Dynamo 0.6 Released

From  David Light's buildz blog...

Dynamo 0.6.0 takes a big step into the future with the ability to easily share functionality between users. Dynamo already had the ability to create custom nodes by collapsing collections of functions into single nodes.  This allows users to create their own libraries of repeated or more generic workflows that they do not want to rebuild over and over.  The Package Manager enables users to share these repeatable workflows with others, and do it directly through the application.

So, what kind of things can you find on the Package Manager?  One example, Andreas Dieckmann has added a "Highest Value" custom node, which iterates through a list of numbers and extracts the highest one. It's not a complicated custom node, but it is elegant, and now you don't have to make it yourself

Another from Andreas takes a small Python script and embeds it in a custom node to Sum a list.

With recursion and other higher level computation that is allowed through custom nodes, advanced users can also significantly enhance the "out-of-the-box" functionality.  Stephen Elliot's Serpinski Arrowhead creates a fractal design that might not be buildable by the casual Dynamo user."

Take a look around.  I have some basic form generators (look for "Box" and "Cylinder"), and a couple tools for organizing point collections into Quadrilateral sets ("Quads from Rectangular Grid"), and a replacement for the old Parameters from an Image addin ("Parameters from Image").  More to come, hopefully from you too!

Moving forward, we have the infrastructure in place for users to subscribe to nodes or authors to find updates to Custom Nodes, as well as the ability to see how popular nodes are and to vote up or down a particular functionality.  We also hope to expand the Package Manager to allow for the distribution of more complex libraries and references to build out the functionality of Dynamo.

Free Schedule Sync Add-in for Revit

As the industry continues to embrace BIM in a big way, it is more important than ever to have an effective BIM strategy in place in order to let user export Revit® schedule data to other applications, or import external Excel data to Revit® to refresh Revit® model conveniently to maximize the benefits of  information in BIM.  In order to fulfill this kind of requirements, BIMCoder developed “BIMCoder Suites – Schedule Sync”,its main feature is using Excel file as intermediary to modify kinds of data in Revit® model and this tool effectively improve the inter-operability between Revit® and other applications.

The application provides two main commands below:

1. Schedule Export: The command provides ability to export schedule data to Excel file; the saved Excel file can be Excel 97-2003 Workbook(*.xls) and Excel Workbook(*.xlsx).
2. Excel Import: The command provides the convenient approach to allow user importing external Excel to Revit and then Revit models will be updated automatically with the associated data.

The command provides ability to export schedule data to Excel file; the saved Excel file can be Excel 97-2003 Workbook(*.xls) and Excel Workbook(*.xlsx).

User can preview the schedule data to be exported to Excel.

User can edit the exported Excel file by MS excel easily, the Excel has writable/readonly attributes for columns which can be editable and non-editable to avoid error-prone.

The command provides the convenient approach to allow user importing external Excel to Revit and then Revit models will be updated automatically with the associated data.

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

Revit Add-ons Blog Currator Joins Autodesk Expert Elite Program

I'm pleased to announce that I've accepted Autodesk's kind offer to join the Autodesk Expert Elite program.

"Autodesk’s Expert Elite Program is to recognize individual community members who have made extraordinary contributions with helping customers by sharing knowledge, providing community leadership, and exemplifying an engaging style of collaboration that drives a healthy and valuable Autodesk customer community."

I'm enthused that the community has found the Revit Add-ons blog to be a useful resource, and I look forward to continuing this blog for years to come.

Thank you Autodesk for this kind recognition!

I'd also like to take this opportunity to thank our advertisers for helping to make the Revit Add-ons blog a success.Thank you ideate, Revolution Design, Revizto, Content|Studio, Revit Works, IMAGINiT, YourRibbon, and 3DA Systems!

-Tim