May 22, 2024

Revit to Advance Steel: Mapping (Part 01)

Jacobus Oberholster | AEC Engineering Technical Consultant (Prokon)

Both Revit and Advance Steel are powerful tools in the field of structural steel modeling, each with its unique strengths. Professionals with an AEC license leverage these strengths, utilizing Advance Steel for modeling and Revit for detailing, specifically in structural steel projects.

Detailing in Revit is notably simpler compared to Advance Steel, while building a structural steel model is more straightforward in Advance Steel than in Revit. Autodesk introduced the Advance Steel Extension for Revit a few years ago, providing a valuable tool accessible from the Extensions list of your Revit installer on the Autodesk Products page.

Once installed, the extension appears in the Add-Ins tab ribbon in Revit. It facilitates the export and import of models between Revit and Advance Steel, using the .smlx extension format.

To use it, select your Revit model and either export it to Advance Steel or, alternatively, import an Advance Steel model into Revit—a workflow favored by many for its efficiency in detailing.

Accessing the Export & Import functionality in Advance Steel is straightforward, located in the Export & Import tab ribbon. However, depending on the Families utilized in Revit, mapping them to Advance Steel profiles may be necessary, a topic explored further in Part 02.

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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.