For those of you who have had experience with revisions in Revit, you probably know there are a lot of benefits and limitations to the revision tools. For example, we can customize the numbering schemes to match our office standards or client requirements. Clouding and tagging views and sheets are generally easy, though there are some known limitations to this process.

One of the biggest limitations to revision management in Revit is how we schedule them. To this day, Revit can only schedule revisions based on Current Revision information, such as Current Revision, Current Revision Date and so forth. While this information may be acceptable to some folks, many owners and contractors require a schedule listing all sheets and each of the revisions on each sheet. Unfortunately, this scheduling method is not native to Revit. 

Existing Ideate BIMLink customers who have been using our Document Issue Records (DIR) Excel template to generate a sheet list that lists all sheets and the revisions associated with those sheets are quite familiar with the two-step process: Export both the Revision Sequence and Sheet Revision data to the DIR Excel template, where it is restructured into a Document Issue Record. For customers that subscribe to Ideate Sticky as well, there is the added benefit of live-linking the DIR Excel file into their Revit models for a true round-trip process.

For those looking to automate the DIR process, either for a single Revit file or multiple Revit files, we have a simple solution that can automate the exportation of both the Revision Sequence and Sheet Revision data to the macro-enabled DIR file. The data is then updated to reflect the latest revision information for your projects. You can accomplish this task by using Ideate Automation for Ideate BIMLink.

Ideate Automation for Ideate BIMLink allows users to extract revision information from multiple models with the push of a button or through a scheduled task, allowing the project team to easily compile and update Document Issue Records demanded by many owners and jurisdictions. To assist with this process, Ideate Automation for Ideate BIMLink is pre-configured with two script files related to the DIR process, while Ideate BIMLink is delivered with five pre-defined link definitions that are configured to work with Revit Revisions and Ideate Automation.

Watch this short video to review the process of automating Document Issue Record exports for multiple stages of your project. In addition, please review this Help topic, Getting Started with Ideate Automation.

Existing Ideate BIMLink customers can request the Excel custom template for Document Issuance Records via [email protected].

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.

Yes, I know that I’m playing off the title of a television show that ran from 1959 to 1963! If you have NEVER heard of The Many Loves Dobie Gillis, you should Google it. Now, let’s get down to some serious data that certainly is NOT 62 years old and in black-and-white!

COBie is an acronym for Construction Operations Building Information Exchange, and it is a non-proprietary data format for the publication of a subset of building information models focused on delivering asset data as distinct from geometric information.

COBie Data Extraction needs to be assembled at multiple times during the life of a project, usually at the end of each work stage of the project.

 
Ideate BIMLink is delivered with 15 pre-defined link definitions that are configured to use Revit shared parameters that are created as part of the Autodesk COBie Extension for Revit, which is a subset of the Autodesk BIM Interoperability Tools.

 
Many agencies and jurisdictions around the world use this data. As an example, the U.S. General Services Administration has deployed the Autodesk COBie Extension for Revit.

You can create the necessary COBie spreadsheet by choosing to export EACH of the 15 Ideate BIMLink library link definitions, one at a time, to a single Excel spreadsheet using Ideate BIMlink.

However, assembling this information to meet project requirements can be time-consuming and tedious.

Introducing Ideate Automation for Ideate BIMLink

Ideate Automation for Ideate BIMLink allows you to extract information from multiple models and multiple COBie Ideate BIMLink Link Definitions, allowing a designer to easily meet the COBie requirements demanded by many jurisdictions such as the GSA.

Ideate BIMLink used in conjunction with Ideate Automation allows designers to extract the data they need at the push of a button.

Please watch this short video to review the process of automating COBie Data Drops for multiple stages of your project.

In addition, please review this Help topic on Getting Started with Ideate Automation.

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.

Thank you to everyone who commented on our previous “Beyond Traditional Data Editing Tasks” webinar, which focused on using Ideate BIMLink for model health checks and reviewing project standards and quality control. Based on your positive feedback, we continued the theme with this webinar, which focused on using Ideate BIMLink to create new elements and types.

Ideate BIMLink is part of our collection of tools that reduce laborious data editing, viewing and management tasks. Within Ideate BIMLink, the link definitions (sample content) are categorized by discipline and workflow. It’s a best practice to start with one of these pre-configured link definitions and if necessary, add or remove parameter data to meet your specific needs. 

Watch the recording of this webinar to learn how to create new:

1. Instance-based links and use them to create/place instances of elements, such as:
   • Sheets, including placeholders
   • Unplaced rooms
   • Spaces from linked rooms
   • Custom families
   • Areas
   • Schedule keys
   • Revisions
2. Type-based links and use them to create new types in families, such as:
   • Views
   • Walls
   • Furniture
   • Mechanical equipment
   • Structures
      

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 were honored that in 2020, ZGF Architects, BD Mackey Consulting and BIM Guru participated in our webinar series on how customers use Ideate Software solutions. In case you missed the webinars or you’d like to watch them again or share them with your colleagues, below are the links. The recordings are also in our Customer Webinars Playlist on our YouTube Channel. 

If you are interested in showcasing your company, BIM management best practices and use of Ideate Software solutions, please contact us. We’d love to hear from you and share your expertise with our customers.

ZGF Architects and Ideate Software Unveil Winning Revit Strategies

Simplify Revit Tasks with Brian Mackey and Ideate Software

Revit Model Management with Gavin Crump and Ideate Software

We’d also encourage you to access customer-focused webinars from previous years, filled with Revit data management tips and tricks shared by BIM professionals from the following firms:

• CBT Architects
  • The “I” in BIM - How to Transfer Data to and from Revit
     
• Payette
  • BIM Managers Set the Stage for Increased Knowledge and Productivity
     
• BD Mackey Consulting
  • Hitting a High Note: Tuning your Revit Template
     
• Steinberg Hart
  • Developing Efficient Processes
     
• SNC Lavalin
  • How to become a BIM Manager Superstar

We will continue this series in 2021, so please keep an eye on our Events page for details. If you’d like to be added to our email distribution list, send a note to [email protected].

Every day, our Ideate Software Support team fields all types of questions from AECO professionals all around the world. 

I thought this was an interesting question about using Ideate BIMLink to rename Revit elements versus swapping one element for another. Ideate BIMLink is delivered with over 250 sample link definitions! These are available for use when you browse the library as you create a new link definition within your Revit model. 

This customer was using the “Project_Stds-Rename_Types” sample link. He had five different types of chairs, and he wanted to rename them all to “Chair Student-Medium,” because he ONLY wanted one type of chair within the project. However, when he tried to rename them all to “Chair Student-Medium,” he received error messages saying that Revit couldn’t make the change.

The reason he received these errors was because the sample link definition “Project_Stds-Rename_Types” is based on the Type of furniture chairs that are loaded into the project, and Revit requires the name to be unique. Let’s say that Revit would allow the change. He would have five different chair types with the SAME name! That is not what he wanted.

The proper solution in this required workflow would be to swap the five chair types placed within the model for the type he wanted. 

Ideate BIMLink can easily do this!

Instead of a Type Link, he created an instance link that would show the Family and Type of each chair placed within the model. We can easily convert the Project Standards Type link to an Instance link by right-clicking on the link name and choosing “Convert Link.” This little-known short-cut will convert a Type link to an Instance link or an Instance link to a Type link.

After converting the Ideate BIMLink link definition, I renamed it to “Swap Chairs.” The key is to make the sure the Ideate BIMLink link definition has the property “Family and Type” and not just “Family Name” or “Type Name.” This will allow Ideate BIMlink to swap one “Family and Type” for another “Family and Type” for every instance within the model.

So, instead of renaming the chairs to the SAME name, what the customer really wanted was to consolidate all the chairs to one single Family and Type for the entire model. This was easily accomplished with Ideate BIMLink. Of course, using Ideate BIMLink to rename all families to a standard project naming convention is also a great use, it just was not the correct way to consolidate all chairs to the same name and definition.

When the Family and Type was changed to “Chair Student-Medium-Chair Student-Medium” for every instance, Ideate BIMLink swapped the correct furniture component for EACH instance of the chair within the project, thus consolidating all the components to one single definition.

If you want to rename components or swap components from one definition to another, Ideate BIMLink has the necessary tools to make both happen with ease!

This is a slightly older video on Structural Type Swapping with Ideate BIMLink, but the workflow and concepts are still very much valid for all types of Revit components.

Please be sure to review this important online HELP topic for utilizing Type Swapping with Ideate BIMLink.

 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.