The Complete Revit to 3MF Conversion Guide.

August 01, 2025

General Information

This guide is part of the RapidPipeline 3D Formats Knowledge Database. It shows how to convert Revit to 3MF, if you'd like to know more about the formats, please check out the following links:

Converting and Optimizing Revit Files to 3MF

There are various ways to convert between Revit and 3MF. With RapidPipeline, you can easily convert and and optimize Revit files, at scale. It supports 3MF, as well as many other file formats (examples: FBX, glTF, OBJ, PLY, STL, USD, USDZ, VRM), at high quality.

Below you can find a video explaining how to convert your files:

What are Revit and 3MF files commonly used for?

The Revit file is a format mostly used for Building Information Modeling (BIM) software for architectural design, engineering, and construction documentation.
The 3MF file is a format mostly used for 3D printing and additive manufacturing.

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Comparison of Features Supported by Revit and 3MF

FeatureSupported by RevitSupported by 3MF
Morph TargetsNoNo
Rigid AnimationsNoNo
Skinned AnimationsNoNo
AnimationsNoNo
Free-Form SurfacesPartial0No
Geometry CompressionNoPartial1
Quad MeshesYesNo
Basic 3D GeometryYesYes
PBR MaterialsYesPartial2
Transparent MaterialsYesPartial3
Vertex ColorsNoYes
MaterialsYesYes
Scene CompositionYesYes
Hierarchical Scene GraphYesYes
Scene NodesYesYes
Standardized FormatPartial4Yes
Embedded TexturesYesYes
Multiple UV ChannelsPartial5Partial6
Normal MappingYesNo
Procedural TexturesPartial7No
Texture CompressionNoPartial8
Texture TransformsYesPartial9
TexturingYesYes

0 - Limited NURBS support, primarily focused on building-specific forms and conceptual massing rather than complex organic surfaces.
1 - ZIP-based compression of model data
2 - Basic PBR material properties
3 - Alpha channel support for transparency
4 - Uses proprietary RVT and RFA formats but provides import/export capabilities for industry standards like IFC, DWG, and other BIM/CAD formats for interoperability.
5 - Basic UV mapping capabilities through material properties, primarily for architectural visualization rather than complex texture workflows.
6 - Multiple texture coordinate sets supported
7 - Limited procedural texture support through material definitions and appearance properties for architectural visualization.
8 - Compressed textures within ZIP package
9 - Basic texture coordinate transformation

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Limitations of Revit Files to 3MF Conversion Workflow

The following limitations should be taken into account when converting Revit files to 3MF format:

Revit Feature (not supported by 3MF)Limitation Details
Free-Form Surfaces

Free-Form Surfaces Support:

Revit: Partial support | 3MF: No support

Free-Form Surfaces illustratedlack of support for Free-Form Surfaces illustrated

Revit Notes:

Limited NURBS support, primarily focused on building-specific forms and conceptual massing rather than complex organic surfaces.

Impact:

Free-form surfaces allow a CAD user to design surfaces with advanced controls over curvature and continuitiy. While these surfaces are common for CAD models (in the form of so-called boundary representations or "B-reps"), they need to be converted to polygonal triangle or quad data to work with most 3D rendering engines - a process called tessellation. In this example, a surface patch is used to describe a part of a curved surface of a product. Without support for this feature, the free-form surface has to be tessellated into quads or triangles.

Quad Meshes

Quad Meshes Support:

Revit: Full support | 3MF: No support

Quad Meshes illustratedlack of support for Quad Meshes illustrated

Impact:

Quad meshes are a common way to hand-model and edit 3D models. 3D artists get intuitive control and such meshes are also easy to refine, as well as well-suited for creation of skinned animations. However, real-time rendering pipelines and hardware are usually all based on triangles, so if a 3D model should not be edited any more, it is safe to convert quads to triangles (and engines will do this automatically before sending data to the rendering hardware). In this example, a part of a mesh is modeled with quads. Without support for this feature, quads will have to be triangulated, producing a pure triangle mesh.

Texture Transforms

Texture Transforms Support:

Revit: Full support | 3MF: Partial support

Texture Transforms illustratedlack of support for Texture Transforms illustrated

3MF Notes:

Basic texture coordinate transformation

Impact:

Texture transforms describe transformation operations that are applied to 2D texture images or UV coordinates when using 2D texture data on a 3D surface. They can be used, for example, to make sure that material patterns are using real-world scale when rendered on the 3D surface. In this example, such a pattern is used and scaled with the help of a texture transform. Without support for this feature, the texture pattern shows up at the wrong scale.

Procedural Textures

Procedural Textures Support:

Revit: Partial support | 3MF: No support

Procedural Textures illustratedlack of support for Procedural Textures illustrated

Revit Notes:

Limited procedural texture support through material definitions and appearance properties for architectural visualization.

Impact:

Procedural texture allow the modeling of surface details through mathematical functions, along with artistic control over various parameters. Typically, they are used for patterns like wood grain or other semi-regular structures. Since they are not using any pixels as source data, procedural textures have, in principle, infinite resolution and are very lightweight to describe. In this example, a procedural texture is used to model the look of a wooden material. Without support for this feature, in this case, the wooden parts won't show any visible details.

Normal Mapping

Normal Mapping Support:

Revit: Full support | 3MF: No support

Normal Mapping illustratedlack of support for Normal Mapping illustrated

Impact:

Normal maps are used to model shading differences that are arising from small geometric details on a surface, such as fabric structures, visible gaps between bricks forming a wall, or rough rock surfaces. In this example, a normal map is used to model a fabric structure. Without support for this feature, the rendered fabric will look smoother than it actually is in the real world, as the fabric structure won't be visible.

Transparent Materials

Transparent Materials Support:

Revit: Full support | 3MF: Partial support

Transparent Materials illustratedlack of support for Transparent Materials illustrated

3MF Notes:

Alpha channel support for transparency

Impact:

Transparency is commonly used for see-through objects, containing (usually partially) transparent surfaces. In this example, a transparent material is used to model the glass window of the microwave, so that one can see inside. Without support for this feature, the inside of the microwave cannot be seen, as the window will be rendered as an opaque surface.

PBR Materials

PBR Materials Support:

Revit: Full support | 3MF: Partial support

PBR Materials illustratedlack of support for PBR Materials illustrated

3MF Notes:

Basic PBR material properties

Impact:

PBR materials enable Physically-Based-Rendering (PBR) for a standardized, photorealistic look of rendered images. PBR uses concepts like metallic-roughness or specular-glossiness properties and a microfacet-based modeling of the surface, using a concept called BRDF (Bi-Directional Reflectance Distribution Function). In this example, PBR materials are used to achieve realistic looking plastic and metal materials. Without support for PBR materials, only basic colors and shading can be used (for example, based on more simple shading models, such as the Blinn/Phong model).

What's the best way to get Revit files into my 3D applications, and are there alternatives to using 3MF?

Doing 3D conversion right, especially at scale, can be tricky, as 3D data is in general a rather complex (yet very powerful!) medium. This also applies to Revit and 3MF files - the conversion guide above provides a rough first idea about that. Once you know what you would like to do, tools like RapidPipeline can help you perform the necessary steps, and to even automate the process for thousands or even millions of files.

Especially when introducing pipelines and workflows at scale in an enterprise context, it is usually good to rely on dedicated tools and expertise, making sure you do not introduce any steps into your 3D workflow that are detrimental to the final output's quality, or that take your team too much time (and money).

If you're interested to hire dedicated expertise from the best in the field to help your company reach your goals fast and reliably, please do not hestitate to contact DGG. Being the creators of RapidPipeline, and ambassadors for open 3D standards for more than a decade, we have been building some of the world's most advanced 3D pipelines, having processed many millions of 3D assets.

Therefore, our expertise will help you to reach your goals faster, at scale, and with the least possible friction, since we are focused on maximum interoperability.

To get started with 3D data conversion and optimization today, sign up for a free account!

If you have any questions, feel free to chat with our human team.

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