About Autodesk Revit Software

Revit software is the most popular BIM software used by architects; structural, mechanical, electrical, and plumbing engineers; designers; and contractors to create, edit, and review 3D models. It’s used to:

• Model 3D shapes, structures, and systems
  • Start from scratch or convert 2D models to 3D
  • Create photo-like representations of structures or systems
  • Identify clashes early in the design stage
• Streamline documentation work
  • All model data is kept in a single database
  • Changes made in one place automatically update throughout the model
  • Monitor, review, and share information on changes 
• Unite multidisciplinary teams in a unified project environment with specialty toolset that empower:
  • Architectural designers to focus more on creativity and innovative designs by using Revit to easily iterate design ideas and then document, coordinate, manage, and deliver architecture projects
  • Structural engineers to save time, reduce risk, and minimize errors by using Revit to design, detail, analyze, and document structural systems through all stages, from pre-planning through maintenance
  • MEP engineers to reduce headaches down the road by using Revit to model, analyze, and iterate system designs that support better performance and sustainability
  • Construction teams to increase productivity by working from accurate drawings of constructable structures

Feature Requests from Revit Users

Autodesk’s mission is to “empower innovators with design and make technology so they can achieve the new possible.” To do this, they must listen to the users of their technology, and they do. One way they listen is through Autodesk Community, a place for software users to connect, find answers to questions, share knowledge, build networks, and more. The Autodesk Community offers many ways to connect, including community-led webinars, a Community Voices vlog, and Community Challenges. The Community places for people to ask questions, get help, and share knowledge are the Community Forums, or product discussion boards. To make it easy to find topics of interest, Autodesk has separate forums for each of its products. Revit users can go to: 

• Revit Architecture Forum
• Revit MEP Forum
• Revit Structure Forum
• Revit API Forum
• Revit Ideas Forum

The Revit Ideas Forum is where users can go to share ideas for future product features directly with the Revit team and collaborate on existing suggestions with peers. At the time this blog post was written, there were more than 43,000 posts in the Revit Ideas Forum. To simplify the process of contributing to and finding posts, Autodesk has three main tabs on the page: Hot Ideas, Top Voted, and Latest Ideas, and they have all posts sorted into more than 30 categories, including Architecture, BIM Management, Collaboration, Construction, Documentation, Mechanical, Modeling, Multi-Discipline, and Visualization.  

Ideate Software – Essential Revit Plugins List

We at Ideate Software know that we create essential plugins for Revit because we actually address challenges expressed by Revit users. The Revit Ideas Forum is one of the ways to learn about what’s important to Revit users. We monitor the site regularly, paying attention to the ideas that get the most “votes,” which are ways for Revit users to express their agreement with the original post. Armed with that information as well as information we get from discussions with Revit users from around the world, we decide which ones to focus on, and then determine if we can add functionality to an existing product or develop a new product.

Here's a recording of a one-hour webinar in which Richard Taylor, Ideate Software’s Technical Evangelist, highlighted feature requests addressed by Ideate Software

Here are links to the blog posts referenced in the video. Within each blog post, in addition to providing step-by-step workflow instructions, we link to the related feature requests on the Revit Ideas Forum, so you can see how our features granted a “wish” made by Revit users that Autodesk has not addressed:

1. Duplicate a Revit sheet while creating new views or swapping existing views of the sheet 
2. Control the view title alignment when aligning or swapping views on a sheet 
3. Ease the documentation process with the help of the sheet and view tools 
4. Easily find elements that may be hidden in the Revit model 
5. Renumber almost any Revit element with intelligent rules and various methods for selection 
6. Implement a fully functional Revit spell checker that checks all sheets and views plus schedules 
7. Audit Revit models and select elements more easily 
8. Quickly review and fix Revit warnings to ensure a well performing model 
9. Manage, analyze, merge, and purge complicated Revit styles  
10. Live link Excel, PDF, and Word documents into your Revit project

An Overview of Ideate Software Revit Plugins

Below is the top Revit plugins list of tools developed by Ideate Software:

• Ideate Explorer – Revit users want to spend more time on interesting design activities. Ideate Explorer helps them do this by dramatically decreasing the amount of time they have to spend on model management. They use it to quickly find and delete incorrect, obsolete, and hidden problem items—including imported or linked DWG drawings—as well as to find, refine, and revise elements, even those not included in the Revit project browser.
  
  The following three features that are included with Ideate Explorer add additional value to the Revit plugin: 
   
  • Ideate Warnings Manager – Audit warnings that are ranked by importance and fix the problems using Revit tools while the Warnings Manager dialog box is open
  • Ideate Query – Search in parameters for elements like unused annotations, design options, in-place usage, structure usage/area scheme, and revisions
  • Ideate Navigate – Navigate view-based elements; find unused sheets and views; find and filter legends, schedules, sheets, or views by category and/or keyword; customize work environments without changing the project browser 
     
• Ideate BIMLink – You can use Ideate BIMLink instead of working in Revit to verify and/or edit data one element at a time. Export data to Excel where you can easily view and manipulate large amounts of data easily. Once the data is updated, you can then use Ideate BIMLink for Revit to import data back into Revit, and the model will immediately update.  
   
• Ideate Sticky – Revit users appreciate the ability to share accurate and nicely formatted non-BIM data with Revit teams by live-linking Excel, Word, and PDF documents into a Revit model with Ideate Sticky. These “stickies” look nice, are easy to read, and can be updated easily when changes are made to the original source documents.     
   
• Ideate StyleManager – Pasting data from one Revit model to another often causes problems because information associated with the original files get copied along with the data. This clogs models with incorrect information that can take a long time to remove if working in Revit. Not removing the information is risky because it can cause model performance problems and documentation errors. With Ideate StyleManager, it’s easy to analyze, merge, or delete non-standard Revit styles. You can also use Ideate StyleManager to see the view filters applied to views and clean object and line styles and patterns, text, fonts, parameters, and more.
   
• IdeateApps – Reduce the change of mistakes, rework, and frustrations by eliminating the need to perform repetitive Revit tasks on large complex models with the 10 tools that come in the IdeateApps collection:  Ideate SpellCheck, Ideate Align, Ideate Clone, Ideate ViewCreator, Ideate SheetManager, Ideate Annotate, Ideate XRay, Ideate ReNumber, Ideate SmartDelete, and Ideate QuickSelect. 
   
• Ideate Automation – Do more meaningful work as Ideate Automation runs time-intensive BIM tasks silently in the background. You can start the script manually or schedule it to run at a convenient time, even during non-working hours. Our customers add Ideate Automation to their toolbox to increase productivity, eliminate the need to train staff on repetitive tasks, and ensure task outcomes are highly predictable, free of user errors, and standardized. 

Learn More

Browse our website to learn more about how Ideate Software’s top Revit plugins 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 our addins for Revit, which includes Ideate BIMLink, Ideate Explorer, Ideate Sticky, Ideate StyleManager, and IdeateApps for six months.

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

We are pleased to present this article highlighting how Ideate Explorer is used by Modmation, a leading BIM consultancy providing independent consulting services to the AECO industry.  

Thank you, Holger de Groot, CEO and Founder of Modmation, and Maciej Wypych, CTO and Co-Founder of Modmation, for sharing.  

Holger de Groot, CEO and Founder, Modmation	Maciej Wypych, CTO and Co-Founder, Modmation

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With over 30 years of combined experience in the design and construction of buildings worldwide, Modmation's goal is to help architects, engineers, contractors, owners, and operators design, plan, build and operate projects more efficiently.

Modmation and Ideate Explorer

Here are some examples of how Modmation streamlines model auditing with Ideate Explorer, a software tool for managing and organizing data within Autodesk Revit.

“By using Ideate Explorer, we can improve the accuracy and efficiency of our BIM audits, ensuring that our clients receive high-quality results,” said Holger.

Ideate Explorer enables Modmation to perform tasks such as auditing, cleaning, and modifying Revit data. As a result, Ideate Explorer saves time and reduces the risk of errors in the design and construction process. This not only improves the quality of Modmation consulting services but also saves time and reduces costs for their clients, who can rely on Modmation to deliver accurate and efficient audits.

One specific example of how the Ideate Explorer – Warnings Manager tool creates value is during the auditing process. The Warnings Manager can quickly identify and report any issues or discrepancies in the Revit data, such as missing elements, incorrect properties, or broken links. This helps Modmation to quickly identify and resolve any potential issues in the BIM process, ensuring that their clients receive accurate and comprehensive audits.

“By using Ideate Software solutions, Modmation is delivering value to clients by providing high-quality BIM auditing services that help design, plan, build, and operate projects more efficiently,” said Maciej. “Additionally, by streamlining our auditing process with Ideate Explorer – Warnings Manager, we can quickly identify and report any potential issues in the BIM process, ensuring that our clients receive the best possible outcome for their projects.”

San Francisco, CA, February 07, 2023 – Ideate Software, an Autodesk® AEC Industry Partner and Autodesk® Authorized Developer, presents its latest customer spotlight. This story is about Parkin Architects, a well-known architectural leader in Canada for acute and mental healthcare, recreation, science, technology and research, justice, corrections, and education. 

Parkin initially started using Ideate BIMLink to meet a specific need and has since expanded its use of Ideate Software tools to include Ideate Explorer, Ideate Sticky, and IdeateApps.

“Delivering as promised is critical, and Ideate Software helps us do that,” said Oscar Ramos-Martinez, BIM Manager, Parkin. “Their products address challenges we face, and they are easy to learn and use.”

Here are some examples of how Parkin uses Ideate Software add-ins for Revit:

• Ideate BIMLink: Set up new models with functional project data, transfer parameter values to doors from hosts, manage FF&E ID information, and manage room data
• Ideate Explorer: Quality control activities. “With Ideate Explorer and its Query tool, we can find any element in the model, select it, locate it within the model, browse through its properties, identify issues, and more,” said Oscar. 
• Ideate Sticky: Live-link Microsoft Excel spreadsheets containing code requirements to Revit files
• IdeateApps: Apply room numbers to doors, create views, align views. “As we are preparing documents for submission, we simply run Ideate Align and the alignments are perfect,” said Oscar.   

Read Spotlight on Parkin Architects for more.

Visit www.ideatesoftware.com to learn how Ideate Software add-ins for Revit help users save time, increase model accuracy, improve deliverables, and elevate design. Give them a try by  downloading trial versions or purchasing the bundle for access to Ideate BIMLink, Ideate Explorer, Ideate Sticky, IdeateApps, and Ideate StyleManager for six months.

About Ideate Software - Ideate Software, an Autodesk® AEC Industry Partner and Autodesk® Authorized Developer, empowers Revit users to gain unprecedented control over their data. They developed Ideate BIMLink, Ideate Explorer, Ideate Sticky, IdeateApps, and Ideate StyleManager to solve persistent problems in architecture, engineering, and construction, and owner-operator (AECO) workflows. They developed Ideate Automation to boost the power of their Revit plugins by running time-intensive activities in the background.

Autodesk and Autodesk Revit are trademarks of Autodesk, Inc. and/or its subsidiaries and/or affiliates in the USA and/or other countries. Microsoft Excel is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and other countries. All other brand names, product names or trademarks belong to their respective holders.

Those of you responsible for maintaining or verifying data and documentation quality in your Revit models will find the recording of this webinar valuable. You’ll learn about our six Revit add-in solutions that can streamline your QA processes of implementing Revit model standards and your QC processes of fixing problems that occur within a Revit model either as they happen or as part of a review process. You’ll also see demonstrations of common workflows for each of the Ideate Software solutions:

• Manage view names with Ideate BIMLink
• Audit the Revit model and manage elements on specific worksets with Ideate Explorer
• Manage styles with Ideate StyleManager
• Schedule repeatable processes with Ideate Automation
• Increase data accuracy with the 10 tools in the IdeateApps collection
• Live-link external documents with Ideate Sticky

This webinar was held on 01-31-23 for the Americas region. A similar one was held on 02-15-23 for the EMEA region, and one will be held on 04-27-23 for the APAC region. See our Events page to register. 

Browse our website to learn more about how Ideate Software 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 the Revit plugin solutions Ideate BIMLink, Ideate Explorer, Ideate Sticky, Ideate StyleManager, and IdeateApps for six months. 
 

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.

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.