Export model to Sketchup - program runs very slow

[dg]

I used to do conceptual designs and presentation work in Sketchup, and then redraw the whole lot in AutoCad.

Obviously this was duplicating work, so when I got Revit I thought I could just do one model. However I still prefer to experiment from within Sketchup and presenting a Sketchup model is better for the clients to see what they will get.

However when I export a dwg to Sketchup it grinds to a halt and becomes virtually unusable. The model seems otherwise intact, but how can I get it to speed up to be usable?

I have tried exploding groups, and deleting un-needed geometry, but this does not seem to make a difference.

[beegee]

Have you tried working with the new massing tools and shadows in R7 ?

Might give you better results for the consept stage ?

[hand471037]

dg, the problem here is that the Revit model is going to be many, many, many more faces then a typical sketchup! file is. This is going to drag your system down no matter what you do, unless you simplyfy the model. It's my guess that those Revit files, that are modeled down to the baseboard & doorframes & window mullons, are simply more faces then Sketchup can really deal with...

I run into this all the time, for I sometimes export to AutoCAD to then in turn export for rendering software. A model that's nice and big in Revit will choke AutoCAD most of the time, and make it run very slow. This is why I've always thought it really, really funny when people say that Autocad can handle larger projects than Revit- that's only 'cause they aren't making a model of the whole building! As soon as you take a decent size model from Revit into AutoCAD, AutoCAD really starts to bog down from all the faces...

[SkiSouth]

I have tried exploding groups, and deleting un-needed geometry, but this does not seem to make a difference.

Tried DXF?

[Dimitri Harvalias]

Jeffrey's on target with his response. The easiest way I have found to deal with this is to eliminate everything that is not required for your SketchUp model. If you have worksets enabled use an exterior view with no interiors on. All the things that come so easily in Revit, such as highly detailed railings, complex window frame sections etc. translate into thousands of faces that SU has to deal with.
If you don;t have worksets going, try creating a copy of the project file and just delete what you don't need before exporting.

[dg]

OK cheers.

I thought it was just the case of a few extra components in Revit!

Well I suppose it is still quicker to model in both Sketchup and Revit than it is to produce a single drawing in AutoCad

I'll try Dxf though.