Revit to 3DS max workflow issues

[janetran]

Dear masters,

 

I have linked a revit file in 3DS max with the intention of populating my house with furniture from 3ds max files. I have done this because there is a very limited selection of choices available to revit.

 

I understand that most people use 3DS max purely for rendering services so it is difficult to find the correct tutorial specifically for my purposes.

 

 

I have a few questions:

 

 

1. It appears that when I load in 3D models of furniture I found on the internet, it messes with the scale of my revit model. (It enlarges the building significantly and the furniture is at the correct size) I have changed the system units to feet instead of inches to be compatible with revit. I restarted the linking and measured the building and found it to be correct. It is only after I merged the 3d models (furniture) that my revit building changed in scale.

 

2. Is there anything in 3DS max that function like Revit's reference planes? How do you measure things? So far I have been using the "hammer" button and clicking measure from there. It isn't exactly helpful when trying to scale a model to precise dimensions.

 

I have a project due very soon and I feel like every step I take forward, brings me back three steps. If anyone has any tips, tricks on what are the best practices, I would greatly appreciate it.

[Jose Negrete]

It is more likely that the furniture models from the net are at different scale. I would open/import these in their own max file first. Once you've set up the furniture models (delete unnecessary geometry, clean up textures, etc) then you can merge them into your building, or xref your building and place them. There is a measuring tape in the helpers section of the command panel. You can also try a script like this: http://www.scriptspot.com/3ds-max/scripts/zsscaletools