Sketchup into Revit? Is this good practice?

[happystan5678]

Personally I'm a big fan of Sketchup, especially for demonstrating and animating quick schematic design ideas. Do many people take their Sketchup models into Revit or is this not a great practice?

I suppose once I've learned Revit the way I've learned Sketchup, it will become as easy to do quick, schematic Revit models to demonstrate my designs as it is now with Sketchup, but until then.....

[Scott D Davis]

The more detailed the Sketchup model is, the worse it is to bring into Revit. If you do basic massing studies in Sketchup, those work well to bring into Revit. Once you start modeling cornice moldings and window trims in Sketchup, well then that becomes a throw-away model as its not very useful in Revit.

[Scott Hopkins]

We have found that all of the pushing, pulling and tweaking that happens in a Sketchup conceptual model will often generate geometry that is slightly off axis when imported into Revit. Unless it is intentional, "slightly off axis" in working drawings should be avoided like the plague. For this reason, we like to start fresh with a clean revit model when a project moves into construction documents. Until Revit improves, Sketchup is still to tool of choice for conceptual design.

Holly ***** I just realized! Stan Zielinski of the University of Washington 1990 Masters program?! The last time I saw you, you were listening to Midnight Oil in Prof. Bosworth's Studio...

[happystan5678]

We have found that all of the pushing, pulling and tweaking that happens in a Sketchup conceptual model will often generate geometry that is slightly off axis when imported into Revit. Unless it is intentional, "slightly off axis" in working drawings should be avoided like the plague. For this reason, we like to start fresh with a clean revit model when a project moves into construction documents. Until Revit improves, Sketchup is still to tool of choice for conceptual design.

Holly ***** I just realized! Stan Zielinski of the University of Washington 1990 Masters program?! The last time I saw you, you were listening to Midnight Oil in Prof. Bosworth's Studio...

Scott Hopkins? Wow. Small world. You have one heck of a memory. I don't even remember what I was listening to back in 1990! It's funny that you do. Somehow I knew you'd end up back down in CA. I'll be down in San Diego next week at the CEFPI Conference. Any chance you'll be slumming down South next week? We have to catch up sometime, although you're hanging out in a little more expensive real estate than me these days.

Good to hear from you. e-mail me sometime happystan5678@gmail.com

[cliff collins]

We have been changing our SD workflow away from Sketchup to "all Revit all the time". I would suggest that you model in Revit right from the start in concept/SD phase. You will go a little bit slower, but you'll realise large productivity gains and a MUCH smoother workflow overall. And, the more you model in Revit, the quicker you get--I'm almost as fast now in Revit as our outstandingly fast Sketchup guys are. You also have the benefit of a BIM model for area calcs, analysis, sharing w/ consultants, clients, etc. right away.

Also, you can use FBX export to MaxDesign for rendering and animation--and produce very high-end presentations this way. A great way to explore materials, textures, lighting , etc in early concept phases.

If you never had Sketchup, you would not know the difference, and using only Revit really makes sense. The hard sell is getting Sketchup designers to model quickly in conceptual design with Revit. The tools are much more tedious and require a bit more definitive way of designing. We sketch by hand on buff for quick proportion studies, and then immediately model in Revit. The Massing tools and families are a great way to move quickly
thru SD in Revit.

Admittedly, it is still not quite as fast as Sketchup--or FormZ, Rhino, or other standalone modeling programs. But the BIM benefit far outweighs initial speed in non-BIM apps. converting Masses to Revit objects can be done, but is a bit cumbersome.
Sometimes, with very complex geometry, we still use the Sketchup>Mass>Revit workflow,
but only when pushed into it from extreme time constraints at the front end.

My 2 c worth.

Cheers.....

[brenehan]

Our office considers itself a very high end design office. Whether anyone likes it our not, Sketch up is a big part of our design resolution. We have to work in an environment where we use Revit and Shetch up. Our designers see Sketch up as a very quick way to generate design studies. Sketch up is such an easy tool to use to sculpt shapes, that it can not be ignored.
Having said that, the importing of sketch up into Revit is far from good, and 90% of the issues are on the Sketch up end.
However some tips I have to help other all Revit / Sketch up workflow.

Workflow Revit to Sketch up.
Export out using a DWG, 3D polymesh. Make sure you have designated layer settings for 3d exports. We use 3D files different than 2D flat files. Layer names that follow the Revit Categories is a good start. In general you will find the export from Revit to Sketch up works very well, with a very usable Sketch up file after importing.
We often export to Sketch up for designers to do component studies. An example would be a façade Study. Generate a 3d Revit view just for this export. Hold on to it for future updated exports. Ensure when you export you remove any façade from the study area, but ensure the model contains the major structural elements, columns and floors ect. The Studies require these to be some what accurate. Export it to a dwg file. Then opened in Sketch up. Make it into a Component. Then start your façade study. In the event the Revit model is updated, re-export the view, edit the Component in Sketch up and re-import the dwg model. As Sketch up does not have a linking system, using a component is the closest alternative.
After the study has finished, save the file out, delete the Component, and export the remaining to a dwg. Import the dwg file as an in-place family in a black Revit project. This can then be linked into your Revit project file.

Workflow Sketch up to Revit.
Getting good information from Sketch up into Revit is an ongoing struggle. Any comments in this thread would be much appreciated.
We have found the file comes in better by exporting from Sketch up to AutoCAD (dwg) and then bringing into Revit as a in-place family (be that a mass or generic model). If you use it in massing you will be unable to assign floors, or generate volume data from the mass.
There are two basic issues.
The inaccuracies of Sketch up (mentioned above), due to its inherent user modelling interphase. One of the issues we tend to have is faces that are intended to be modelled as co-planer faces are not. To add to the problem I don’t think the export function helps much.
Sketch up being face and thus mesh based is just not how Revit thinks/works. Revit thinks like real life construction items. There is no such thing in the construction industry that is a face only that has no thickness.
One thing we have tried doing is opening the exported dwg file in AutoCAD. Any of the faces that are not vertical / horizontal and off access, are very difficult to make sense of in Revit. By tracing the face with a closed 3D Polyline, and then extruding it, enables you to get the benefit out of true solit items.
We have found often when we want to use an imported Sketch up model, and then set one of the faces as the working plane, Revit doesn’t always like it. We have had some success with using the imported sketch-up as massing, then applying wall faces to it, and as a result being able to set the work plane off the wall.
It’s really imported to completely re-draw all Sketch up items as true Revit elements. It’s really important to know to edit the sketch up import you can not do it with-in Revit. You can only edit it in AutoCAD or Sketch up software, and then re-insert it. Unless you are a Sketch up guru avoid having to be dependent on an update it in Sketch up to update your Revit model.
Some general notes.
The people using Sketch up and Revit need to be good communicators.
The Sketch up designers must be understanding that it does not import well into Revit. Thus, minimise the use of Sketch up where possible.
If you have basic geometry, it will be quicker to do the study in Revit.


I really wish I had more answers with importing Sketch up to Revit. It bugs me the way Revit exports so well, and yet Sketch up imports so badly. Any thoughts would be great.

[cliff collins]

hi brenehan,

Have you tried getting the expert Sketchup modelers to bite the bullet and just begin modeling in Revit? Yes--it is a bit more tedious, and a bit slower--but the benefits of having a BIM model as soon as possible are obvious.

This is well worth the effort, from our experience. Most of it is getting the Sketchup guys over the mind gap of switching to Revit for modeling. There is a learning curve
and adjustment--which is frustrating at first. But I have seen that die-hard sketchup guys
are coming around to Revit, and getting in the "groove" after a project or 2.

Good luck!

cheers......

[Scott Womack]

[quote=cliff collins;890876]hi brenehan,

Have you tried getting the expert Sketchup modelers to bite the bullet and just begin modeling in Revit? Yes--it is a bit more tedious, and a bit slower--but the benefits of having a BIM model as soon as possible are obvious./quote]

One obvious ability is to schedule the gross floor areas in the Revit Masses, prior to actually making flors, etc. Sketch-up cannot provide that type of information.

[twiceroadsfool]

We have a designer here who loves to use sketchup... Dont get me wrong, i like sketchup as much as the next guy, its pretty fun for playing with things.

But honestly, i dont see the benefit to it, unless someone is bringing you the sketchup model. Even then, i only use it for opening and dimensioning while i build in Revit. Yeah, you can import to a mass family and wall by face, yadda yadda... But its messy, and i find i can rebuild it in revit a bit faster.

Honestly, he and i work side by side, him with sketch up and me with revit... And we both agree i can build faster than he can, plus we get drawings from it. Its just that he doesnt know how to use revit, lol...

[vgonzales]

I think the best work flow with SketchUp and Revit is a one way process. Model everything in Revit as much as possible and then export to SketchUp via DWG solids not meshes. Use SketchUp for presentations to the clients and quick design studies. But I would not recommend linking or importing SketchUp files into Revit. I would do it only if they just simple massing studies. Remodel anything from SketchUp again in Revit using the Revit tools provided. SketchUp can be a waste of time if you like to do a lot of detailed modeled with it then have to duplicate it in Revit in order to get construction drawings out of it. you might as well use AutoCAD with SketchUp and forget Revit. Nonetheless SketchUp is here to stay as part of the design process like it or not.