Revision Cloud Reporting with Ideate BIMLink: Dependent View Challenges

This use of Ideate BIMLink highlights one of many of the creative uses of data not possible within native Revit.

Before sending off drawing packages and/or issuance records, many of our customers use Ideate BIMLink to report on Revit’s revision clouds to ensure that all placed clouds are on views that have been placed on a sheet. This is a fantastic use of Ideate BIMLink, highlighting one of many of the creative uses of data that are otherwise not possible within native Revit.

To create a revision cloud report in Ideate BIMLink, we recommend using the sample called “Revision_Clouds-Review” as shown below.

This built-in link definition includes important properties that come from the revision sequence, the sheet (where applicable), the view (where applicable) and the revision clouds themselves. Typically, the comments on the cloud instances are also used as part of this quality control process.

One challenge to this workflow is the usage of dependent views. When dependent views are used in the project, Revit is not able to discern which sheet the cloud “lives on.” This is because all annotative elements, including revision clouds, are hosted by the parent view and not the dependent view. So, when a dependent view is placed on a sheet and the parent view is not on a sheet, Revit will report that the revision cloud belongs to the parent view AND that there is no corresponding sheet name for that revision cloud. While this revision cloud data is true, is not very helpful! You can see this conundrum reflected in Revit’s property palette as shown. The cloud reports the parent view but is clearly intended to be part of the dependent view and the sheet on which that view is placed.

There are two methods to get accurate data about the sheet location of revision clouds. Neither method is perfect and for this reason, each should be considered carefully with your BIM Manager. The first method, which is my preference, is to place the revision cloud on the sheet, at least for dependent views. The second method is to not use dependent views, or to convert them to independent views at some point. This video showcases both the problem and the solution.

Revision cloud management with Ideate BIMLink is an integral part of quality control for sheet issuance. For other ideas about using Ideate BIMLink for quality control, refer to the Quality Control Help topic. To learn more about using Ideate BIMLink to manage revision-related workflows, please refer to the Manage Sheet-Based Revisions Help topic.