Six Tips To Maximize The Revit Importer
SketchUp’s much-anticipated, native Revit Importer headlined our 2023 Studio update. Now that you’ve had some time to test it out, use these six tips to step up your Revit to SketchUp workflow and save yourself — and your project team — hours or even days.
Spread the word — SketchUp’s Studio subscription now includes an all-new, native Revit Importer. We’re energized by the excitement and feedback we’ve heard from the SketchUp community since the official launch in February. The tips and tricks below will streamline your workflow from Revit to SketchUp and back again.
You’ll want to try this
The Revit Importer needs no introduction. Much like it sounds, the importer brings Revit models into SketchUp, converting families and building elements to SketchUp’s native tags and components. It optimizes geometry, creating a lightweight and well-organized SketchUp file that’s ready to use. What’s most exciting is the importer empowers everyone in the AEC industry — not just architects and high-powered Revit users — to very easily bring Revit files into SketchUp at any stage of the design.
Before we get to the workflow tips, let’s highlight just a few key scenarios where moving from Revit to SketchUp makes sense. These are the moments where the importer really shines.
Conceptualize and share — faster!
In all but the most idyllic of projects, you may come to a point where a design choice doesn’t work exactly as envisioned. Of course, there’s always a deadline, so you need to model and study alternate solutions quickly. SketchUp excels when it comes to conceptualizing and communicating ideas. Jump into SketchUp to make design decisions faster without committing to hours of detailed work in Revit.
Unlock new geometry
Even on the best days, complex geometry can be difficult to build and manipulate in Revit. Import your latest model into SketchUp to add new geometry that might otherwise be too time-consuming to build natively in Revit. 3D Warehouse, a library of millions of pre-built SketchUp models, speeds up your workflow and lets you explore 3D models that Revit doesn’t typically handle, like specific furniture from real-life brands, plants and landscape features, or specialty equipment.
Share with the extended team
SketchUp’s widespread use across the AEC industry means that the majority of your project partners are familiar with it — and if not, its intuitive tools are easy to pick up. Landscape architects need the latest 3D model to design accurate site context (not to mention SketchUp is great for showing trees and vegetation). General contractors may use SketchUp models for phased workflow planning. For project stakeholders that don’t work in Revit, the importer enables you to widely share up-to-date 3D models with minimal effort.
See what’s possible
Take your imported 3D model on-site using SketchUp for iPad, available in all SketchUp subscriptions. Open the model on your iPad for mobile walkthroughs, and use augmented reality to take stakeholders on a virtual tour of their soon-to-be project while you’re on the job site. Lightweight SketchUp models plus iPad make on-the-go show-and-tell easy.
SketchUp helps you more effectively ideate and communicate at any stage of the design process. With no shortage of ways the Revit Importer can both simplify and expedite your workflow — not to mention the ease of the import — you’ll be on the lookout for any excuse to jump into SketchUp.
Subscribed to Go or Pro, but not Studio? Take a look at these three interoperability tips for other ways to move from Revit to SketchUp.
Revit Importer Top Tips
With a little pre-planning and a few considerations, you can seamlessly transition from Revit to SketchUp.
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Try out the Revit Importer
Take the Revit Importer for a test drive with a free Studio trial. Don’t have access to a Revit file? Not to worry! You don’t need a Revit license to use the importer. Download this SketchUp HQ Revit model to test the workflows yourself, or watch the in-depth Revit Importer walkthrough to follow along with a live demo of these top tips.
If you’re ready to upgrade, purchase Studio or contact us to upgrade to Studio from your current subscription.
Learn about all the newest Sketchup tools and capabilities in the 2023 release post.
Excerpts from the original article on the SketchUp website.
