Exporting revit files to sketchup

In this post, we will cover the less common workflow of going from Revit to Sketchup and discuss some recommended techniques and some common errors to watch out for. On the surface, it can seem fairly simple to export Revit to Sketchup, but here are some techniques that should make your life a little easier before importing to Sketchup. I highly recommend that you draw a set of model lines around your Revit model to use as a reference after imported to Sketchup. As shown later in this tutorial, it can be difficult to align the multiple models in Sketchup without these lines to snap to.

Another technique that can help when exporting Revit to Sketchup is to export multiple models which contain a few model categories rather than one model containing all model categories. Although Sketchup maintains layers for visibility, it is still much easier to manage when individual models contain a common model category. Now that you have your model prepped, you are ready to export your 3D views as individual model as the next step in transitioning from Revit to Sketchup. In this DWG Export window, you are presented with several options including the option to select multiple views to be exported in batch.

Once the relevant views are displayed, simply check the box under the Include column to select the 3D views to be exported from Revit to Sketchup. One important detail that often gets overlooked when transitioning your model from Revit to Sketchup is the DWG file version.

To change this setting, click the Modify Export Setup button. You will then be prompted to save the DWG files. Browse to an appropriate target folder location to save the files. Now that you have successfully exported your CAD files, you are ready to complete the process of converting your model from Revit to Sketchup. Model location is also not transferred in the export. The SketchUp file is saved as version 8, to retain maximum compatibility.

Control Visual style, detail level and SketchUp file version is controlled by the exporter settings menu. Model appearance and geometry is identical to the previously mentioned plugin, while location and sun settings are preserved.

Make sure you are in the 3D orthographic view when you export the model. Import the model into SketchUp Pro. Here is what the Revit example house looks like after the import. As mentioned above, there is a trade off between materials and editability when deciding on which method to use. The geometry exported using the two plugins above is triangulated, and faces that share a common edge in Revit result in two edges that are very close together in SketchUp. A box that normally has 6 faces and 12 edges will have 12 faces and 30 edges.

This causes a large increase in the number of edges and faces, and geometry cannot be pushed and pulled, as neighboring faces are not joined. A downside to the DWG export is that subregions in topography are not separated from each other, which makes applying materials time consuming. If the topo surface is left white, all of the lines that form the surface, including the subregions, are hidden, which means that any roads, sidewalks or other areas will not be visible in SketchUp.