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What are AVEVA file formats?

AVEVA Everything3D (E3D), its predecessor PDMS (Plant Design Management System) and AVEVA Marine are design systems for process plants, power facilities and ships. They keep their models in project databases rather than in individual CAD files. To share a model outside the design environment, users extract it from the database as an RVM (Review Model) file, often accompanied by an attribute file.

An RVM file describes the plant hierarchy, from sites and zones down to equipment, piping, structural and HVAC components, together with their geometry. It is optimized for high-performance visualization and model review, and does not carry construction history or exact NURBS surfaces.


What does an AVEVA export contain?

FileTypical extensionContent
Geometry file.rvm (binary or text; text files sometimes use .rvt)Plant hierarchy and the geometry of each element
Attributes file.att (also .attr, .dat or .txt)Optional metadata about the elements of the model, with the same base name as the geometry file

What Are AVEVA Formats Used For? Applications and Industry Use Cases

AVEVA models describe large industrial assets: oil and gas facilities, chemical and power plants, and marine and offshore structures, with thousands of pipes, valves, pieces of equipment and structural members. RVM exports are shared across engineering, construction and operations teams for design reviews, visualization, laser scan comparison and digital twin projects.

For software developers, reading RVM files lets plant, AEC and visualization applications bring AVEVA models into their own environment without access to the AVEVA databases. The plant hierarchy makes it possible to navigate, filter and display specific areas of a large facility.


Challenges or Common Pitfalls

An RVM file is a review format, not an exact CAD format. Its content is suited to display and coordination, but it does not provide the precise B-rep geometry or design intent needed for detailed engineering changes.

Exports also depend on how they were produced. The geometry and attribute files must be extracted together from the AVEVA database, with consistent names, and the level of detail of the plant hierarchy can make models very large. Applications often need to simplify the structure to keep navigation and display responsive.


How Spatial Helps

Our 3D InterOp SDK imports AVEVA files through its UConnect interface, a capability generally available since Release 2023 1.0.1. It reads files extracted from all versions of AVEVA PDMS, AVEVA Marine, Everything3D and E3D Design, in binary or text form, with an optional attributes file alongside the geometry file.

3D InterOp extracts the plant design structure and imports each leaf as tessellated visualization data, which your application can render or use for polyhedral operations in CGM Modeler, 3D ACIS Modeler or Parasolid. By default, graphics are grouped at plant area level to keep large models manageable, and you can switch off this simplification to keep the full structure. Units, version and modification date are available as document information.

AVEVA files are imported only; writing them is not supported. Together with formats such as IFC, Revit and DWG, AVEVA support helps applications cover AEC, BIM and plant design data in a single workflow.

Dassault Systèmes

Siemens

Autodesk

Standards

Other

  • Pro/E / Creo
  • Rhino
  • MicroStation DGN
  • AVEVA
  • Smart3D

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