Autodesk Forma and Revit Integration: Import and Update Guide

The add-in workflow between Autodesk Forma and Revit lets teams develop early design proposals in Revit and send Revit edits back to Forma. According to Autodesk’s Revit 2024 help documentation and integration guide, the add-in works with Revit 2022.1 and later. The steps below help you manage geometry conversions, location data, and update limitations when transferring a Forma proposal.

1. Prepare the add-in and plan the transfer

1. Confirm that you have access to Autodesk Forma. According to Autodesk’s help documentation, Forma is available to customers with AEC Collection entitlements or through an annual standalone subscription. The add-in can be obtained from the Autodesk App Store or downloaded from Forma’s Extensions menu.

2. Check which Revit versions the add-in supports. Autodesk’s integration article specifies Revit 2022.1 or later, while the Forma-Revit information in the help documentation appears in the Revit 2024 documentation. Before installing, verify that the add-in is currently compatible with your Revit version.

3. Review the project’s coordinate setup. When importing from Forma, Forma’s UTM location data can override Revit’s existing coordinate settings. If you need to preserve the existing geospatial coordinate setup, Autodesk recommends importing the Forma proposal into a new Revit project, then linking that project to the existing site model.

4. Consider design options in advance. The integration does not support Revit Design Options. The primary option must be accepted before loading the Forma proposal.

2. Import a Forma proposal into Revit

1. In Forma, select the proposal to import and use Send to Revit from the proposal’s three-dot menu. In Revit, open a new project, then load the proposal using Load Proposal on the Massing and Site tab.

2. Review the import options and choose the appropriate one. The Forma model is converted into elements that can be edited further in Revit, but each source object may not map to the same Revit category.

3. Account for the one-way nature of the initial import. Autodesk’s integration guide says a Forma proposal can be sent to Revit, but subsequent changes in Forma are not automatically transferred to the existing Revit project. If you need to start over, use a separate Revit project. The guide also recommends duplicating the Forma design and sending the copy to Revit if you want to continue working in both directions.

4. After the initial import, check that elements were created as expected and that the site location is correct. Since Forma’s location settings can affect coordinate information in Revit, this check can make subsequent modeling and documentation easier.

3. Check conversions and contextual data

The main conversions listed in Autodesk’s documentation are shown below. The help documentation and a later integration article list different mappings for Basic Buildings, so review the result based on the source object and workflow used.

Site context can also be part of the transfer. According to Autodesk, contextual data available in Forma can include topography, building geometry, road data, parcel boundaries, and satellite imagery, but coverage and data quality vary by location. If open-source building data does not include height information, Forma may estimate height using an assumption of 3 meters per floor. Compare site data used for project decisions against measured information.

4. Send Revit changes to Forma

1. Make the required design edits in the Revit model. To update the proposal in Forma, use Update Proposal on Revit’s Massing & Site tab. Autodesk says changes made in Revit can be sent to the same Forma proposal multiple times.

2. Before updating, prepare a dedicated 3D view containing only the geometry you need. Use visibility and graphic overrides in this view to limit the level of detail sent to Forma. Excluding unnecessary elements such as railings, interior furniture, and equipment helps prevent the model in Forma from becoming unnecessarily heavy.

3. Refresh the Forma project after the update. Autodesk’s guide includes refreshing the Forma project URL with F5. Then review the updated proposal and geometry.

4. Account for the connection’s limitations: multiple imports from Forma to Revit are not supported; mesh updates sent from Revit to Forma have limited editability; linked Revit data is not updated in Forma. Some 3D Sketch elements may also be incompatible with FormIt Converter.

Impact on architecture, interior design, and visualization workflows

This integration can be useful for architecture and interior design teams that evaluate alternatives in Forma during early design, then develop the selected proposal in Revit. It allows teams to compare factors such as area, sun hours, daylight potential, wind, and noise in Forma, then transfer the geometry to Revit. Visualization teams can also use a dedicated view to simplify the model sent back from Revit, sharing only the necessary context.

The integration documentation does not specify particular hardware requirements. However, Autodesk warns that sending too much detail from Revit can slow down work in Forma. Offices should include version compatibility, coordinate settings, subscription access, and the nature of converted elements in their transfer plans. The workflow is best understood not as a system that synchronizes the entire model at every stage, but as a bridge for transferring and updating selected geometry in a controlled way.

Common mistakes

• Loading a Forma proposal without checking the existing Revit project’s coordinate settings; remember that Forma’s location can override the current settings.

• Assuming changes in Forma will appear automatically in Revit; according to Autodesk’s guide, the transfer from Forma to Revit is one-way.

• Sending the entire detailed model when updating from Revit; exclude unnecessary elements from the dedicated 3D view.

• Expecting every Forma item to become an editable Revit building element; mappings depend on the source item, and the documentation notes that some items are unsupported.