I’m sure there are a lot of members who have the same task. Convert Revit families to Sketchup files. I use Revit versions 2021 and 2024. Sketchup Pro Studio 2023 is already installed on a desktop Windows 11 enterprise PC.
Can anybody give hints, proposes, workflows. I have about 1000 Revit families files (rfa) of windows/doors/facades systems which I want to share with the ScetchUp community.
Thanks for you help!
Door example for rfa files I want share with the SketchUp community you can find here:
https://www.bimobject.com/en/jansen/product/jansen_janisol_door/download/jansen/Jansen_janisol_door
Please download; Jansen Janisol door - Revit V2019.zip
There are already windows and doors example in the SketchUp-datawarehouse. My target is to create Sketchup content on the base of Revit rfa files.
Roger
Would it be make sence to bundle Revit families (rfa) in Revit projekt file (rvt). I can do that but the result in ScetchUp is useful for SketchUp users?
Currently you would place the family inside a RVT model, set its parameters, and then use the SketchUp Studio Revit importer to import the RVT model into SketchUp.
https://www.bimobject.com/en/jansen/product/jansen_economy_50_window/download/jansen/Jansen_economy_50_window
Example for different window types (revit project file). I’ll try your propose. Can I give you the result? Just to get your opinion if the solution would be useful für Scetchup users?
Roger
I’ve been requesting the ability to import .rfa into Sketchup since the Revit importer came out and have also been told that it can’t be done without Revit because .rfa doesn’t contain geometry. When I pointed out that Vectorworks can indeed import .rfa files and save them out as .rvt. I’ve been met with silence.
Please Sketchup… review what Vectorworks is doing to import these files and add this ability to the revit importer. 99% of files that I need to bring into Sketchup from manufacturers is provided as Revit families, not .rvt files. Currently I’m asking my colleague who has vectorworks to simply open them and save them as .rvt files for me.
I do not want to purchase Revit, nor Vectorworks. Thanks
How much additional are you willing to pay if SketchUp were to provide the ability to do the import you wish for?
wrong answer, it’s a very big request from the market. I know many business colleques who have exactly the same wishes. So if Trimble want to push sketchup, the interfaces have to work.
1 Like
@Hamlit @rwollhaupt Are you aware that there are standard exchange formats for 3D models?(with or without information…) , wouldn’t it be better to try to make them work rather than proprietary formats? rfa is not a standard format, nor is rvt.
2 Likes
My intention is to make our many many Revit families available in Sketchup format. I was hoping to get tips here in the community on an optimal workflow for the conversion.
Being that I am already paying $400 more per year simply for the ability to import Revit files over Standard Sketchup… nothing. (I have no use for Scan Essentials, or V-Ray)
If I had to pay more than that, then I might as well just buy a subscription to Revit LT, which I’m trying to avoid because I dislike how Autodesk locks everything down.
The fact is, a lot of architects we work with use Revit and supply Revit models. They are open to us using other software as consultants but I feel as if I’m fighting an uphill battle. The Revit importer was huge news for me in my quest to not have to use Revit.
However, one fact that I can’t change is that a ton of product manufacturers (for us lighting fixtures), widely provide .RFA files as their “BIM Models”. Not RVT. Not IFC, or any other format that I can bring into Sketchup.
As far as how much I’d be willing to pay… The same I am now, but you can take Scan essentials, and you can take, V-Ray. Those items are not nearly as important to my workflow as this one feature would be.
What would be awesome. … Please consider developing the Revit importer to include .RFA. Then, consider breaking it off as a separate package add-on to Sketchup Pro. where you don’t have to buy V-RAY and Scan Essentials if you will never use those items.
Thanks for your consideration.
The best way I have found is dump a load of .rfa Families into a clean Revit project, export the .rvt project file to .dwg, then Import the .dwg into Sketchup. The Families should come in as Components with some of the data still attached to them such as instance name or definition.
The downside is the tediousness of manually dropping all of your families into one project file in Revit to begin with. I have yet to find a quick way to get lots of family items into the model at once, I wouldn’t care if they are all jumbled on top of each other, for the export process that would be fine, but it looks like you can only insert one at a time in Revit…
Exported to dwg and then imported into Sketchup:
1 Like
Revit model files (.RVT) can be imported directly into SketchUp Studio.
RFA files are not model files, they are a sort of DNA for Revit to build a model of the intended object.
Yes, so as I say, put the families into a model file (in Revit), save the file as a project file (.rvt) and then when you export to .dwg and import said dwg into SketchUp you will have those families converted into components
The Revit import function in Studio is a bit flimsy if you ask me. I tried it but it didn’t work with the Revit version 2024 that I was using, and Revit is annoying with software versions, so SketchUp needs to able to cope with that
When did you try? I don’t currently use Revit so I don’t have recent files to test, but I understand that the import extension has been updated to support v.2024.
I also understand that another possible route is to import the RVT into TrimbleConnect, and the resulting TrimBim file can then be imported into SketchUp.
