Revit to Arkio and back

Importing models from and to Revit requires a Pro or Enterprise license. You can learn more about our paid licenses on our website and can start a free 2 week trial from Arkio to try out this feature.

Our Revit plugin allows you to easily export Revit models to Arkio and import them back with all your markups and geometry as native Revit elements. Revit 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2022 are currently supported. The Arkio Revit plugin is included in our Windows installer found on our download page.

Revit to Arkio

To export your models from Revit you need to have the Arkio plugin installed, activate a 3D view that you like to export, and press the Export button. This will show a dialog where you can fine-tune your export settings (default settings will work well for most models).

Level of Detail - determines how much your curved objects (like handrails and chairs) will be optimized to lower polygons. If you are planning to work with your Revit models on less powerful devices like a smartphone, tablet, or the Oculus Quest we recommend putting this slider low.

Loading Revit exports in Arkio

The Revit project and view name will be automatically saved (or overwritten) to the Arkio import folder. Next time you will start Arkio or when you click the refresh button, the latest available models will be loaded in your create>import drawer. Clicking on the file name will open a sub-dialog with more information about that model and allows you to place the model on the table. (or update the currently loaded model to a newer version).

Models will be loaded in Arkio based on Revit's Origin and Project North rotation so the map-feature can be used to load surrounding buildings. When you load a Revit model in the scene the default modeling axis is changed to the Revit project North and the objects you add in Arkio will align to your Revit model.

If the Revit model has geometry modeled under the Origin the overlapping terrain can be cut away by creating a void around the model using the create cube tool. Making the void slightly bigger than the model enables teleporting and modeling on this underground geometry.

If your Revit model is floating in the air or far away from the center it means your Revit origin is far from your model. There are two ways to work around this:

You can fix your Revit coordinates by linking your Revit project in a new empty Revit file (also to load your Arkio creations). Move your linked model closer to your origin and to the ground level and export that model to Arkio.

You can also place and align the model manually in Arkio using this workaround

-cut/paste the folder containing the OBJ and textures from \Documents\Arkio\Import\Revit to \Documents\Arkio\Import\Models

-This will load the model as a generic 3D file that can be placed as an object in your scene (please make sure to select meters and placement bottom when you do this) 

The downside of this approach is that your Revit model will not be on the same coordinates when you export back to Revit and the model is no longer locked in the scene to prevent accidental moving

Updating a Revit model in Arkio

When a change is made in Revit you can overwrite your model with a new version by exporting the same project and view name. When the new version of the model is available a yellow update icon will show above the model in the Arkio scene. Clicking this icon with your VR laser or mouse will update that model with the new version. You can update all imported geometry in your scene at once by clicking on the "update all" icon on the top left of your import drawer. Arkio will keep the old versions of your imported models so you can always revert back when needed. You can access the older models in the import model dialog as a date dropdown.

Arkio to Revit

To export your active scene back to Revit you can use the export to Revit button in the model overview. 

This will create a new .arkiorvt file in the export path of your device. Once in Revit, you can import that file into Revit using the Arkio plugin found under Add-Ins.

Category - Arkio shapes can be loaded as Generic Models or Masses in Revit. The biggest difference between the two is that Generic Models will load as individual stacked shapes like in Arkio with all the correct materials and program information attached.

When choosing to import as Mass, Arkio geometry will be joined together to buildings masses that can be used for gross calculations and Revit massing functions like generating floors and facades from faces.

Materials - The main materials of arkio can be loaded, the program assigned colors or everything can be loaded without materials (white)

Delete previous - When there are already Arkio components loaded in the scene from a previous import and you want to load in a new proposal without creating duplicates you can decide to delete all the previously placed elements. If you want to keep both the old and new import you can just load it without this setting

Managing your Arkio imports - You can activate a special Arkio Workset or design option when you load Arkio imports. This will make it easier to organize or switch between your different design proposals or select and filter the Arkio geometry and make it conform to your company Revit modeling standards.

Working with the imported Revit geometry

All Arkio shapes will be converted to native volumetric Revit geometry that can be used as 3D design reference. Imported models placed in Arkio will be loaded as Revit families that can be updated or changed to other families. Even the 3D map buildings and sketches made on the geometry will be loaded in Revit for design communication.

Arkio props will be exported as native optimized Revit families with the corresponding position and rotation. These families are compatible with Enscape and can be further customized once loaded into your projects.

BIM data

Program data from Arkio gets imported as property fields when importing as Generic models. Using a  filter and Generic Model schedule the Area outcomes of Arkio can be easily translated to Revit schedules and reports.

Known issues/limitations:

• Loading of heavy files is not recommended, try to keep your models below 200K polygons to avoid crashes and VR performance loss when working with mobile devices like the Oculus Quest.
  
• Sometimes failing imported models affect the loading of other files. Cleaning your temporary ResourceCache files can solve most issues.

Best practices Revit modeling

• Arkio optimized geometry from Revit but as Revit models can be too large and heavy for VR and mobile devices special optimization might be needed. We added a short guide to help optimize models coming from Revit.