Revit and SketchUp have long been favoured by architects, engineers, and designers for their respective strengths in building information modelling and intuitive 3D design. Now, with the release of the Revit importer in SketchUp, these two powerful tools converge, opening up new possibilities and streamlining the design workflow.

“The Revit Importer sped up my importing and cleans up workflows from a couple of days to a few hours, even with complex models.”

Carl Goodiel, VDC Manager

These five tips will help you get the most out of this exciting integration.

Tip 1 - Prepare and Organise Your Revit Model

Before importing your Revit model into SketchUp, take the time to organise and optimise it. Group related elements, apply materials, and clean up unnecessary details in Revit itself. By doing so, you ensure a smoother import process and a cleaner, more manageable model in SketchUp.

Tip 2 - Fine-Tune Import Settings

When importing the Revit model into SketchUp, review and adjust the import settings to suit your specific needs. SketchUp provides options to control level of detail, units, and layers during import. Experiment with these settings to find the right balance between file size and model accuracy.

Tip 3 - Simplify and Optimise in SketchUp

After importing the Revit model, you might find that it contains more detail than necessary for your design purposes. Utilise SketchUp's tools to simplify and optimise the model. Remove unnecessary elements, reduce polygon count, and merge similar objects. This not only improves performance but also makes the model more manageable and easier to work with.

Tip 4 - Harness SketchUp's Modelling Tools

Once the Revit model is imported into SketchUp, take advantage of the intuitive modelling tools SketchUp offers. Explore the power of Push/Pull, Follow Me, and custom component creation to refine and enhance your design. These tools allow you to make modifications, add details, and experiment with alternative design options seamlessly.

Tip 5 - Unleash Visual Potential with SketchUp

SketchUp is renowned for its visualisation capabilities. After importing the Revit model, utilise SketchUp's features like SketchUp 3D Warehouse

to enhance its appearance and create compelling presentations. Apply materials, textures, and lighting effects to make the model visually appealing and realistic. Experiment with rendering options to produce high-quality visualisations or export the model to other rendering software for advanced rendering. Revit importer is just one of the great features in SketchUp that offers architects, engineers, and designers the opportunity to combine the strengths of both platforms and unleash their creative potential. If you’re keen to learn more about the SketchUp features that can help to improve your workflow, check out the webinar: Top 10 features you may have missed in SketchUp. If you’d like to test out the Revit importer for yourself, get the free Studio trial.