January 22, 2024

Revit & Advance Steel: The Best of Both Worlds

Jacobus Oberholster | AEC Engineering Technical Consultant (Prokon)

It goes without saying that Advance Steel is incredibly well suited to detailing Structural Steel structures and elements. Dedicated functions for pretty much every aspect of the model (Portal Frames, Cladding, Ladders, Purlins, etc.) without the need for Families and an incredible list of parameters with each function, really makes it a far better option than Revit (not even considering automatic detailing).

Advance Steel does have its’ limitations though. If it isn’t in the program, you are stuck. Custom sections, connections, etc. are incredibly complicated to add (some would say impossible). Modifying Profile Tables requires an additional software package that gives you access to the program’s databases. This can very easily lead to corrupting of models. Whereas Revit is far more flexible. As long as you understand Families. Revit is also incredibly well equipped for Concrete modelling and detailing, a shortfall of Advance Steel.

“Merging” these two packages gives you the best of both worlds. With Revit’s Advance Steel Extension you can easily transfer models between the two programs. It is, however, far better to transfer from Advance Steel to Revit than the other way around. The extension is free to any Revit subscribers (including AEC) and can be downloaded from your Autodesk Products page. Once installed, a new function is made available within Revit’s Add-Ins tab ribbon.

What this allows is for you to do all of your Steel modelling in Advance Steel and then to import that model into Revit from where you can complete all of your Concrete modelling. It is important that you place the Advance Steel model in the correction position and height in Advance Steel so that the process of incorporating it into your Revit project is simplified.

The time saved in using Advance Steel for Steel modelling is worth the effort of importing the model into Revit.

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About the Author

Jacobus Oberholster | AEC Engineering Technical Consultant (Prokon)

Jacobus is an AEC Technical Consultant at Micrographics, specialising in the Structural Engineering industry. He focuses on optimising structural workflows in Revit, Prokon, and IDEA Statica, streamlining processes through the integration of various software packages. Jacobus holds a BTech in Civil Engineering and is a Professionally Registered Engineering Technician with the Engineering Council of South Africa. With close on 10 years of experience, he has served as a designer, quality controller, and project manager in both the public and private sectors, demonstrating his extensive expertise and commitment to the field.