Every day, our Ideate Software Support team fields all types of questions from AECO professionals all around the world. You can review some of these recent questions and answers via our Ideate Software Support Series blog category.

An Ideate Software customer asked if they could find all hidden Detail Groups in the Revit model.

Finding Detail Groups that are hidden can be a tricky and challenging task, as they become invisible due to various reasons including:

• Hidden by Element
• Hidden by Category
• Cropped by View

Identifying these hidden detail groups is crucial for maintaining an accurate BIM model. However, the challenge here is that there is no specific property (on the Detail Group) that will flag most of these conditions.
Fortunately, there is a helpful solution available within IdeateApps > Annotate that can assist in this process, although it may require some time to complete, which makes running it at the end of a work day ideal.   

The complexity of identifying hidden detail groups arises from the fact that there is no specific property directly associated with the detail group that indicates these hidden conditions, unlike some other elements in Revit that have explicit properties like visibility settings or design options. The view-specific cropping for detail groups for example do not possess such attributes. Consequently, locating hidden detail groups requires a more comprehensive approach.

To address this challenge, thanks to our wonderful development team, Ideate Annotate, part of the IdeateApps collection, offers a powerful tool that can help uncover hidden detail groups within your Revit model. By leveraging this tool, you can streamline the process and save valuable time. Here's how you can use it:

1. Launch the May 2023 version of IdeateApps
2. Open Ideate Annotate
3. Select the Review tab
4. Change the Display to “Entire Project”
5. After it does the initial review, choose “Full Analysis” This is the part that potentially can take a long time.*
6. When that's done, type “Detail Group” in the Search bar 
7. Look for any Detail Groups listed under both issue types:
   • Hidden by Element – this includes any Detail Group that exists on a dependent view and is invisible due to the use of the right-click>Hide in View>Elements command.
   • Other Not Visible – this includes any other invisibility condition, including those caused by cropped views. 
8. Double click on each instance to open the view where they exist and decide which action to take: delete or change view crop

*After you complete the Full Analysis, the results can be saved and imported later for reviewing at another time. Learn more. 

This blog post is part of our Support Series. Access more here. 

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.

Every day, our Ideate Software Support team fields all types of questions from AECO professionals all around the world. You can review some of these recent question and answers via our Ideate Software support series blog category.

Not too long ago, a good customer contacted me about using Ideate Automation. Ideate Software has a simple process called the Ideate Forge Connector. The purpose of the Ideate Forge Connector custom integration is to use the Autodesk API to authenticate the user and to enable Ideate Automation to see and access hub names, project names, and Revit model names for which the user has the appropriate permissions. This custom integration ONLY gives Ideate Automation the current list of Revit models that can be used for Ideate Automation. It does NOT give Ideate Software access to any BIM360 or Autodesk Construction Cloud models. The access is needed for Ideate Software to be able to generate a list of available models.

However, we realize that firms are sensitive and protective of their data. This particular customer that reached out to me mentioned that they could NOT give access to Ideate Software even to generate the list of models that was on their BIM360 Hub.

Well, Ideate Automation 2.1 to the rescue! We realized the hesitancy and security concerns from some potential and existing customers, and we introduced the “Recent Revit Files” dropdown within Ideate Automation 2.1.

Within Ideate Automation 2.1, a new Manage option has been added for “Recent Revit Files.”  

While we continue to recommend the custom integration for an optimum file access experience, we developed this functionality to respond to customer requests to make it easier to work with Revit files from a partner’s Autodesk account/hubs. It also allows you to use Ideate Automation without giving Ideate Software the BIM 360/ACC access permissions required for the custom integration.

As long as the Ideate Automation user has previously accessed the Revit model on their computer, the list of Revit models will appear if the “Recent Revit Files” is the active setting under Manage on the main Ideate Automation dialog.

 
Here, you can see access to several Ideate Software BIM360 Hubs as well as the Recent Revit Files.

This also makes it MUCH easier to trial Ideate Automation since you don’t have to go through the custom integration to gain access to a model for testing or trialing purposes.

You can download a full function, 30-day Ideate Automation trial here. If you already have Ideate BIMLink, Ideate Explorer, IdeateApps, or Ideate StyleManager, the Ideate Automation trial will work seamlessly with your current Ideate Software applications. If you don’t have any Ideate Software applications, you can download those applications for a trial as well. Or, you can certainly use Ideate Automation as a stand-alone solution for publishing PDF or publishing DWG information as a few examples.

We made this update as a request from several Ideate Software customers, so be sure to continue to keep those amazing questions coming to [email protected] and we will keep answering them! 
 

About the Author

Richard W. Taylor, Associate AIA – Technical Evangelist 

Richard has more than 30 years of experience working for companies that develop architectural and engineering software solutions, such as Intergraph, Bentley, and Autodesk. He has over 23 years of Revit experience, and he was part of the original development of Revit while at Revit Technology Corporation. He worked for 12 years at Autodesk, where he presented, taught, and worked to improve features in Revit. Richard holds both a Bachelor of Science in Architectural Studies and Master of Architecture from the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. As Technical Evangelist, Richard works with AECO clients worldwide, developing and consulting on BIM solutions. Find Richard on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Every day, our Ideate Software Support team fields all types of questions from AECO professionals all around the world. You can review some of these recent question and answers via our Ideate Software support series blog category.

Here is a good question that came across our virtual desk.

“I was wondering if there is a way to number doors according to the ‘To Room’ number information, and following a sequence off 1, 2, 3, etc.; without the need to pick the doors or marking a path.”

There are several ways to accomplish this task very easily within Ideate ReNumber which is a tool within the IdeateApps collection.

The easiest step-by-step answer for the question asked by our customer is included in our “Getting Started” online Help topic for IdeateApps called Renumber Doors.

Within a default Revit Schedule View, you can modify the ‘From Room’ and ‘To Room’ values if those properties appear within your schedule.

Ideate ReNumber can easily modify those ‘From Room’ and ‘To Room’ properties on the fly within the renumbering process. You can also choose to report on the ‘From Room’ value instead of making the change within the Revit database.

Ideate ReNumber can be used to change the Revit values for the ‘To Room’ and ‘From Room’ properties whether you are using the Room Calculation Point property or not. (Door swing graphics will only change if you are using the Room Calculation Point property.) Once the doors are properly set to the correct room, future numbering tasks are a snap.

 
The Flip Room button will change the relationship within the Revit database and update the Door Mark value.   

If you just want to report on the ‘From Room’ value, this will push the value into the door Mark but NOT change the Revit database.

 
Ideate ReNumber will identify doors that are using the ‘Room Calculation Point’ property. When this property is active, the door swing graphics will update when changing the ‘To Room’ and ‘From Room’ flip button. If this property is not in use, the door swing graphics will not update.

You can use our delivered door rule to renumber doors based upon the room values.

Please review this very detailed 8-minute video on the features of door renumbering with Ideate ReNumber.

Additionally, you can renumber door instance marks via a Revit Schedule View by activating the Ideate ReNumber tool within an active Revit Schedule View.

When Ideate ReNumber is started from an active Revit Schedule View, the only available selection method will be Auto-Number by View.

This online help article is a detailed explanation for managing door numbering with Ideate ReNumber. 

Keep those amazing questions coming to [email protected] and we will keep answering them!

About the Author

Richard W. Taylor, Associate AIA – Technical Evangelist 

Richard has more than 30 years of experience working for companies that develop architectural and engineering software solutions, such as Intergraph, Bentley, and Autodesk. He has over 23 years of Revit experience, and he was part of the original development of Revit while at Revit Technology Corporation. He worked for 12 years at Autodesk, where he presented, taught, and worked to improve features in Revit. Richard holds both a Bachelor of Science in Architectural Studies and Master of Architecture from the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. As Technical Evangelist, Richard works with AECO clients worldwide, developing and consulting on BIM solutions. Find Richard on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Every day, our Ideate Software Support team fields all types of questions from AECO professionals all around the world. You can review some of these recent question and answers via our Ideate Software support series blog category.

Recently a customer reached out to us with a question about Ideate Explorer, which is his “favorite troubleshooting add-in to clear out warnings in a hot mess of a project.” 

After deleting one Warning Type that cleared out 10 warnings, he thought that he could clear more warnings faster if he could sort by the severity of the warnings as well as by the number of warnings on a specific element. 

“I just had deleted one object which cleared out 10 warnings, and it dawned on me that in particularly rough projects I could get more warnings cleared faster if I knew which items had multiple warnings. In an ideal world, that sorting by severity of issues could weight based on the errors most severe.   E.g., in our workflows I see a ton of abandoned room separation lines which cause notable room calc based lag, I might want those (or other red rated warning types) to count for 3 points, where I really may not care (from an emergent clean up standpoint) about a green warning about a railing being malformed, which might only get half a point.” 

By default, the Ideate Explorer Warnings tab is set to “Sort by:” the Types of Warnings, such as Highlighted Floors Overlap shown below.

Ideate Explorer Warnings Tab set to Sort by: Warning Types

We responded to this customer that you can also change the “Sort by:” criteria to Elements rather than the Types of Warnings. This will show the Element ID and the number of warnings assigned to that specific element. It will also show all the different Types of Warnings assigned to that element in the Element Information Pane.  

In the example below, the Sweep, the Sunshade, and Mike’s Roof all have 48 warnings of the same Type. However, the Storefront has 2 warnings of 2 different Types. You can also see the severity of the Warning Type by color in the Element Information Pane. In the example below, we have a severity of medium for the walls overlapping and a severity of low for the walls missing their target.

Ideate Explorer Warnings Tab set to Sort by: Elements

”BINGO!” said the customer, who was able to fix 30 warnings from one element very easily.

You can learn more about the Warnings Manager in Ideate Explorer by reviewing this online Help topic. You can also review an entire library of videos focusing on using the Ideate Explorer Warnings Manager. 

Don’t let your project become a hot mess! Fix things easily with Ideate Explorer and the Ideate Warnings Manager!

Keep those amazing questions coming to [email protected]. Your feedback allows us to improve our software with every release.

About the Author

Richard W. Taylor, Associate AIA – Technical Evangelist 

Richard has more than 30 years of experience working for companies that develop architectural and engineering software solutions, such as Intergraph, Bentley, and Autodesk. He has over 20 years of Revit experience, and he was part of the original development of Revit while at Revit Technology Corporation. He worked for 12 years at Autodesk, where he presented, taught, and worked to improve features in Revit. Richard holds both a Bachelor of Science in Architectural Studies and Master of Architecture from the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. As Technical Evangelist, Richard works with AECO clients worldwide, developing and consulting on BIM solutions. Find Richard on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Every day, our Ideate Software Support team fields all types of questions from AECO professionals all around the world. You can review some of these recent question and answers via our Ideate Software support series blog category.

It seems like we’ve received a fair number of support cases recently around this strange warning message concerning Ideate Sticky. So, I wanted to explain it in detail and offer a quick fix.

Unexpected future version?  What’s going on here?

Ideate Sticky customers might see this message when someone on the project team has upgraded to the latest version of Ideate Sticky and the rest of the team has not. When that specific person updated the stickies in the project with their latest Ideate Sticky version, this upgraded the settings format, causing the warning to show up for everyone on an older release. When the person with the latest release of Ideate Sticky opens another project and updates the stickies, the warning will start to show up there as well.

The solution is to update everyone to the latest release.

The reason this change was made in the latest release is the display scaling calculation. You can read more about that specific setting in this blog article.

The EASIEST and fastest way to update the whole office to the latest release of Ideate Sticky or the entire software bundle is to use our Ideate Software Installer. I mentioned it recently within this blog post ensuring you have the latest release of IdeateApps.

 
 
The Ideate Software Installer is the best way to update all your Ideate Software tools in a snap!

Now that you know about the Ideate Software installer, I hope the road ahead is smooth sailing! Wait, “Roads? Where we’re going, we don’t need roads.”

Keep those amazing questions coming to [email protected]. We are always happy to assist our customers with their Ideate Software solutions.

About the Author

Richard W. Taylor, Associate AIA – Technical Evangelist 

Richard has more than 30 years of experience working for companies that develop architectural and engineering software solutions, such as Intergraph, Bentley, and Autodesk. He has over 20 years of Revit experience, and he was part of the original development of Revit while at Revit Technology Corporation. He worked for 12 years at Autodesk, where he presented, taught, and worked to improve features in Revit. Richard holds both a Bachelor of Science in Architectural Studies and Master of Architecture from the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. As Technical Evangelist, Richard works with AECO clients worldwide, developing and consulting on BIM solutions. Find Richard on Twitter and LinkedIn.