Connecting with customers, Revit users, BIM enthusiasts, and competitors is one way we at Ideate Software stay aware of what’s happening in the architecture, engineering, construction, and owner-operator spaces. Digital Construction Week, held in London on May 17-18, is the premier event in the UK for BIM and digital construction, and it was a great opportunity for me to check in with people who work in and around the construction field.

I was pleased to see many customers and partners. Topics covered in the presentations I attended and at the booths I visited included:

• Data management
• Standards
• Digitizing processes
• Laser scanning

One presentation was about the restoration of the Palace of Westminster project in which the palace was scanned and then modeled in Revit.

The focus this year was on data management and digitization of processes and less on digital twins, virtual reality, and robot dogs, although there was a smattering of artificial intelligence and ChatGPT! The construction industry is embracing the changes and new technology and processes are a big part of this. 

It was a good, well-attended event with some interesting presentations. As always, I enjoyed meeting with our customers and prospective customers. I’m looking forward to seeing how digitization trends evolve as we continue to connect with the construction industry through events, presentations, publications, and more. 

Browse the Events page on our website for opportunities to meet with the Ideate Software team at virtual and in-person events.  

About the Author

Steve Deadman - Customer Success Manager - EMEA
Steve provides support to customers and helps them get a strong return on their software investment. He has a B.Eng (Hons) degree in Mechanical Engineering and various certifications in engineering. Before joining Ideate Software, he worked at several top architectural firm in the United Kingdom where he specialized in the implementation and management of BIM processes and technology. Find Steve on LinkedIn.

Revit Schedules look similar to spreadsheets made up of columns and rows with cells containing data related to the Revit elements. They are usually created when there is a need to quantify various elements in a Revit model. 

There are six types of schedules in Revit:

1. Schedule/Quantities – Using Revit schedules can save time validating model data. In Revit, simply select the Category, such as Doors, Curtain Panels, or Duct Accessories, and then select the parameters, such as Type, Height, and Width. Revit will pull all the data into a single Schedule that you can easily view.
    
2. Graphical Column Schedule – This schedule graphically shows you all the columns in the model as well as related information such as connection, size, and material. To create the schedule, open the Schedules menu on the View tab and select the Graphical Column Schedule tool. Modify the schedules attributes by using the Properties palette. 
    
3. Material Takeoff – These schedules are used to calculate the quantities of material. They have the functionality and characteristics of other schedule views, and they can show more detail about the assembly of a component. For example, if creating a material takeoff schedule for walls, in addition to picking out wall parameters to include, you can also select material parameters, such as paint, area, and manufacturer.  
    
4. Sheet List – This schedule pulls in all the sheets in a model along with all the fields in those sheets, such as Designed by, Approved By, Assembly: Manufacturer, Count, Sheet Name, and Sheet Issue Date. Simply select the fields you want in the schedule to get a quick view of all the information.
    
5. Note Block – Notes on a Revit model can be difficult to see. This is not a problem with the Note Block schedule, which pulls note numbers and text into a single document.  
    
6. View List – A view list displays all the views in a Revit project, such as plans, sections, elevations, drafting views, and 3D views, in one place. It is sortable, making it easy to keep track of what’s going on in your model and how many views are there. The data is easily sortable, so users can quickly review the specific information they need to check. 

Exporting Data to Excel with Ideate BIMLink

Revit schedules are a great way to pull all the information you need to see into one document, however they don’t allow you to manipulate that data. Manipulation is needed in both large and small projects because things change. Whether it’s the manufacturer of door hardware, the sizes of windows, the number of stalls in a bathroom, or any of hundreds of other changes possible, you know that data will need to be updated several times during a project. Within Revit, these updates need to be done one at a time, which can take hours or even days to do, check to make sure everything was done correctly, and then re-do any that were missed or done incorrectly. That’s where Ideate BIMLink comes in.

With Ideate BIMLink, you can export data from Revit to Excel and use the powerful manipulation tools in Excel to edit the data. Then you can simply import the updated data back into your Revit model, and the model will update automatically. What once was incredibly time consuming is now fast and error free. 

It’s easy to export from Revit to Excel with Ideate BIMLink. Start by clicking the Export button, then select the spreadsheet to receive the exported Revit properties.

Here are instructions on how to export a Revit schedule to an existing Excel file. The default file format is .xlsx; macro-enabled files (.xlsm) and .xls are also supported.

How-To Videos

Want to see how easy it is to use Ideate BIMLink? We have many resources available on our website, including Help files, recorded webinars, and blog posts. You can access all our Ideate BIMLink videos from our Video Library. We have also categorized the videos into different playlists to make it easier for people to find the right videos: 

What's New in Ideate Software – Learn about the latest features and fixes within Ideate Software updates.

Model Management – Videos on this playlist highlight how Ideate BIMLink can be used to manage sheets, views, and other common concerns for project engineers and architects.

Architects & Designers – Watch these videos to learn how to eliminate time-consuming, manual room management and door management workflows.

Engineers & Designers – See how you can use Ideate BIMLink to easily increase the speed for data management within engineering designs.

VDC Managers & Estimators – Learn how to access data within the model is critical; use the high-powered data queries in Ideate BIMLink to manage construction sequencing. 

Content & Family Management – Here are several demo videos that will show you how to bring clarity to your project browser, clean-up and manage your Revit Family content, rename families and types, or populate large volumes of parameter values with Ideate BIMLink.

Learn About all Ideate Software Solutions for Revit Users 

Visit our website to learn more about Ideate BIMLink for Revit as well as our other Revit data management tools. When you’re ready to take the next step, contact us at [email protected], get 30-day trial versions, or choose the subscription option that best meets your needs. 

Stay Connected

Check us out on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and YouTube.

If you have any questions, reach out to us. We are here to help you understand and use our add-ins for Revit. 

Like us, others are exploring the many improvements included in Revit version 2024. One enhancement getting a lot of attention is the new project templates. Autodesk is touting it as a key improvement, and Nicolas Catellier ranked the change #3 in his RevitPure blog post, Top 20 Best New Features in Revit 2024, and he said, “The templates have been reworked to include more ‘best practice’ features. Instead of 1 template per discipline, they have been merged into one super multi-discipline template.”

We agree that the new templates are a very nice improvement, and we are proud to see that Ideate BIMLink played a role!

If you have Ideate BIMLink installed, and you want to test drive the new Revit template with embedded link definitions:

1. Start Revit 2024
2. Select File>New
3. Pick one of the two new templates
4. Select Ideate Software>BIMLink

The five pre-loaded templates, shown in yellow in the image, are the ones included with the Autodesk out-of-the-box template. 

A good template is built with clean and accurate standards. Ideate BIMLink is a Revit add-in that makes the process fast and easy. We are thrilled that Autodesk trusted it when updating the templates to make starting projects and developing templates easier than ever. We recommend reviewing your own custom templates and consider adding your own must-have link definitions.

Did you know that you can use Ideate Automation to export views and sheets to PDF and DWG files without worrying about editing the Revit Views/Sheets sets? This feature streamlines the sheet set creation and management because the Revit sheet sets are static lists, while the list of views and sheets that need to be exported is constantly changing. 

When you select the desired model to be exported to PDF or DWG, you must select the desired sheet sets, which are static and exist within the Revit model. To address this challenge, we enhanced our PDF and DWG scripts within Ideate Automation to include a dynamic list that is setup through an Ideate BIMLink link definition to prescribe the sheet set. This Ideate BIMLink definition (.link) file can be saved outside of the Revit model so that it can be used across models.

As a result of this implementation, the task name in Ideate Automation is now called: “IBL-Export_Combined_PDF_Dynamic” and “IBL-Export_Individual_PDF_Dynamic,” and same goes for the DWG export tasks. If you aren’t already aware, you can save Link definition from Ideate BIMLink and use it externally. The idea with this script is to use one Ideate BIMLink definition that’s managed by a filter and can be applied to multiple models. 

 
 
Tips for setting up the Ideate BIMLink definition filters for Dynamic sheet sets:

1. Set placeholder property to False. This will ignore all placeholder sheets because they don’t have Titleblocks and will interrupt the printing process. You want to avoid that. 
2. Use a parameter that can be used parametrically across models. 
3. Once you set all your properties conditions, check “Elements Must Pass All Filters” making this an AND condition. 

Watch this short video to see an example of Ideate Automation exporting a combined set of PDFs using the desired sheet set from an Ideate BIMLink definition that’s dynamic. For exporting individual PDFs, refer to the good naming standards tips found within Steve Deadman’s blog post on Exporting PDFs from Revit.

This blog post is part of our Training Series. Access more here. You can learn more in the related Ideate Automation Help Topic: How to Export to PDF.

Browse our website to learn more about how Ideate Software’s Revit add-ins help Revit users save time, increase model accuracy, improve deliverables, and elevate design. You can give them a try by downloading trial versions or purchasing the bundle for access to Ideate BIMLink, Ideate Explorer, Ideate Sticky, Ideate StyleManager, and IdeateApps for six months.

About the Author

Nivin Nabeel, Customer Success Manager, Americas

Nivin has a background in architecture, visual arts, and computer science and has extensive experience in managing and manipulating BIM data, developing and implementing BIM standards and workflows, and applying BIM workflows to ancillary project components for improved efficiency. Before joining Ideate Software, Nivin worked at several architecture and design firms where she learned about Ideate Software products, used them, advocated for them, implemented them, and trained others on how to use them. She earned her Bachelor of Architectural Science degree from Toronto Metropolitan University. Follow Nivin on LinkedIn.

San Francisco, CA, May 23, 2023 – Ideate Software, an Autodesk® AEC Industry Partner and Autodesk® Authorized Developer, announced enhancements to its Revit add-in applications. In addition to aligning its software with Revit 2024, Ideate Software made significant improvements that will help Revit users deliver high-quality models in less time.

Watch the YouTube “What’s New” playlist for highlights of the enhancements included in the May 2023 release for Revit 2020-2024. 

“Many of the improvements were based on customer requests, and all have been rigorously tested by Revit software users in our Beta Tester Group,” said Glynnis Patterson, Director of Software Development, Ideate Software. “By following this proven methodology, we know that our updates are needed and work as promised, and they help us deliver on our goal of developing software solutions that solve persistent Revit challenges.” 

Customers can access the new workflows, features, and fixes immediately by downloading the new versions from the Ideate Software website.

Those who aren’t subscribers yet can download trial versions from the Ideate Software website or purchase the “get-to-know-us” bundle for access to Ideate Explorer, Ideate BIMLink, Ideate Sticky, Ideate StyleManager, and IdeateApps. 

About Ideate Software - Ideate Software, an Autodesk® AEC Industry Partner and Autodesk® Authorized Developer, empowers Revit users to gain unprecedented control over their data. They developed Ideate BIMLink, Ideate Explorer, Ideate Sticky, IdeateApps, and Ideate StyleManager to solve persistent problems in architecture, engineering, and construction, and owner-operator (AECO) workflows. They developed Ideate Automation to boost the power of their Revit plugins by running time-intensive activities in the background.

Autodesk and Autodesk Revit are trademarks of Autodesk, Inc. and/or its subsidiaries and/or affiliates in the USA and/or other countries.