Revit for Making SC4 Buildings?

[EMC44 0]

So, I'm sorry if this is in the wrong section, since technically it's not BATting using the BAT tool, but I was wondering if it's possible to take simple revit files and put them into SC4 through 3ds, gmax, or whatever, and then into the lot editor? 

 

I know Revit like the back of my hand, but I feel lost using most other programs.  I know obviously that Revit files tend to be massive, but I just wouldn't put anything inside, and probably would use massing to keep the file light.  Has anybody tried this, or know if it would work?  Also, what sort of material issues would I run into?  I know in SC4 glass tends to basically just be a solid light bluish color, whereas Revit it tends to be clear.  Would modifying the materials in Revit then transfer later?

 

I was also wondering about SketchUp for SC4.  I saw a video, but you need the pro version, which I am certainly not paying for.  Has anybody tried this too?

 

Thanks in advance!

[Jasoncw 11,839]

You could but I think if you know revit and sketchup then learning max shouldn't be very hard.

 

But if you choose to use revit you'll have to redo all or most of the materials in 3ds max, since by default revit gives things those autodesk materials which imo don't give you the control you would need when making a BAT.  And the default settings for those materials seem to be too high so in order to keep your render times reasonable you'd have to learn a little about materials anyway.  And then for modeling, sometimes things for sc4 are modeled exactly to real life scale, but some finer details like certain window frames or other small features are exaggerated so that they're visible in the renders.  You won't necessarily be able to use the components you'd like to. 

 

Another issue, which I think is a big one, is that you can't do BAT preview renders in revit (or sketchup or other programs) which means you're making everything blind up until the point you import it into max.  Either you'd have to constantly import your work into max to do preview renders or you'd just have to not know what your BAT looks like until it's almost done.  This is why I usually don't think it's good for new BATers to use those other programs, but it sounds like you have a background in architecture which might negate some of that. 

[darn42 1,268]

I was going to talk about materials and stuff but jason beat me to it.

 

Basically what jason said but modeling in revit could be feasible to work with a pipeline to 3ds max. Every so often you could pop into max to do a preview then continue working in revit for the modeling stage. Its a bit less convenient but if you know how to model well in revit it could be easier than learning to be efficient in a new program. Especially since revit is pretty much for architecture from what I know of it.