Making selections on a revit import

[philvanderloo]

I'm probably driving this Revit import topic into the dirt but I just cannot get a handle on it.

Experimenting with different options for importing Revit link files into Max, I don't understand why- I import a Revit file "by material", I've checked all of my materials in the Revit project to make sure they are as I think they should be. Now I go to select the glass on a window and the entire model selects????

I go into the layers palette and select glass, and I get a selection of 2 little round, apparently glass objects in the middle of a room, that I don't even know what the hell they are.

None of the windows are selected even though I know that glass material is assigned to all the windows.

Every search I do online for importing Revit to max I get 2-3 year old posts. Where can I find this Holy Grail answer before I go crazy?

I should add, if it matters, that every time I select objects in the scene to get the material, they are "autodesk generic" What happened to the materials that were assigned in Revit?

Edited September 26, 2015 by philvanderloo
additional information

[Francisco Penaloza]

You'll heard different opinions because the solution is not simple, the exchange of REVIT to 3D MAx is not streamline as Autodesk promote, it is clumsy and full of bugs, and I don't blame them much because both software are 500 Pounds gorillas trying to dance ballet

More than one solution is rather a set of steps need it to get things going within 3Ds Max.

 

Take my advice as you please, but believe me it is a workflow that work.

I work with REVIT models all the time, I work here in USA so units are inches, The only problem that I can't solve now are the units, for some reason I get things in cm even though the model is in inches, max also it is setup on inches.

Skipping that stupid bug, what I do is :

 

Export manually from REVIT to FBX, why? because if you link the actual REVIT file into MAX. before linking 3dsMax will try to read all sheets/3d views prepared in REVIT to decide what to import. depending of the scale of your project, in my case large buildings with sites, structural and MEP stuff on them, the "auto export" is not a good solution because it drag all crazy stuff from REVIT to Max this will make your model very heavy, hard to work with. If you project are simple houses this may work then. but still I would not recommend it, because whatever 3dMax does not understand from REVIT it transform it to Dummy, and this drag a lot of problems.

 

For me export to FBX and link using "by Family", why? because if you are not the REVIT modeler you'll have several element with the same material, like " Default mat" also you get, Glass, Glass1,glass, GlassA and all combination that lazy drafters do for the same material because they forgot the already created one, or because they are importing pre created families that do not maintain consistency on the materials and names. If you link or import by Family, you reduce the number of elements in your scene and you'll get multi-materials to adjust as you need.

 

Depending if you are using Mental Ray or V-Ray or what not, you will need to transfer your materials to your render engine, I use V Ray so I use this script to convert Autodesk materials to V Ray materials. The default V Ray converter does not work with Autodesk Materials.

 

After that, I use this script to find similar materials names (same as described above) and create instances. this reduce the number of redundant materials created in REVIT, it also help you to setup materials in a scene.

 

After this you should be ready to fine tune lights and materials. If your designer is not sure of the design, keep your model linked and if any change is need it in the mesh I add a edit mesh modifier over and then do my changes, this still flecky because after update depending of the REVIT model this mesh may go crazy, but most of the time it works.

 

When you update the link be sure to keep 3d Max materials, everything should update fine.

 

Do not move your building from the original location.

 

If there is no more important changes in the building design, just break the link and you can edit your mesh easier.

 

I work for an arch firm, we do School, Universities, Hospitals and similar size project, this workflow stay pretty consistent for me and my boss. There are some problems from time to time but they are more related to bad REVIT modeling or matching Structural REVIT links to Architectural models.

 

We had more problems in the latest release for this year (release 2016) we really hope Autodesk can fix them soon.

 

 

Best luck

Edited September 26, 2015 by fco3d

[philvanderloo]

Can't tell you how much I appreciate your input Francisco. I'll give your suggestions a try. One thing I have going in my favor is that I am doing the Revit modeling on all of my stuff so far. I'm a contractor specializing in Design-Build Custom homes and remodels so I can create my Revit projects as needed for Max but I just need to get clear on what adjustments need to be made in Revit. I'm getting there.

Thanks for your help.

[philvanderloo]

One thing I'm still confused about though is why, when I import revit link by Revit Families, and then I go into the layers palette in max and try to select the glass on the windows, they don't select?

I know that Glass material is assigned in Revit.

[Francisco Penaloza]

I am not a REVIT user, all what I learned it's been to fix some issues myself so I can have a better model out of REVIT.

The family problem is confusing indeed. to me it works fine on windows, and curtain wall but not in doors and some curtain wall door families, I guess it depend how they where build in first place, since it is a "Family" it may consider or exclude the glass from that element, then it make a difference. I can't tell you what is the best way to build them because I a not a REVIT user, I am sorry.

 

Now when I am within Max I just concentrate in materials, if everything is instanced, you just need to adjust the material, no need to move windows. if any adjustment I place a edit mesh in top and then I can move around. like I said early is not a perfect solution but you just have to deal with it.

 

When you model in REVIT, you need to adjust the way your wall connect, there is different way that REVIT "weld" the corner, the best way for visualization is when it create a 45 degree corner (V shape corner) . not when one wall go to the edge and the other one touch one side of the wall (T shape) . also be sure the ceiling and floor touch your walls. by default depending of your ceiling system it may create a space so you can later on draw connection details on them, but for Arch Viz that will create light leaks.

 

The same thing with some curtain wall or windows systems, sometimes they create a gap between the frame and the wall, so you can later on add sealing and stuff in construction drawings. again for Arch Viz this is bad.

I don't have REVIT at home, when I go back to the office I'll ask some REVIT user to see how they build those families and see where can be your selection problem. TO me it been a very slow learning process too and I think for all of us in Arch Viz, so don't get frustrated

 

 

Best luck.

Fco.

[philvanderloo]

Ok so, at this point, I've exported/imported in every way possible and I'm getting the exact same results.

Whether I export to fbx in revit, import revit link, by material, by family, as one entity, doesn't make any difference at all.

After import, when I open the material editor and select any object, it's "autodesk generic".

No mutli-subobject. If I select a window assembly and want to select only the glass, I cannot do it. Or can't figure out how.

At this point I'm thinking either I'm just not smart enough to figure this out or I have a twisted install.

Not understanding why I can't go into the layers palette and select Glass, and get the selection I'm after.

[jasonstewart]

Just because "Glass" is input in the edit properties box in Revit doesn't mean that the box is actually linked to where you think it should be inside the family.

 

Where did you get the families?

 

I have a completely different workflow that I have described before but I use the great built in filtering to spit my Revit exports into a bunch of separate files (windows & doors, walls, etc) to have easy to create layers in max. Alternatively you can import it as a single object and then use material IDs to split it but if the materials aren't assigned correctly in Revit then you are screwed from the start.