Supported Export File Types

You can export some or all of the surfaces of a mesh model to a file on your desktop, in the formats in the table, below. If uploading to Autodesk BIM 360, you can export to FBX and IFC:

File Suffix	Associated With	Upload to BIM 360?	Retains Classification Hierarchy?	Can Include Textures?	For 2D Slices?	Other Files Created
DAE	Collada			Yes		PNG
FBX	Filmbox	Yes	Yes	Yes (embedded or not)		PNG
IFC	Industry Foundation Classes – for BIM	Yes	Yes
NWC	Navisworks	Yes
OBJ	Wavefront			Yes		PNG and MTL
SKP	SketchUp			Yes
STL	StereoLithography				Yes
STEP	STEP AP214e3
X3D	Web3D Consortium			Yes		PNG

 

There are two IFC formats for exporting classified mesh models and BIM models. This is to cater for applications that interpret and display IFC in different ways:

IFC Absolute Positioning (Recommended):
The IFC site is set to a zero-based origin (x, y, z) à (0.0, 0.0, 0.0). All geometry in the IFC output is positioned relative to this, according to their absolute position in space. In some applications, this may cause issues if the geometry is located far from the origin.

IFC Relative Positioning:
The IFC site is positioned according to the lower bound of all the classified mesh modelscontained in the the classified mesh model group. All geometry in the IFC output is positioned relative to this calculated site location, thus being a true relative representation of the geometry. In some applications, this may cause issues when combining geometries from different or external output formats.

If an export does not include textures, empty PNG and MTL files may be created.

For details about textures, see Mesh Model Display and for details about classification hierarchy, see Classified Mesh to BIM Model.