You may know that you can create new Revit elements with Ideate BIMLink. Did you know that following a similar process, you can also create new Revit revision sequences? 

1. Review Revision Sequences in Parent File
    
   • Open a project with Revit. If the project has linked files, select the one that represents the primary source of revision data
   • Select the Revision button from the Sheet Composition panel on the View tab
   • You’ll see that any issued sequence will not be editable. Before opening Ideate BIMLink, uncheck the Issued box for the sequences you want to edit. Note: The editable fields for Revisions not issued are Date, Description, Issued, Issued to, and Issued by.
     
     
      
2. Edit Revision Data in the Parent File with Ideate BIMLink
    
   • ​​​​​​​Launch Ideate BIMLink
   • Hit Load Revit Sample
   • Select “Revisions” from the list of samples
   • Review the properties and hit OK
   • Select Export Revit Elements to Excel then open the Excel file
   • You can now edit any data within a cell that is white. Due to the nature of the Issued property, we recommend that you don’t edit it if you are editing other properties from the same sequence
   • Save the changes to the Excel file and select Import Excel Values into Revit to complete the changes
   • If you made a change to Issued, use Ideate BIMLink again to edit only this property or manually reset the property using the Revision button in Revit
      
3. Copy Revision Data to a Linked File
   
   With Revit Revision data set up to standards, you can use the same data to create matching data in another file. The instructions below assume that the revision sequences have not been set up.
    
   • Open the Revit project file that you would like to mirror in the Revision sequences defined within the original parent file.
   • Launch Ideate BIMLink
   • Hit Load Sample
   • Select Revisions
   • Review the properties and hit OK
   • Select Export to save the results to a new Excel file and open that new file
   • Copy the Excel data from the original file to the new file. See image below. Don’t copy data from Column A, B, or C
   • Write the word “NEW” in Column A for each new Revision sequence to be created in the Revit project file. The values for Column B and C will be automatically setup by Revit when imported
   • Hit Save in Excel and then Import in Ideate BIMLink to complete the changes
     
     

Browse our website to learn more ways you can use our Revit addins to streamline processes, improve model health, and elevate design. 
 

Ideate Software was on the road again visiting the beautiful city by the Bay in late October! 

San Francisco is the headquarters of Ideate Software, but Technical Evangelist, Richard Taylor, hopped across the country from Boston to present a lunch and learn session for the AIA San Francisco Center for Architecture.

Massachusetts Bay to San Francisco Bay! Zakim Bunker Hill Bridge to Golden Gate Bridge!

Massachusetts Bay	San Francisco Bay

Richard delivered a presentation called “Clone Yourself and Save Time on Repetitive Revit Tasks,” where he showed how Revit users can stop wasting time on tedious, repetitive tasks and reduce intense boring work with top BIM data management workflows that essentially allow you to clone yourself and gain an employee.

The 30+ attendees learned how to create new Revit family and project parameters using Ideate BIMLink, how to easily manage materials to ensure Revit model accuracy, and how to automatically create comprehensive document issue and revision data. 

In addition, attendees learned how to avoid annotative clashes and ensure accurate documentation within their Revit projects by using IdeateApps. 

Ideate Automation was the breakout star of the 90-minute presentation. You can review the eye-popping breakout star by watching our Ideate Automation video without leaving your computer or visiting either Bay!

Joining Richard at the event for lively discussions about all things BIM and data management were Ideate Software team members Rahul Verma and Moe Kress.

Taking advantage of his cross-country trek, Richard also took the opportunity to visit some important Ideate Software customers in the San Francisco area, visit the Autodesk office, and have some excellent coffee along the way!

Before you could say “Revit’s your Uncle,” Richard was flying back across the country from the Pacific to the Atlantic shores.  

Ideate Software is spanning the country from sea to shining sea with Revit productivity and BIM data management workflows for all Revit users.

We will see you in Las Vegas for AU2023!
 

We love hearing from customers. Recently, we got an email from David W. Koch, BIM Technical Expert at EwingCole.  

David wrote,

“I had a project where we needed to remove a future phase and all associated items before sending the model to the construction manager.  Ideate Explorer to the rescue! Setting Display to Entire Project and Sort by to Phase made quick work of that task. I also had to delete all of the Sheets and all of the Drafting Views. Sheets were easy, once I discovered that I had to set all Revision Sequences to Unissued. Drafting Views posed a challenge, but I was able to use Ideate Query for that. 

Thank you, David!

The purpose of Ideate Software plugins for Revit is to add functionality to Autodesk Revit software that streamlines workflows, increases the accuracy of model data, and improves the performance of the Revit models. While doing all of this, our Revit plugins will also save you time! You’ll save time on setting up models, building models, updating model data, auditing models for accuracy, and preparing model documents. By reducing the time spent on these tasks, you and your team will have more time to spend on interesting and valuable design activities.

To determine just how much time our customers save using two of our top Revit plugins, Ideate BIMLink and Ideate Explorer, we surveyed customers in the architecture, engineering, construction, and owner-operator space from around the world about the time-savings fostered by these two products. 

We gathered all the responses, and to make it easy to review the large amount of data, we created documents for each discipline.

As an example, here are the results in the Ideate BIMLink - Common Workflows for Any Discipline category: Ideate BIMLink Survey Results — General

For time savings relevant to specific disciplines, view these documents:

• Common Workflows for Architects and Interior Designers
• Common Workflows for Structural Engineers
• Common Workflows for MEP Engineers
• Common Workflows for Construction and Design/Build Professionals

Calculate the Time Savings Possible at Your Company with Ideate BIMLink

We’ve made it easy to see how much time you can save by using Ideate BIMLink. Simply open this Ideate BIMLink ROI Calculator and fill in the required fields. We are certain you will be pleased. 

Explore the Time Savings of Ideate Explorer for Revit

Based on our survey results, Ideate Explorer customers report an average time savings of 30 minutes per week. Check out this document for information on the frequency they perform specific tasks, then check out our Ideate Explorer ROI Calculator to convert time savings into dollar savings.

Stay Connected

Learn more about our top Revit addons.

Check us out on X/Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram.

If you have any questions, reach out to us. We are here to help you understand and use our Revit plugin solutions. 

In the latest release of Ideate Automation, we’ve updated our model health check template to make it easier to read and use. With input from our beta testers and customers, we’ve streamlined the KPIs to align with top Revit model health issues that are clearly actionable.

 
When used with Ideate Sticky, the results from a scheduled Ideate Automation task can be updated weekly and displayed front-and-center on the Revit project Starting View page as shown above, alerting all team members about the health status. The diagram below shows the data flowing from Revit via Ideate Automation and into Excel. The Ideate Health Check Excel results are then formatted via formulas, pivot tables (or macros if desired) and then published back into Revit via Ideate Sticky. 

Use the auto-update feature within Ideate Sticky to ensure these updates are automatically imported into the Revit project. 

More importantly, we’ve designed each of the KPIs so that any of the flagged conditions in red can be easily addressed by any Ideate Explorer user. The In-Place Families KPI, for example, has exceeded the project goal of having fewer than 10 in-place families. When used with the MC-In-Place Filter in Ideate Explorer as shown, the Revit user can browse to each of those family instances and take the appropriate actions needed, such as replacing with approved family content.
 
The Ideate Health Check Report is completely customizable so you can set your own preferred KPIs and metrics for model health. Download Ideate Automation and follow the step-by-step instructions to generate your own project model health check.

Coming soon: New Ideate Software Power BI Template