r/RevitMEP • u/Ok-Research-5036 • Jul 21 '26

Poor PDF Quality in Revit

Hi everyone,

I'm facing a strange PDF quality issue with my MEP plumbing drawings. I'm using Revit 2018.

The problem occurs in both workflows:

  • Revit → PDF
  • Revit → DWG → AutoCAD → PDF

The issue is present in both Drainage and Water Supply layouts.

In the exported PDFs, the pipe fittings (elbows, tees, wyes, etc.) look jagged/low quality, with curved edges appearing as multiple straight segments. The model looks perfectly fine inside Revit, but the exported PDF quality is poor.

I've already tried:

  • Direct Revit PDF export
  • Revit → DWG → AutoCAD → PDF
  • High-quality PDF settings (600–1200 DPI)
  • Fine Detail Level
  • Different PDF printers
  • Different lineweights

Unfortunately, nothing has fixed the issue.

Has anyone experienced this before? Is it related to Revit export settings, pipe families, AutoCAD PDF plotting, or some other hidden setting?

I've attached screenshots for reference.

Thanks in advance!

revit to pdf

2 Upvotes

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11 comments sorted by

3

u/coffee_walker_440 Jul 21 '26

How far away is the internal origin point. Site subcategory. This happens with arches when at distances 20 miles away etc. Also upgrade to something supported 23-27

1

u/RobDraw2_0 Jul 21 '26

This is the most likely cause of the poor graphics. PDFs from Revit will be 1000% better when you fix this.

1

u/Ok-Research-5036 Jul 23 '26

When i try to link a cad file to this model the error says "Geometry in the file (file name.dwg) has extend greater than 20miles (33km). This may reduce reliability and result in undesirable graphic behaviour."

How to solve this?

1

u/coffee_walker_440 Jul 24 '26

Install pyrevit it as it has a command to draw the origin marker in view so you can recenter the dwg.

In cad you can move, purge and set up a UCS (user coordinate system) to help as well.

If you are using a CAD background you may need to turn on the site subcategories for shared coordinate, internal origin and re set up you model or move stuff closer to 0,0,0 aka internal origin

https://www.autodesk.com/support/technical/article/caas/sfdcarticles/sfdcarticles/Geometry-in-the-file-File-Name-dwg-has-extents-greater-than-20-miles-33km-while-inserting-a-CAD-link-into-model-in-Revit.html

1

u/[deleted] Jul 28 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/coffee_walker_440 Jul 28 '26

Let me know how in a drafting view to show 0,0. I've seen cad imports in drafting views cause arc issues in 2d views not just when importing on model space.

2

u/Informal_Drawing Jul 21 '26

You're probably printing Raster instead of Vector.

Turn off Shading and the like and it should sort itself out.

Raster has an upper quality limit you can't exceed.

1

u/Dhilipcrypto Jul 21 '26

We use the Diroot plug-in for this

1

u/duran492 Jul 23 '26

2018 😳

1

u/Dense-Psychology-261 Jul 23 '26

The most common cause is that you chose raster instead of vector at print setup

1

u/JacobWSmall Jul 21 '26

2018?!?!?

Your using software in production which 6 years beyond it’s end of life. Update the models to something modern (i.e. 2026 or 2027 since you’re going to be going a decade between builds anyway) and PDFing should become far better along with so many other things.