Revit¶

Overview¶

The OMNIVERSE® REVIT CONNECT® Plug-In offers a simple toolkit for Revit Users to send and live sync their model data to an Omniverse Nucleus. This not only gives Revit users a first class renderer through Omniverse View or Omniverse Kit but also the ability to open, edit and sync with any of the NVIDIA Omniverse™ Connect applications. Now, depending on the use case, Revit users can choose the workflows and pipelines that work best for their needs while maintaining up to date revisions for all downstream consumers of their work.

Install Instructions¶

Please see Launcher Documentation for Installing Connectors.

User Interface¶

The Omniverse Revit Plugin brings Revit into the Omniverse Platform through the use of NVIDIA Omniverse™ Connect tools similar to other NVIDIA Omniverse™ Connect applications.

With the Plugin installed, Revit should display an Omniverse Menu now visible in the top menu.

Clicking this menu will reveal the ribbon panel for Omniverse Interactions.

Send to View¶

Sends your file directly to Omniverse View. Simply click “Send to View” and Omniverse View will launch with your model loaded and ready to go. If you do not have View installed, you will see the Settings dialog.

Note

You must be sure that Omniverse View is installed or that you can access it from a server for this feature to work. See Settings for more details.

Note

When you Send your file, you create a connection for Live Sync which is visible in the Live Sync Path dialogue.

Send to View (Video)¶

Live Sync (Video)¶

Publish Project¶

Publishes your file to the desired location as a named Project. Publishing your project to your NVIDIA Omniverse™ Nucleus allows you to continue your work in other Omniverse Apps and connectors.

Note

When you export your file, you create a connection for Live Sync which is visible in the Live Sync Path dialogue.

When Publish is clicked, the Revit model is saved as “child” .usd file, with a name matching the Revit model name. A parent project.usd is created with a reference to the child .usd file.

Element	Result
Refresh	Updates the Window with Latest Data
Left/Right	Moves Through the Current Directory Structure in a Step By Step Fashion
Create New Folder	Creates a New Directory at Current File Path
Left Pane	Lists NVIDIA Omniverse™ Nucleus Directories (If Logged-In) and Local Drives / Directories
Right Pane	Lists Files in Currently Selected Directory
Project Folder	The location and name of the project to create
Save format	Allows Selection of File Export Type
Description	Text to be used as the text on the file checkpoint
Show Publish Options	Display the Settings dialog so that user can select Publish/Export options
Publish	Publishes the Revit file using the Project Workflow.
Cancel	Stops the Export Process and Closes Publish Dialogue

Export as Prop¶

Like Publish Project, this exports your file to the desired location as a more compact Prop format

Note

When you export your file, you create a connection for Live Sync which is visible in the Live Sync Path dialogue.

When Export clicked, the Revit model is saved as a .usd file.

Element	Result
Refresh	Updates the Window with Latest Data
Left/Right	Moves Through the Current Directory Structure in a Step By Step Fashion
Create New Folder	Creates a New Directory at Current File Path
Left Pane	Lists NVIDIA Omniverse™ Nucleus Directories (If Logged-In) and Local Drives / Directories
Right Pane	Lists Files in Currently Selected Directory
Project Folder	The location and name of the project to create
Save format	Allows Selection of File Export Type
Description	Text to be used as the text on the file checkpoint
Show Publish Options	Display the Settings dialog so that user can select Publish/Export options
Export	Exports the Revit file as a Prop file
Cancel	Stops the Export Process and Closes Export Dialogue

Batch Export¶

Use this feature to export all or a subset Revit files within a folder (up to 3 levels of depth from the root folder) as props or projects. The hierarchy of the folders and files is preserved in the export.

Note

Select either as Projects or as Props depending on the intended result.

Select the root folder containing the files you would like to export.

Check / Uncheck the files you want to export / not export respectively.

Specify the output location you would like to export these files to and the batch export begins.

Additional Notes:

Revit files which are lower than the current version will be automatically upgraded
User will be required to click through Revit UI / popups as they appear, including workset selection, errors.

Live Sync¶

The Live Sync toggle switches between a compact “Off” state and and a more detailed “On” state. When Live Sync is on in Revit and in View, changes made in the Revit model are updated in View in real-time.

Setting	Result
Live Sync	Toggle to enable / disable live sync on current file.
Path	When connected to a file, will show path to linked file.
Connect	Opens a dialog where you can select the .usd file to link with.

Account¶

The Account dialog allows users to connect to their NVIDIA Omniverse™ Nucleus Server for Exporting, using Live Sync and for Mounts.

Setting	Result
Server	Address of Omniverse Nucleus Server
Ok	Begins the Connection with Selected User/Server
Cancel	Stops the Sign-In Process and Closes the Sign-In Window

Note

If you have trouble logging into Omniverse via the Revit Plugin, try Launching Revit as Administrator.

Settings¶

The settings dialog allows you to select a preferred View install as your viewer.

Note

You will need to have View installed and selected to use Send to View.

Send to View Settings	Result
Unset	No View Settings (This setting disables Send to View)
Send to Local	Omniverse View Launch Path
Use Current/Use Custom	“Use Current” locates current View Installs Automatically, “Use Custom” uses the Custom View Location value
Custom View Location	Allows Selections of View Installs not Found by Automatic
Send to Server	Omniverse Remote View Launch Path
Use Current/Use Custom	“Use Current” locates current Remote View Installs Automatically, “Use Custom” uses the Remote Launcher location value
Remote Launcher	Allows for Selection of a Remote Viewer
Render Size	Render Quality to Use in View when Launching Remotely
Project/Prop toggle	Determines the output type when using Send To View. See Publish Project and Export As Prop for details
Save	Commits the Changes and Closes the Window
Cancel	Closes the Window and Discarding the Changes

Publish/Export Options	Result
Include cameras	When checked, all elevations in the the Revit model are exported as cameras
Include lights	When checked, Revit Light objects are exported
Include BIM Information	The feature is under development
Include Vegetation	When checked, all plants in the Revit model are exported
Include Rooms	When checked, exports rooms within the model as mesh volumes.
Include Spaces	When checked, exports spaces within the model as mesh volumes.
Include Drawings	When checked, exports drawings as textured mesh planes anchored at real-world scale to the model.
Enable Family Instancing	When checked, export Revit Family objects
Use Material Mapping	When this and Use Autodesk Materials are both checked, mapped materials are used in place of Autodesk rendering assets.
Use Autodesk Materials	When checked, use the rendering assets of Revit materials
Export By Selected Views	When checked, users can export views within a single Revit files as separate USDs.

Export By Selected Views¶

With this setting checked, users can export views within a single Revit files as separate USDs. Depending on whether the user has selected prop or project export, the USDs are combined into a single project or not.

This feature is intended for models whose elements are separated by views showing worksets, phases, or other forms of categorization set by the user.

../_images/revit_release-notes_108_2_2211_4ExportBySelectedViews.png

Similar to the Batch export UI, users can select which views to export. For example, this Brownstone model has views separating interior, exterior and FF&E elements:

../_images/revit_release-notes_108_2_2211_6SelectedViewsStep1.png

When exported as a project to Omniverse, elements in views are exported as separate USD files and combined into a single project (viewed in Create):

../_images/revit_release-notes_108_2_2211_6SelectedViewsStep2.gif

Additional Notes¶

If an element is shown in multiple views, it will be exported to each USD representing that view.
Names of exported views take the provided name of the file in the export UI + the name of the view.

Export Log¶

With logging enabled in settings, warnings and errors encountered in export as surfaced in a simple UI after export. This can provide some clarity on elements which failed to convert.

Drawing Export¶

With this setting checked, you can now export drawings from Print Sets as textured mesh quads which are anchored in place to their respective areas.

../_images/revit_release-notes_108_2_2228_drawings.png

To create a print set, open the Print dialog in Revit. You have the ability to choose which print set’s drawings you would like exported to the model.

../_images/revit_release-notes_108_2_2228_printSets.png

Drawings must have crop regions in their view in order to anchor to the model. If a drawing wasn’t successfully exported, this is because the drawing did not possess a crop region.

Drawings are located in the USD hierarchy under the path World/{modelName}/Media/Drawings , which is invisible by default.

../_images/revit_release-notes_108_2_2228_elevation_trans2.png

Use drawing export in combination with the Section widget in Create to bring your floorplans to life:

../_images/revit_release-notes_108_2_2228_drawings_gif.gif

Additional Notes¶

Transparency can be applied in images in Create by modifying the material.

Room & Space Export¶

You can now check Include Rooms and Include Spaces in the settings window. This will export these areas as volumes.

Rooms and spaces are located in the USD hierarchy under the path World/{modelName}/Geometry/Rooms , which is invisible by default.

../_images/revit_release-notes_108_2_2228_roomVolumes.png

In versions 2022 and 2023, you can select a color scheme with which to color the exported rooms - this will create new materials in your USD.

../_images/revit_release-notes_108_2_2228_roomScheme.png

Additional Notes¶

Volume of room object may be smaller than the volume of the room.
If a valid color cannot be generated, a random or default one is assigned.

About¶

The About dialog shows the current version information, and provides helpful links to access Release Notes and to Get Support

File creation from Send to View, Publish Project or Export as Prop¶

Exporting your project to your NVIDIA Omniverse™ Nucleus allows you to continue your work in other Omniverse Apps and connectors.

Note

When you export your file, you create a connection for Live Sync which is visible in the Live Sync Path dialogue.

Materials¶

When sending your materials to Omniverse View, we replace the low quality textures and shaders associated with Revit and replace them with High Quality Custom Materials inside of Omniverse View. This is done by material mapping and can be controlled via CSV.

CSV and Materials¶

The CSV Mapping File for Revit can be located in the following directory.

<Documents>/Omniverse/Revit/omniverseMDLtable.csv

CSV File Structure¶

A CSV file is a Comma Separated Values table of data whose field’s end is defined by a comma ‘,’.

Using Spreadsheet Tools¶

These tables are a very common format and can be opened/edited inside of Excel (or other spreadsheet tools) and will have 5 columns in them when viewed.

Format¶

Column	Expected Value
Column A	Name of the material from the application. Note: Any commas (`,`) are replaced with an asterisk (`*`)
Column B	Indicates if there is a parameter override \| NONE: default, no special characteristics \| COLOR: the 5th column (Column E) will have the parameter name in the MDL GENERIC: keyword and last resort match in mapping (looks for the value in Column A in the string of the material name we get from the application e.g. if Column A is glass and the material from Revit was Special Glass then it would match) EXCLUDE: materials found in the application but NOT mapped, user could convert these to real mappings by setting to NONE and changing the values in Column C/D/E (potentially)
Column C	MDL name (no .MDL)
Column D	Path into the location in the Omniverse database (points to a Mount)
Column E	If necessary, the parameter override in MDL

Examples¶

Cardboard,NONE,Cardboard,/NVIDIA/AEC/Library/Materials/Wall_Board
Blue Paint,COLOR,Paint_Satin,/NVIDIA/AEC/Library/Materials/Miscellaneous,diffuse_tint
glass,GENERIC,Clear_Glass,/NVIDIA/AEC/Library/Materials/Glass
Some Material Name,EXCLUDE,WhiteMode,/NVIDIA/AEC/Library/Materials/Styles

code …

Release Notes¶

Known Limitations¶

Family Data instancing has been added as a Beta level feature in the Revit Connector. In general, this will take any replicated Family Data item from Revit and represent it once in USD as geometry. All other locations will be instanced geometry. This saves on space and increases general RTX performance.
There is a known bug where sometimes the data will be flipped in orientation. This may occur if family data has been re-used but re-oriented. A fix is in process for a future release of the connector.
To turn on Family Data instancing, just check the box in the Settings dialog of the Revit Connector.