Tutorial Artlantis

Artlantis 2.0 for Revit Users

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Visit the Artlantis website at http://www.artlantis.com for product information and availability.

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Artlantis® is a trademark of Abvent.
All other trademarks are the property of their respective holders.

Artlantis 2.0 for Revit Users

 Tutorial Artlantis

Goal:
Create your model in Revit 2009, export and edit it in Artlantis. Return to Revit, make changes to
the geometry, export a new Artlantis file and recover your previous work done in Artlantis. 

• The Artlantis export plug-in offers a direct transfer from Revit 2009 into Artlantis, without the
need for intermediate file formats. During the export, special entities are automatically
exploded.

• Artlantis’ .atl file format is cross platform; it can be read on both Macintosh and Windows.
• Let’s see in detail what Artlantis can recover from your Revit 2009 model:
• The geometry
• All cameras for parallel views
• All cameras for perspective views
• The shading color and transparency of materials with their names
• The geographical position of the Sun active for the parallel view that is used for the export.

Step 1 : Modeling in Revit 2009

Build your model in Revit

Artlantis 2.0 for Revit Users

 Tutorial Artlantis

Modeling Tips:
• Artlantis takes into account the name of materials you assign to surfaces in Revit. Surfaces with
the same material name (even if the material itself differs in Revit) will be treated with the same
material in Artlantis.

• Surfaces with multiple materials, in other words surfaces for which you applied the Split face
and Paint command in Revit, will be transferred with only one material to Artlantis. For
example: in case of a wall, it will be transferred the diffuse color and transparency of the
default material.

• Artlantis does not support RPC objects; it means that site components such as Revit plants are
not compatible with Artlantis. We suggest that you use Artlantis trees and vegetation instead.

• You can transfer the complete model, or only a part of it. In the event you only want to use a
part of the model in Artlantis, simply select the parts and export.

• Import all linked files into your Revit model before beginning the export.

Step 2 : Export the model to Artlantis

Go to Parallel Views and launch the command:
Tools > External Tools > Export to Artlantis Render - Studio 2
Specify a location and finish the operation. The built-in plug-in will create an Artlantis .atl file.

Please note that this command is available only from the Parallel Views. Apparently, it is
accessible from Perspective Views as well, however, the export process won’t be completed in this
case.

Step 3 : Set your scene with Artlantis

Open the .atl file created using Revit in Artlantis 2.

Artlantis 2.0 for Revit Users

 Tutorial Artlantis

Add textures, lights and insert objects into your scene to give it a touch of realism. Save your work
in Artlantis.

Step 4 : Update the file in Revit

In the event you need to change the model in Revit, please note that you won’t lose Artlantis data.
Open Revit, and make the necessary changes to your model. In our case, we’ve changed the
glazing wall with individual windows.

Once it is finished, create a new Artlantis 2 file by following the method described in Step 2.

Artlantis 2.0 for Revit Users

 Tutorial Artlantis

Step 5 : Update the modified model in Artlantis.

Open the new .atl file you have created.
When opened, go to File > Use Reference File... A new dialog box will appear. First, select the
location of your old .atl file to which you want to refer and select it.

You now have many options; you can transfer from the fist Artlantis file into the second one.

First, you can recover all the shaders from your first scene into your new one. Choose this option:

Artlantis 2.0 for Revit Users

 Tutorial Artlantis

You now have the possibility to recover all the information from your first file. Here we select all
options. You can recover:

Then click on OK.

Your new file has been updated with the data from your first version.

Abvent May 2009

Artlantis 2.0 for Revit Users