We are continuing our Ideate Software Blog series entitled Wishlist Granted.  Each blog article features real user requests and our response to those requests. 

The topic of managing numbers in our building information models is a hot topic within the Revit Ideas Forum, with this one dating all the way back to 2014 from Eric Chappell of Autodesk: Door Tags – “Would like door tags to be able to read a room number.”

Automatically matching the Revit door number to the room number with Ideate ReNumber

This idea became a reality for IdeateApps subscribers with the initial launch of Ideate ReNumber in 2016. Not only can you use Ideate ReNumber to automatically renumber doors with the room number, but you can perform this task in linked files where the rooms are not in the same file as the doors. You can see door numbering in action in this video.

And while we could have stopped at just doors, the Ideate Software team is always striving to redefine the problem, so we can solve many workflows with one solution. Zachleepeters provides an excellent example of this broader need within his Revit Ideas post, noting that numbering details on sheets can also be time consuming. We are happy to report that in addition to supporting numbering details on sheets, Ideate ReNumber covers a wide variety of numbering conditions, some of which are detailed within our How To…Advanced Workflows help topic.

We also love this great idea posted by Tomec Piatek in 2018 about the importance of controlling the numbering sequences and included this bonus request “…allow for user defined sequences similar to how revisions are defined now, i.e. numeric, alphanumeric with associated numbering options, including prefix and suffix.” You can learn all about how we addressed this wishlist item in our Customizing Ideate ReNumber help topic.

Example of custom rule creation with Ideate ReNumber

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. We have the capabilities right now.

Wishlist Granted!

Please review our previous Wishlist Granted blog posts.

SHAMELESS PLUG ALERT: I’ll be teaching an online class designed for MEP and Structural Engineers and how Ideate ReNumber can be best utilized. You can register for our classes here.

 

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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.

 

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 us again go to the well of Revit ideas to see what floats up!

The request to create a simple table made of non-specific Revit categories has been a long-standing request with more than 1000 votes on the Revit Ideas Board. All of us understand that Revit is a building information modeling program that basically “forces” a set of rules, layouts and categories upon model elements. However, sometimes we need to include information in our project documentation that does not exactly fit these rigid standards. Examples include a list of manufacturer’s details, general notes, specifications or other information that we have classified as non-BIM data, because it may not have a direct one-to-one relationship with an element within the Revit model.

 
On the Autodesk Revit Ideas Board - Let me make a simple table

The Ideate Software Solution

That’s why we developed Ideate Sticky more than six years ago! We started with the Revit Ideas Board request above and called the product Ideate Table.

Evolving Ideate Sticky to Meet Additional Revit User Requests

Over the years, we have seen other requests on the Revit Ideas Board related to the simple request to format a table in addition to including non-BIM data. These submissions all introduce the idea of keeping information within a source document such as Excel, Word and PDF while maintaining the ability to link and update the information in the Revit model.

• Link Excel Spreadsheet into Revit
• Link PDF into Revit
• Link Word Documents into Revit

We certainly have NOT been sitting on our original table idea for six years with the same functionality! 

We first introduced the ability to link Excel spreadsheets as a simple Revit table schedule, and we have added features within Ideate Sticky to link Excel, Word and PDF documents as images that can be easily updated. Additionally, we support Absolute paths, Relative paths, and Autodesk Cloud locations for data locations.

Main Ideate Sticky Dialog Showing the Many Options Available

Ideate Sticky Compared to Revit 2021

Revit included the ability to link PDF data into the Revit model starting with Revit 2021. However, the process is limited to one PDF page at a time. The elegant Ideate Sticky PDF linking allows any number of pages to be linked in a single step. Additionally, there is no Revit built-in solution to link and update Excel or Word information. In fact, our latest updates to Ideate Sticky even support Revit 2019 – Revit 2022!

Manage Links Dialog in Revit 2021 and Revit 2022

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. We have the capabilities right now.

Wishlist Granted!

Please review our other Wishlist Granted posts.

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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.

We continuously monitor Autodesk forums, Revit user groups, industry blogs, newsletters, and other events to keep our pulse on AECO trends and discussions. So, it is 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 Director of Software Development, Glynnis Patterson.

We are continuing our Ideate Software blog series entitled Wishlist Granted. Each blog article features real user requests and our response to those requests.  

Last month, I highlighted quite a few Revit Ideas Forum requests around better ways to find, filter, and select elements in Revit. Those ideas directly translated into our Ideate Explorer for Revit solution.

I would like to continue to build upon our Ideate Explorer solution and look at another series of important Revit Ideas Forum requests. There are quite a few requests for better and easier warnings management within Revit:

• The Revit warnings dialog needs an overhaul
• Provide better tools for managing and visualizing Revit warnings in a model
• An easy way to find and deal with Revit warnings - isolate the warnings in view
• Errors and warnings palette to remain open when fixing errors
• Stop giving warning for line slightly off axis
• Model Warnings: Autodesk to Assign Severity Levels

These are just some of the four pages of Revit warning requests within the Revit Ideas page! So obviously, this is clearly a sore point for many Revit users.

Revit 2022 finally made the Warning Dialog resizable. But beyond that, there hasn’t been much improvement in this Revit functionality for years. With the default Revit Warnings Dialog, you have to close the dialog to make most changes or fix most errors.

Ideate Explorer Warnings Manager to the rescue! 

Our Warnings Manager addresses all those Revit ideas and more. You can easily continue to work in Revit without having to close the dialog, and you can quickly reference the elements that need to be modified.

The BEST way to see all the GREAT features in action would be to review our Ideate Software Warnings Manager video playlist! We have many short videos on specific warning types, plus a longer, 30-minute webinar on the Language of Revit Warnings that goes into extended details on the settings and features contained within the Ideate Warnings Manager that is part of Ideate Explorer.

This online help topic enabling you to Explore Revit Warnings is also a wonderful resource for review.

Our customers say it best! This quote by Laura Erdely is perfect!

“I was not very good about managing warnings in my models prior to using the Warnings Manager within Ideate Explorer. I was always searching for elusive objects when I tried to clear warnings using Revit alone. It was so time consuming that I rarely did it and let the warnings run wild. The warnings dialogue box helps me to see all the issues in a clear list and easily select the related objects. Now my whole team uses it to keep the file tidy.” 

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!

Please review our other Wishlist Granted posts.

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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.

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 Software Development at Ideate Software.

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 deep dive at another top Revit request!

The Revit project browser has been an essential component of the Revit user interface since day one! However, we all know that it doesn’t show everything we need as Revit users. It can be frustrating that it shows some elements, such as Revit links, but not others such as CAD links. Additionally, the project browser doesn’t work if you are trying to review and select your Revit model elements within the context of the model. It wasn’t designed to be a model browser that allows for easy review and selection of every element and instance!

On the Revit Ideas Forum, there are many requests for a better way to find, filter, and select elements:

• Request to Select all Instances in Selected Views
• Enhanced Selection Options
• Easily Select Multiple Instances
• Have the Ability to Select All Revision Clouds

Ideate Explorer for Revit from Ideate Software was developed and introduced 12 years ago as a true model browser for the Revit interface. Among the many features of Ideate Explorer is the ability to easily search, filter and select elements. Ideate Explorer was designed to allow:

• Finding and deleting incorrect, obsolete and hidden problem items, including DWGs
• Finding, refining and revising elements, including those excluded from the Revit project browser
• Getting a full view of any Revit model and understanding all elements in the model

The image below shows how we can easily select multiple instances of any Revision Clouds within the Revit model, as requested from the Revit Ideas Forum.

 
You can easily review all elements within the Active View or the Entire Project. You have several options to sort your Revit model data, based on your needs:
 

 

 

These Sort by: options directly relate to the Revit Forum Ideas request to select instances by level, as an example. In that same request, it also mentions filtering by Type.

If the Sort by: is set to Category, the Ideate Explorer results will display in this order: Category: Family: Type: Instance and you can always select one, multiple or all.

Any selection within Ideate Explorer can be saved and loaded later for review.

 

Ideate Explorer also allows In-Canvas selection of one or multiple elements, and it will always give you the specific instance counts as well as Family and Type counts, so you know EXACTLY how many elements of each Category, Family or Type. The Revit Selection Filter can’t do that!

This help topic is an excellent introduction to the basic operation of Ideate Explorer. You can slice, review and manage the model in hundreds of different ways, and the Ideate Explorer selection tools make working in Revit a breeze. The following quote by Jason Halaby of WRNS Studio summarizes Ideate Explorer in a meaningful way:

“Without Ideate Explorer, Revit is not a fully functional BIM authoring platform. WRNS relies on Ideate Explorer’s detailed selection filtering, query tools, and warning manager for many of our model management tasks, which include finding In-Place families, auditing worksets,…and generally providing a more transparent window into the model database.”

These are just SOME of the many Revit requests that Ideate Explorer fulfills. Check out our extensive video page on Ideate Explorer and stay tuned for the next installment of Wishlist Granted, where I will continue to show how Ideate Explorer fulfills important Revit requests!

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!

Please review our other Wishlist Granted posts.

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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.

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.

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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.