Revit 2013 - 3DS Max Design 2013 - Interoprability

By now you would have read what's new in Revit 2013 so I am not going to repeat what's already been highlighted elsewhere. For Revit Architecture 2013 new features you should read David's detailed analysis on his blog here.

One of my favourite enhancements in Revit 2013 is Interoperability. Autodesk has made a huge step forward in addressing Interoperability with Microstation, enhancing AutoCAD interoperability, DWF export iimprovements, IFC interoperability, and 3DS Max.

Revit 2013 and 3DS Max Design 2013 interoperability is very promising.
You can now directly link Revit files into 3DS Max Design and load selected views. You can also override material in 3DS Max and retain 3DS Max material settings/parameters when you reload Revit link file view. You can also add high level of detail to curved objects to make them smooth in 3DS Max. See following video from Autodesk.

NBS National BIM Library Live

NBS National BIM Library is live now! Although limited in content at the moment, it looks promising platform for the UK BIM content that is compliant with NBS/COBie etc. Stay tuned!

www.nationalbimlibrary.com

Digital Fabrication - BIM - Interoperability (and place for IFC)

In my previous post I talked about how to take Inventor part into Revit family using .ADSK file format.

Let's look at the bigger picture of interoperability between the two, Inventor & Revit.

As I discussed in my previous post, ADSK is better than SAT and DWG in a way that it brings material information and some identity parameters. But how different this is from IFC file format? IFC does do this and much more than ADSK (at this moment of time!). So why invent a new file format, ADSK? Maybe AutoDeSK has answer for this. The AEC industry has been suffering a lot due to interoperability issue so why add one more file format to already complex Interoperability issue. There may be some 'technical' reason to invent ADSK file format but while other high end parametric tools such as Digital Project can export IFC files and exchange with Revit (or other BIM tools) successfully then it is difficult to fathom why ADSK? Inventor cannot even export IFC files, somebody please correct me if I am wrong. Please see image below for the possible export options from Inventor.

We are working on a project where the entire facade was modelled in Digital Project and exported as IFC and imported straight into Revit. The result is amazing. It not only brings very clean 3D geometry but also brings in material information, with no compromise to file performance. The same IFC file imports fine in Navisworks and TeklaBIMSight. Wow! you can see the BIM jigsaw puzzle pieces coming together. Next, I wish we can import IFC files into Revit family environment so that components created by manufacturers in their BIM tools can be "shrinkwrap-exported" and brought straight into family file. As tools such as Inventor, Catia, Pro E etc are widely used in manufacturing industry adopting open standard file format such as IFC for information exchange makes more sense.

Conclusion: While the other organisations such as BuildingSmart, IAI, Tekla etc are working towards open standard file format, Autodesk could help the AEC industry/community by adopting open standard file format such as IFC as their preferred file format for information exchange rather than inventing new proprietary file formats.

Inventor Part to Revit Family

Digital prototyping and Building Information Modelling are the two most hot topics in today's digital AEC industry. Autodesk has two flagship tools in these areas, Autodesk Inventor and Revit. So how do we share data between the two? Let's take a look at the possible solutions.

Traditionally, 3D components have been exchanged using either .SAT or .DWG file formats. Since 2010 (correct me if I am wrong) Autodesk has introduced a new file format called .ADSK.

How different .ADSK is from traditional .SAT or .DWG file formats? Lets take a look at the quick comparison matrix below.

So .ADSK seems to be better choice than .SAT or DWG file formats. Let's find out how to export .ADSK file from Inventor and use it in Revit in the following short video.