Revit to Unreal Engine Studio Production Pipeline

andrewl0 · March 21, 2018, 9:26pm

Hi folks,

I’m hoping that someone can provide me with some tricks and tips for getting Revit 2018 arch models into Unreal Studio, as unfortunately I’m not super familiar with Revit.

Many thanks in advance!

Andrew

anonymous_user_17617068 · March 27, 2018, 4:03pm

I’m also in the same boat and will keep you posted. One major thing I noticed is that Autodesk material maps are not supported in Unreal, as Unreal uses PBR materials, so all the image/bump maps etc will be lost. Soooo, you will have to re-texture the scene to get full mapping in Unreal :(.

Current workflow I use is Revit to 3ds Max via suite workflow or Link Revit / FBX, then export from Max as datasmith file, then import into Unreal. A little clunky but apart from the material issue all the geometry seems to port very well!

How are you getting on?

andrewl0 · March 27, 2018, 9:33pm

I’m in roughly the same place as you. I’m importing models to 3ds Max and then out to Unreal as a Datasmith file.
The retexturing is a bit of a pain but this will work until we get Native Revit support.

anonymous_user_17617068 · March 28, 2018, 7:51am

I was told by one of the UE enterprise staff that the issue is that Unreal can’t read non-PBR materials, which is why it doesn’t import Autodesk material libraries.
Can I ask, what is your workflow for retexturing? Are you creating substance materials within the Unreal Editor?

pf_breton · March 28, 2018, 9:41am

Thats a bit inaccurate. its simply because we haven’t spent time mapping those materials to Unreal in our translator. Even if there are no direct relation between ADSK materials and PBR, we still need to do ‘something’. We will get there at some point. We initially focused on Vray materials as they are the most commonly used.

anonymous_user_17617068 · March 28, 2018, 3:56pm

I see. So you are actually looking to work on a translator to allow native import of Autodesk Materials? This would be awesome.

pbdarcey · April 4, 2018, 4:03am

Hi All,

The other problem with Revit is the UV layout…
Simple put the process that i have used is Revit → 3dsmax → Unreal
I have watched a video last week were someone was going Revit → 3dsmax → Houdini → Unreal. That was on Lynda.

Isn’t twin motion importing revit and using unreal.

anonymous_user_21e38222 · April 4, 2018, 10:53am

They have their own FBX based bridge from Revit to their unreal based software. This is something that’ll be done for Unreal Studio at some point afaik (and thus 3dsMax will not be required).

anonymous_user_17617068 · April 4, 2018, 3:21pm

For this process, what do you do in terms of materials? In which programme do you actually create the textures that Unreal can process?

pbdarcey · April 6, 2018, 4:48pm

"For this process, what do you do in terms of materials? In which programme do you actually create the textures that Unreal can process?
Last edited by Zethriof; 04-04-2018, 03:23 PM.

There are many different programs that can make texture for unreal.

I guess what are you trying to do with Revit and unreal. You can always use the Revit material as a place holder and modify that in 3dsmax. This will allow you to building your floor plans and elevation with no issue in Revit. Then when your in 3dsmax make sure the texturing is correct and swap in unreal.

anonymous_user_17617068 · April 11, 2018, 8:55am

Yes, effectively this is the pipeline I am trying to achieve, until UE is able to natively read Revit / Autodesk materials

Are the materials which you can create within 3ds max PBR materials? I know that the Autodesk Materials are not, so that rules out most of the standard materials built into the newer versions of MAX.

I’m currently trying out the Substance plug-in for 3ds max to create PBR materials which UE can read, but after the evaluation I would have to pay for Substance designer.

pbdarcey · April 21, 2018, 3:56am

Try out the unreal engine data smith and log into substance through the engine. You have access to 100 free substance material.
If you are looking to get ahead with material you will need substance in the future… Also you get 30 new material from there site when you pay…

THNArch · April 21, 2018, 11:15pm

Setting material issues aside, my main concern is the messy geometry Revit ends up exporting, especially the curved elements. Revit is great and fast to model architecture and I’m really confortable with it, but when it gets to put the models into Unreal trought 3dsmax I always end up getting some kind of artifact (light bleed, contigous faces rendering up a bit different). I understand propper unrapping and well made lightmaps are the sollution though I haven’t found a good way around that. Has anyone gone trough a good workflow on that? I’m using TS Tools, Steamroller and also testing Datasmith.

anonymous_user_17617068 · April 24, 2018, 1:48pm

I’ve also come across this downside - a mug I modelled in Revit (yes I know not the correct programme to do so but I use Enscape plug in for Revit so I like to stay in Revit) and when exporting the model to 3ds max, the geometry became super faceted. Looks like the safest bet for the moment is to model building and structural elements in Revit for ease, then all other elements such as furniture and props in max, then export to Unreal studio via datasmith.

What you mentioned about proper unwrapping and lightmaps - isnt this what the whole premise of datasmith is? To simplify the pipeline and prevent you from needing to do this?

anonymous_user_5f8f61a21 · April 24, 2018, 4:10pm

We have had some success with the following, but you’ll have to have a working V-ray license and downloaded V-ray for UE beta.

export model as DWG from Revit
Link (not import), then bind the DWG file in 3ds max
make sure the materials are all Vray mats,
export the scene with mats, lights, cameras etc… as .vrscene
import .vrscene into UE (preferably 4.19)
you’ll get everything in there.

anonymous_user_a816724e · April 25, 2018, 2:48am

Best work flow I have found as other have mentioned is

:For Visualization import only
Save Revit File -> Import/link or open revit file in 3dsmax -> Select everything and run steamroller script on channel 2 -> export as datasmith file -> datasmith import

For any object you want physics on (as far as I have found datasmith files would not accept physics even if you convert it to static mesh)
Save Revit File -> Import/link or open revit file in 3dsmax easiest way to control everything is have it set as one object -> Select everything and run steamroller script on channel 2 ->export as fbx -> import fbx into unreal

anonymous_user_17617068 · April 25, 2018, 9:40am

Whats the advantage of using the steamroller script?

Do you have any issue of smaller Revit geometry becoming faceted or showing artefacts when using the above method(s)?

THNArch · April 28, 2018, 11:14pm

Yes, datasmith is supposed to simplify the pipeline and I´m using it a lot. But I´m also making tests and trials using the brute force way (mapping, unwrapping, exporting fbx). Either way I still get a lot of light bleed and coplanar surfaces rendering differently on convex wall corners - the default wall join in Revit is the butt type and that’s no good when it gets to Unreal.

The worst things are the light bleeds. Still havent found my way around it. The wall joints can be managed… its a bit of a pain but manageable.

Still trying to figure out the best workflow. At least for now I won´t try Libellum’s suggestion, but I´d like to know how is that going… are you getting good results? No artifacts, lightbleeds, etc?

THNArch · April 29, 2018, 12:56am

Here are two screenshots showing the issue with lightbleed and coplanar surfaces rendering differently.

jeroen_v · April 29, 2018, 8:39am

I have the same problem sometimes. In my case, it has to do with incorrect smoothing groups.
Have you checked how the planes look if you render them in Max? When I render those faces from Revit they have the same problem a your screenshots.

Try resetting the smoothing groups in Max.

good luck