Revit Reader

Revit
File Extension RVT, RFA
Supported Versions 2015 to 2025
Platforms
Tessellation Supported
Boundary Representation (B-rep) Unsupported
PMI Unsupported

Revit files are BIM formats used to store building models, including architectural, structural, and MEP elements with associated properties and relationships.

The HOOPS Exchange Revit Reader provides access to visualization data stored within a particular Revit file.

A file does not need to have a particular extension to be read correctly by HOOPS Exchange. However, the file extension of Revit files that you can expect to be loaded by HOOPS Exchange is:

  • .RVT
  • .RFA

How to Import From Revit

Reading Revit files follows the same pattern as other formats: configure load parameters, then call the standard load function.

To load a Revit file, use A3DAsmModelFileLoadFromFile(). The A3DParamsLoadData structure is used to customize the loading behavior:

A3DAsmModelFile* pModelFile = 0;

A3DRWParamsLoadData sReadParam = A3D_MAKE_DATA(A3DRWParamsLoadData);
sReadParam.m_sGeneral.m_bReadSolids = true;

// ... set other A3DRWParamsLoadData fields as necessary

A3DAsmModelFileLoadFromFile("path/to/file.rvt", &sReadParam, &pModelFile);

See Simple Load and Export for more about loading model files.

Tessellation

The triangle information is parsed and provided via HOOPS Exchange.

Boundary Representation (B-rep)

HOOPS Exchange does not support B-rep for the Revit file format.

Assembly

RFA files (i.e., Revit families such as Doors and Windows) are supported. They are instantiated through Exchange’s prototype mechanism.

Views

Revit views are supported.

However, Exchange does not support all the features available in Revit.

Miscellaneous

Supported

  • Visibility
  • Camera
  • Survey Coordinate System (exposed as the root coordinate system of the model)
  • Project Coordinate System (exposed as metadata)
  • LOD (Level-of-Detail: can be modified at import using the A3DERevitLevelOfDetail option)

Unsupported

  • Rendering Mode
  • Visibility Style
  • Section Box
  • 2D Drawing Views

Markup

Markups aren’t currently supported by the HOOPS Exchange Revit reader.

Textures and Materials

HOOPS Exchange supports textures with Revit. Colors on wires, faces, and tessellation are also supported.

Generally, Revit files reference textures which are part of a Revit installation. This installation path is automatically added by Exchange _only_ if at least one custom path is provided into the texture search directories attribute of the read parameters (m_ppcSearchTextureDirectories). This means that if you want HOOPS textures from the default installation path, you must add at least one value to m_ppcSearchTextureDirectories; Even an invalid path such as en empty string.

Metadata

HOOPS Exchange reads Revit metadata (properties) with their units.

Limitations

  • Revit is only available on 64-bit Windows and 64-bit Linux.

Geometry Representation

In Exchange, geometry is always represented as solid.

In Revit, geometry may have different representations; For example, pipes can be wireframe or solid. This setting can be changed in Views. HOOPS Exchange does not support this concept.

Files with imported DWG parts are supported, but the visibility by default and per view will always be set to visible, even if visibility is set to another value in the original file.