It’s worth noting that Autodesk Impression 2 is now available to Revit subscription users. It’s a hefty download at around 623mb’s. However, it’s well worth the download time in my view, particularly if you are an architect or designer and you are looking to give your Revit projects that hand drawn feel. Transferring to something like Google Sketchup is an option, but Sketchup can be a bit clumsy to use with Revit large datasets. Impression on the other hand is quick and easy and retains the integrity of the BIM process; keeping Revit central to the whole workflow.
Impression 2 sits some where between Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop and AutoCAD. I played with the early versions which where available from the Autodesk futures website and I wasn’t that impressed (excuse the pun), but Impression 2 has come along way since the first preview version appeared.
You can easily DWF a 3d view from Revit and then open that in Impression and with a bit of artistic flair you can apply fills and styles to the imported linework to give your designs a far more graphically appearance. The resulting “artwork” can then be saved out from Impression in various image file formats including BMP, DWF, EPS, JPG, PDF, PNG and PSD. These can then be imported into your Revit project and placed on sheets when composing your presentations.
Revit view, then exported as a DWF
DWF imported into Impression, then styles added
