For manufacturers working with customers in construction it’s often a requirement to provide product models in a BIM compatible format, usually a Revit format. With Autodesk Inventor 2021 we have the capability to work with Revit data and to share this data directly from the Inventor BIM Content Environment
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When exporting we can save out to the rfa format, but there is no option to select which Revit version we are saving from.
This can cause problems if your client is using an earlier Autodesk Revit version to you.
However there
is a method you can follow to setup your system to be able to export out up to
three version earlier than your current version.
In this blog
article we will provide you the required setup steps and an iLogic rule that
will allow you to access this undocumented feature.
Installation
Requirements
- Install the matching Inventor legacy
version. This can be up to three versions behind latest release so
currently 2018.
- Install the latest Inventor version, currently
2021.
- Obtain the latest version of Navisworks media. Copy RFATranslator.Translate.RevitServerLegacy.exe from Navisworks install files to legacy Inventor version Revit interoperability folder.
e.g. copy from Autodesk_Navisworks_Manage_2021_Multilingual_Win_64bit_dlm\x64\NAVMAN\Autodesk\Ldr\IVS\Bin
to
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Autodesk Shared\Revit Interoperability for Inventor 2018\Rx\
- You can Install the Revit legacy version to check your
exported models and also to gain access to the Revit templates. If you
don’t have a Revit license you can run it in view only mode. If you need
to make any post export modifications you will require a Revit license to
make any changes to the exported file in Revit.
iLogic Rule
You will
require an iLogic rule to access the custom export functionality.
Create the
following as an external rule.
Dim oBIMComp As
BIMComponent
Dim selectedTemplate As String
Dim targetFile As
String
oBIMComp = ThisApplication.ActiveDocument.ComponentDefinition.BIMComponent
Dim templateFileDlg As Inventor.FileDialog = Nothing
InventorVb.Application.CreateFileDialog(tFileDlg)
templateFileDlg.DialogTitle()
= "Select Template for Export"
templateFileDlg.Filter = "Revit Family Template (*.rft)|*.rft"
templateFileDlg.InitialDirectory
= "C:\ProgramData\Autodesk\RVT 2018\Family
Templates\English"
templateFileDlg.CancelError
= True
On Error Resume
Next
templateFileDlg.ShowOpen()
If Err.Number
<> 0 Then
Return
ElseIf
templateFileDlg.FileName
<> "" Then
selectedTemplate
= templateFileDlg.FileName
End If
Dim oNameValueMap As NameValueMap
oNameValueMap = ThisApplication.TransientObjects.CreateNameValueMap
oNameValueMap.Add("CustomRevitFamilyTemplate", selectedTemplate)
oNameValueMap.Add("RevitFileVersion", "Legacy")
Dim oFileDlg As
Inventor.FileDialog
= Nothing
InventorVb.Application.CreateFileDialog(oFileDlg)
oFileDlg.Filter = "Revit Family Files (*.rfa)|*.rfa"
oFileDlg.InitialDirectory
= ThisDoc.Path
oFileDlg.CancelError = True
'On Error Resume Next
oFileDlg.ShowSave()
If Err.Number
<> 0 Then
Return
ElseIf
oFileDlg.FileName
<> "" Then
targetFile
= oFileDlg.FileName
End If
oBIMComp.ExportBuildingComponentWithOptions(targetFile, oNameValueMap)
MessageBox.Show("Export to " & targetFile & "
finished.", "RFA Export Rule
Complete")
There is more to BIM though than just the model itself. If you need to know more about BIM as a manufacturer and what’s required, please contact us by emailing info@symetri.co.uk. We also have on-demand webinars focused around illogic, along with training courses and services to enable you to boost your productivity.
