Max to Revit?

[skogskalle]

A client just asked if they could buy the 3d models from a couple of projects I made for them some years ago. They work in Revit, and i explained that its probably not worth the trouble to import a MAX model to revit, but I promised to check it out, so now Im asking you....

a, Is it possible to export from Max 2012 and import to Revit?
b, How is the resulting model to work with in Revit?
c, What about vray materials/lights etc. Will they corrupt the export/inport somehow (i know they wont work in Revit but will the model import anyways with some default material/lights or do I have to go through all the scenes converting them to scanline before exporting?

I usually dont sell models to clients, but this is a big client and I dont want to piss them off.
thanks in advance //K

[Paul Oblomov]

I think autodesk made some import/export videos on youtube

[skogskalle]

Thanks Paul, will check them out!
k

[muoto]

export to .3ds or .dwg, and forget about materials/lights ?

[Morne]

with 2013, you can directly import Revit to max apparently. But obviously I doubt that you can do it the other way around, namely import Max to Revit. maybe FBX? Not sure, I haven't used Revit since version 7

[glorybound]

with 2013, you can directly import Revit to max apparently. But obviously I doubt that you can do it the other way around, namely import Max to Revit. maybe FBX? Not sure, I haven't used Revit since version 7

Autodesk is calling it Switchback, bit that works for Revit and Navisworks. I have Revit 2013, as of yesterday, and I don't see anything, other than FBX, for interoperability. I have been using FBX and the Outline script, which seems to be a good work flow. I keep things as an FBX because a lot of elements are instances from Revit. When I change the material ID's on a window, all the same instance of that window change.

[glorybound]

Autodesk is calling it Switchback, but that works for Revit and Navisworks. I have Revit 2013, as of yesterday, and I don't see anything, other than FBX, for interoperability. I have been using FBX and the Outline script, which seems to be a good work flow. I keep things as an FBX because a lot of elements are instances from Revit. When I change the material ID's on a window, all the same instance of that window change.

with 2013, you can directly import Revit to max apparently. But obviously I doubt that you can do it the other way around, namely import Max to Revit. maybe FBX? Not sure, I haven't used Revit since version 7

[skogskalle]

thanks guys,

glorybound - your workflow is revit to max right? Have you tried the other way around?

I looked at a few videos on youtube and it doesnt seem to work that well. Some guy posted a vid where he had to convert the whole scene to edit mesh, select all edges and make them invisible plus some other steps to make the model work in revit. To much trouble, and it still didnt seem to work perfectly. That vid was a couple years old though, so things might have changed.
Autodesk has a few vids too, where they use something called bodyobjects (i think) to move objects between max and revit. This works, but if I undestood it correctly you cant really continue to work on the imported model in revit. You can modify it using twists, bends and ffd´s but other than that i think its "frozen" like it was in max. This makes it useless in my case.

[glorybound]

you can import a dwf into Revit's Family Editor.

[Pixelcon]

Yes you can import files back into revit but don't expect revit to deal with them nicely. The only way I've seen people in the office deal with stuff from max is to create a conceptual mass family, import the max data (cant remember if it was dwg/dwf/3ds) and use it as a template to draw over. There may be other ways of getting data into revit from max but I'm not aware of them...

[glorybound]

you will not have luck, if you want to keep them parametric. If you simple want your MAX model, in your Revit scene, just create a family and import the dwg.

Yes you can import files back into revit but don't expect revit to deal with them nicely. The only way I've seen people in the office deal with stuff from max is to create a conceptual mass family, import the max data (cant remember if it was dwg/dwf/3ds) and use it as a template to draw over. There may be other ways of getting data into revit from max but I'm not aware of them...

[skogskalle]

ok, thanks again. I will tell my client that they can import the models into revit, but wont be able to continue working on them. (which I think was the whole idea). This, plus loosing all materials/lights is probably enough to convince them its a stupid idea. Guess they will have to continue to hire me to do their visuals muhahaha

[glorybound]

it might change in the future, but for now, MAX to Revit isn't supported. Why you can't export as an FBX, in 3DS MAX, I am not sure.

ok, thanks again. I will tell my client that they can import the models into revit, but wont be able to continue working on them. (which I think was the whole idea). This, plus loosing all materials/lights is probably enough to convince them its a stupid idea. Guess they will have to continue to hire me to do their visuals muhahaha

[Bruce Hart]

I have always been on the lookout for techniques for going from Max to Revit over the years, without much success. I generally give the Revit people in my office a DWG, but they will not be able to do much with it. I have also tried exporting some Max Geometry out as an SAT file (provided closed volume geometry is involved). This is slightly more useful in Revit as you can import as an in-place mass and apply mass floors for example. AFAIK Revit does not bring in FBX. I really hope the exchange of geometry between the two will improve

[oconv]

have a look at this tutorial. it's about transfering geometry from max to revit without visible triangulation.

http://www.revitforum.org/tutorials-...triangles.html

-oconv