Revit to Formit workflow

[Anonymous]

I'm new to Formit but have been using Revit and Sketchup a lot in the past. I'm hoping to figure out a good workflow between Revit and Formit so that we can hopefully move over more towards Formit at my office rather than Sketchup.

Here's my question - hopefully you might have some insight...

The project is in a concept phase which is why we want to test out different volume models. I have the project started in Revit already, with a defined project base point and a few defined levels. I also have a Sketchup-model in the exact same location in relation to the project basepoint - so the two models are interchangeable.

Now I want to take my Revit project and continue working on it in Formit! So how do I export my Revit project to Formit? I've downloaded the add-in, but it seems I can only convert family-files and not project files. I've built the current sketch both with walls/floors but also with masses, since I thought these might be easier to convert, but I haven't found a way to convert them. I've also converted the sketchup file to Formit but it was to heavy to import into Revit.

I would like to have a Formit file with simple masses from either Revit or Sketchup so that I have them positioned in relation to origo, and I want to keep my levels that I have already defined in Revit. I don't want to make new levels in Formit. Then ideally I would like to import or link the Formit file back into Revit so that I can update my plans/sections with real walls/floors etc. Is this possible? Or is Formit not intended to use this way?

I cant' for the life of me figure out how to work with coordinates and the placement of the project in relation to origo in Formit...

How would you go about working with a project at this stage in Formit..?

[Anonymous]

Hi Nina.aidas,

To get a Revit model into Formit, you are going to have to export it in a different format, this situation is not what the converter is meant for. The most workable workflow that I have found, is exporting your Revit model as a ACIS(SAT), and importing that into Formit. Once inside Formit, you can select the file, and right click to Ungroup the model, giving you further control and flexibility over the elements.

The Formit converter is meant to get Formit files into Revit, and to convert Revit family files into workable Formit objects.

In terms of coordinates, maybe someone has better knowledge of this than I do, but I believe the origin point in Formit, is linked to the project base point in Revit? But I could be wrong here. I also don't think you can get the Revit levels into Formit, again, I could be wrong on this one, but from my testing, I have not found a way.

From what I can gather, the workflow is primarily aimed to go in the opposite direction (From Formit to Revit, not from Revit to formit), as Formit is the conceptual tool. 

So in the example you have given, I think it would be better to start the project in the Formit environment, as you can define levels and forms here that can be used in Revit, I dont believe the process is as smooth in the other direction.

Is there a reason why you would like the file in Formit? If you have already started it in Revit, I would just use the Conceptual Massing Environment, which is essentially the same as Formit but has more functionality.

I hope this helps!

Mitch

[Anonymous]

Thanks for your reply! I will try to convert my file to ACIS...

I thought that the Formit converter plugin might not be exactly what I was looking for.

If this was a completely new project, I might have been able to start it directly in Formit, but I would still need to know it was properly placed in relation to a base point so I can collaborate with other diciplines...

And in terms of workflow i don't see that there has to be a one-way direction between Formit to Revit OR Revit to Formit. The best way to work with Formit for me would be if the workflow could be Revit <-> Formit. I need to be able to switch back and forward between the programs seamlessly... Work with them in parallell. Rarly has a project been in the conceptual phase and then had a certain point where it moved into "production" in Revit, and never got back to conceptual. And even in the concept phase I need to be able to draw plans and sections, then I might go back and change volumes, move stuff around, and then update the plans in relation to this.

If that's not possible maybe Formit won't be able to do what we need at my office after all, and we will still have to resort to Sketchup.

But I'm still hoping there might be a way to solve this workflow issue..!

Working with conceptual massing in Revit is not an option as it's not as fluid as Formit/Sketchup... It's a LOT more work to mass out things. And the limitation of only seeing things in parallell projection in Revit is a HUGE disadvantage when working with conceptual volumes. You just don't get the same idea of space and distance, which is the advantage of Formit/Revit.

Ideally the levels might be universal between both Revit and Formit, so that they could be updated in both programs if updated in one of them 🙂

[Anonymous]

EDIT to previous... I meant to say "You just don't get the same idea of space and distance, which is the advantage of Formit/Sketchup." .. not Revit.

Ok, so I've tried to export from Revit to Formit through sat/ACIS, and it seems to work great! Now I get my Revit model, floors/walls or anything imported as volumes in Formit. AND I see the axis/origo symbol, and the project seems to end up in the exact same location as in Revit.

But when I try to import things from Sketchup, through the add-in in Revit, the axis/origo symbol is nowhere to be found! Or is this a setting? Can I turn it on and off like you can in Sketchup? From what I can see it doesn't seem like the import from Sketchup ends up in the same place from origo....

Is it because it was imported through the add-in...?

[Anonymous]

To Import a SKP file, you can do this directly into Formit, you don't need to import into Revit and then convert to formit. When you are in Formit, just select file>import>import 3D model then change the supported formats dropdown in the bottom right to SKP.

Again, I cant offer to much assistance with regards to the working of Sketchup, I am not familiar with the software.

The axis can be switched on and off from within Formit as well, go to you Visual Styles tab>Environment>Axes. Sketchup might be trying to bring the model in quite a distance away from the origin of Formit, but I cant be sure about this.

Please see below image for the axes location.

Hope This Helps!

[Tobias_Hathorn]

Thank you for starting this great thread, Nina. And thank you for the awesome, helpful, and accurate replies, Mitchell!

Nina, I think you are set with Revit -> FormIt. With ACIS (SAT) you get the Revit geometry in the 'same place' as it was in Revit - so you can go back and forth easily. The materials do not transfer - and the geometry is no longer 'parametric' but - you still get reference geometry!

You can do the same thing with importing SKP, but you need to follow Mitchell's suggestion - Import SKP directly into FormIt for Windows, not through the Revit add-in. This will place the SKP geometry in the 'same place' as it was in SKP / Revit also! All softwares are referring to the same 'base point' when importing.

Levels do NOT import from Revit -> FormIt. We did add the ability for Levels from FormIt to import to Revit... but I see that's not your request. In the future we will be addressing a way to keep Levels (and potentially other data and geometry) in sync between Revit and FormIt. Your request has been heard!

[pieter7]

We'd also really like this workflow. Our office likes to design until the very end of the project. So at any point we would like to link/convert/import our Revit model into Formit to sketch out different ideas. Ideally we would be able to get some data back into the Revit project.

We created an idea for it on the Formit idea page: Bidirectional integration with Revit

In an ideal world it would work like this:

- link in a 3d view from Revit (if you were able to select a particular 3D view, we could set that view up properly in revit and hide certain categories, set the phasing and design options right, ...)

- all materials would come in as well

- you would be able to tab select elements and click 'unclip', those elements would then be converted to a formit group which you can manipulate

I know, it's asking for a lot, but it would blow sketchup out of the water if Formit could make this happen.

[josh.goldstein]

Hi @Anonymous,

Some of your requests here should be addressed with FormIt 2023, which was released last week.

It sounds like the 3D Sketch workflow we added in Revit 2022, combined with FormIt linking support in Revit 2023, might accomplish what you're after.

Hope you enjoy the new features!