It’s been almost 10 years since we began our Ideate BIMLink development journey. Following on the successful release of Ideate Explorer for Revit 2009, our fearless developer Ben Bishoff waded deeper into the Revit API along with Director David Haynes to develop a new product creatively named “Excel Link Data” in December 2009. 

Look how we’ve grown over the past 10 years.

Version 2011 – Theme: Getting It Out the Door
After almost 6 months of beta testing, we first launched #Ideate BIMLink @AutodeskU. We were asked by Autodesk to integrate the tool into the Extensions Manager on the Add-Ins toolbar, so we complied. Does anyone out there remember the Extensions Manager??

The main dialog shows our links on the left and the preview on the right. 

Version 2013 – Theme: Play Nice
The Autodesk App Store is up and running. We’ve been asked to re-structure our installation code to comply with their requirements. Our install now looks so beautiful 

Version 2014 – Theme: Performance Matters
We simplified our interface to improve the performance by removing the data preview from the main page. Many customers rejoice.

Before:

 
After:

Version 2015 – Theme: Share Ideas Part I
Customers are asking for our help in leveraging their BIM data for increasingly sophisticated tasks. We oblige by adding the Load Sample button on the main page, giving easy access to over 200 data workflows. 

Jesika DiGregorio joins the Ideate Software team and helps us take Ideate BIMLink to another level.

November 2019 – Theme: Share Ideas Part II 
More than just a face lift, the new version of Ideate BIMLink released in November of 2019 provides customizable instructions on the home page to help customers make the most out of this powerful Revit data management tool.

 

We also re-structured all the great customer ideas into our “Browse” Library to make it easy to discover all the great data workflow suggestions.

What will you do with Ideate BIMLink’s power? Test drive it today.

About the Author

Glynnis Patterson, NCARB – Director of Software Development
Glynnis is a registered architect and has worked within the building information modeling (BIM) industry since 1998. A graduate of Carnegie Mellon University, she has worked as an architect, educator and construction site manager. Glynnis is the Director of Software Development Services and continues to work with AECO clients worldwide, developing, and consulting on solutions to BIM challenges. In her spare time, Glynnis volunteers for the local high school and with growitgreenmorristown.org. Find Glynnis on LinkedIn.

At Ideate Software, we are committed to making it easy for you to learn and use our powerful Revit productivity tools. One way we do that is by creating short videos of specific workflows. You can find dozens that show how to use Ideate BIMLink to move data from Revit software to Microsoft Excel for easy editing, and then push the updated data back into Revit quickly and easily. Simply go to the Ideate BIMLink playlist on our YouTube Channel or website.

To make it even easier for you, we have separated the videos into sub-categories for architects, building engineers, and construction and facilities, as well as by model management and content and family management.

Here’s just a sampling of the how-to videos available:

Overview on Data Management

Experience the Value for AEC Firms

Automating Document Issue Records

Coordinated Data for VDC

What’s New in Ideate BIMLink

Would you like us to consider creating a video to address a question you have? Let us know . 

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

Recently, when looking into establishing a method of revision management for Revit models, Paul Cook, a Civil 3D, BIM & CAD Technician at Jacobs, learned about a limitation within Revit: you can’t view the revision history of each sheet in schedule form. 

Because of past success with Ideate Software tools, Paul looked to us for a solution. Starting with the Help page on managing Revit sheet-based revisions, Paul found that Ideate BIMLink enables the creation of a document issuance record, and that Ideate Software offers an Excel Macro template and dataset free-of-charge to customers. He reached out to the Support Team for details.

Jan Sako, Support Manager, sent Paul the information as well as links to short how-to videos that demonstrate how to use Ideate BIMLink to quickly and accurately update all sheets with the proper revision or sheet issuance information at one time.

The information was what Paul was looking for, and some customization was needed, because Jacobs uses an alphanumeric revision number that shows on sheets, in place of the Sequence number, that they have assigned to the ‘Issued To’ parameter to represent the Revision Number.

Paul reached out to the Ideate Software Support Team again, and this time connected with Glynnis Patterson, Director of Software Development. She offered a few suggestions that weren’t quite right, but they sparked some thoughts in Paul.

“I managed to achieve what I was after by using Excel formulas on a new tab to recreate the register. It’s basically a clone of the DIR tab using cell links, except that where an issue is shown on the ‘DIR’ tab, it searches for the ‘Issued To’ entry for that sequence number and reports that instead of the issue count.” 

“I appreciate how responsive the Ideate Software Support team was and how flexible Ideate Software tools are,” said Paul. “I’ve already thought of other ways to customize the spreadsheet, and I know that if I have any trouble, I can give Ideate Software a call.”

Get more details in the full story.

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

When developing the content for this webinar on workflows for Revit MEP data management, I asked several Ideate BIMLink and Revit users to talk about the Revit MEP workflows that bug them. Here are the ones mentioned most often:

• Editing schedule data
• Controlling visibility 
• Quality control
  • QA/QC
  • Naming for COBie Standards
  • Device Elevations
  • Reviewing and modifying workset assignments
• Pulling data from linked files
• Automating revision workflows
• Reviewing hard-to-locate coordinate data 

Watch the recording of this 30-minute webinar to learn how to streamline these workflows with Ideate BIMLink. 

 
Ideate BIMLink ships with over 200 pre-defined link definitions with common family and system parameters. It includes a generic MEP categorization that then drills down further into mechanical, electrical and plumbing sub-disciplines. Start with these preconfigured links, and then customize them to meet your needs. You can save the links on a shared drive, so team members can access them, and you can even have them be part of your Revit template. 

We host these webinars to help clients get the most out of their Ideate Software tools. If you have a topic you’d like us to cover, please let us know. 

Visit 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 18 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.

Architects, engineers, consultants, and building owners and operators (AECOO) across the world continue to strive to advance their adoption of building information modeling (BIM).

I recently had the honor of speaking at a meeting hosted by Saskatchewan BIM (SaskBIM), an organization in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan that brings together members of the local AECOO community that share an interest in BIM, integrated project delivery and sustainable design. 

The presentation I did was titled, “COBie Data Management and Data Exchange using Ideate Software for Revit.” 

COBie, or Construction-Operations Building Information Exchange, is an international standard relating to managed asset information including spaces and equipment.

The SaskBIM group reached out to Ideate Software because there was an interest in how our products are leveraged to support COBie-based data within the Revit environment. The challenge is that a lot of manual editing of COBie data has to happen in Revit and people are looking for efficient ways of gathering model data to edit COBie fields, so the information can be handed over to building managers for asset management. I think it was a hot topic, because the room was filled to capacity and several people dialed in from other locations. 

After the presentation, Tyler Buhr, who heads the SaskBIM group and is an Associate Partner with Henry Downing Architects said, “You had some GREAT reviews last night regarding your presentation. I had feedback from a lot of the attendees that you did such a great job and provided a lot of clarity on the data exchange process and where the capabilities of Ideate Software tools really assist with it.”

Here’s a  link to the recording of my presentation.

Visit 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, BCI, BCC - Customer Success Manager
Sash earned his Master of Architecture from Montana State University and is a California registered architect, LEED Accredited Professional, and a Bluebeam Certified Instructor. 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.