Autodesk Revit Reader Parameters

Use this parameter to select the features that will be read:

• All Elements – All elements will be read.
• Exterior Shell Only – Only elements that belong to the exterior shell of the model will be read.
• Schedules – Features read will correspond to individual rows in Schedule tables, with one feature type for each Schedule being read. The Schedule that is read is dependent on the Specify View to Read parameter.

Use this parameter to change the geometry mode that the reader will use to represent features:

• Surfaces – This mode will represent features as 3D surfaces. Not all elements can be represented this way.
• Wireframes – This mode will represent all features as wireframes. Those that cannot be represented as surfaces will be broken down into an aggregate of lines.
• Floor Plans  – This mode will represent features as a 2D floor plan. Which floor plan view is represented is dependent on the value of the Views to Read parameter.
• Area Plans – This mode will represent features as a 2D area plan. Which area plan view is represented is dependent on the value of the Views to Read parameter.
• Non-Spatial – This mode will output all features with null geometry, while still placing attributes on the correct features. This will result in a significant speed increase for the reader.

Use this parameter to decide which mode the reader should use to read floor plan views. It is only active when the Read Geometry As parameter is set to Floor Plans.

• Hidden Line – This mode will perform occlusion on features and remove those that would be hidden by others. (This is similar behavior to the “Hidden Lines” setting in the Revit program.)
• Wireframes – This mode will not perform occlusion on features. As a result, all features in the floor plan view will be output. This mode may have faster performance than Hidden Line. This is the preferred option if walls display gaps where they are intersected with plumbing and electrical features. See Autodesk Revit Troubleshooting for more information.
• GIS Mode – This mode will read the floorplan in 2D.

Use this parameter to output family instances (non-hosted only) as oriented points instead of with their regular geometry. All other feature attributes will remain unchanged.

In-place family instances that are not loadable cannot be output as family reference points.

If the Revit model contains in-place instances, the reader will output a warning and the instance’s geometry will be processed as usual.

Use this parameter to select which Revit views you wish to read from the file. The reader will read all elements from a selected view, obeying that view's visibility settings by category.

The views that you can select are dependent on the value of the Read and Read Geometry As parameters:

• If Read is set to All Elements or Exterior Shell Only, behavior depends on the Read Geometry As parameter:
  • If you selected Surfaces or Wireframes, you will be able to choose from all 3D Views in the file.
  • If you selected Floor Plans, you will be able to choose from all Floor Plan Views in the file.
  • If no view is specified, in Surfaces or Wireframes mode, all 3D elements will be read. In Floor Plans mode, all Floor Plan Views will be read, with a string attribute applied to each feature titled FloorPlanView, containing the feature’s corresponding view.

• If Read is set to Schedules, you will be able to choose from all Schedule views in the file. If no view is selected, the reader will read one feature type for every Schedule View.

Use this parameter to expose Format Attributes in FME Workbench when you create a workspace:

• In a dynamic scenario, it means these attributes can be passed to the output dataset at runtime.
• In a non-dynamic scenario, this parameter allows you to expose additional attributes on multiple feature types. Click the browse button to view the available format attributes (which are different for each format) for the reader.

Coordinate systems may be extracted from input feature data sources, may come predefined with FME, or may be user-defined. FME allows different output and input coordinate systems, and performs the required coordinate conversions when necessary.

For systems that know their coordinate system, the Coordinate System field will display Read from Source and FME will read the coordinate system from the source dataset. For most other input sources, the field will display Unknown (which simply means that FME will use default values). In most cases, the default value is all you'll need to perform the translation.

You can always choose to override the defaults and choose a new coordinate system. Select More Coordinate Systems from the drop-down menu to open the Coordinate System Gallery.

Changing a Reprojection

To perform a reprojection, FME typically uses the CS-MAP reprojection engine, which includes definitions for thousands of coordinate systems, with a large variety of projections, datums, ellipsoids, and units. However, GIS applications have slightly different algorithms for reprojecting data between different coordinate systems. To ensure that the data FME writes matches exactly to your existing data, you can use the reprojection engine from a different application.

To change the reprojection engine, Select Workspace Parameters > Spatial > Reprojection Engine. In the example shown, you can select Esri (but the selection here depends on your installed applications):

Use this parameter to choose the detail level that the reader will use when creating geometry for features:

• Respect Original View Setting – This mode will cause the reader to use the Detail Level setting from the view that it is currently reading.
• Fine – This mode will cause the reader to read features with a detail level of Fine.
• Medium – This mode will cause the reader to read features with a detail level of Medium.
• Coarse – This mode will cause the reader to read features with a detail level of Coarse.

• Project –
  • The reader will read data in the coordinate system defined by the Revit file's Project Base Point. It will also read in the file's defined Project Units.
  • Features will also be tagged with an appropriate non-earth coordinate system with the appropriate units for ease of use.
• Georeferenced –
  • The reader will give precedence to an Esri product coordinate system over any native Revit coordinate system.
  • If the reader cannot find an Esri coordinate system, it will read the native Revit coordinate system from the active Site in the file.
  • If the reader cannot find an Esri or native Revit georeferenced coordinate system, it will read data in the coordinate system defined by the Revit file’s Survey Point. It will also read in the file’s defined Project Units.
• None –
  • The reader will read data in Revit’s internal units (international feet). This mode is most useful when the data is planned to be written back to Revit with the Revit writer.

A search envelope (also known as a bounding box) is a rectangular area that defines a geographic area. In FME, the easiest way to define a search envelope is to use search envelope parameters.

Defining a search envelope is the most efficient method of selecting an area of interest because FME will read only the data that is necessary – it does not have to read an entire dataset. Search Envelope parameters apply to both vector and raster datasets and can be particularly efficient if the source format has a spatial index.

Most FME readers have parameters to define the search envelope of data that is being read:

The parameters include the x and y coordinates of the bounding box as well as a parameter that defines the coordinate system.

How to Define the Bounding Box

Using the minimum and maximum x and y parameters, define a bounding box that will be used to filter the input features. Only features that intersect with the bounding box are returned. Note that the bounding box intersection is not a full geometry intersection (based on spatial relationships) that would be returned by a transformer like the SpatialFilter.

When enabled, the reader will read metadata feature types. These feature types include:

• Metadata.FamilyInformation
• Metadata.FileInformation
• Metadata.FileLinks
• Metadata.LevelInformation
• Metadata.MaterialInformation
• Metadata.ProjectPhases
• Metadata.PhaseFilters
• Metadata.PhaseGraphicOverrides
• Metadata.StyleInformation
• Metadata.ViewInformation
• Metadata.Warnings
• Metadata.Workplanes
• Metadata.Worksets

For information about these feature types, see Autodesk Revit Format Attributes (Feature Representation).

When enabled, the reader will read Sub-Component elements from Family Instances. If possible, they will be placed in the same spot on the model as they are in the family itself (for example, a pipe fitting could have Sub-Components representing each valve).

When enabled, the reader will only read built-in parameters; it will ignore any user parameters. When the reader ignores user parameters, it may help increase performance speed.

User parameters consist of Family, Project, and Shared parameters.

If enabled, the reader will read additional attributes when reading parameters. These attributes include:

• <Param>.ParameterID – The value associated with a parameter; used to differentiate between parameters that map to the same attribute.

• <Param>.ParameterType – The type of parameter being read (for example, Unknown, Built-In, User).

• <Param>.Units – The units in which the parameter data is read (for example, Feet and fractional inches or Degrees). Note that this is set to empty for parameters that don’t have units, such as most string parameters.

When enabled, the reader can create a preprocessed cache to improve speed when rereading the original source data.

The cache file is stored in your default temporary folder location (for example, FME_CACHE_DIR/FME_TEMP).

More information on temporary folder location.

The cache will expire after the specified time interval, or if the original data file is modified.

The default is 14.

When set, this value represents the maximum distance between the source analytical surface and the triangle mesh.

This parameter takes any value greater than 0. The smaller the deviation, the more triangles are used.

If a value is not set, a default value of 0.05 is used.

The diagram below shows deviations when reading a circular ring.