Sketch Up & Revit

[Roger Evans]

I Haven't taken a very close look at SketchUp but I like what I see

Is it possible to export direct from Sketch Up into Revit ?

Are there any plans to bring this about and if so when ?

How do people like using it ?

[sjsl]

you can export the revit model into su and it will be a su model. It is a fully usable model in su.

You can only export a dwg into REvit.

we use su for it's sketchiness

[brantf]

Hey Roger,

We had a sketchup fellow at a school type event we put on and I sat down with him and grilled him on it.

Sketchup to revit (.rvt) = not available

Sketchup to Revit (.rvt) in the works = not currently happening

Sketchup to Revit (.rvt) in the future = since it doesn't communicate with architectural desktop then is won't be done.

This was from the sketchup mouth itself.

Hope it clarifies some sketchup to Revit :)

Brant

[hand471037]

As of how it works now, you can bring sketchup models into Revit via DWG, and they work & look great.

However, they come in as one large block, that doesn't get cut in section (wouldn't that be cool!) and such. So it's only useful as a background to snap to.

[tatlin]

If you import a 3d dwg into a 'cutable' family, it will be cut in plan and section. Try creating a new inplace family of Generic Model, linking or importing a dwg and then finishing the family. The 3d faces and polymeshes in the dwg will be cut . No cut faces will be created, however, because there is no real solid geometry. The 3d face and polymesh entities in the dwg are just surfaces.

Going through dwg is a great way to bring sketchup models into revit.. It will also work for 3d information from other apps like rhino, form*Z, etc.


As of how it works now, you can bring sketchup models into Revit via DWG, and they work & look great.

However, they come in as one large block, that doesn't get cut in section (wouldn't that be cool!) and such. So it's only useful as a background to snap to.

[mlgatzke]

I use SU for presentation work and love it. My clients love them too. I've attached some images that I've used previously so you can get the idea. I find that my clients open up more with SU images that aren't as "clean" or "pristine" as regular computer renderings. The SU images don't look as finished or polished.

[Roger Evans]

Thanks everyone Very Very Interesting I'm even more impressed
It's the sketchiness that appeals to me as well ~ I can see a lot of mileage in its use.
My problem as a sole practitioner is that I don't have bottomless pockets so any further investment (Money & especially TIME) has to be assessed carefully before taking the plunge.

Now if only 6.5 could have this feature (SU) as part of a Sketch Phase / Design Option Phase ~ then Revit would be nearer to perfection and maybe even more fun to use.
This would surely blast away the competition.

[BillyGrey]

Hey mlgatzke, like those renders:)

On your clean-up's, do you have any tips for not loosing planar faces when cleaning
up the wall join lines that result on imports into SU? Allot of my more complex models become
very unmanageable when I start to clean them up, I loose floor plates, inside/outside of walls etc.
Drawing a single "healing" line is often not possible.

Other than that, Revit and SU are very complimentary applications. I love modeling in Revit, and exporting for to SU for quik renders, sunstudies, and NPR.

Thanks!

[Roger Evans]

OK I've done some checking & come up with a few surprising results

The cost of Sketch Up ...

from the Sketch Up UK Co is £317.00 (+ Vat @ 17.5%)

from Karel Cad Australia £252.00 + (I assume Vat equivalent) = $ 672 AUDollars

from the Sketch Up USA Co £258.00 = $475 USDollars

So the difference to the UK is we pay £65.00 more (before VAT) = $173 AUD = $119 USD

Now why would this be??

Not surprisingly this price difference also makes me wonder about ......................

Well I may be stupid but I'm not dumb so I have asked Karel Cad if I can buy the product from them ... I await their reply .. probably Monday earliest I expect.

[mlgatzke]

Hey mlgatzke, like those renders:)

On your clean-up's, do you have any tips for not loosing planar faces when cleaning
up the wall join lines that result on imports into SU? Allot of my more complex models become
very unmanageable when I start to clean them up, I loose floor plates, inside/outside of walls etc.
Drawing a single "healing" line is often not possible.

Other than that, Revit and SU are very complimentary applications. I love modeling in Revit, and exporting for to SU for quik renders, sunstudies, and NPR.

Thanks!
You can clean up lines without losing faces by holding down the shift button while using the eraser tool. This will cause the line you select to become invisible rather than delete it.

[BillyGrey]

Very Nice :)

Thanks Mike.

[PeterJ]

This will be very interesting as I think one would not be charged the sales tax/VAT on out of country purchases, so your gross prices would be the £250 or so.

Sketch Up appears to be supported from the forums etc so there is little logic in buying in the UK.

[beegee]

Some interesting news about forthcoming SketchUp V 4.0 features :-


Coming up in the soon-to-be-released version 4.0 are several new tools with unconventional names typical of the application: Follow Me, which pushes and pulls a surface along a path and can be used to quickly create stair railings, moldings, tubing, and other extruded objects; Texture Tweaker, which allows a texture or photograph to be stretched and manipulated across any continuous surface; Face Me, which allows 2D models of people and other entourage to always face the camera; Intersector, which works like a Split tool to allow boolean-like operations; and a new Ruby Scripting Interface that allows automation of tasks and the creation of parametric objects.

[Roger Evans]

Oh well not totally surprised .. Karel Cad are sales restricted to Australia only.

I'm half tempted to make some comments on the Sketch Up Forum ~ might end up having some benefit to the UK ~ you never know