BIM for Manufacturing: Sharing Your Autodesk Inventor Models with Autodesk Revit MEP Clint Brown Cadline

BIM for Manufacturing: Sharing Your Autodesk® Inventor® Models with Autodesk® Revit® MEP Clint Brown – Cadline SM2312 In this class, we go through the...
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BIM for Manufacturing: Sharing Your Autodesk® Inventor® Models with Autodesk® Revit® MEP Clint Brown – Cadline SM2312 In this class, we go through the process of completing an Autodesk Inventor software model ready for use by an MEP engineer, including preparing ducting and pipework on a skid from an Inventor model. We cover detail model simplification and preparation, as well as the various export options to Revit MEP, including parametric versus nonparametric and ways to protect user intellectual property.

Learning Objectives At the end of this class, you will be able to: 

Implement data exchange between Revit MEP & Inventor



Simplify your models using the Inventor simplification feature



Apply Revit feature recognition in Autodesk inventor



Create BIM-ready Revit families in Autodesk Inventor

About the Speaker Clint is responsible for the Cadline Technical team. Cadline are a UK based Autodesk Platinum Reseller. He is an Inventor Certified Professional, with a background in Automotive Engineering, Plastics, Machining and Rotating Machinery. Clint has worked as a Mechanical Design Engineer for the last 15 years. He’s an Autodesk Inventor Certified Professional, having used most Traditional CAD & Analysis tools including: AutoCAD (since R13), SolidWorks , SolidEdge & Ansys. He has designed many products, machines and systems including; Plastic Fuel Tanks (Nissan, Ford); Several Mobile Vending units (Coca-Cola, SAB Miller); including the Design and Stress Analysis of Castings (Daikin, McQuay). In addition to these, he is a Patent Holder @ClintCadline

MP2306 BIM for Manufacturing: Sharing Your Autodesk® Inventor® Models with Autodesk® Revit® MEP

Overview: Date Exchange between Inventor and Revit What is the Inventor to Revit process? 

Simplification



Revit Feature Recognition



Add System Details



Publish Revit Family file

What else should I know? 

Inventor can open Revit files



Inventor can create Revit Family files



Inventor can convert other 3D files to Revit families



Building design Suite Ultimate comes with Inventor

File Types: 

Inventor opens Revit project files (.RVT) - But this is a conversion, so we can’t change the Revit model and pass it back to Revit



Inventor writes out Revit Family Files (.RFA) - These are used as the “Content Centre” parts in Revit, things like doors, walls etc. These can be created from Inventor Models



Inventor writes out ADSK files (.ADSK) - ADSK is essentially a DWG file with additional text information, this is generally a dumb solid, but can be read into Revit as a family file. ADSK Files can also be shared with AutoCAD MEP.

Inventor opens Most CAD file Formats: Catia SolidWorks Pro/ENGINEER Rhino Alias DWG Revt (rvt) Inventor Opens Exchange formats too: IGES SAT STEP STL Parasolid (.x_t .x_b)

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MP2306 BIM for Manufacturing: Sharing Your Autodesk® Inventor® Models with Autodesk® Revit® MEP

Open a Revit Project File in Autodesk Inventor: One of the new features in Autodesk Inventor 2014, is that we can now not only create parametric Revit families (see David Gate’s blog here), but we can now also open Native Revit Project files. The files are converted into .IPT files, and we have 2 options, either composites (Surfaces) or Multi-body parts, these are bought in via a SAT translation. There are a few pros and cons, essentially a component/equipment manufacturer can open up an Architect or Structural engineer’s model, and they can then use it to reference geometry to build their component/equipment. Once they have built this model, they can then export out a parametric (or non-parametric if they so choose) Revit Family file, which the Architect or Structural engineer can then reference in their model. The cons are that the file is converted into Inventor format, breaking the link to the original and that all of the colours and textures are lost, but it is a huge leap forward and it makes BIM for manufacturing a lot easier. Here’s the workflow for getting a Revit model into Inventor

Choose .RVT files from your “Open” Dialogue

Wait a few seconds, and the insert view will pop up. Choose the View you wish to bring in. For Inventor Users, Views are sort of a cross between view representations and level of detail

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MP2306 BIM for Manufacturing: Sharing Your Autodesk® Inventor® Models with Autodesk® Revit® MEP

Select Either Single Composite Feature, or Multi-body Part. Note that the Composite feature will open quicker than the Multi-body solid. In the example below, I have chosen 2 different views on import, which is why the surface model has a roof, and the Solid model has not.

For more details on this workflow, see my blog post on the topic here: http://www.cadlinecommunity.co.uk/Blogs/Blog.aspx?ScoId=723b16e3-992b-42c1-8bb7-0b812d2bd183

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MP2306 BIM for Manufacturing: Sharing Your Autodesk® Inventor® Models with Autodesk® Revit® MEP

Considerations: 

Use the BIM Exchange for Standalone Components, like skids AHU’s & General Mechanical Assemblies etc.



Good for individual components too, like Baths, sinks, fittings…



Ducting systems are a bad idea, they are quicker to re-draw in Revit, you cannot schedule them or add lagging/insulation in Revit from and Inventor RFA



You want your .RFA file to be about 1MB in size



.ADSK Files can be used with both Revit & AutoCAD MEP

Inventor to Revit Family File (RFA) Workflow 

Simplify data



Recognize geometry



Add & edit System connectors



Verify data



Export to RFA

5 http://help.autodesk.com/view/INVNTOR/2014/ENU/?contextId=HELP_SYSTEM

MP2306 BIM for Manufacturing: Sharing Your Autodesk® Inventor® Models with Autodesk® Revit® MEP

Simplify your models using the Inventor simplification feature

Shrinkwraps convert models to single part files. To create a Shrinkwrap within an Assembly file, Right Click on Level of Detail, select New Substitute > Shrinkwrap

Give the New Shrinkwrap a Name and Click OK

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MP2306 BIM for Manufacturing: Sharing Your Autodesk® Inventor® Models with Autodesk® Revit® MEP

The Settings below are good for a “General Purpose” Shrinkwrap, we are creating a single solid item, patching all of the holes and removing all internal voids.

Notice that we can preview the model before we accept the changes.

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MP2306 BIM for Manufacturing: Sharing Your Autodesk® Inventor® Models with Autodesk® Revit® MEP

The Results are shown below. Note the Name of the Substitute level of Detail and Shrinkwrap part are the same name we specified in the earlier step. This part can be accessed as a LOD in the original Assembly file, or as the part file

To see a video of this workflow, please see: http://www.cadlinecommunity.co.uk/Blogs/Blog.aspx?ScoId=78ef5b32beb9-4233-be5a-5f303e2d0f8b

Recognizing Revit Features – From Shrinkwrap .ipt Once we have created our Shrinkwrap, we can run a Revit Feature Recognition on it. Open the Shrinkwrap part, and on the Simplify Tab, click on Recognise Revit Features

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MP2306 BIM for Manufacturing: Sharing Your Autodesk® Inventor® Models with Autodesk® Revit® MEP

Click on Auto Recognise, then the Tick on the Head-up display, this will start the Automatic recognition (this process can take some time)

In this example, some Features which were not Recognised Automatically, these were the bolts and the Second Foot

For more details on troubleshooting these issues and to see a video of this workflow, please see: http://www.cadlinecommunity.co.uk/Blogs/Blog.aspx?ScoId=78ef5b32-beb9-4233-be5a-5f303e2d0f8b 9

MP2306 BIM for Manufacturing: Sharing Your Autodesk® Inventor® Models with Autodesk® Revit® MEP

Simplifying Assemblies – Defining Envelopes A better option for creating Revit ready families from Complex assemblies, is to use the “Define Envelopes” workflow, this works differently to the Shrinkwrap,as outlined below:    

Replaces Components with Bounding boxes No need to recognise Revit Features Bounding boxes are created as Revit Solids Good for Systems (Large Assemblies)

Below is a summary of the Define Envelope Tools:

Choose Define Envelopes from the Simplify Tab

Select Bounding type (Box or Cylinder)

You can replace all occurrences of a part

You can choose to show or hide the original part

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MP2306 BIM for Manufacturing: Sharing Your Autodesk® Inventor® Models with Autodesk® Revit® MEP

When Selecting a Component to replace with a bounding box, you may wish to re-orientate it, click on the axis shown in the preview

Then click on the

icon to redefine the central axis

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MP2306 BIM for Manufacturing: Sharing Your Autodesk® Inventor® Models with Autodesk® Revit® MEP

To select the new Axis position, select a circular edge

The New Axis is now central to the circular edge

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MP2306 BIM for Manufacturing: Sharing Your Autodesk® Inventor® Models with Autodesk® Revit® MEP

To set the diameter of the Circular Bounding box, click on one of the Radial arrows. You can drag the arrow or input a precise dimension

You can use the Measure tool to set the diameter

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MP2306 BIM for Manufacturing: Sharing Your Autodesk® Inventor® Models with Autodesk® Revit® MEP

Tip: Clear the Dimension dialogue box first. Select a circular edge to measure

When you click on the Edge, the Diameter is going to be placed into the dialogue box, you want the Radius, and the easiest way to get this is to divide it by 2. Simply put /2 into the dialogue box

To see a video of this workflow, please see: http://www.cadlinecommunity.co.uk/Blogs/Blog.aspx?ScoId=78ef5b32beb9-4233-be5a-5f303e2d0f8b

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MP2306 BIM for Manufacturing: Sharing Your Autodesk® Inventor® Models with Autodesk® Revit® MEP

Create BIM-ready Revit families in Autodesk Inventor Once we have defined all of the Envelopes we need, Click on Create Simplified Part to create a simple part to export to Revit

Click on Check Revit Features

You will be presented with a Report

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MP2306 BIM for Manufacturing: Sharing Your Autodesk® Inventor® Models with Autodesk® Revit® MEP

Next we need to set a UCS so that the part is correctly orientated in Revit

Ensuring that your UCS is correctly set-up will make the model export correctly to Revit

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MP2306 BIM for Manufacturing: Sharing Your Autodesk® Inventor® Models with Autodesk® Revit® MEP

Click Export Building Components

Select .rfa or .adsk file (rfa for Revit) Set your model classification, and slect the UCS we created in the earlier step to ensure proper orientation. Clicking on Model properties will allow you to import iProperties from Inventor to add additional information to yoru BIM ready model

To see a video of this workflow, please see: http://www.cadlinecommunity.co.uk/Blogs/Blog.aspx?ScoId=78ef5b32beb9-4233-be5a-5f303e2d0f8b

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MP2306 BIM for Manufacturing: Sharing Your Autodesk® Inventor® Models with Autodesk® Revit® MEP

Tips for Inventor Users:



It is a good idea to create a copy of your top level assembly before proceeding with the BIM exchange, the reason for this, is that the assembly file will become cluttered with Envelopes. These envelopes could affect your drawing files. Although these can be deleted, it may be easier to use a copy of the original.



Revit uses Sheets for Views, each sheet will open in a new window, even though you are viewing the same file, it will appear as though you have several files open at once.



Hide the Dimensions by going to View>Visibility/Graphics and un-ticking Dimensions

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MP2306 BIM for Manufacturing: Sharing Your Autodesk® Inventor® Models with Autodesk® Revit® MEP



To See the Model in 3D, select 3D View (View 1) for the 3D model



Hold Down Shift + Middle Mouse Button to Orbit the model in the 3D view

Additional Information Always check your Models in Revit to ensure that they have been created as expected. Download a free trial or Revit from Autodesk.com, after the trial expires, the software will continue to work as a viewer Below is a view of the website (from the link above). Click on Download links, on the next page select Autodesk Revit Products, then choose Autodesk Revit and finally select 2014. Note that the families created in Inventor 2014 will not be usable with Revit 2013, so you will need to download Revit 2014 to check them.

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MP2306 BIM for Manufacturing: Sharing Your Autodesk® Inventor® Models with Autodesk® Revit® MEP

Consider the differences between .rfa and .adsk files

Consider the size of your files, ideally we would like to have Revit family files that are as small as possible

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