glTF Exporter
Add-in for Revit which exports projects to 3D glTF format. glTF is a universal file format for transferring 3D assets which almost every 3D software can handle.
Ray Trace view of the model in Revit compared to the same model exported and opened in default Windows 10 application.
How does it work?
1. Open
2. Save
How our solution helps clients
glTF Exporter helps architects to seamlessly bring their projects into real-time visualization environment like Unity or UE. No geometry optimization is needed. Skip complicated import steps to devote more time to setting up object interactions, reflections, lighting and RTX support for your next-gen real-time visual presentation.
Settings Explained
Group meshes
- Group meshes by element or by material option influences output file size, 3D model performance and file structure.
- Elements have their Revit Ids and are broken down by Revit category so the output file has nice structure.
- When grouping by material there are as many nodes in the file tree as materials in Revit project.
Model on the left has meshes grouped by element.
Model on the right has meshes grouped by material.
Large projects grouped by element may have less FPS rate. Number of draw calls for this model is 6494.
Gain more FPS grouping by material — only 55 draw calls — the same as number of materials. Though file size for the model has been increased from 18MB to 29MB.
Level of detail
Level of detail determines how many polygons 3D model has. It relates mostly to rounded objects and may dramatically impact the file size.
The same model of torus exported with LOD 1, LOD 3 and LOD 15 (5KB, 15KB and 396KB corresponding). LOD values from 5 to 7 are generally sufficient.
Export materials
glTF Exporter maps Revit materials to PBR materials (and to KHR if you choose export with merged LODs option) so you can get beautifully looking 3D model.
But if you what to experiment or get some statistics you can skip materials and export geometry just by disabling Export materials checkbox. This might be useful for some geometry analysis.
Output format
Output format option determines files you get. The best choice for projects which are going to be send by the Internet is glb format — there will be a single file you can immediately email to a client, for instance.
If you are planning to edit textures or want to see the file structure — choose glTF format. You can open glTF file with any text editor and edit materials from Textures folder.
Draco compression
Draco compression minimizes file size as much as possible. It’s extremely useful for large projects, but remember that not every third party software can handle compressed files. Projects exported with this option can be saved only as glb files. Difference in file size can be seen from the following export results:
Create merged LODs model
Create merged LODs model option improves the quality of detailed Revit models handling. With this checkbox enabled glTF Exporter creates three files: one with specified LOD and two other with degrading LOD, and merges them into single file. This might be specifically useful for Windows Mixed Reality developers.