Create Revit Content from Autodesk Inventor Models

IMAGINiT Tricks Tutorial: Learn how to convert Inventor files into BIM models for Revit, and the improvements made to Inventor 2018 to help users with that process.

Editor's note: This tutorial courtesy of IMAGINiT Technologies.

Building information modeling (BIM) is a powerful tool that contractors, architects, engineers, and others have been utilizing more frequently every year. In the U.S. alone, BIM adoption has increased approximately 400% in the past 10 years and continues to grow every year. In this article, I am going to discuss how to modify Autodesk Inventor models with BIM Exchange so that they can be imported into other AEC applications such as Autodesk Revit with the needed metadata built in. In addition, I will be covering the enhancements made to Inventor 2018 to help users become more effecient in this process.

Enhancements

Autodesk has streamlined the process and enhanced the tools within Inventor to allow building product engineers a more effective and efficient way to export their design with BIM-compliant data into Revit. As an Inventor 2018 user, you will see workflow enhancements from 2017 that eliminate steps for converting part or assembly files to Revit Families. The images below depict the workflows recommended by Autodesk. Consider that the 2018 workflow is including how to bring Inventor content into Configurator 360 (steps 5 and 7), which is not covered in this article.


2018 Workflow


Previous Workflows


How to Convert Inventor Models

Let’s take a closer look at each of the steps required to successfully convert our Inventor models. In both workflows, step 1 states users must first open the needed file in Inventor. Step 2 states to simplify data in both workflows. The simplification process is where users will start to notice change in 2018.

Part Files

In Previous versions of Inventor, users needed to make sure that the features they used to create their designs in Inventor would carry over to Revit. The first step I always follow in this process is to check my design with the Check Revit Features command. Running the command generates a report telling you where errors are located.





The next step is to repair these failures within the model. To do this, go to the Environments tab and select Recognize Revit Features. These commands allow users to simplify or modify their Inventor part so they can be opened successfully in Revit.

Auto Recognize will go through the entire design and will try to convert all features to ones that can be recognized by Revit. It will give you options depending on what has been discovered in the model, if you would like to proceed with those selections. Once finished, a dialog box will tell you if the command was successful and will display your model. I am going to create two models: one that has been simplified and another that is left alone.



Not all models will be converted as you would like, or may expect. This is where using the manual commands will give you more control to adjust your model.

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