Eppstein Uhen Architects (EUA) is a privately held Wisconsin architectural design firm best known for their design philosophy that involves listening to their clients to ensure the environments they design elevate people’s potential. Founded in 1907, the award-winning architecture firm offers a complete range of services throughout the Unites States. The firm specializes in markets that include Workplace, Education, Healthcare, Living Environments, and Science and Technology. EUA expertise is drawn from the development of thousands of BIM models. To create and manage these models EUA designers rely on Ideate BIMLink, Ideate Explorer, and Ideate Software’s newest offering, Ideate Sticky.
“We’ve been using Autodesk Revit for more than ten years,” says Phyllis Robbins, EUA’s Design Application Manager.
“Personally, I see Ideate Software as the premier developer for add-in solutions. Ideate BIMLink, Ideate Explorer, and now Ideate Sticky add outstanding value to our Revit models, whether we are creating unique models or reviving legacy projects. Ideate Software products are consistent, reliable, elegant and clean.”
Perhaps the greatest challenge to EUA or any designer is managing updates and changes in a timely manner. With Ideate BIMLink, EUA can pull information from a Revit file into Microsoft Excel and push volumes of precise, consequential BIM data from Excel into Revit with speed, ease, and accuracy.
“When we pull projects from our archives,” says Robbins, “we’ll often find a variety of materials and finishes we no longer use as a company standard. Without Ideate BIMLink, updating the materials for things like hollow metal door frames meant changing each family type one by one. Using the Type option in BIMLink, I can change the materials for all doors in fifteen minutes instead of hours or even days.”
EUA is sometimes challenged to use out-of-the- box Revit parameters for customized systems.
“With Ideate BIMLink, we were able to export a customer’s schedule, then copy and paste to flip the values. We cannot drive the out-of-the-box parameters with a formula. Ideate BIMLink saved days of tedious, repetitive, manual renumbering with considerable possibility for error.”
Ideate BIMLink also enables the team to do fieldwork and note compliance issues in Excel or accept external vendor information in Excel, and then easily
import the data into Revit.
Ideate Explorer for Revit helps EUA designers globally query and manage Revit models, including finding tricky orphan keynotes and CAD imports. “Finding the import so we can remove and link the file is often a challenge,” says Robbins. “Ideate Explorer makes that task easy to execute.”
Making global changes to different families is faster, as is swapping content. Even drawing legends can be changed with ease.
According to Robbins, “The native Revit Select All Instances ignores content in legends and precludes making a change. Selecting all instances with Ideate Explorer finds content, dimensions, annotation, and text in a legend so we can ensure consistency.”
Ideate Sticky combines the ease and flexibility of Excel spreadsheet editing with the convenience of a sticky note and can connect non-BIM data from an Excel file into a Revit project.
“We see Ideate Sticky as a team productivity solution,” says Robbins. “We are currently contracted for a large project with multiple buildings that use the same basic construction systems. We created sheet notes in Excel and are using one Excel file to drive the Revit sheet notes in all of the buildings. We can guarantee consistency and cut the time required to create the notes individually in each project by at least 75%.”
EUA uses Ideate Sticky to easily manage short-form specifications that certain customers expect. It allows the designers to add information such as equipment planning that may not normally fall within EUA’s scope of work.
“Equipment planners will develop a list by room that owners want on the architectural drawings. To recreate this schedule in Revit would mean modeling the equipment and creating an element schedule. Ideate Sticky allows us to use the consultant list with minimal editing and a few minutes of effort.”
Ideate Software allows Revit users to have unprecedented control over their data and 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.
A Named User license is assigned to one specific person rather than shared across a network. For a step-by-step walkthrough, see the Graitec Licensing Help Center - Named User.
Yes. Going forward, Ideate Suites replace Ideate Software Bundles.
Both include the same five tools: IdeateApps, Ideate BIMLink, Ideate Explorer, Ideate Sticky and Ideate StyleManager.
A Named User Suite is assigned to one specific person. A single Network Cloud Floating Suite can be shared across your team, one person at a time.
If several people on your team use different Ideate tools at the same time, you may need more than one Suite license. Contact us and we'll review your team's usage and help you choose the right setup.
No. Bundles are no longer available for purchase. New purchases are offered as follows:
Yes. Individual products are available as Named User or Cloud Floating licenses until the new product lineup launches with the next major release, expected mid-2027.
Yes. FlexLM remains available for organizations with security requirements, such as environments without internet access. FlexLM is not available through the online store, so please contact your account manager to purchase.
Yes. FlexLM remains available for organizations with security requirements, such as environments without internet access. FlexLM is not available through the online store, so please contact your account manager to purchase.
Your existing Ideate Software subscription is moving to our new licensing system at no cost. Your license quantities and expiration dates stay the same.
To keep using Ideate, update to the latest release and activate your new license by March 31, 2027. Older Ideate licenses will stop working in Q2 2027.
Using Ideate with Revit 2022 or earlier? Contact ideatesupport@graitec.com to review your options. For account questions, contact sales@ideatesoftware.com.
Conversions are one for one. Each Ideate Software Bundle becomes one Ideate Suite, and each network Bundle becomes one Network Cloud Floating Suite. Your license quantities and expiration dates stay the same.
In the Graitec Advantage Portal. Based on customer requests, starting with the latest Ideate release, license management and license usage information are handled in Graitec Advantage, outside of Revit. We recommend bookmarking the portal.
Watch the Graitec Advantage walkthrough
Yes. There's no limit on the total number of transfers, but each license can be transferred up to two times within a 30-day period.
Each product on your order is issued as its own license once your order is processed. To try a product before buying, contact us to request an evaluation license.
Existing customers: We’re delivering new license codes to existing subscribers on a rolling basis over the next few weeks. If you need access sooner, contact your Graitec sales representative.
New customers: The Graitec AI Assistant isn’t available in the Ideate trial. Contact your Graitec sales representative to request an evaluation license or purchase a 6-month subscription.
