Rhino → Revit

What Rhino → Revit does

Map Rhino layers to Revit element types. Install ArchiTool for Revit once (a native add-in on the ArchiTool.ai ribbon tab), then every export becomes native Revit Walls, Floors, Roofs, Columns, Beams and DirectShape Mass in a single transaction. Wall and floor thicknesses, column cross-sections, roof slopes, openings, and curved boundaries are detected automatically from the source geometry.

Input:

.3dm with named layers

Output:

Native Revit + DirectShape

Elements:

Walls · Floors · Roofs · Columns · Beams · Mass

How it works

The geometry is read and classified in your browser, then rebuilt as native Revit elements by the add-in \u2014 not imported as a mass. Classification is measured from each object rather than assumed from its layer, so a layer holding both walls and slabs is split object by object instead of forcing one answer on all of it.

• Rhino files parsed client-side with rhino3dm; the model is never uploaded.
• Each object classified from its own measured geometry \u2014 extents, thickness, plan aspect, orientation \u2014 rather than from its layer name.
• Mixed layers routed per object, so one layer can produce walls and floors at once.
• Polysurface walls split per bottom-edge run and paired into centreline walls, which is what makes them native Walls rather than solids.
• A dry run colours the 3D model by resolved type before anything is written, and per-object overrides are keyed to the object GUID so they survive a re-export.
• The add-in writes everything in a single Revit transaction \u2014 it either all lands or none of it does.

How to use it

1. Load your .3dm. Parsed locally in the browser — the file never leaves your machine.
2. Map each layer. Pick Wall / Floor / Roof / Column / Beam / Mass / Smooth surface / Ignore. Layer names auto-suggest, and a bulk-assign tool sets all filtered layers at once. Mapping is auto-saved per file.
3. Download for Revit. A single .architool file with your geometry.
4. Install ArchiTool for Revit. Once per computer: run the ArchiTool for Revit installer (a standard Windows setup, no admin rights). It puts the ArchiTool.ai tab in Revit with Rhino to Revit, Drawing Styles and Opening Shop Drawings.
5. Run in Revit. Click ArchiTool.ai → Rhino to Revit, sign in with your ArchiTool account the first time, pick the .architool file and a base level.

Best used for

• Getting a Rhino concept into Revit as editable native elements instead of a dead mass.
• Handing a massing to a BIM team without them remodelling it.
• Keeping the Rhino model authoritative while Revit stays coordinated.
• Checking, before you export, exactly what each object is going to become.

Not a substitute for

• A one-click replacement for BIM modelling \u2014 the output is a strong start, not a finished model.
• Round-tripping edits back from Revit to Rhino.
• Transferring analytical or parametric behaviour; geometry and type come across, intelligence does not.

Known limits

• Classification is measured, not magic: geometry that is ambiguous to a human is ambiguous to it, which is why the pre-export review exists.
• Non-planar and doubly-curved surfaces currently fall back to a tessellated DirectShape rather than a smooth native element.
• Stairs, railings and curtain systems are not generated as their native types.
• Very dirty models \u2014 open solids, duplicate faces, tiny slivers \u2014 will classify unpredictably; clean the Rhino file first.
• Requires the ArchiTool for Revit add-in and a supported Revit version; the web tool alone produces the export file, not the model.

Read the full Rhino → Revit guide →