Revit Geometry Kernel
Deviation Assessment

Developer Accelerator - Denver Colorado

This work builds on efforts established at the Autodesk Platform Services (APS) Developer Accelerator in Denver (Nov 2025), where the foundation for the Geometry Assessor was developed.

About the Tool

Revit Geometry Kernel Deviation Assessment helps explain why some Revit models feel slow, unstable, or difficult to work with—even when there are few or no warnings.

Autodesk Revit is designed to work most efficiently with native solid geometry that is compact, shallowly nested, and created directly inside Revit. These geometry types allow Revit to evaluate, regenerate, and reuse shapes quickly as a model changes.

Performance issues arise when geometry deviates from these assumptions. This can happen when geometry is represented as meshes (requiring Revit to process long lists of vertices and faces), when solids are imported from other formats such as SAT (reducing editability and increasing processing cost), or when families are deeply nested (adding complexity to how Revit resolves geometry and parameters).

This tool measures how geometry is represented inside a Revit model and how closely it aligns with what Revit's geometry engine was designed to handle. It does not judge design intent, visual quality, or modeling style—it focuses on representation and how those choices affect Revit's runtime behavior.

Grading criteria: Each family is evaluated using four factors that affect how efficiently Revit can process geometry.

Face Count (30%) measures the total number of surfaces. Fewer faces means less regeneration work.
A: <100 B: 100–500 C: 500–1,000 D/F: >1,000

Geometry Type (30%) identifies whether a family uses solids, meshes, or a mix. Revit is optimized for solid geometry.
A: 100% solid C: Mixed D/F: Mesh-only

Import Source (30%) identifies whether geometry was created natively or imported. Native geometry is easier to regenerate and edit.
A: Native B: Native + SAT C: SAT-only D/F: Mesh imports

Nesting (Informational) indicates if a family contains nested instances. Nesting itself has minimal kernel impact—the nested family's geometry type is what matters. Shown as a Nested badge when present.

Higher grades indicate geometry that stays within Revit's native assumptions: compact solids and native construction. Lower grades indicate geometry that relies on more verbose representations, imported solids, or mesh-heavy definitions—choices that push Revit further from its optimal execution model.