Rfa to skp file conversion

Developers Ruby API
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1

Hello Community,
I have some rfa (Revit family) files and I want to create similar geometry in SketchUp. I’ve few questions and any suggestions are highly appreciated.

  1. How can I convert a rfa (Revit family file) file to a skp file without any significant data loss?
  2. If rfa to skp conversion is possible what are the data loss?
  3. If there’s no solution for rfa to skp conversion, then what would be appropriate intermediate format that could help to the conversion without a significant data loss? (rfa => Intermeiate format => skp)
  4. Can dwg / parasolids be a good intermediate format?

@rwollhaupt I saw a similar post from you. Did you find any solution?
@dezmo can you please suggest me something?

PS: I’m not aware of Parasolid, someone just suggested me about it and I didn’t find it helpful when explored about Parasolid.

2

Unfortunately, I don’t have significant experience with imports, I don’t know much about Revit files in particular, but, of course, I can ‘suggest you something’… :innocent:

However it is not really clear from your post, I assume you want to create an importer Extension, since you posted it in Ruby API category.

Currently Ruby API allow the following file types to import:
3DS, DAE, DEM/DDF, DWG/DFX, IFC, KMZ, STL
File: Importer Options — SketchUp Ruby API Documentation
The RFA format is not among of these.
So, if you want to write an importer, the above formats can be the obvious intermediate formats.

Moreover, as far as I know RFA file is not a model file, I’m not sure it is contains any geometries but a kind of parametric data’s which can be used in RVT file, perhaps can be similar as a Live Component in Sketchup. So most likely you must need to think about RVT format as an other obvious intermediate format…

The Sketchup Team recently (~2021) introduced a paid extension - Revit-importer - that can import RVT files (which contain geometry). (However, this is not exposed into Ruby API.)

I guess any file conversion have a good chance to lose a data, In my experience, the geometries are importing more or less okay, but a kind of “metadatas”, like conceptual entity (circles, arcs) or Layer/Tag, material… have a bigger chance to be lost or mismatched…
I’m not sure how much is the “significant data loss” you meant and what is the amount of mistakes can called as significant.

3

Yes, I was trying to create an extension to import rvt/ rfa files.

I got to know about Revit Importer while exploring the options online. I tried to import rvt files using “Importer Options” but didn’t succeed as rvt format is not supported by ruby API.
File: Importer Options — SketchUp Ruby API Documentation

By significant data loss, I mean the loss of below data:

  1. Detailing item (2D) / Conceptual entity
  2. Actual geometry (3D)
  3. Materials
  4. Layers
  5. Parameters etc.
4

The RFA format is not actually a model file but a collection of parameters and instructions for Revit to build the object. As itself it cannot currently be imported. The only current solution is to place the family into a Revit model and use the Revit importer to import that into SketchUp.

I understand that the RFA format is proprietary to Autodesk and not open to any API.

5

I believe it will be a bit difficult to create an extension with a Free Plan. However, you should consider the options from Speckle, perhaps they support RFA files and you can transfer them to SketchUp conveniently.