Saveas an older version of Revit

Ok, so this has been a long standing request by many a Revit user, the ability to “saveas” to an older version of Revit. How many times have you heard users say that they have opened a Revit file in the wrong version and saved? or that the partnering consultant you are working with can’t open the latest version of your file because they are still on Revit 2009?

Well maybe this might be the answer…I got an insider track the other day from Steve Goutcha of Pillaroof Architecture. They have a couple of inside API guys who are working on tool which will allow you to migrate the Revit database to an older version. To good to be true? Well I exchanged mails with Steve……“as users of Revit ourselves, we understand the issues that many Revit users have; the ability to do a saveas to an older version seems to be a high priority and this seems even more important as the adoption of Revit grows. If you think about it, you have been able to this in AutoCAD or ACA for years. We have been able to get under the bonnet of the Revit API and our tool allows us to save back as far as Revit 2009. Obviously each release of Revit includes new functionality so our tool will convert newer Revit elements into generic models. You won’t be able to edit these objects because effectively they are embedded IFC components, but this should be a great step forward”…..Want to know more? Be sure to check out Steves website for more details.

Autodesk Revit Civil - not

You only need to speak with somebody who has been using Revit for a long time and one of their biggest complaints is the limited site tools in Revit. Whilst you may argue that Revit is a building modelling application, buildings do sit on sites and are not in isolation, so this is something which is essential to the whole BIM process. Having spent many hours fighting with the terrain tools in Revit Architecture myself, it’s interesting to hear that Autodesk are starting to consider this particular area for Revit. So one thing that you may or may not of heard too much noise about is a couple of Civil focused extensions that may get released for Revit. Having spoken with a couple of Autodesk insiders these tools are in pre-alpha at the moment, but code named “Dig-it” and “Bucket”, these extensions may well start to drive a Civil focused version of Revit. “Dig-it” will be an advanced ground modelling extension, which will address the sort falls provided by the current terrain tools with ability to make road and pavements. “Bucket” will provide far more robust cut and fill calculations. So hopefully Autodesk will see the light and will release “Dig-it” and “Bucket” to resolve all our dirt problems.....