The Complete Revit to DGN Conversion Guide
Table of Contents
- General Information
- Converting and Optimizing Revit Files to DGN
- What are Revit and DGN files commonly used for?
- Comparison of Features Supported by Revit and DGN
- Limitations of Revit Files to DGN Conversion Workflow
- What's the best way to get Revit files into my 3D applications, and are there alternatives to using DGN?
General Information
This guide is part of the RapidPipeline 3D Formats Knowledge Database. It shows how to convert Revit to DGN, if you'd like to know more about the formats, please check out the following links:
Converting and Optimizing Revit Files to DGN
RapidPipeline can import Revit files, but currently doesn't support exporting to DGN format yet.
If you specifically need DGN export functionality for your workflow, please feel free to get in touch with us - we'd be happy to discuss your requirements and potential timeline for adding this export capability.
If you need, you can import DGN files and convert them to any of these 8 formats: FBX, glTF, OBJ, PLY, STL, USD, USDZ, and VRM.
In the meantime, you can explore other options on the 3D Formats Knowledge Database, which might serve as suitable alternatives for your workflow depending on your target applications and use cases.
Comparison of Features Supported by Revit and DGN
| Feature | Supported by Revit | Supported by DGN |
|---|---|---|
| Morph Targets | No | No |
| Rigid Animations | No | Partial0 |
| Skinned Animations | No | No |
| Animations | No | Partial1 |
| Free-Form Surfaces | Partial2 | Yes |
| Geometry Compression | No | No |
| Quad Meshes | Yes | Yes |
| Basic 3D Geometry | Yes | Yes |
| PBR Materials | Yes | Partial3 |
| Transparent Materials | Yes | Yes |
| Vertex Colors | No | Yes |
| Materials | Yes | Yes |
| Scene Composition | Yes | Yes |
| Hierarchical Scene Graph | Yes | Yes |
| Scene Nodes | Yes | Yes |
| Standardized Format | Partial4 | Partial5 |
| Embedded Textures | Yes | Partial6 |
| Multiple UV Channels | Partial7 | Partial8 |
| Normal Mapping | Yes | Partial9 |
| Procedural Textures | Partial10 | No |
| Texture Compression | No | No |
| Texture Transforms | Yes | Yes |
| Texturing | Yes | Yes |
Limitations of Revit Files to DGN Conversion Workflow
The following limitations should be taken into account when converting Revit files to DGN format:
| Revit Feature (not supported by DGN) | Limitation Details |
|---|---|
| Procedural Textures | Procedural Textures Support: Revit: Partial support | DGN: No support   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. |
| Embedded Textures | Embedded Textures Support: Revit: Full support | DGN: Partial support   DGN Notes: Textures can be referenced or embedded Impact: Embedded textures allow the storage and exchange of an entire 3D model and its materials within a single file, by embedding the texture images directly into the 3D file (and not storing them as separate image files). Without support for this feature, textures have to be stored in separate image files, and referenced from the main 3D model file. |
| Normal Mapping | Normal Mapping Support: Revit: Full support | DGN: Partial support   DGN Notes: Basic normal mapping for visualization 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. |
| PBR Materials | PBR Materials Support: Revit: Full support | DGN: Partial support   DGN Notes: Limited PBR support in newer versions 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 DGN?
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 DGN 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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