Revit to Sketchup: missing geometry
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Hi all,
I have trouble getting Revit models properly into Sketchup as some of the geometry seems to be gone with every import.
As shown in this image:
Revit models are in millimeter and I import the .DWG accordingly into sketchup.
Could this be a scale issue or is the DWG export/import buggy, either on revit side or sketchup?Thanks in advance for your help,
Regards,
Kwistenbiebel
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Hi Chris,
Before reading he lines below the image I also suspected it was some kind of a scale issue (especially that smaller faces seem to be missing). Are you sure the model comes in a correct scale (i.e. is it not too small?) That would/could explain these missing faces.
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I see that myself from time to time with non-flat surfaces. Very annoying. Haven't found a cure for it yet.
I import in the correct scale. -
Thanks for your replies.
The scale is correct after import.
I might try to import it as meters and then scale it down 1000 times. Maybe that helps... I'll let you know -
Just thinking aloud: Have you tried opening the DWGs with Autodesk bloatware or importing them into some other app? Meaning that maybe even Autodesk exports are not always bug-free. On the other hand, it seems often that SU splits curvy things somewhat overzealously - like arcs from 2D polylines that sometimes have a zillion segments.
Anssi
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I didn't try opening the DWG in another app yet. good suggestion.
Exporting and importing as .3ds has better geometry, but it produces a hugh file and everything is being pushed on layer 0 which makes it very difficult to edit. -
@kwistenbiebel said:
I didn't try opening the DWG in another app yet. good suggestion.
Exporting and importing as .3ds has better geometry, but it produces a hugh file and everything is being pushed on layer 0 which makes it very difficult to edit.I found .3ds to be impossible to use. Curved surfaces gets an insane facecount. A simple column is fragmented into ~1000-2000 triangles!
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I've recently tried my first Revit to SKUP, & was quite surprised how well it worked, but it was a very small & simple building - no fancy curves!
kwistenbiebel, how are you getting on with Revit?
I'm a long time ACAD user, sometime SKUP tinkerer & find Revit both simple & complicated at the same time. It's great when you have the families to work with, but murder to edit a commonly used component like a window.
I suppose its just a case of getting over the initial hump of learning...
I miss the direct editing of lines as with ACAD & SKUP. -
@jga said:
.... Revit is great when you have the families to work with, but murder to edit a commonly used component like a window.
...I miss the direct editing of lines as with ACAD & SKUP.I have exactly the same concerns.
Drawing a quick plan in Revit is actually a joy. It is fast and you have a 3D model running instantly.
But indeed, once you start introducing variations on families (=components), Revit becomes a real nut cracker.
I also miss the direct editing Sketchup has.Revit is not so much a 'tool', but more of a 'system'. It will let you draw a plan efficiently, but once you really want to take it through the whole design and documenting process, one really needs to strictly follow the whole parametric database driven system.
And for some reason, my mind refuses to work like that
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One thing I observed on my DWG Imports, is that Sketchup does make a diffence between front and backside of 3D-faces.
So are the faces missing or does they look different, because you look on the default-color of a backside?
I had to optimize my 3D-Face-Blocks in autocad to look good in SU.
Not sure if a revit-export write a proper face-orieatation to the DWG format. -
@kwistenbiebel said:
...Revit becomes a real nut cracker.
Ahh, it's good that someone else feels the same as myself!
Perhaps once I've completed the training & online tutorials, it'll make more sense. -
@jga said:
@kwistenbiebel said:
...Revit becomes a real nut cracker.
Ahh, it's good that someone else feels the same as myself!
Perhaps once I've completed the training & online tutorials, it'll make more sense.I can only agree. Now that I have been looking into the major (in Finland Archicad, ACA and Revit) BIM systems I seem to find that I rather hate them all, for different reasons. Someone should put Revit and Archicad into a mixer and then add the SU interface. In Archicad you can stretch a window to make it bigger or smaller, but it has layers...In Revit, you have to master the Family Editor, in Archicad you have to learn a programming language...
Anssi
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I am in agreement as well. Furthermore Revit 2010 is much worse than 2009 IMO. Luckily the job I am working on now (which will run for another few months) was started in 2009 and I don't have to upgrade to 2010 if I don't want to, and I don't want to.
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@hpw said:
One thing I observed on my DWG Imports, is that Sketchup does make a diffence between front and backside of 3D-faces.
So are the faces missing or does they look different, because you look on the default-color of a backside?
I had to optimize my 3D-Face-Blocks in autocad to look good in SU.
Not sure if a revit-export write a proper face-orieatation to the DWG format.That could be a reason.
As I am not a Autocad user (I was always happy to use Vectorworks previously), could you point out where I can find the 3D-Face-Blocks optimise command(s) in Autocad? Thanks.And about Revit in general,I think the trouble with it is that the learning curve is just a bit too high.
In our office, this results in people being unhappy using it as they need to focus 70% of their time on the tool, instead of being able to focus on the matter at hand, i.e the design.
Only a few people in the office know how to edit families properly...all the rest just paddles around with half ass'ed files.
Revit is supposed to make the Cad part of the design easier, but it actually makes the whole workflow chaotic and unproductive.I think Autodesk really needs to try to implement more 'direct editing' into the Revit software.
More intuitiveness, the thing what is Sketchup's major strength.
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