 2018+
Secondary Post Export Script Script to run on completion(2).
See PostExportHook 		2018+
Secondary Post Export Script Args Script args (2). 2018+
Secondary Post Export Extensions List of extensions to run hook on(2)
This is a list of extensions (including the '.').
Each item should be separated by a semicolon		 2018+

Example Config

Below are examples is setting a filename scheme via project parameters. NOTE: It is advisable to use this method for projects hosted on BIM360 as using a project config file may not be available for cloud models.

Revit 2022+ Example Config

The example image below shows a filename scheme with the following properties

  • It will create a SCexport setting called "AN_TEST", which will use a Revit pdf export setting of the same name.
  • There's a hook that will run on *.dwg files only.
    • This hook will start the windows program "cmd.exe" after each dwg export.
    • cmd.exe will run with the parameters "/C RENAME "$fullExportPath" "$projectNumber-$sheetNumber-DWG[$sheetRevision] - $sheetDescription$fileExtension". see (XML Replacement Strings)

Revit 2022+ Example Config

XML Project Configuration File

Custom file name schemes can be created per Revit file, using the options menu or manually. This is a XML file, and it needs to be placed in the same folder as your Revit central file.
Name the file:
SCexport.xml

General File Formal

  <SCexport>
    <FilenameScheme>
    <PostExportHook>
  </SCexport>

FilenameScheme

  <FilenameScheme name="name">
    <Format>"export name format string, see replacement string below"</Format> <!-- For Revit versions < 2022 -->
    <PDFNamingRule>SC-PDF</PDFNamingRule> <!-- For Revit versions >= 2022 -->
    <Hook>"hook name"</Hook>
    <Hook>"another hook"</Hook>
  </FilenameScheme>

FilenameScheme describes the format of exported files.

name Label to display in GUI.

Format Is the file name format if you are not using PDFNamingRule (adobe or pdf24). Note that Format will still work of you are using the Revit internal PDF creator, but only the export name will be set-up. Use PDFNamingRule to enable more customiztion.
PDFNamingRule is the name if the Revit PDF export setup to use (including the filename scheme) Hook Name of hook to run after an export.--

PostExportHook

    <PostExportHook name="convertToPng">
        <Command>C:\Temp\createPNG.bat</Command>
        <Args>$exportDir\$fullExportName$fileExtension</Args>
        <SupportedFileExtensions>pdf</SupportedFileExtensions>
    </PostExportHook>

name The name of the hook, this is the name to use in the Hook node of FilenameScheme

Command Command to run.
Args Arguments to pass to the above command - see replacement string below
SupportedFileExtensions Extension to enable this hook on (include the ".", i.e. ".pdf").

XML Replacement Strings

The following replacement strings can be used in the "Args" node of PostExportHook and the "Format" node of FilenameScheme:

Replacement String Description Example
$height
$width
$fileExtension file extension including the "."
$fullExportName export name without extension )
$fullExportPath ( full export name, including path and extension) C:\Temp\20230123-A001-DWG[A] - Level 1 Floor Plan.dwg
$exportDir C:\Temp
$pageSize A0
$projectNumber 20230123
$sheetDescription ( this is the sheet name ) Level 1 Floor Plan
$sheetNumber A001
$sheetRevision A
$sheetRevisionDate 30.06.2023
$sheetRevisionDescription For Construction
__Custom__ (place the parameter name between double underscores)

Post Export Hooks Examples

Tag pdf files
    <!--
        Tag pdf's after export   
        requirements:
        ExifTool http://owl.phy.queensu.ca/~phil/exiftool/
    -->
    <PostExportHook name="tagPdf">
        <Command>C:\exiftool\exiftool.exe</Command>
        <Args>-Title="$fullExportName - $sheetDescription" -Author="Scott Carver Pty Ltd" -Subject="$projectNumber" $exportDir\$fullExportName$fileExtension</Args>
        <SupportedFileExtensions>.pdf</SupportedFileExtensions>
    </PostExportHook>
Rename dwg exports only
   <!--simple hook to rename dwg files with a _DWG suffix-->
    <PostExportHook name="aconexDWGSuffix">
        <Command>cmd.exe</Command>
        <Args> /C RENAME "$exportDir\$fullExportName$fileExtension" "$fullExportName_DWG$fileExtension"</Args>
        <SupportedFileExtensions>.dwg</SupportedFileExtensions>
    </PostExportHook>
Watermark pdf exports
    <!--
        add a watermark to pdf's
        requires: https://www.pdflabs.com/tools/pdftk-server/
    -->
    <PostExportHook name="watermark">
        <Command>"C:\Program Files (x86)\PDFtk Server\bin\pdftk.exe"</Command>
        <Args> "$exportDir\$fullExportName$fileExtension" background "$exportDir\watermark.pdf" output "$exportDir\$fullExportName-WM$fileExtension"</Args>
        <SupportedFileExtensions>.pdf</SupportedFileExtensions>
    </PostExportHook>
Convert pdf export to png files
    <!--
        convert each exported pdf to a transparent png

        requirements:
            imagemagick http://imagemagick.sourceforge.net/http/www/archives.html
            ghostscript http://www.ghostscript.com/download/

        place the following text in a script called C:\Temp\createPNG.bat:

        convert -size 1920x1080 xc:white temp.png
        convert -transparent white temp.png canvas.png
        convert -fuzz 10%% -transparent white -density 300 -resize x1080 %1 temp.png
        composite -gravity center temp.png canvas.png %1.png
    -->
    <PostExportHook name="convertToPng">
        <Command>C:\Temp\createPNG.bat</Command>
        <Args>$exportDir\$fullExportName$fileExtension</Args>
        <SupportedFileExtensions>.pdf</SupportedFileExtensions>
    </PostExportHook>

Keyboard Shortcuts

  • C Clear current filter
  • L Select Latest revision only
  • O Open Selected Sheet(s)
  • Q [Quick] Open of saved view set
  • S Select current sheet only
  • V Verify selected sheets
  • W Save[Write] selected sheets to new view set.
  • X Start Export
  • 0-9 Filter main view by sheet number
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