Import NURBS surfaces

[jhd]

i've been attempting to import a NURBS surface from rhino using these settings:

-exported the rhino model as an .sat file
-both models (rhino and revit) have the same origin point
-rhino model is not linked


The imported rhino model does not appear in any view in the revit model - even after tweaking all of the visibility graphics settings.

any advice?

[neb1998]

Have you tried importing the surface direction into a revit family?

[jhd]

well, regardless of whether i import it into a family or not, the model seems to have scale issues. i been testing each of the models at different scales (setting the rhino model to inches, mm, feet, etc...) and then importing in either "auto-detect" units and the matching units of the rhino model. the problem here is that the import process seems to take extremely long. i've let it run for over an hour and nothing has happened still. in the few cases where it hasn't taken a long time, the scale of the model seems to come in at a very small scale and is very difficult to resize.

[Zoltan]

I was able to import a NURBS surface from Rhino at different Units settings. I set the Export option to ACIS 4.0. Regardless of the Units setting in Rhino, when I have the Import units set to Auto-Detect in Revit, I am prompted with a warning that the file does not have units set and it is defaulting to millimeters and the model is very small.

Can you post your Rhino model, or part of it?

[Elmo]

Try importing your file into a mass family. Then import your mass family into your project. Make sure that your visiblity settings for Mass is switched on in your view otherwise it wont be visible.

[petervanko]

FYI...I have had a lot of success with importing complex surfaces into a mass family. However, you can't do much with it once it is in. If you were hoping to apply walls/CW/etc to this surface, you may be disappointed...

[jhd]

I was finally successful seeing the surfaces in the revit model. I was able to simply import it with the auto-detect units and then just change them in the element properties.

Now the second part of the problem has appeared. The surface that I was importing into the model is the facade of the building. It has some substantial undulation across it's face - with curving in two directions. As the model stands, it is an imported .sat file. I need to be able to extend the slab edges up to the facade. Due to the fact that it is an imported object, revit will not recognize it as a building component. I need to be able to extend my slab edge up to the curving facade without rebuilding the entire facade as a separate family.

Any suggestions?

[Zoltan]

If the NURBS surface forms a closed boundary, you can select all of the surfaces in Rhino and Join them. Then, when you import the surface into an in-place Mass family, you can use the Floor Area Faces command to slice up the Mass into faces that can be made into Floors with the Floor by Face command. The edge of the slab will match the curve of the surface.