Whenever you use the File Link Manager or DWG/DXF Import functionality, 3ds Max detects a useful distinction between categories of a Revit elements. It automatically separates names and groups the elements in 3ds Max to make them easier to work with.
The new objects created in 3ds Max through file linking are grouped together hierarchically below a special object called a Block/Style Parent, allowing you to deal with individual objects in the hierarchy or with all of them as a group. This hierarchy is similar to the one created when AutoCAD Architecture objects are linked.
You can view this hierarchy, but you cannot change it in 3ds Max. You can change the hierarchy only indirectly by editing the elements in Revit, exporting an updated DWG, and then reloading the drawing.
Criteria for Subdividing Revit Elements
The File Link Manager organizes Revit elements into multiple 3ds Max objects based on the following classification of elements:
For example, six-panel colonial doors are one family, although the doors that compose the family come in different sizes and materials. Most families are component family files, which means you can load them into your project or create them from family templates. You can determine the set of properties and the graphical representation of the family. Other families are called system families and are not available for loading or creating in Revit. Autodesk Revit predefines the set of properties and the graphical representation of system families; they include walls, dimensions, ceilings, roofs, floors, and levels.
Besides being a class of elements, families are also a template that allows you to generate new types of items that belong to this family.
3ds Max organizes and names file linked objects to reflect their structure in Revit, using a parent-child hierarchy. The parent object is a Block/Style Parent named category <family : type>, and the Block/Style Parent has one or more child objects named category <family : type> subcategory1, category <family : type> subcategory2, and so forth.
For example, if a single-flush door object in Revit is linked to 3ds Max, it will have a parent-child hierarchy displayed as a parent object, Doors <Single-Flush : 34” x 80”>, with three children, (2) Doors <Single-Flush : 34” x 80”> Frame/Mullion and a Doors <Single-Flush : 34” x 80”> Panel. The objects will be linked together with all the other components of the door, but you could modify the material properties of the two frame/mullion objects separately. If you changed the material assignments in Revit so that the entire frame/mullion component only had one material assignment, then when you reloaded the drawing in 3ds Max there would only be one frame/mullion object present.
When working in Revit, you also have the ability to link AutoCAD drawings or other Revit projects to your current project. This is comparable to using exrefs in AutoCAD. Objects that originate as a linked drawing in Revit are grouped together as Linked Geometry that is named for the linked drawing. In this case, the parent object is named Import Symbol <drawing.dwg> and its children are named Import Symbol <drawing.dwg> subcategory1, Import Symbol <drawing.dwg> subcategory2, and so on. The subcategories are derived from the layers that the objects reside on in the drawing.
The following table lists some examples of the naming conventions of Revit objects that are imported or file linked in 3ds Max.
In order to navigate a Revit drawing more efficiently, you might have set up a series of 3D views by means of placing cameras at different viewpoints around the drawing. The File Link Manager and Import functions of 3ds Max allow camera views to be treated as 3ds Max cameras.
You must meet two conditions in order for 3ds Max to understand Revit camera views.
When the drawing is linked to 3ds Max, that camera and its target appear in the scene named Camera:viewname and Camera:viewname.Target.
Drawing files, exported from Revit, can contain light sources, however, they do not export with the DWG or DXF files. What does get exported is the 3D mesh geometry representing the light fixture. Therefore, when you import or link the drawing to 3ds Max, the light object is strictly geometry, not an actual light source like a spotlight or omni light that you can adjust.
These pieces of geometry are still useful in that you can use them as reference points for placing and aligning lights you add in 3ds Max.
Along with the ability to export DWG files, Revit can also export to the DXF file format. The only difference is in how they handle drawings that are linked (RVT links) to the Revit drawing.
When exporting to DXF, the linked drawings are automatically bound to the drawing. Therefore, while exporting to a DWG honors the linked drawings and treats them as AutoCAD xrefs, an exported DXF file will not have xrefs. Instead, the linked drawings are converted to blocks.
The resulting scene organization will be slightly different when linking or importing a DXF as opposed to a DWG, but only when RVT links are present in the drawing.
