01. First download and install the CADtoEarth.Revit plugin extension from apps.autodesk.com
02. Open a new Revit project. Go to Add-Ins >> CADtoEarth Pane.
03. This will open your Internet Browser on the AMC Bridge platform. There you will need to create a new account.
04. Choose Google Earth and navigate to find a site for our building. In our example I choose a nice place in Geneva, Switzerland. Don’t forget to check 3D Buildings layer and 3D Terrain layer.
05. Go to Surface & Drawings >> Turn On Drawing Mode. This will automatically switch to the site plan view where you will draw the limit of your site and a line symbolizing the street.
06. Click on Save, then go back to Revit and go to Add-Ins >> Get Surface. Revit ask you where you want to save your “Google Earth Satellite Imagery”, then click OK.
07. The surface is now imported in your project. Switch on Wireframe Visuel Effect: now you can clearly see the site border and the symbolic street line.
08. Don’t close the windows and now open your building project (R >> Open >> Project).
09. Select the whole building, copy and paste it into the site.
10. Revolve your building in parallel to the street (“Escape” or “Finish” to confirm the position).
11. You should also adjust the ground level. If you want to move your building again, select the whole building again and create a group the time you want to move it: this will be more convenient, and you can “ungroup” it later.
12. Don’t forget to save and go to Add-Ins >> Export Model. Choose your options and/or if you want to upload the model on the AMC Bridge server after export (you can also upload it later). Uncheck it and click OK.
Problem 1: You may read the message “The project contains more than one toposurface with coordinates. Please, select the main toposurface or delete the unneeded.” Nevertheless you only see one toposurface on your project. Most of the time, the reason is that you have two or more toposurface overlaying each other’s (duplicated). Just select the visible toposurface and right-clic on “Delete”. It looks like nothing happened but the extra toposurface has effectively been deleted. Now you can try again to export your model.
Problem 2: You project is going to be saved into .KMZ file on your computer or uploaded into the server but you got this warning message: “Google Earth supports only triangles etc”. Indeed, Google Earth won’t allow you to upload buildings with more than 21845 (!?) “triangle”. To solve this problem occurring with big building, try to simplify your building by removing hidden parts, such as furniture, inside doors or some “useless” walls…
13. Choose a place to save your .KMZ file on your computer. Now you have 2 options. Go to Add-Ins >> CADtoEarth Pane, and choose to “Upload a Model”. Search the .KMZ file your just saved and clic on “Upload”. Don’t worry if it looks like nothing happen. Actually this is working, just wait a minute and you will see your model appearing in “3D Models”.
14. Click on “Load Model”. Now you can see that your building has been uploaded into Google Earth. You can also go inside “Control Model” and modify the position of your building. If you have Google Earth application installed on your computer, you can also use it to open your .KMZ file. Nevertheless your will not be able to modify the position of your building on the map.
15. Notice that you can also upload your building directly with AMC Bridge without saving it on your computer. Go inside Revit: Add-Ins >> Export Model. Then choose to upload the model on server after export (choose Google Earth).
16. Note: Export to Google Earth tool may often be unstable (wrong scale and/or wrong position of your building). AMC Bridge for Revit is quite instable, don’t hesitate to delete your exported model, close and re-open your web browser, etc, until it works!!
BONUS:
01. How to hide an old building on Google Earth for our new project? Unfortunately, there is no way to hide buildings in Google Earth (except in some cities such as Kuala Lumpur, where building are designed one by one). As a result, both old and new building will be merged and all the process will be useless. All we can do if to use Photoshop and create by hand views of our building integrated in our city.
02. Choose a site for our new building. Repeat all the step 1 to 15, saving the .KMZ file on your computer. Now lunch it with Google Earth Application. In our example I choosed an existing building in Seattle, U.S.A. Hide your building and take a screenshot of the view you want for your rendering and paste it into Photoshop. Memorize your “Eye Altitude” (229m).
03. Don’t move and hide all 3D building and only keep your 3D building. Take another screenshot and paste it on Photoshop. Now you have 2 screenshoots. If the view moved between the 3D and the 2D view, go back to the same “Eye Altitude” than before (229m) by playing with the “+” and “-“ keys on the right of your keyboard.
04. Let’s work with Photoshop. Hide the old building and search for a park or a big garden in the area to take grass and rebuild our site texture.
05. Prepare your building.
06. By playing with layers, you can see the result. This is not perfect of course, but at least you can have a nice bird view rendering of your new building in the heart of the city!!
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