Software development kit
BimRv SDK is the name of the Open Design Alliance's new interoperability software development kit for Autodesk's Revit files. It accesses data stored in RVT 2014-2020 files, and writes RVT files. Third-party developers would use it to do the following kinds of things:
- Visualization to see models external to Revit
- Conversion to PDF and other formats
- Extract data to databases and so on
Because Revit hides some data, BimRv accesses it in two ways. Raw format returns all data and the programmer has to figure out what to do with it. The Custom API interprets the data, but does not expose all of it.
Internally, the ODA uses its own VSF format as the intermediate format, which allows it to convert geometry to multiple formats. For instance, BimRv can export geometry representations from a DWG file to a Collada DAE file, and then export that to an Revit RVT file. The result is, however, just the geometry in Revit format and so there are no parametrics. Revit models can of course be saved as 3D PDF files, which can be the preferred method of design sharing by clients with contractors.
Nevertheless, just having the geometry is good enough for lots of activities, such as visualization, geometry collision detection, slicing planes, and exporting to DWG. Models can be viewed in Web browsers using the ODA's Open Cloud platform, and so it also works with mobile devices, as shown below. The Web and mobile versions have all the same functions as the desktop version, such as cutting planes.
To be clear, ODA also handles RFA files, Revit families that define parametric parts, like doors and windows.
Next up for BimRv: blends and swept blends, not hosted and hosted family instances, Boolean operations, and more. Details about these new functions for Revit files will be detailed in an ODA Webinar planned for May: https://www.opendesign.com/webinars
The name BimRv implies to me that the ODA could consider addressing other BIM programs.
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