January

31

2022

BIM Managers Faced New Challenges During the Pandemic

As a BIM manager, you wear many hats. In addition to supervising and supporting your technical team, your responsibilities include:

  • Developing BIM standards, protocols and templates
  • Managing the collaboration between your team, clients, contractors and others
  • Overseeing the production of project information models from design through handover

While the role of BIM manager has always involved a lot of moving parts, the pandemic-related challenges of disparate workforces, increased absences and talent shortages have put new and uncharted job duties on your plate.

Calmer Days Provide Time for Strategic Planning

Fortunately, companies around the world that have dealt with the urgency of the past two years’ challenges are starting to settle back into a routine. Now, with the raging fire down to embers, it is time to step back and make sure your team has the tools needed to enter this new phase seamlessly and position your company to succeed through increased employee and customer satisfaction.

One way to tackle employee and customer satisfaction at the same time is by investing in technology that allows employees to focus on more interesting activities while improving their designs and increasing the speed in which their designs are delivered to customers. 

Solutions for Revit Users

If your company uses Autodesk Revit software, we recommend that you spend a few minutes reading this post to learn how you, your team, your company and your customers can benefit from the leading Revit software plugins developed by Ideate Software.  
 
“We’ve been working with Ideate Software for years. Each one of their products tackles specific challenges we face with Revit software. They help us save time with a variety of model tasks, freeing up time for our designers to do what they do best, innovate and design. Ideate Software products also have a critical function in our model quality control process, giving us more control of our data in a way that Revit out-of-the-box cannot.”
~Jason Halaby, Senior Associate, Architect and BIM Manager, WRNS Studio
 

Revit Plugins for BIM Managers


In it for the Long Haul

No doubt you are aware of Autodesk Revit plugins that are inexpensive or even free. We suggest that you ask yourself why they are free. Wouldn’t a company charge for a product it considered valuable? At Ideate Software, we invest significantly in understanding challenges faced by Revit users and developing Revit plugin solutions that stand up to the rigors of a complex dataset. 

For more than 12 years, we have successfully served the needs of the Revit community:  

  • We stay connected to the architecture, engineering, construction and building-owner industries by attending and hosting events.
  • We learn about Revit challenges through Autodesk forums, surveys, roundtable discussions and one-on-one conversations, and we develop tools that address those challenges.
  • We leverage our beta testing program to ensure our tools achieve the desired results before we release them to the public. 

Because of our rigorous development and testing process, we know that all our Revit software plugins address specific requests from Revit users, streamlining workflows, reducing time spent on data management, and improving the quality of their Revit models.

What are the Five Must-Have Revit Plugin Solutions from Ideate Software?

Below are summaries of our products that BIM managers with teams ranging from small and local to large and global count on to help them achieve their goals. For details, visit our website

  1. Revit Plugins for BIM ManagersMove data from Revit to Excel for fast and easy editing and then move updated data back to Revit to instantly update your model – Ideate BIMLink 

    “[Ideate BIMLink] is an essential tool that we rely on regularly.”
    ~Peter Michealsen, Modulus Consulting

    Here are a few specific tasks you can perform with our Ideate BIMLink Revit software plugin:
     
  2. Find and delete hidden problem items including DWGs, find and refine elements including those excluded from the project browser, manage Revit warnings, and more – Ideate Explorer

    “[Ideate Explorer] puts the filter tool in Revit to absolute shame -it is simply THE tool for finding elements in Revit models.”
    ~Gavin Crump, BIM Guru

    See a few ways Ideate Explorer will save you time and increase the accuracy of your Revit models:
     
  3. Elegantly connect non-BIM data from an Excel, Word or PDF document into Revit projects, enhancing cross-team workflows – Ideate Sticky

    “Ideate Sticky reduces the time we spend getting Excel schedules into Revit by a minimum of nine minutes per project per reload. It paid for itself in just one month.”
    ~Aimee Molleken, GLHN Architects & Engineers

    Learn more about Ideate Sticky:
     
  4. Analyze, delete or merge non-standard Revit styles that enter models along with imported content – Ideate StyleManager

    “After cleaning up a library of 1000+ families, I can safely say Ideate StyleManager is a must have. It saved me many days of work, if not weeks! I’m not sure how I would have kept my sanity without it.”
    ~Ann-Helen Wirtz, SERA Architects

    Check out some of the valuable ways our Ideate StyleManager Revit software plugin is used to keep Revit models clean:
     
  5. Streamline common tasks such as renumbering elements, determining which elements will be deleted along with a selected item, copying sheets with views, and more – IdeateApps 

    “All [IdeateApps] apps are big time savers, but from a BIM management standpoint, [Ideate XRay] is my favorite time saver.”
    ~Anne Gustavson, NBBJ

    The IdeateApps collection is made up of nine different tools. Here are just three of the many tasks it can automate for you:
     

Ready to Learn More about our Autodesk Revit Plugin Solutions?

Revit Plugins for BIM ManagersYou’ve taken the first step and read this blog post. Now it’s time to dig in a little deeper. You can contact us for a one-on-one conversation; check out our blog posts that feature product information, workflow demonstrations, frequent questions addressed by our Support team and more; attend an upcoming webinar or review a recording of a past event, or watch short how-to videos that provide demonstrations on how to perform specific tasks using our Revit software plugin tools. 

As you peruse the information, we are certain you will come to understand the value that these tools can bring to your team starting on the first day you launch your subscription. 

Subscribe Today!

Whether you have a small or large team and are ready to dip your toe in the water or take the plunge, we have a trial offer or subscription option for you.

  • Trial – Try any or all our products for 30 days free of charge
  • Get-to-know-us Bundle – Subscribe to all our products for six months
  • Individual Products – Address immediate needs with 1, 5, or 10 licenses for the product(s) you need today
  • Bundles – Set your team up for long-term success with a subscription to all our products

Stay Connected

Check us out on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and YouTube.

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

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January

24

2022

The Ideate Software support team has posted information pertaining to a known issue that is under review right now. Ideate Sticky customers may be impacted by this issue. Please read below for important details.

An Ideate Sticky updated version that fixes the issue is now available, please download it here.

Last updated: 4:38am PST 26 Jan 2022

Issue: Images created with the latest release of Ideate Sticky are displaying an evaluation message related to a 3rd party component in the upper-left-hand corner of the image. 

Ideate Sticky
 

This issue does not impact Sticky-Schedule elements. Only images are affected.

Ideate Sticky
 
Any Sticky-Image created or updated after 22 Jan 2022 using Ideate Sticky build 44628 (May 2021 release) will experience the issue. You can check your build number from the Control panel as shown. 

Image Stickies created or updated by a release with a build number lower than 44628 will work as expected.

Ideate Sticky

An Ideate Sticky updated version that fixes the issue is now available, please download it here.

We apologize for this bug. If you have any additional questions, please contact [email protected].
 

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November

3

2021

San Francisco, CA, November 3, 2021 – Ideate Software, an Autodesk® AEC Industry Partner and Autodesk® Authorized Developer, is pleased to present its latest customer spotlight, which highlights how Engineering PLUS benefits from Ideate Software add-ins for Revit. Engineering PLUS was established in 1996 to fill a need for extremely detailed drawings for contractors. Today, they deliver smart, cost-effective infrastructure designs to large and small companies around the world. 

Miguel Granja, BIM Manager, Engineering PLUS, said, “When I interviewed with Engineering PLUS and discussed their reputation for delivering outstanding innovative technology design solutions, I suggested that they look into Ideate Software, whether they hired me or not. It’s a year later, and I’m here and we use Ideate Software tools on a daily basis.”

Tremendous Value Within Month One

Within Miguel’s first month at Engineering PLUS, the company used Ideate BIMLink on a transportation project to change a few instance parameters on a large number of families. “With Ideate BIMLink, the time spent editing reduced from hours to less than 10 minutes, and we were confident that all the data on the changed parameters was correct. Our staff was happy because they delivered high-quality work quickly without having to perform tedious tasks.”

Daily Tasks Simplified  

When talking about how Ideate Software tools for Revit have saved them time while enhancing their designs, the team at Engineering PLUS shared several ways they use the plugins:

  • They use Ideate BIMLink to quickly manage sheet revisions, create and update sheet information, extract data from link models and populate schedules.
  • Ideate Sticky is their Revit add-in tool of choice for importing schedules and charts from Excel, importing specification documents from Word and creating schedules from linked models to use as references.
  • The two tools from the IdeateApps collection they use most often are Ideate SheetManager for initial model set up and Ideate ReNumber for renumbering and reorganizing detail sheets or sheets with multiple views.

Read more about Ideate Software’s collaboration with Engineering PLUS

To learn more about how Ideate Software add-on products help Revit users save time, increase model accuracy, improve deliverables and elevate design, visit the website. You can give them a try by downloading trial versions or purchasing the US$500 bundle for access to Ideate Explorer, Ideate BIMLink, Ideate Sticky, Ideate StyleManager, and IdeateApps 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. Ideate BIMLink, Ideate Explorer, Ideate Sticky, IdeateApps and Ideate StyleManager were all developed to solve persistent problems in architecture, engineering, construction, and owner (AECO) workflows. Ideate Software solutions enable Revit users to save time, increase accuracy, improve project deliverables and elevate design.

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 and Microsoft Word are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and other countries. All other brand names, product names or trademarks belong to their respective holders.

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August

4

2021

All Ideate Software product users can get the improvements made in May 2021 by downloading the latest versions. You can check for updates within the products, go to www.ideatesoftware.com/download or review What’s New in the online Help.    

Below are highlights of the updates. Watch the recording of our recent 30-minute webinar for more details and to see demonstrations.

General

  • All products aligned with Revit 2022 and updated for Revit 2019-2022
  • All products delivered in Chinese (Simplified), English, French, German, Japanese and Spanish
  • Most virtualized environments now supported by our new Cloud Networking
  • Support for legacy BIM 360 pathing and current Autodesk Construction Cloud pathing

Ideate BIMLink 

  • Alternate data key allows for the transfer of data from one project or phase to another
  • Edit nested family type parameters

Ideate Sticky 

  • Make overlapping images transparent for better viewing 
  • Open the source file directly from the Ideate Sticky dialog

Ideate Explorer 

  • Removed sketch reference planes
  • Integrated selection box and isolate elements
  • Added sheet count to views

IdeateApps

  • View title placement control on certain tools – Revit 2022 only
  • Copy plan views to other plan families
  • Alternate view placement for plan-based views
  • New checks and improvements to visibility results in Ideate XRay

 
This presentation was made at three different times for the convenience of our customers in various regions around the world. Other than the Q&A, the content was the same in each presentation.  

If you don’t yet have all our products, now is a good time to try them out. We offer free trials, and our current promotion is a six-month subscription to Ideate Explorer, Ideate BIMLink, Ideate Sticky, Ideate StyleManager, and IdeateApps for just US$500. 


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.

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July

21

2021

In an April 2021 blog post, we notified our customers of the important impact of the Autodesk rebranding of BIM 360 to ACC (Autodesk Construction Cloud).

We are happy to report that our May 2021 release of Ideate Sticky for Revit handles this name change seamlessly. This means that your team can choose to update to the newest version of the Autodesk Desktop Connector on your timeline without causing any file path problems with Ideate Sticky files, as long as you use this latest version.

You can help us advocate for improved programmatic access to the Desktop Connector by voting for this Revit Ideas forum post: Autodesk Construction Docs/ aka BIM 360 Local File API


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.

 

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