January

25

2016

Join the Ideate Software tech experts for eLearning. Make the most of your Revit workflow with free, live, online classes that provide your entire organization with easy access to premium education.

January 27 // Ideate BIMLink
Revit Model Management with Ideate BIMLink
In this class, we will explore several ways in which Ideate BIMLink can help with efficiently managing a Revit model. Some of the examples we will review include: extracting a full multi-category quantity take-off, managing Revit families, managing views and sheets, managing view templates, performing a full project spell check, and renaming or renumbering objects with ease. 

February 4 // Ideate BIMLink
Ideate BIMLink for Revit MEP Projects

This class will explore several ways in which Ideate BIMLink can effect changes to a Revit MEP model. One topic to be covered is crucial for settings that affect Energy Performance. We will also explore how Ideate BIMLink can globally assist with Electrical Device changes and Lighting Level Analysis. We will also look at the various pre-built Ideate BIMLink Revit MEP Sample links and how they can make you more productive. If you’ve only used Ideate BIMLink for one particular kind of task then this is the class for you. 

February 18 // Ideate Explorer
Auditing Your Revit Project with Ideate Explorer
You’ve used Ideate Explorer to find the hidden DWGs in your Revit project, but did you know that you can find and cleanup many other culprits that may be lurking? This class will take students through nine additional auditing processes to help keep Revit projects running smoothly. We recommend auditing your Revit project weekly with these methods.

View Ideate class descriptions and registration links here for full class descriptions, times and registration link.

Questions? Contact [email protected]

Get It. Know It. Use It.

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January

21

2016

One of the requirements for specifying a door is to know which way it swings, both left or right and, if it has a keyed side, in or out. In Revit this information is not readily available, but the information is there. This piece will help you manage your door quantity takeoffs by first identifying how Revit represents this information and how to use that information to populate the doors with the correct information using Ideate BIMLink or to verify that information with Ideate Query in Ideate Explorer.

There are four types of swings: Left Hand (LH), Right Hand (RH), Left Hand Reverse (LHR), and Right Hand Reverse (RHR). There are many explanations online with diagrams of each.

Default Revit Family
Default Revit Family

For this example we will be using the default Revit door as a reference. It is modeled in the family as a Left Hand Reverse. This is important as it impacts the way the Revit properties should be interpreted. If you are using families modeled in a different hand than the default family, you will have to note those families and adjust the calculations as appropriate. This workflow also requires that the family have flip controls in place, one horizontal and one vertical.

The different door orientations labeled with their swing, Revit, door families, door swing, Revit Architecture
Doors in Plan

Here is an image of a Revit file that I created for this piece. There is one of each swing, using the Revit placement tools and the flip controls. I then used the mirror command to make another set of doors (in blue) to show that the mirror command does get captured.

There are two properties in Revit that are not listed in the properties palette but are accessible through the API that will determine the swing of the door. These properties are exposed by both Ideate BIMLink and Ideate Query. The two properties are:

  • Is Facing Flipped – This indicates the side of the wall the door swings towards. Since the default Revit family swings out (up in the family) a value of ‘False’ indicates that the door is a ‘Reverse’ door, and a value of ‘True’ is not reversed. 
  • Is Hand Flipped – This indicates the hand of the door. Since the default Revit family is modeled as a Left Hand, a value of ‘False’ indicates that the door is a ‘Left Hand’, and ‘True’ indicates that the door is ‘Right Hand.’

Additionally, you can include ‘Host Wall: Function’ or your ‘Has Lock’ parameter to identify those doors that do or do not need to be marked as ‘Reverse.’ In this example we won’t be including those parameters.

There are two workflows to manage these parameters, allowing you to rely on one resulting text parameter. 

In Ideate BIMLink, a door instance link is created with the parameters listed above, along with the text parameter that will store the resulting value. If you are using families that are modeled differently, you will also want to include the ‘Family Name’ property. 

The property values for newly placed doors, Revit, door swing, excel, Ideate BIMLink,
Properties in Ideate BIMLink

This information is then exported to Excel. To convert the information we can use one of the following Excel formulas, where C is the ‘Is Facing Flipped’ column, D is the ‘Is Hand Flipped’ column.

With Full Text

=CONCATENATE(

IF(D2,"Right Hand","Left Hand"),

IF(C2,""," Reverse"))

Abbreviated

=CONCATENATE(

IF(D2,"RH","LH"),

IF(C2,"","R"))

Once this formula has been put in place, it can be dragged down to the rest of the rows. The data can then be imported back into Revit, updating the parameter.

The result of importing the Excel formula, Revit, Excel, Ideate BIMLink, Door Swing, calculate, swing parameter, Revit parameters
Properties After Import

In Ideate Query (a part of Ideate Explorer) you can verify that the swing parameter you have defined is accurate. Select the doors that you would like to examine (or all the doors). Open Ideate Query. Select the swing parameter and either one or both of the ‘Is Facing Flipped’ and ‘Is Hand Flipped’ properties from the list using ctrl+select. The query tool will group the elements by these values allowing you to spot discrepancies. You can then select the discrepancies to fix. 

Finding values that are incorrect, Ideate Query, Ideate Explorer, Revit, door swing, door hand, Revit Parameters
Doors in Ideate Query

Here is an image showing some issues I made on purpose, one blank value from a new door, one that is using the wrong syntax for the parameter, and one that was mislabeled, creating a duplicate in the list.


About the Author

Jesika DiGregorio – Software Engineer
Jesika received her Bachelor of Architecture from the University of Oregon in Eugene where she also spent time studying advanced math. Her work experience includes Junior Designer at an award-winning firm specializing in architecture and land planning, and Intern Architect at a firm that provides services in planning, design, construction documents and construction administration for projects of all sizes. After working in architecture design for several years, Jesika decided to pursue her interest in programming and her love of efficient systems. She now serves as a Software Team Lead for Ideate Software.

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January

20

2016

Join the Ideate Software tech experts for eLearning. Make the most of your Revit workflow with free, live, online classes that provide your entire organization with easy access to premium education.

January 27 // Ideate BIMLink
Revit Model Management with Ideate BIMLink
In this class, we will explore several ways in which Ideate BIMLink can help with efficiently managing a Revit model. Some of the examples we will review include: extracting a full multi-category quantity take-off, managing Revit families, managing views and sheets, managing view templates, performing a full project spell check, and renaming or renumbering objects with ease. 

February 4 // Ideate BIMLink
Ideate BIMLink for Revit MEP Projects

This class will explore several ways in which Ideate BIMLink can effect changes to a Revit MEP model. One topic to be covered is crucial for settings that affect Energy Performance. We will also explore how Ideate BIMLink can globally assist with Electrical Device changes and Lighting Level Analysis. We will also look at the various pre-built Ideate BIMLink Revit MEP Sample links and how they can make you more productive. If you’ve only used Ideate BIMLink for one particular kind of task then this is the class for you. 

View Ideate Software class descriptions and links here for full class descriptions, times and registration link.

Questions? Contact [email protected]

Get It. Know It. Use It.

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December

30

2015

Your Revit project is in full swing. There are multiple team members working on the project. Aside from having to meet tight deadlines, the team is also responsible for making sure that the Revit model is organized per certain project and/or office standards. This requires everyone on the team to be very diligent when it comes to creating, loading, modifying and duplicating families/annotations and their parameters. However, as with most projects, and especially those which are complex and fast-paced, there is always the possibility of error.

How can we insure that our model is being built/organized per our project/office standards? The pre-defined Project Standards links in Ideate BIMLink were made primarily for this purpose.
These links can be found by selecting the Load Sample tool, and selecting the ‘Project Standards’ folder in the Source Directory dropdown menu as seen in the picture below.

In the folder, you will find the following sample links/files which can be used by team members, or perhaps the office BIM manager, to oversee the Revit model for compliance with project/office standards. 

  • Project_Stds-Assembly Code: Assign the Assembly Code parameter to align with your specification or construction standards.
  • Project_Stds-Details: Rename the Family and Type Name for custom detail components
  • Project_Stds-Filled Regions: Rename Fill Patterns, assign Color and Line Weight
  • Project_Stds-Generic Annotations: Edit Symbols and other Generic Annotation Type parameters
  • Project_Stds-Line Types: Edit the Line Weight and Line Color values.
  • Project_Stds-Materials: Edit Material Name, Keynote and Comments. Audit for Material Type, Thermal Asset, and Physical Asset assignments.
  • Project_Stds-Profile Types: Rename the Family and Type name for profile elements.
  • Project_Stds-Rename_Types: Rename all of the Family Names and Type Names within a project or within a seed file.
  • Project_Stds-Tags: Edit Tag Type Name to align with company standards
  • Project_Stds-Text_Styles: Manage Text Font, Text Size, Width, etc. - perfect for use in Templates
  • Project_Stds-Title_Blocks: Rename and re-size Title Block families.
  • Project_Stds-View_Types: Edit View Type data including Type, default View Template assignment, as well as the Callout Tag and Elevation Tag assignments.

The pre-defined links in the Project Standards directory of Ideate BIMLink can be used to more efficiently organize and manage a Revit model per your project/office standards. See our latest video tutorial, Managing Your Revit Model Project Standards, for a deeper look at Revit Project Management with Ideate BIMLink.  


About the Author

Katrina Vea Rodriguez, RA, AIA – AEC Application Specialist
Katrina is an AEC application specialist at the Ideate, Inc. San Francisco office. She is a California–licensed architect with a Bachelor of Science degree in Architecture from the University of the Philippines. Katrina has over 18 years of experience in the AEC industry with a focus on both commercial and hospitality projects. She is also a Revit Certified Professional with over 8 years of experience utilizing the software on both small and large scale projects, from programming to project close out.

 

 

 

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December

28

2015

Join the Ideate Software tech experts for eLearning. Make the most of your Revit workflow with free, live, online classes that provide your entire organization with easy access to premium education.

January 13 // Ideate Explorer
Auditing Your Revit Project with Ideate Explorer

You’ve used Ideate Explorer to find the hidden DWGs in your Revit project, but did you know that you can find and cleanup many other culprits that may be lurking? This class will take students through nine additional auditing processes to help keep Revit projects running smoothly. We recommend auditing your Revit project weekly with these methods.

January 20 // Ideate Sticky
Introduction to Ideate Sticky

 Revit schedules are the perfect tool to represent the data behind your Revit elements, but lack of a text editor makes organizing and formatting other essential non-BIM data frustrating and time consuming. See how Ideate Sticky manages the look and feel of your text and other tabular data, and the benefits of formatting inside of Excel or Revit. 

January 27 // Ideate BIMLink
Revit Model Management with Ideate BIMLink
In this class, we will explore several ways in which Ideate BIMLink can help with efficiently managing a Revit model. Some of the examples we will review include: extracting a full multi-category quantity take-off, managing Revit families, managing views and sheets, managing view templates, performing a full project spell check, and renaming or renumbering objects with ease. 

Click here for full class descriptions, times and registration link.

Questions? Contact [email protected]

Get It. Know It. Use It.

Read More