Author (define) and publish (export) IPTs for use with AutoCAD, Revit, and other products. These applications are purpose-built building design and construction systems for documenting Architectural, Structural, Mechanical, Electrical, and Plumbing (MEP) information. IFC Export is available in Inventor 2016 R3 - Subscription customers only.
BIM Exchange publishes 2D and 3D IPT design data to an Autodesk Exchange File (.ADSK). In addition, the BIM Exchange application can export Revit geometry natively to a Revit Family (.RFA) or Industry Foundation Classes (.IFC - included in 2016 R3) file. Multiple Autodesk products can consume an Autodesk Exchange File. BIM Exchange provides models, and their metadata, to a variety of Architectural, Engineering, & Construction (AEC) applications.
Autodesk products, such as AutoCAD and Revit, contain different tools for consuming data. BIM Exchange is an Autodesk Inventor add-in that uses Autodesk Inventor's geometric modeling commands to define models that can be used in other Autodesk products. BIM Exchange has commands for defining connectors, simplifying and recognize model geometry/data, and exporting data to either a .RFA, .IFC (included in 2016 R3), or .ADSK file.
Important: If Revit is a desired outcome it is necessary to utilize the Feature Recognition tools to convert the various types of geometry created in Inventor to match those that are available in the Revit software.
The general workflow for BIM Exchange consists of three main components:
Simplifying Models with Inventor LT
The process of reducing the complexity of a model by removing components or unnecessary features. Use derived part, and other techniques to simplify a part before authoring or publishing. Since building engineers need only the details that are relevant to their design, often only the basic 3D shape and connection features are important. When you export a component, it is good practice to keep the .RFA, .IFC (included in 2016 R3), and .ADSK file size as small as possible.
Flow direction is defined independently inside of the connector element.
You add connectors by defining their position, orientation, shape, and size. You then select the connection type before applying the connector to the model to use in AutoCAD MEP or Revit MEP. As you add connectors, they appear in the BIM Exchange browser.
Use Shrinkwrap or Level of Detail representations (not available in Inventor LT) to simplify the data before exporting to an .ADSK, .IFC (included in 2016 R3), or a .RFA file. If the design consists of a single part, you can simplify it by deriving it into a single body part. Then use Shrinkwrap Substitute with the assembly file.
A User Defined Coordinate System (UCS) can be selected in the Export Building Components command. Any UCS defined in a component is available in Export Building Components command. To facilitate it, the UCS command is available in the BIM Exchange tab. Many architectural applications consider the positive Z direction to be up toward the ceiling where mechanical applications often consider positive Z to be out. It is important to define the proper UCS so that the model imports in the appropriate orientation.
Both Revit MEP and AutoCAD MEP can import ADSK files and the associated data. The application imports only the data that is supported. Data that is not supported is ignored in the file. It is important to remember that if an .ADSK file is utilized it will be unable to be fully modified in the AEC application. For this reason, it is important to follow the workflow outlined below to achieve either an .ADSK, .IFC (included in 2016 R3), or a .RFA file.