Tuesday, May 15, 2018

Infraworks to Revit add-in

Autodesk has a new add-in listed in the Autodesk Desktop App called Infraworks to Revit. Don't get too excited just yet, unless you design bridges/tunnels in Revit. I am sure this functionality will expand in the future, but right now this add-in just supports bridges and tunnels.

If you are not familiar with Infraworks, in a super simplistic sense, it is to Civil 3D what FormIt is to Revit. In reality, Infraworks is much more sophisticated and I have heard that Autodesk is putting more resources into developing this preliminary design tool, than Civil 3D itself (but I have no way of knowing this for sure). The Infraworks screenshot below shows an area created automatically just by selecting a region; with grade, aerial iamge, existing roads and bridges, and even 3D building where public GIS data is available. New surfaces, roads and bridges can easily be added. Then, the surfaces, roads, bridges can be pushed into Civil 3D for further refinement and documentation. Some Civil 3D elements can also be imported into Infraworks.


Using Revit for detailed design of bridges and tunnels in InfraWorks; this Revit add-in allows you...
to make changes to a bridge or tunnel in InfraWorks, and push those changes to the existing Revit model for that bridge or tunnel. Autodesk Revit 2019 is required.

Below is a bridge I created with two clicks in the sample Infraworks project shown above. You then simply right-click on the bridge in Infraworks and select Send to Revit.


Some coordinate systems are not supported, so you may be prompted to select a more formal option.

Where do you want to save the file...

Saving...

Results in Revit are shown below. As you can see the grade, roads, buildings, etc., are left behind. Once in Revit, the various structures can now receive Revit's rebar and be detailed for bidding and construction. If changes are made to the bridge in Infraworks, the changes can be pushed out and replace the old data in Revit, where as much information as possible is preserved.

A super quick spin of the Infraworks-created Revit model in Enscape...

One more Enscape image...

Ultimately, the Infraworks to Revit add-in within Revit only lists information about the Infraworks modeling already loaded into the current project.

Here is the information shown based on the Infraworks data present in the current Revit model.

 Here is a super simple video capture of the Infraworks UI and a sample model...

Here is a related Revit Idea which requests more support for this workflow: click here to vote.

Stay tuned for some more Infraworks, Revit and even Enscape fun.

For BIM Chapters updates, follow @DanStine_MN on Twitter