eStorage for Revit (ADN Plugin of the Month for May 2012)

This add-in stores and manages the contents of external files in Revit extensible storage on selected elements in the BIM model.

The free eStorage for Revit add-in may be downloaded from the ADN Plugin of the Month website.

There's more info about the eStorage add-in on the Autodesk Labs blog and on Luke Johnson's What Revit Wants blog.

External Wall Directions (Free Case App for May 2012) (Updated)

This tool comes in as a request from the Passive House design community and solves the problem of reporting the external wall directionality in either text (N, NW, S, etc.) or by angle. The angle values use project North as 0 winding clockwise back around to 360. The resulting data can then be pushed into a user specified text formatted parameter. The angle option can be written to either a text or number formatted parameter.

Look for a future update that will include external doors and windows hosted within external walls soon (no promises).

This free add-in can be downloaded from the Case Apps website.

Update 5/8/2016: CASE and the CASE Apps website are no more but, courtesy of WeWork, the CASE Apps are now open source. They may be accessed on GitHub.

Trimble Point Creator for CAD and Revit

Trimble made big news last week with their pending acquisition of SketchUp from Google. Here's a little something from Trimble for Revit users...

Trimble® Point Creator for CAD and Revit® (TPC) was designed for the engineer or building construction contractor utilizing Revit or CAD and needing the ability to easily create 2D and 3D field points within their preferred design file. With the continued push of utilizing BIM practices for cost savings, overall efficiency, and project data collaboration, TPC for CAD and Revit is the solution.

Working as a plugin within CAD and Revit, Trimble Point Creator provides fluid creation of field points for such objects as anchor bolt locations, curtain wall attachments, and hanger or sleeve locations via intuitive, auto-insert point creation wizards. These point creation wizards allow for faster implementation and utilization throughout any organization already familiar with CAD or Revit design platforms.

Once points are created within TPC, they can be easily exported to Trimble Construction Layout Solutions like Trimble® Field Link for easy stake-out in the field. This connection allows users to bridge the gap between the design process and work executed in the field while maintaining connections to existing BIM workflows.

More New Revit 2013 SDK Samples

An update to my previous post about the updated Revit 2013 SDK samples...

The Revit 2013 SDK has been updated since its initial release. If you are using the SDK, It is recommended that you immediately switch to the updated version.

The updated SDK includes three new samples:

DisableCommand

This sample is an external application, not a command, so you cannot test it by simply invoking it via RvtSamples. You have to copy its add-in manifest to the add-ins folder.

Once installed, it disables a command by replacing its implementation with a simple popup message. Specifically, it overrides the Design Options command, thus prevent users from accessing it. It performs the following steps:

• A RevitCommandId is found to match the journal name of the command.
• An AddInCommandBinding is created for this command id.
• An alternate implementation is provided for the command binding.

To run it, once installed, simply start up Revit, open or create a project, and choose the Design Options button on the Manage tab. A popup explains that the command is disabled.

B-G-ECircuit

Draw electrical circuits as you want them! Want switch legs, travelers, and dimming control wires? This is your answer!

The program B-G-ECircuit draws electrical circuits as annotation lines, arcs, and families in Revit. The program can also add tics to an existing line or arc. B-G-ECircuit does not connect electrical families like Revit MEP's Wire; the circuits are not part of the model. However it has these advantages:

• Arrows are customizable.
• Additional tics are available for switch legs and travelers.
• Additional tics are available for dimming control wires.
• You control of the direction of the tics.
• You can draw circuits on detail sketches.
• Multiple arrows stay on the arc curve.
• All variants of Revit are supported.
• Tics family symbols are created on-the-fly as needed. 

Drawing a circuit is quick. After choosing the tics configuration, three clicks draws the arcs and places the perfectly-aligned tics. The next circuit you draw is just another three clicks. The program remembers the last tics configuration. Restart Revit, and everything is as you left it. Snaps are conveniently set to Nearest/Endpoints/Intersections while drawing wire and Nearest while placing tics.

This add-in is available for US $80 on the Autodesk Exchange | Apps website.

COINS Auto-Section Box

The COINS Auto-Section Box tool gives you tremendous speed and agility over managing three-dimensional views when analyzing model areas of particular interest. It allows you to quickly create temporary and permanent views to be used for immediate interrogation of the model or for construction document deliverables. This works by allowing you to focus on the model instead of managing views or a view’s properties.

There's a tutorial-like writeup on the COINS  Auto-Section Box tool on David Light's Revit blog.

This free add-in can be downloaded from the Autodesk Exchange | Apps website.

Revit API 101 Samples

Over on his Revit .NET Development blog, Case's Don Rudder has started a "Revit API 101" series of posts on getting started with the Revit API. He's providing samples pertaining to these posts on github.

RevitPythonShell: An IronPython plugin for Revit Architecture

RevitPythonShell exposes the RevitAPI in Autodesk Revit Architecture to IronPython (python on .NET) scripts. This allows the user to explore the API in a much quicker way than writing full-blown C# or VB.NET plugins.

This free add-in can be downloaded from the RevitPythonShell website.

Credit: Nathan Miller's Revit API Notebook.

Rhino and Grasshopper to Revit Via IFC Plugins from Geometry Gym

 SSI (Smart Structural Interpreter) is a suite of plugins for Rhino3d and Grasshopper3d that enable BIM and Structure model generation and exchange with Revit via the IFC file format.

The free work in progress plugins are available for download from the Geometry Gym website.

Further reading: Grasshopper-related add-ins. 

Credit: Luke Johnson's What Revit Wants blog.

IFC Exporter for Revit

The IFC exporter for Revit 2013 contains up-to-date improvements on the default IFC export capabilities of Revit contributed by Autodesk and our Open Source contributors. While this app is not necessary for IFC support, it is recommended that users that depend on the quality of their IFC export download this app and keep it up-to-date, as new enhancements and defect fixes are added.

For more information on IFC, please visit the buildingSMART website or the Revit wiki.

This free add-in can be downloaded from the Autodesk Exchange | Apps website.

The Building Coder Samples for Revit 2013

I've posted previously about the Revit SDK, which includes working code samples. Jeremy Tammik is a member of the AEC workgroup of the Autodesk Developer Network ADN DevTech team, providing developer support and other services. Well, over on Jeremy's The Building Coder blog, he often posts code snippets from his support calls for the benefit of the Revit community at large. Quite brilliant.

Today Jeremy posted that he had ported his "Building Coder Samples" to Revit 2013. That got my attention. He has samples? Yes - not only does he write posts on his blog, he keeps a running set of working samples to capture his work! And he provides it free to the Revit community with the source code! Now THAT'S brilliant!

When loaded, a RvtSamples panel is added to the Add-ins tab. It contains two pulldown buttons, one labeled A-M and the other N-Z.

I couldn't find a  handy listing of the sample commands on Jeremy's blog so I wrote a quick little VB.net app to strip them out of his include file. Here are the rather extensive results (command names followed by descriptions):

COINS Parameter Report

The Parameter Report application gives you the flexibility and power over multiple parameter modifications simultaneously within the modeling workflow.

Harness the power to drastically reduce repetitive object parameter edits and significantly minimize time to investigate modeling issues.

Through the Parameter Report you quickly view, sort, copy, and edit all object parameters, instance or type, for a category or family type. For example, instantly copy all or selected room names and numbers to space names and numbers, or at once change all columns in every conference room to not be room bounded.

As well, when you use Parameter Report in combination with the included Auto-Section Box you can visually reveal where your selection of sorted instances are located. For example, visually identify all walls on level one which are not referenced to a level but are unconnected.

Additionally, use the Export feature to send current parameter query to "csv" format. This one-directional export allows you to then further modify and analyze data needed for further decision making from within spreadsheet applications. While modifications made in the export are strictly for decision support you are able to make permanent project modifications in the Parameter Report in a similar fashion.

The COINS Parameter Report add-in is available for $4.99 on the Autodesk Exchange | Apps website.

Dynamo for Vasari

Dynamo is a project started by Ian Keough to provide a code playground for building interesting parametric functionality on top of that already offered by Vasari, and to do so with a graphical interface that allows you to share your work with others less inclined to write code themselves.

Autodesk has extended the open source effort by adding some additional nodes and packaged it in an installer for Vasari to make it easier to get up and running.

There's more information on this WikiHelp page.

The Revit Add-ons Blog Turns One Year Old!

One year ago today I made my first post on this blog.

I had a couple of different reasons for creating the Revit Add-ons blog. One was that I wanted to see how easy or difficult it would be to create a blog that I would be satisfied with in terms of layout and appearance (it took three hours one evening, though I've made myriad tweaks since then, so it was quite fast and easy). The second was to get my name out there in the (very active) Revit community.

Some background: I'm a longtime user of Bentley Systems software, having started with MicroStation in 1991. I worked for a Bentley reseller, CorDax, from 1997 to 2005, providing training and consulting services to customers up and down the US west coast. You might say that I was a big fish in a small pond (though I never would).

Like many loyal MicroStation users, I despise AutoCAD with a passion, and avoid it as much as possible (don't get me wrong, ya gotta like this Revit thing).  My distaste for AutoCAD has led to me being a rather unknown commodity in the Autodesk community.

C# Add-in Wizard for Revit 2013

Over on Jeremy Tammik's The Building Coder blog, Jeremy has released an updated version of his C# Add-in Wizard for Revit 2013. "It now generates a bit more boiler-plate code up front which can be simply deleted if not needed."

The Add-in Wizard can be downloaded here.

Revit IFC Export Alternate UI

This application provides an alternate user interface for the export of IFC files from Revit. This new user interface offers additional options not provided in the standard Revit user interface, and provides the ability to store setup configurations into the Revit model for reuse.



This free add-in may be downloaded from the Autodesk Exchange | Apps website.

GRAPHISOFT Interoperability Downloads (Updated)

Improved ArchiCAD Connection Add-In for Revit Applications

Free Add-In developed for use by Autodesk Revit programs in the Structure and MEP disciplines. This application is recommended for use with IFC-based model exchange between GRAPHISOFT ArchiCAD and Revit applications. The Add-In for Revit applications variously enables direct import of ArchiCAD IFC models and IFC model export to ArchiCAD, or serves to optimize Revit’s standard IFC import and export functions used to exchange data with ArchiCAD.

The interoperability add-ins may be downloaded from the GRAPHISOFT website.

Update 9/30/2014: See this post for current information about the ArchiCAD interoperability add-in for Revit.

CADstudio - Revit Tools

CAD Studio Revit Tools enhances the BIM application Autodesk Revit with a set of tools and automatic functions that will increase your productivity in Revit.

The .Net application Revit Tools is compatible with Revit "One-Box", Revit Architecture, MEP and Structure 2013.

Description of the individual components in Revit Tools

Structure Label

Creates automatic descriptions of the element structure

CADstudio Structure Label creates automatic labels of the structure of compound walls, roofs or floors, including the material and thickness of each layer in the selected building element. On any change in the structrue, the label will be automatically updated. Supports also combined/attached floors and walls. You can assign this caommand to a keyboard shortcut. 

Autodesk Subscription Product Enhancements for Revit 2013

Autodesk has released the following extensions, updated for Revit 2013 and free for subscription customers:

• Space Naming Utility for Autodesk Revit MEP 2013
• Worksharing Monitor for Autodesk Revit 2013 Extension
• Batch Print for Autodesk Revit 2013 Extension
• Autodesk Revit DB Link 2013 Extension
• Globe Link for Autodesk Revit 2013 Extension
• Autodesk Revit Model Review 2013 Extension

The extensions may be downloaded by Autodesk Subscription customers from the Autodesk Subscription website.

Credit: The Revit Clinic blog.

Autodesk File Upgrader for Revit 2013

File Upgrader will batch upgrade previous versions of Revit files to the Revit 2013 format. The tool is intended to help upgrade family contents, template files as well as project files. Every time users open a Revit file which was saved in a previous version of Revit, a standard dialog is displayed in the Revit user interface stating that the file is being upgraded. During the display of this dialog, Revit tries to upgrade the document to the current version. This slows down the process of opening a file. To save time opening older file versions during each of the subsequent attempts to open the file, users can manually open each of the Revit files and save it to the current version. This can be time consuming if there is a large set of files to upgrade across various folders and sub-folders. The File Upgrader tool saves time and manual labor by automating this process. This plug-in was first published as an ADN Plugin of the Month: http://labs.autodesk.com/utilities/ADN_plugins. The plug-in has been provided with the complete source code needed to build the application, with the intention of encouraging users of Autodesk software to use programming to tailor the products they use to their specific business needs.

Download this free add-in from the Autodesk Exchange | Apps website.

Credit: Luke Johnson's What Revit Wants blog.

AR Software Solutions for Revit: ARUtils, ARRevision, ARHead of the Family

ARUtils

A suite of Revit Apps to help find, create, monitor, and ensure consistency within Revit.

- Add search functionality to your project explorer. Find views, materials, walls using specific materials, and so much more, all with simple wildcard searches. A must for big projects or for new team members.
- Easily create and open a section view parallel to any face, cropped exactly to the item. Pick items from any view and section box crop them to a 3d view. All just in one click.
- Change the case of entire categories of items to Upper, Lower, Proper, add text, replace text. Works on views, sheets, materials and, of course, notes.
- Sequentially renumber rooms to your standards and have all the elevations, doors, windows, renumber / rename at the same time.
- Create wall and material legends.
- Rename views and materials based on their parameters or structure.
- Round trip walls, materials, line & fill, patterns, sheets and rooms, views, and anything else to and from Excel.
- Export PDFs, DWFs, DWGs, using your naming conventions.
- Easily reload and monitor your project families when they get out of sync with files on disk.
- Easily manage imports in your project.

April 2012 Free Case Add-in: Import Images to Drafting Views (Updated)

This tool will launch a dialog that allows you to import multiple images to individual drafting views. The drafting views will be named the same as the image that they originate from. This tool is handy on large renovation projects where photographs of existing conditions are documented in the model. You can tag your floor plans showing where the photograph was taken from (that part is manual of course).

This free add-in is available for download from the Case Apps website.

Update 5/8/2016: CASE and the CASE Apps website are no more but, courtesy of WeWork, the CASE Apps are now open source. They may be accessed on GitHub.

Free Calculate Rentable Area Add-in

The solution presented here calculates rentable area (or call it what you like) based on rentable area factor provided by user.

NOTE: Calculated rentable area value is not dynamically linked with other values so if you change area size or rentable area factor then you will have to rerun this tool to update rentable area value. Please read Readme.txt file contained in the zip file for more information.

The free add-in may be downloaded from Rahul Shah's Revit Sticky Notes blog.

Free DoorSwing Add-in for Schedules

Door From and To Value in Schedule - Free Revit Tool

Currently, Revit does not update Door's From/To room information in a door schedule if you flip door in the plan view. This behavior is intentional. However if you want to update all doors from/to room information automatically then use the following tool that I have developed based on the SDK DoorSwing sample.

The add-in may be downloaded from Rahul Shah's Revit Sticky Notes blog.

SEPS BIM Tool

Overview

SEPS BIM Tool is a Revit add-in that automates the creation, placement, and validation of medical equipment within a BIM model. The add-in helps to reduce costs and improve productivity by automating tasks that currently take many man hours and identifying errors earlier in the design process. The Space and Equipment Planning System (SEPS) is a health facility planning tool jointly developed by the Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs. SEPS information is maintained in a database and distributed to designers as two Excel files (a list of space requirements and a list of equipment requirements) which are unique to each facility. This functional planning approach defines the requirements necessary for the facility to meets its operational goals in terms of spaces and equipment.

Highlights

• Automates the creation of BIM objects using external data
• Automates the placement of BIM objects based on external requirements
• Validates BIM attributes, such as object location, against external requirements

Download this free add-in from the DCStrategies product website.

Credit: Michael Ruehr's RevitworX blog.

LindabRevitTools

LindabRevitTools is an extension for light gauge steel framing running on the Autodesk Revit platform.

The extension contains and complete toolset for light gauge steel framing. When using the software, it is possible to create:

• Wall tags
• Wall section schedules
• Exterior and interior wall elements
• Material lists for light gauge steel profiles
• Material lists for wall layer materials
• Wall sheets

There's more information available on the Lindab website.

Credit: Michael Ruehr's RevitworX blog.

Immersive Rendering with VIMtrek

VIMtrek is a multi-component, revolutionary rendering and collaboration tool that converts Revit® files into fully immersive, freely navigable, 3D environments. Render in minutes what used to take hours and share it with your team - even those not using Revit.

There's more information available on the VIMtrek website.