Hi, I want to convert my Civils 3D drawing with all surfaces that I have created (all 3d information) and put this into Revit so I can then add elements to the model such as Balustrades/Benches. What is the best way of achieving this?
Thanks
Sam
Hi Sam, after many hours of trying different methods I recomend the following process.
For Surfaces: Extract the faces & convert them to Regions. Drainage: Explode in 3d view twice.
Next export to a dwg file. Include a 3d solid box at a known location such as a grid intersection aligned accordingly (not at 0,0 but close to the area of interest). Note: this is very important. See why later.
Next start Revit. Link a drawing file for base mapping or building aligned to the true world coordinates and aquire coordinates from this. This will set up the shared coordinates.
Next. Create New Generic Mass Family.
Import the 3d triangles. Unckeck all boxes. Change units to Meters & Always use centre to centre then insert into the drawing.
Now This is why we had the solid box, Generic Mass family's do not have corrdinates. So to workaround this we use this box to relocate the family to the required location & rotation. Relocate vertically if needed. NB: You may need to change the visibility of Mass.
You will now have a sectionable object that in the case of surfaces will correctly display the actual surface as designed in Civil3d. You can add level details etc. The smoothing will depend on the surface smoothing, so add more points if you want a curly line.
Notes:
Revit Surfaces only use points. Contours can be used but the surface becomes very large. A Revit Surface from points does not retain areas where breaklines defign slopes etc. Revit Will recreate the surface based purely on those points so the imported surface is uselesws unless "Flat". In other words Revit surfaces in Civil terms are a waste of time.
We convert the Faces to Regions because Revit treats Faces differently. Section a Face and it will have a thickness. Section a Region it will not so a true ground profile is achieveable by reducing the view distances.
Relocate Vertically? Some Revit users do not normally use a true Level. Always with the 0.000m as FFL so I relocate the model downwards by the FFL to compensate.
M.