Sketch to detail 2D

Turn your construction sketch into an editable 2D detail in Revit. Use this for a window jamb, parapet, threshold or other junction where you already know the intended construction. You can do a single detail directly in chat. A skill can carry your drawing conventions into later requests; an automation is useful when the geometry follows a repeatable pattern. The video uses Filled Regions to represent materials. In the example below, reusable components are Detail Items, with associated Multi-Category Tags reading their descriptions.

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1. Prepare your sketch

Draw the detail and annotate the information you want reproduced: dimensions, materials, layer thicknesses and connections. Make labels readable and mark anything unresolved as TBC. Take a clear screenshot that includes the whole detail and its notes. Written dimensions should guide the geometry; proportions in an image alone may not establish an exact size. In this example, the sketch shows a GRC parapet, wall insulation, fixing angles and an inverted roof. Keep dimensions marked “as per S.E.” unresolved until the structural information is available. A photograph taken at an angle may distort the proportions.

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2. Upload it and describe the result

Open your Revit project and prepare an empty drafting view at the intended scale. Start a chat in Ideatura, attach the screenshot and ask:

Recreate this parapet sketch as an editable 2D detail at 1:5. Follow the written dimensions and material notes. Use separate Detail Items for components and Filled Regions for material areas. Reuse my project’s Multi-Category Tags to label component descriptions, with native leaders. Add dimensions using my project styles. Retain AS PER S.E. and VARIES, and identify any inferred sizes.

If you have a sketch-to-detail skill, attach it to carry your drawing rules into the request. Specify the tag family and type to reuse. This example uses Anno_Tag_Multi-Category_Description, with Left and Right types reading the component type’s Description parameter. Ask Ideatura to draw the main geometry first. Review the wall layers, coping and roof junction before adding smaller components, hatching and annotations.

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3. Review and refine

Compare the result with your sketch in Revit. Check the dimensions, material layers, junctions and readability of the annotations. Select elements to check that the result contains the editable Revit objects you requested. Inspect the detail at its intended sheet scale: line weights, hatch density, text size and leaders should be readable. Check that component labels are associated tags, not standalone text. Change one component description, confirm its tag updates, then restore the value. Keep general notes and unresolved construction information as text. Describe corrections directly. For example:

Set the annotated view to 1:10. Align the tags in left and right columns with horizontal landings and 45-degree leader elbows where practical. Move the three lower-left tags upward within the detail’s height. Keep their associations and the geometry unchanged.

At 1:10, fixed-size annotation appears larger relative to the geometry than at 1:5. Recheck spacing after changing scale; keep tags inside the drawing’s overall extent and leaders clear of other labels. Review the construction information as well as the drawing’s appearance before saving or issuing it.

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4. Keep your preferences in a skill

If you repeat this workflow, save your drawing preferences in a skill: which Detail Items to reuse, how to represent materials, which tag types and labelled parameters to use, and how to handle missing dimensions. Start with a small set of rules, test them on one detail and refine them as you work. For repeated junctions with predictable inputs, develop an automation after the first detail works. For a spatial model of the junction, continue with Sketch to detail 3D. Watch the original demonstration on LinkedIn