Every day, our Ideate Software Support team fields all types of questions from AECO professionals all around the world. Here’s information about a topic that comes up occasionally.

Structural engineers frequently perform structural analysis to determine the proper sizing of structural members after a schematic building information model has been developed. The results of the analysis are then used to swap beams, columns and footings from that schematic layout to the accurate sizes. 

Ideate BIMLink supports this process with two important features that all structural designers and engineers should utilize:

1. The ability to create new types for existing families
2. The ability to exchange one instance of an element for another, which we call ‘Type Swapping’

 
Example of an early design with generic foundation sizes

When used in tandem, these two features can be used to transform that early schematic building information model into a mature model with just a few simple steps. We will reference structural foundations in our example, but these same steps apply to any structural element.

1. Export your schematic design foundation data from Ideate BIMLink to Excel
2. Perform the structural analysis to define any changes needed to the pre-defined model sizes
3. Import any new structural foundation types that will be needed. This will update the existing families with new sizes.
4. Import the modifications to the foundation instances to swap the schematic version for the required family and type to set the correct size per each location.

 
Revised design with the foundations swapped for the correct sizes

To see a video on this entire process, be sure to follow this link.

Creating new types and type swapping are the key to efficiencies, not only for structural design, but for any design process where you have placed Revit elements early in the design process with the intent of adjusting the size or type later in design development or even during the project handover phase.

Related topics:

• Help topic: Utilize Type Swapping in Revit Model Elements with Ideate BIMLink
• Help topic: Creating Types
• Video: Are you my Type? Creating new Family Types within your Project Using Ideate BIMLink

Check out the other posts in our Ideate Software Support Series.

Browse our website for more information on our Revit productivity tools. Give them a try with a free trial version, or subscribe today. 

About the Author

Sash Kazeminejad - AIA, LEED AP - Customer Success Manager
Sash earned his Master of Architecture from Montana State University and is a California registered architect, LEED Accredited Professional. He has extensive experience in project management; BIM management; design for architectural firms in California, Montana, and Oregon; and leading classroom and online BIM training. He provides consulting, sales, support, and training solutions to AECO customers around the globe. Find Sash on LinkedIn.

We continuously monitor Autodesk Forums, Revit user groups, industry blogs, newsletters, and other events to keep our pulse on AECO trends and discussions. Much of our team also subscribes to local business, real estate, construction and AEC design news from different regions around the world. So, it’s very easy for us to express that we feel very connected to the AECO community!

We would like our customers to know that we frequently monitor the Revit Public Roadmap plus the Revit Ideas Forums. We want to ensure our tools help fill some of the workflow gaps that may exist within the current Revit building information modeling ecosystem.

“We take great pride in developing tools that address persistent challenges faced by Revit users,” said Glynnis Patterson, Director of Ideate Software Development.

We are continuing our Ideate Software blog series entitled Wishlist Granted. Each blog article features real user requests and our response to those requests. So, let’s take a spin on another top Revit request!

This request is a doozy! It’s so important and critical that we built an entire application around it. Plus, it is a request that Ideate Software has been hitting out of the park for over 10 years!

1. The request for importing and exporting data from Revit to Excel has been around for quite some time, and it only grows stronger with more votes on the Revit Ideas page each year. It has over 550 requests as of February of 2021.
   
   

 
Ideate BIMLink is the premier industry-standard application for integrating your Revit model data with Excel data. The number of workflows is just too long to list, but please check out our extensive online Help files for Ideate BIMLink, where we document many of the most helpful workflows.

2. Then, there is this request to make many unavailable parameters finally able to be scheduled within Revit.

This is again a huge benefit and feature of Ideate BIMLink. It’s such an important benefit for Ideate BIMLink that we created a sample folder within our delivered library links for “Beyond Schedules.”

In addition, there are dozens of Revit properties or parameters available within Ideate BIMLink that are not available in base Revit, such as Is Faced Flipped, Is In-Place, Is Pinned, etc.

We also have the ability to manage many properties that are defined within the Revit model but are not yet available within a Revit Schedule.   

Ideate BIMLink gives you unparalleled access to system parameters, project parameters and family parameters. In addition, Ideate BIMLink gives you access to adjacent parameters that are extremely relevant to the category or categories you are trying to manage. For instance, Ideate BIMLink gives you all the room parameters, and it allows you to review and manage data for many adjacent categories, such as coordinates, level, model group, phase, project information or Revit link.

3. Revit has introduced the ability to have OR conditions within View Filters, but they still are not available within a Revit Schedule. The request to have both OR as well as AND conditions has almost 1500 requests!

Ideate BIMLink has supported the ability to have OR as well as AND conditions for years! If a filter selection does not have the “Elements Must Pass All Filters” checkbox selected, it is by default an OR condition. If the “Elements Must Pass All Filters” checkbox is selected, the filter rule becomes an AND condition.

These are just SOME of the many Revit requests that Ideate BIMLink fulfills. Check out our extensive video page for many examples of how Ideate BIMLink provides superior integration with Excel.

At Ideate Software, we are focused on delighting our customers. With Ideate Software there is no need to wait for future Revit releases to see your idea turned into a reality.

Wishlist Granted!

At Ideate Software, we are focused on delighting our customers. With Ideate Software, there is no need to wait for future Revit releases to see your idea turned into a reality.

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Please review our other Wishlist Granted posts.

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.

Thank you to everyone who participated our March online user group meetings. The workflows shared by our guest speakers as well as the discussions and questions from attendees made for informative meetings that we hope delivered value to everyone.

Although you may have attended the meeting scheduled for your local region, you may want to listen to the others, because each featured different guest speakers and Q&A sessions. 

Here are links to each of the recordings and a few details of the speakers and the topics covered:

Recording of Americas User Group Meeting

Guest Speakers

Thesla Collier
Associate BIM Manager
Gensler 
Thesla shared some of her favorite tips to using Ideate Software applications.

Sara Troy
Director of Operations
Modulus Consulting
Sara presented a creative Ideate BIMLink and Ideate Sticky workflow that Modulus developed to manage municipal grading calculation requirements.

Jan Sako
Support and QA Manager
Ideate Software
Jan talked about the benefits of Ideate Installer.

Recording of APAC User Group Meeting 

Guest Speakers

Holger DeGroot
CEO & Founder
Modmation
Holger showcased some tips for managing warnings to ensure Revit model health with Ideate Explorer.

Tang MinJin
Executive BIM Manager
Surbana Jurong 
Tang demonstrated how Surbana Jurong automated the creation of 300+ sheers with Ideate BIMLink.

Recording of EMEA User Group Meeting

Guest Speakers

Neil Rooney
Senior Medical Facility Design Specialist
Elekta
Neil shared some tips for converting a Revit project from English into other languages.

Paul Duggleby
Senior Associate
HOK 
Paul discussed how he uses Ideate Explorer to audit his Revit projects at HOK.

Jan Sako
Support and QA Manager
Ideate Software
Jan talked about the benefits of Ideate Installer.

Plans for our next online user group meetings are well underway. Check out our Events page for dates and times and register today!

If you are interested in being a guest presenter, please contact Richard Taylor. 

Recently, I had the pleasure of sharing our presentation, “Beyond Traditional Data Editing Tasks Using Ideate BIMLink,” on a webinar hosted by our partner, Microsol Resources.

Microsol has been delivering integrated solutions to the architecture, engineering and construction industries in the United States for more than 30 years, and it is a reseller of Ideate Software products.

People familiar with Ideate BIMLink know that it is a powerful tool for data editing. In this webinar, I focused on how it can also be used for project health checks, revision workflows and general QA/QC tasks.

Through discussions and demonstrations, attendees:

• Discovered causes of Revit model health performance issues
• Learned the steps to review issues before they become a problem
• Explored a critical Revit Sheet Revision workflow that is not fully supported by Revit
• Experienced how to review critical Revit quality assurance and quality control workflows
• Learned how Microsoft Excel and Ideate BIMLink can be essential tools for Revit data management

Here is a link to the recording. In addition, this is an excellent article from Microsol Resources on Ideate Software.

Browse our website for more information on our Revit productivity tools. Give them a try with a free trial version or subscribe today. 
 

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.

San Francisco, CA, March 17, 2021 – Ideate Software, an Autodesk^® AEC Industry Partner and Autodesk^® Authorized Developer, is pleased to announce its collaboration with Pollard Thomas Edwards (PTE), a UK firm that works with communities, local authorities and commercial clients to design homes, neighborhoods, public and mixed-use buildings throughout the United Kingdom.  

One of the ways PTE helps its 150+ professionals focus on enhancing the local towns, cities and villages is by using Ideate Software tools.

Steve Deadman, Head of BIM at PTE said, “I have been a fan of Ideate Software for several years. Their tools simplify a lot of Revit tasks the team and I perform every day.”

When talking about some of their favorite uses of Ideate Software tools, Steve mentioned: 

• “The Query function within Ideate Explorer is powerful. I do a lot of model auditing, and this tool speeds the process by making it easy to find in-place families. I can either let the team know about them or simply delete them. This task would be a struggle without Ideate Explorer.” 
   
• “We’ve all been in the situation where a rogue level appears in a project, and we’re tempted to hit the delete button. Before taking that step, we use Ideate SmartDelete to see what will be deleted along with the level. We then remove anything we need to keep.”
   
• “Everyone on our team loves Ideate Clone. Copying a sheet and its viewports should be native in Revit, but it isn’t. The ability to do it in Ideate Clone is very useful and saves us a lot of time.”
   
• “We really like the new function within Ideate SheetManager that allows us to place unplaced views onto sheets using another one as a template. This process gives us another dimension for managing sheets quickly.”
   
• “Where would we be without Ideate BIMLink? From simple data management tasks like updating sheet information and editing schedule information to project setup tasks such as creating views and sheets and placing views on the sheets, Ideate BIMLink does it all. We simply would waste so much time without it.”

Read more about this collaboration and learn more about three PTE projects recognized at the 2020 British Home Awards. 

To experience how Ideate Software tools can help you streamline your Revit processes, download trial versions or subscribe online.
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About Ideate Software - Ideate Software, an Autodesk^® AEC Industry Partner and Autodesk^® Authorized Developer, empowers Revit users to gain unprecedented control over their data. Ideate BIMLink, Ideate Explorer, Ideate Sticky, IdeateApps, and Ideate StyleManager were all developed to solve persistent problems in architecture, engineering, construction and owner (AECO) workflows. Ideate Software solutions enable Revit users to save time, increase accuracy, improve project deliverables and elevate design.

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

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