Custom Revit integration
Appfront builds integrations with Autodesk Revit, the BIM software in which many architects, structural engineers and building services consultants model. Elements, properties and quantities flow from the model into your estimating, planning or own software, and data from your systems can flow back into the model. This can run as an add-in inside Revit itself, or through the cloud without Revit needing to be open.
What is a Revit integration?
Revit by Autodesk is a widely used programme for modelling buildings in BIM. A Revit model contains more than geometry: elements such as walls, doors and pipes have properties, and quantities can be extracted from the model. Revit has an API that allows add-ins to work within the programme itself, and through Autodesk Platform Services models can also be processed in the cloud.
In practice, data from a Revit model is exported to Excel, edited by hand and entered into the estimate. Any change to the model means exporting again. Codes from your own system, such as an article number or a budget item, are entered manually as parameters. And whether the model complies with the agreed parameter conventions only becomes apparent when something goes wrong.
We build custom solutions because practices and companies differ: which data you need from the model, which data should go back, which software it should land in, and how your models are set up. For exchange with other BIM programmes there is the open IFC format; a Revit integration is for those who work directly with Revit models, in both directions.
Out of the model
Elements, properties and quantities from Revit into your estimating, planning or own software.
Back into the model
Codes and properties from your systems as parameters in the model, without manual work.
Add-in or cloud
A button within Revit itself, or processing in the cloud without Revit needing to be open.
How we build your Revit integration
We start with your models: how they are set up, which data is needed, which software it should land in, and what should flow back. It often turns out that parameters are used differently across models. We record those agreements so the integration works reliably and any deviation in a model is flagged straight away.
Your models, parameters, data and the software it needs to reach.
An add-in in Revit or processing in the cloud.
Data out of the model and back, with checks on the agreed conventions.
Going live, monitoring, and management with each new version of Revit.
What a Revit integration does in practice
The components below appear in almost every Revit integration. Which ones you need depends on your models.
Reading out
Elements and parameters from the model.
Quantities
Quantities, lengths and areas.
Write-back
Codes and properties in the model.
Families
Products from your own catalogue.
Validation
Agreed parameter conventions checked.
Changes
Differences between versions of a model.
Who we build Revit integrations for
The integration is intended for those who work with Revit models.
Architects
Models for many parties. Checking is the core.
Installation advice
Pipework and ducting. Quantities matter most.
Contractors
Calculating from the model. The changes are what is needed.
Manufacturers
Products as families. The catalogue is the core.
Technology and integrations
This page is about integrations with Revit. For the open exchange format, see our page on an IFC integration; for BIM in general, see our page on BIM software; and for estimating, see our page on estimating software. You can read about our way of working under software development.
If you work with Archicad rather than Revit, take a look at our Archicad integration.
Why choose Appfront for your Revit integration?
An export to Excel is out of date with the next change to the model. That is what we build on: data from the model without exporting, properties written back without manual work, and agreed conventions that are checked.
Always up to date
Data from the latest model.
No manual work
Codes straight into the model.
Reliable
Deviations are flagged immediately.
Security and privacy for a Revit integration
The integration works with designs and project data belonging to clients. Access to models follows the permissions in your own environment or in Autodesk's cloud, and every exchange is logged.
Where the integration runs outside Revit, it does so in a European data centre or in your own environment, with encrypted storage and daily backups.
Frequently asked questions about a Revit integration
Questions that practices and companies ask before getting started.
It pulls elements, properties and quantities from a Revit model into your own software, writes codes and properties back into the model, and checks whether the model meets your conventions. This can be an add-in within Revit or run via the cloud.
IFC is an open format that many BIM programmes can export. An IFC integration works with that export. A Revit integration works directly with the Revit model, can also write data back, and has access to everything held in Revit. If you work with several programmes, you often need both.
With an add-in, yes: the user works in Revit and uses a button. Through Autodesk Platform Services, models can also be processed in the cloud without Revit needing to be open. Which route suits you depends on who uses the integration and when.
Yes. Codes, article numbers or properties from your systems can be placed as parameters in the model. That way they sit in the model, and others can use them.
Autodesk regularly releases a new version of Revit. An add-in needs to be tested against it and sometimes adjusted. We take this into account in maintenance, so the integration keeps working when you upgrade.
Yes. Products from your catalogue can be offered as a Revit family, with the properties from your own system. If a product changes, the family is updated.
For agencies and companies that often need data from Revit models, for manufacturers with products in Revit, and for software vendors who want to connect their product directly to Revit.
Data from Revit without exporting?
Tell us which data you need from your models, where it should go, and what should come back into the model. We'll show you what the integration looks like.