I-model export from Revit level/color conversion table

can someone point me to the family-> level/color conversion table that the I-model plug-in in Revit uses? I have a family (windows) that all of the components of a family are converted to a single level/color so the 'glass' and 'trim' can not be isolated for material assignment.

I have tried the 'export to DGN' conversion table, the 'export to DWG' and some others and nothing seems to affect the I-model export. I assume there is a hidden conversion table that the plug-in uses that is not available from the menus. If this is the case, why didn't Bentley use the existing DGN conversion table that Revit already has in it?

The version of Revit is 2014, if that makes a difference.

thanks

-John

  • FWIW, AECOsim Building Designer Ss5 includes a tool called the RFA Interpreter, that allows you import RFAs directly into the product and place as BIM components.  



  • Thanks Steve, I have played a bit with that tool, but our company uses Revit on most projects and I have been asked to render some pretty large exiting models.

    ost of the part/family exports to unique level/color combinations so assigning materials in SS5 is straight forward. Some parts (windows) have a definition that puts all of the window geometry on one level/color and since they come in as shared cells, it isn't possible to assign or attach a material to a portion of it without dropping in. This would be very time consuming on the large condo project I have that contains more than 100 windows.

    I'm still baffled as to why the I-model exporter doesn't use the DGN export configuration variables in Revit.

  • John:  I'm not sure of how the process works now, but in the very beginning, the i-Model for Revit was a combination of pushing out DWG geometry combined with IFC data, then washing it down, compressing the geometry, etc.   In the beginning, I remember using the DWG table (I used the AIA layer table, and it worked, but your mileage may vary)...

    If, as you say, you tried using the DWG text file, I'm not sure why that didn't work...as my recollection is that it used to do so.

    As you say, I'd like to see some more control when saved out to i-model as well.

    If you are pushing out for rendering purposes, you may consider pushing out an FBX or a Collada file instead, and bringing that into AECOsim...just as another way.

    Cheers!

    Thanks,

    Shawn

    ------------

  • thanks Shawn, I did try changing settings in the DWG options as well without any changes. I even changed the tables from AIA to a European table and the layers still took on the "AIA" format. I did look into the IFC options, but they didn't look like they were going to alter the layer outputs.

    I will try the FBX output next, I am only trying to isolate geometry for material assignments.

    I haven't checked this forum too much, but I-models do become editable when referenced into a clean file and 'copied up' to become active. Not sure how many people know this.

  • An enhancement of the Revit I-model plugin to split up the geometry into different level/colors is now under investigation. When we have a rough estimate of the work involved I'll update this post.