By Dennis Collin
Revit for many years has had an import from Sketchup Functionality which can prove useful in family creation and massing workflows. However occasionally it is useful to take a model from Revit into Sketchup for conceptual presentations.
This is possible via a plug-in found on the Autodesk app store. It is called Rvt2skp. The process is very simple just click on ‘Export’, choose the location to save the SKP file to and the plug in will do the rest. Although I don’t own the Sketch-up product I tested the file and found it goes cleanly into both AutoCAD and 3ds max. With basic transparency settings, colours and textures being preserved through the export process.
The image below shows a sample model exported from Revit using the SKP format into AutoCAD;
Of course, if producing visuals in 3dsmax this process isn’t necessary as Max has an excellent portfolio of import plug-ins including Revit and Sketch-up. However, having some choice in workflows in today’s challenging world of inter-operability and data exchange is always useful.