Revit + Digital Fabrication

Danelle Briscoe Unitec New Zealand School of Architecture

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Outline
Digital vs Analog design background Types of Digital Fabrication tools/techniques Case study Architectural project Tropical House Exporting from Revit 2008/2009 for 3D Printing Examples of 3D Printing

Revit + Digital Fabrication

Digital vs Analogue
Methodologies for using both

Revit + Digital Fabrication

CAD/CAM
Computer-Aided Design to Computer-Aided Manufacturing BIM model goes straight to manufacturer

Revit + Digital Fabrication

CNC Milling
Computer Numerical Control Subtractive fabrication

Revit + Digital Fabrication

3D Printing
Additive Rapid-Prototyping Stereo-lithography

Revit + Digital Fabrication

3D Printing
Additive Rapid Proto-typing Powder sintering

Revit + Digital Fabrication

3D Printing
Additive Rapid Proto-typing Fused Deposition

Revit + Digital Fabrication

3D Printing
Additive Rapid Proto-typing Fused Deposition -model shows how a 3D Print can emphasize different aspects of design by turning off components like windows.

Revit + Digital Fabrication

3D Printing
Additive full scale concrete printing Dr. Behrokh Khoshnevis Contour Crafting

Revit + Digital Fabrication

3D scanner
Registration of physical model/form to be imported into Revit

Revit + Digital Fabrication

Laser Cutter
2D cut profiles from digital files Text Font 16pt

Revit + Digital Fabrication

Water Jet
Subheading Font 16pt bold Text Font 16pt

Revit + Digital Fabrication

Tropical House
Project in Barbados, West Indies -utilizes Revit with some digital fabrication design techniques

Revit + Digital Fabrication

Tropical House
Laser cut models Allows you to cut Multiple model bases Quickly to test different Schemes.

Revit + Digital Fabrication

Tropical House
Laser-cut site models Show detail from 2D Files that might typically Get discarded or forgotten

Revit + Digital Fabrication

Tropical House
Larger scaled site model -Same 2D CAD files used To cut another base model at a different scale in order To design more detail.

Revit + Digital Fabrication

Tropical House
Laser cut building model Floor plan files exported to AutoCAD To be set up for laser cutting and then manual assemblage

Revit + Digital Fabrication

Tropical House
3D Printing house design

BIM model is exported to AutoCAD In order to 3D print with powder-sintering And stereo-lithography

Revit + Digital Fabrication

Tropical House
3D Prints techniques: powder sinter vs. stereolithography Opaque vs translucent

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Tropical House
3D print using Stereolithography Showing signs of sun damage And warpage after 1 year. Columns printed at 1mm Thickness are bending. Scratches were made to the model itself from fabricators Clean-up technique

Revit + Digital Fabrication

Tropical House
Pre-cast Hollow core panel Intended to be a Full-scale print of house

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3D Printing
To transfer Revit files to STL: 1. Export your file under DWG

Revit + Digital Fabrication

3D Printing Revit 2008

2. Revit will prompt you to default window where you can save file as an as an ASCII file.

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3D Printing Revit 2008

3. That exported ASCII file can then be inserted and manipulated (i.e. scaled down) in AutoCAD

Revit + Digital Fabrication

3D Printing Revit 2008

4. Once you have manipulated your model for 1:1 printing (i.e. checking scale and minimum dimensions of pieces), you can EXPORT the file as an STL file by changing the Files of type tab to Lithography (*.stl).

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3D Printing Revit 2009

Install + Exporting from Revit Run STLExporterForRevit2009.exe Follow instructions in the installation dialog box You will be prompted to select which Revit verticals to install the Add-in for. Select the check box for each version that you want the add-in to run in and select Next. Continue following the installation instructions. The STL Exporter Add-in will be installed for Revit 2009 products

Revit + Digital Fabrication

3D Printing Revit 2009

Preparing the Model for Export: Open a Revit project Open a 3D view of the model The STL Exporter is designed to print everything that is visible in the 3D view. So the most important thing to do before exporting the model is to simplify the model so only the important things that interest you are printed. Start by hiding all the elements that you do not want to print: Set view detail level based on the quality of the print that you want. Normally that would probably be Coarse or Medium. (found at the bottom of the view window)

*NOTE: There is currently a known issue with the setting detail level that may render it ineffective for some elements.

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3D Printing Revit 2009

Preparing the Model for Export (cont.): Use the Visibility/Graphics dialog under the View menu to excluded categories of elements in the STL file. Hide items like furniture/fixtures be hidden before exporting. Use Hide in the view for any components that you want excluded in the STL file . In cases where stairs, railing, banisters, windows, doors, columns, beams, walls, floors and roofs are too thin or small for the scale that you are printing at, you will want to either hide the elements or replace them with thicker elements so they will print properly.

Revit + Digital Fabrication

3D Printing Revit 2009

Exporting the Model: Click Tools > External Tools > Export STL Click Binary or ASCII format. Click Save; pick a folder and file name NOTE: There is no control on the accuracy of the approximation (e.g. angular and chordal deviation). The STL model accuracy is identical to that of the displayed.

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3D Printing Revit 2009

Preparing the Model for 3D Printing: A number of things may need to be done after the STL file has been created to insure a high quality 3D print. Use an STL viewer to check for any errors in the model and try to resolve any errors. Shrink-wrap the model if you are interested in just the exterior and then core out/hollow out the interior to reduce the amount of material required to print the model. Remove any elements that you do not want to print Thicken or remove any objects that are too thin to print or have no thickness. In most cases that will be approximately 1-2mm at the printing scale. These elements may include: stairs, railing, banisters, windows, doors, columns, beams, walls, floors and roofs.

Revit + Digital Fabrication

Beauty + the BIM

Curving curtain wall Sang Hee Park uses Sketchup file to first model project and then imports Into Revit for 3D print and documentation

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Beauty + the BIM

Curving curtain wall Sang Hee Park -model detail

Revit + Digital Fabrication

Beauty + the BIM

Brick Module Luciano Velocci

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Beauty + the BIM

Blending Symbols Boaz Du

Revit + Digital Fabrication

Beauty + the BIM

Blending Symbols Boaz Du

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Beauty + the BIM

Building as Land Zayd Ali- uses toposurface Feature to model conceptual Proposal.

Revit + Digital Fabrication

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Beauty + the BIM

Hairy Architecture Text Font 16pt

Revit + Digital Fabrication

Questions

Danelle Briscoe

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