Hi Kimberly,
Sure thing, I was planning to update this thread anyway, with Diego's blessing.
Diego sent me the files, and using FormIt's Display Watertight Issues (shortcut DW) and Display Backfaces (shortcut DB) diagnostic modes, the problem was immediately apparent. He gave me permission to post the images of his model and why it was problematic:
Using Display Watertight Issues, the model is very red:
Similarly with Display Backfaces, most of the faces are facing the wrong way:
The majority of the issues are due to a modeling strategy that employs 2D geometry instead of 3D solids. For example, the facade panels are all 2D rectangles which can be problematic for Revit to consume, and also can easily result in flipped faces:
The best modeling advice I can give is to model *everything* as a 3D solid. This is ideal for many reasons: FormIt is designed for solid modeling, downstream applications like Revit or 3D printers are expecting solid geometry, and this strategy best represents real-life assemblies and materials anyway - everything has a thickness, even glass.
If Diego extruded those 2D rectangular faces into 3D blocks, FormIt would automatically flip all the faces of the new solid to orient correctly, the 3D geometry would translate to Revit, and the solid better mimics the real-world object anyway. Doing this would also negate the need to have the 2D banner surface around the window - the solid blocks and a solid backing wall would provide the necessary depth to achieve the same effect. The glass itself should also be extruded slightly to give it some thickness.
We suggest all this and more in this blog post. It's worth a read for anyone else having troubles converting geometry to Revit.
FormIt is designed as a solid modeler, but as Diego demonstrated, you can still create 2D shapes in FormIt that are not solid and won't translate to Revit. SketchUp geometry is notorious for these types of issues because it is not designed for solid geometry and has limited tools for solid modeling.
FormIt has a ton of built-in intelligence to encourage solid modeling, like automatic merge and repair tools that correct face orientation and other issues when extruding 2D shapes into 3D, solid tools like Cover that attempt to automatically close a shape into a 3D solid, as well as the diagnostic modes I mention above. Other FormIt functionality simply works best with solids or requires solids to function: our extrusion tool can do so much more when used with solid geometry, and other tools like 3D Offset and 3D Shell require solids to function at all.
We have some videos we'll be releasing soon that demonstrate the benefits of solid modeling in FormIt, as well as the tools to fix problematic models and tips to keep things solid during the modeling process. Stay tuned.
Hope this helps.
Josh Goldstein
Senior Product Manager
