Adventures in 3ds Max and Revit Massing

[Tafka]

Hi am new to this site, having it recommended from someone from Revitcity based on the wealth of technical knowledge that people in these forums have.

I have been working on massing models in 3ds max as I want to take advantage of its modelling ability over revits simple massing optoins. Basically I have created a model in max 8 which I have exported as a 2004 dwg so that I can import into a massing group so I can use the building maker tools on the object. When I finish it I get the following error:

"Mass contains only mesh geometry, which can’t be used to compute floor area faces, volume, or surface area"

I know that exported objects are seen by Revit (and ACAD) as mesh objects, however how can I then get this so that I can use it as a massing object and slice floors through it etc (esp as building maker only lets me select a small number of faces of the imported object)

I have attached the max file and the dwg if anyone is wanting to have a go

[cosmickingpin]

Quick question before I wack at it, did you import the cad file into a mass family, which you then loaded into a revit project to apply walls and roof to?

[Tafka]

No I didn't. I created a new massing object in the revit project and then imported the dwg file into the massing object. I didnt make a new family (ie from file -> new family object).

[cosmickingpin]

I have a feeling if you create a new massing family, and then import the cad file into that, and then load that into a revit project you will see something you can use, without having tried yet, if that doesn't work I will see what i come up with.

Ahh yes I see your point. Give me a socond here. I will reexport it to cad I suspect the export setting to Cad are the culprit.

[Tafka]

I have just given that a shot... making a new mass family, importing the dwg into this, saving it and inserting it into a project. It makes no difference as I get the message that it contains no solid geometry (fair point as it was created in max) and again it only likes to select two rear polygons for doing absolutely anything with. For interest have attached the family file.

[cosmickingpin]

Yeah you are right I am seeing the same thing, I tried exporting it as a *.3ds and then importing that into cad and then using the familiy... You stumped me, now how did you create this object on max? I can see your modifier stack in your file before you collapsed it and converted to a edible mesh. i take it you extruded a poly line? Try keeping it the simple object without converting it to a editble mesh and see what that does, or give me the base object before you convert it to a edible mesh.

Any 3DMax gurus have any gray matter to lend here?

[Tafka]

Its not that special a 3D mesh(!) In fact I tried exporting a simple cube from max too and got the same results (I had to check!) It was originally a nurbs object which I then simplified and converted to an editible poly (may have converted it then to a mesh but cant remember and should make little difference to the object).

From the revit help files, it seems revit has issues if what it imports is not an ACIS mesh which it sees as a "solid" object which it can then cut up, analyse etc. AutoCAD can deal with these two but it may be in the converting the mesh to an ACIS solid which is an issue. I have tried importing to ACAD but cannot find a way of converting the object into a solid object (like what ACAD likes to boolean). And before anyone asks, I really want to keep working in max for modelling and document it in Revit as the massing modelling in revit cannot easily get the forms I am expreimenting with.

Whilst revit can see the mesh geometry it doesnt want to acknowledge it as being slicable etc. Any Max/ACAD super gurus know how to get this to work?

[cosmickingpin]

I GOT IT!
inport your cad filine into a revit project, export that back to cad (making the whole thing a solid), then import that file into your mass family and the whole thing should work.

Err wait that didn't work either...

[Chirag Mistry]

Just a thought....
I have seen this done using RHINO and exporting our to a .sat file. I can't find a way to export a .sat using MAX/VIZ.

[cosmickingpin]

Tried that, his object is not exporting as a *.sat.

Just a thought....
I have seen this done using RHINO and exporting our to a .sat file. I can't find a way to export a .sat using MAX/VIZ.