Import from Revit

Revit's .rvt format is closed: nothing outside Revit can read its model. Studio reads the part of the file that is open (which Revit release saved it, whether it is workshared, and its preview picture) and gets the model itself as IFC, from your own Revit.

What you need

• Revit, installed and licensed, on a Windows computer. Urbium does not bundle, sell or license Revit: you need your own copy and licence. Revit runs only on Windows, so on macOS and Linux use the export by hand on the computer that has Revit.
• For the one-step import, the Urbium add-in, installed in that Revit. Revit cannot export IFC when another app asks, so Studio asks through a small add-in Urbium wrote for this. The add-in is not published yet: until it is, Studio tells you what the file is and you export it by hand.

Without Revit you can still bring in any IFC file with Import IFC… (⇧⌘I). See IFC and ifcxa.

Import a .rvt file

1. In Studio, choose File › Import from Revit… (⌥⇧⌘T). It also runs from the Command Palette… (⌘K).
2. Pick the .rvt file.
3. A job, "Asking Revit for IFC", runs while Revit opens the file and exports it. A large project can take minutes.
4. Studio then imports the IFC as a new project, named after the file, and opens it in BIM mode.

The job has Cancel. Cancelling stops Studio waiting, but Revit cannot be interrupted and finishes the export on its own.

The command is greyed out while a project is opening or importing, and while a Revit or Archicad export is already running.

When Revit does not answer

Instead of an error, Studio opens a dialog headed with what the file is, for example "Revit 2024 project", or "Revit 2024 project · workshared (central)" for a central model, with the file's preview picture. It then says what is missing:

• "Revit runs only on Windows": you are on macOS or Linux. Export the file by hand on a Windows computer with Revit.
• "Open in Revit to export": on Windows, no Revit with the Urbium add-in answered. Open Revit and click Try again, or export by hand.
• "The Revit that answered is 2023": the file was saved in a later Revit than any running (with more than one Revit open, Studio uses the first that can open the file), and Revit cannot open files from a later release. Open the file in its own release, or a later one, and click Try again.
• "Not a Revit project": the file is not a Revit file at all.

Each dialog also explains the export by hand and offers Import IFC…. Esc closes the dialog.

Export by hand instead

1. Open the project in Revit.
2. Choose File > Export > IFC and save. IFC4 Reference View is a good setup for Studio.
3. In Studio, click Import IFC… in the dialog (or press ⇧⌘I), and pick that file.

The project is named after the IFC file.

Back to Revit

Studio writes Revit-friendly IFC: walls with a location line, types and material layers, and the same GlobalId on every export (see IFC and ifcxa).

1. In Studio, choose Export IFC… (⌥⌘E) and save.
2. In Revit, either open the file (File > Open > IFC), which makes a new Revit project from it, or link it into an existing one (Insert > Link IFC), which keeps it as a reference you can reload after each export.

Limit. Revit turns IFC into its own elements as best it can, and how well depends on the element. Urbium has not yet checked this round trip in Revit itself.

Limits

Limit. A Revit project comes in as IFC: what Studio gets is what Revit's IFC export writes. Studio never changes the .rvt. A workshared central model is opened detached, so the central file and its worksets are left alone.

Limit. Each import makes a new project. Importing the same file again does not update the one you imported before.

Limit. Studio reads the Revit release and worksharing from the file, but not its units or its model: those need Revit.

Limit. If you open another project while Revit is exporting, Studio drops the Revit file rather than switching away from the project you chose.

Limit. If Revit has not finished after 30 minutes, the job fails. An error from Revit, or an export that writes no file, also fails the job, with the reason in its row.

For your IT

Studio talks to the Urbium add-in on 127.0.0.1 only, trying ports 19850 to 19859, and only on Windows. An export needs a secret the add-in writes into the Windows user's own local app data folder (%LOCALAPPDATA%\Urbium\Revit), so another user on the same computer cannot ask your Revit to export a file. Nothing leaves the computer: Studio does not upload Revit files anywhere. The IFC file is saved into a folder of its own in the system's temporary folder, and that folder is removed the next time the same Studio window imports from Revit.