Native Revit geometry vs imported CAD
A linked DWG is a reference. A Revit wall is an editable building element. The difference decides whether the file is usable for ongoing design.
Published 19 August 2026 · 3 min read
It is easy to open Revit, bring in a DWG, and feel that the project is now “in Revit”. For production, that is only the starting reference. The question is whether the building exists as Revit elements that the team can change, or whether it still exists as CAD linework sitting inside a Revit project.
Linking versus importing
Revit offers both a CAD link and a CAD import. A link stays connected to the original DWG, so a later drawing issue can be reloaded. An import becomes part of the Revit file and does not refresh in the same way. File size usually suffers more with imports. Neither method turns those lines into walls, floors or doors.
Both methods are for using CAD as drawing information inside Revit. They do not rebuild walls, floors, roofs or doors as native categories. If you delete the CAD link, any work that was only linework disappears with it. Native Revit elements remain.
Why exploding CAD is a problem
If the DWG is exploded inside Revit, the result is a large collection of lines with no wall types, no hosted openings and no useful schedules. That is a coordination problem as well as a file-size problem. Official Autodesk notes on CAD in Revit discourage this approach; the source is listed below. The production test is simpler: can the in-house team keep editing the building after the CAD underlay is gone?
What “native” means in practice
- Walls, floors and roofs use Revit system families or approved loadable families — not in-place masses used as a shortcut for ordinary construction
- Doors and windows are hosted in walls so they move with the host
- Levels and grids are the organising framework for the model
- CAD, if it remains, is a checked reference rather than the building itself
How far that native model goes — interiors, linings, generic vs specific families — is a scope decision. Native geometry at a simple level of detail is still more usable than a visually complete import that cannot be edited cleanly.
Questions
Only if the recipient only needs a reference underlay. If they need to edit, schedule or coordinate the building in Revit, the geometry has to be modelled natively.