Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Convert your Revit Project to to a 3D interactive PDF

Required software

MikTex - To generate the PDF
MeshLab - To generate the U3D file to go inside the PDF
Autodesk FBX Convertor - To Convert the FBX files to something MeshLab understands.

Procedure

1. Export your file from Revit to FBX
2. Convert the FBX to DAE Collada format using the convertor.
3. Load the .DAE file into MeshLab. Use Meshlab to edit the file to your preference.
4. Export to U3D. Meshlab will even generate the .tex file for you.
5. Using TexWorks (part of MikTek) open the .tex file and hit the go button
6. Your PDF is now ready. Enjoy. Anyone with Acrobat Reader 7 or above should be able to view it.


For customization of the 3D output and the PDF file, you'll have to teach yourself some Latex and read this documentation. http://www.ctan.org/pkg/movie15