It is Alive in the Lab

STL Exporter for Revit now supports 2010 Family

A 3D model is more tangible than a 2D printout.

STL is a file format native to stereolithography. The file format is supported by many 3D printers. As such, it is often used for rapid prototyping and computer-aided manufacturing.

A Mr. Richard Feder from Fort Lee, New Jersey wrote in:

I have been using the Revit STL Exporter for 2009. I would like to continue to use it now that I have upgraded to 2010. When will a new exporter be available?

The Revit team sprang into action. We upgraded STL Export tothe Revit 2010 family:

STL Exporter for Revit Platform

For our Revit users who have upgraded to 2010, please continue to output STL files and share your feedback with us at labs.revit.stl@autodesk.com. We love hearing from you - especially getting pictures of the 3D models you have printed.

Keeping our technology previews current with our latest product releases is alive in the lab.

Feet don't fail me now: STL Exporter for Revit Platform export scale

With regard to the STL Exporter for Revit Platform, we got some great feedback the other day:

Hello,

My name is Erik Tremain and I am a graduate architecture student at Washington State University. I have recently been enjoying the STL exporter for Revit, and I want to thank you for creating such a thing because the luxury is priceless. Anyways, the past week I have put together two detail models and had them printed using the FDM process. Currently one model is dissolving in a 'support removal' bath, and the other finished printing this afternoon. Being that these two models came out so well, I am wanting to do a larger, spatial model that I can display alongside the detail models. While working on the two previous models I realized that the scale does not change upon changing the drawings scale in Revit.

My question is, at what scale are the .stl files being made? I noticed that the models are not 1-1, but I cannot nail down the exact scale.

Thank you for your time and I appreciate the hard work.
Erik Tremain
www.tremain-design.com

larger

larger

larger

Revit Building QA Analyst, Zachary Kron, replied:

Regardless of settings in Revit, the STL exporter will always send out your file in feet (a 2000mm long wall will be 6.56 units, a 10 foot wall will be 10 units.) So, to make the scale for your final product, you will need to scale it based on a conversion from feet at the time of import into your secondary application. Thanks for the feedback and the images. We hope you continue to enjoy the tool.

Responding to feedback regarding 3D printing of Revit models is alive in the lab.

P.S. I have since added this information to the Autodesk Labs site page: http://labs.autodesk.com/utilities/revit_stl/.

64-bit STL Exporter for Revit Platform Now Available

As the building information modeling process has become more sophisticated, the resulting models have grown larger. Think of that line from the movie Airplane!:

...and Leon's getting larger.
  Airplane!, 1980.

To allow computer applications to address larger models, applications like Revit have moved to 64-bit. In programming terms a 32-bit pointer can only directly address 4 gigabytes of memory whereas a 64-bit pointer can address 17.2 billion gigabytes. The extra available memory space allows building information models larger than 4 gigabytes to be loaded without the need to use some form of indirection. In other words, the application doesn't have to break the model into several 4 gigabyte chunks and also keep track of what's in what chunk. It can just reference parts of the building information model directly. The result is better performance for large information models on 64-bit applications.

Today we updated the STL Exporter for Revit Platform to support 64-bit versions of the Revit family.

http://labs.autodesk.com/utilities/revit_stl/

Now if you have a large building information model, you can print it in 3D and touch the result. So give it a try and share your results: labs.revit.stl@autodesk.com. We love it when you send pictures of your printed building information models.

Keeping technology previews current with our latest offerings is alive in the lab.

BIM & BEAM: 3DPrint: How cool is that?

Last week we announced STL Exporter for Revit Family 2009 Now Available. On his BIM & BEAM blog, Structural Product Line Manager, Nicolas Mangon, has some more pictures of an STL file exported from Revit and printed with a 3D printer:

3DPrint: How cool is that?

Now we're getting fancy! Check them out.

BIM & BEAM: 3D Printing Example from Walter P Moore

On Monday we announced STL Exporter for Revit Family 2009 Now Available. On his BIM & BEAM blog, Structural Product Line Manager, Nicolas Mangon, has two pictures of an STL file exported from Revit and printed with a 3D printer:

3D Printing Example from Walter P Moore

Check them out. Still no word if Walter P. Moore has printed with sugar yet. :-)

STL Exporter for Revit Family 2009 Now Available

The Revit team has developed a tool to export STL files from the Revit family of applications (Architecture, Structure, and MEP). Senior Revit Platform Line Manager, Emile Kfouri, contacted me about sharing it with you via Autodesk Labs. I was happy to add it to the site. STL is a popular file format for stereolithography used for rapid prototyping and computer aided manufacturing. An STL file describes the surface geometry of a 3D object. You can get the STL Exporter for Revit at:

http://labs.autodesk.com/utilities/revit_stl

The exporter is compatible with Revit Architecture 2009, Revit Structure 2009, and Revit MEP 2009.

"How can we be expected to teach children to learn how to read if they can't even fit inside the building?"
-- Ben Stiller as Derek Zoolander in the movie Zoolander

Though fashion model, Derek Zoolander, was not sophisticated enough to know that he was looking at a model of a school - not the actual school - that won't be a problem for the rest of us. Imagine holding a to-scale model of your building in progress. As part of the export process, you can replace windows with holes so you can peek inside. This is a great way to experience your design before it is real. Alternatively this is the easiest way to create the ultimate Barbie dream house for that little girl with upscale taste in real estate. :-) Check it out.

On the BIM&BEAM blog, reader David Harrington pointed out:

This is a cool feature, but I wanted to warn people. Model objects are drawn to scale in Revit. A web that is 3/8" thick is really that size. Therefore adjustments may need to be made to the model and/or the 3D printer to embellish objects to be thicker, so that they can support themselves and other objects. Printing a model with paper thin volumes won't live long in the real, gravity bearing world.

I noted that if you want to "eat yourself out of house and home" using your own building information model, you should publish an STL file and send it to one of these devices:

Solid freeform fabrication: DIY, on the cheap, and made of pure sugar

Sharing technologies for proof of concept evaluation based on your feedback is alive in the lab.