Exporting from Revit for 3D Printing

The 3D Printer is not available for general use until Fall 2014. These guidelines are provided for those students that are helping the department test the print documentation.
This page details the process for exporting a Revit file containing masses or traditional Revit geometries such as buildings containing doors, windows, roofs, ceilings, etc.

Exporting the Model (Revit)

  1. Open a 3D view of your model in Revit
  2. From the Revit application menu, select Export > CAD Formats > DWG
  3. In the DWG Export window, click the "..." button next to the select export setup drop-down.
  4. In the Solids tab, select ACIS Solids and click OK.
  5. Click the Next button.
  6. Select AutoCAD 2007 DWG as the file type.
  7. Save the file. 

Processing the Model (AutoCAD)

    • Open your .dwg file in AutoCAD
    • Delete any lines, text, dimension strings, you do not want in the printed model.
    • Delete any objects you do not want to print (e.g. glass).
    • Scale your model to an architectural scale (steps a-d below)
    a. Type Scale and press Enter
    b. Type All and press Enter
    c. Click once on part of your 3D object to locate the base point of the scale
    d. Type the proper scale factor and press enter (see chart below for scale factors)
     Scale Scale Factor
     1" = 1'-0" Scale all objects by 1/12
     1/2" = 1'-0" Scale all objects by 1/24
     1/4" = 1'-0" Scale all objects by 1/48
     1/8" = 1'-0" Scale all objects by 1/96
    • Check the overall size of your scaled model (in inches). The Makerbot print must be smaller than 10" long x 8" wide x 6" tall. If your model is larger than this, you must resize it to a smaller architectural scale.
    • From the application menu select Export > Other formats and choose STL from the dropdown. 
    • Select the objects in the model you want to print. (Usually you will select the entire model.)
    • Give your file a name (lastname-course-number.stl) and click Save.
    (For example, Bob might name is file meden-id305.stl)

    Submitting the STL file

    Submit your STL file for printing here.