Duct Weight Add-in

From the Autodesk App Store...

This tool is designed to weigh the Ducts in the project and extract the weight of each one. This helps the designers to calculate the Duct weight .This enables the users to produce more accurate design.

About This Version
Version 1.0.0, 4/25/2016
Initial Release.

The Duct Weight add-in is brought to you by BIM SOFT and is priced at 3.00 USD.

There's more information available on the Autodesk App Store.

Free EnrColumn Add-in – Reinforce Concrete Columns Automatically

From the Autodesk App Store...

Reinforcement (sic) existing concrete columns automatically.

You can use this plugin to:

• Create concrete column and reinforce automatically by picking the diagonal line of 2D columns.
• Reinforce existing concrete columns.

About This Version
Version 3.1.0, 4/26/2016
Initial Release.

The free EnrColumn add-in is brought to you by ENRVision. There's more information available on the Autodesk App Store.

PowerCad-M Add-in – Modify Electrical System in Revit MEP in a Live 2D Interface (Updated)

From the Autodesk App Store...

PowerCad-M provides a live 2D interface to modify your projects electrical system in  Autodesk® Revit® MEP. Within the 2D electrical schamatic you can move boards or circuits by draging to another board. A powerful electrical estimating tool is also included in PowerCad-M. It allows you to define electrical zones and quickly estimate the buildings total electrical load. Completed electrical designs can be published to a drafting view to be attached to your construction drawings.

PowerCad-M also provides a link to PowerCad-5 for detailed electrical design, by exporting the panelboards, their loads and cable length into PowerCad-5. For more information on PowerCad-5 please follow the link http://www.powercad.com.au/powercad5.php

The PowerCad-M Ribbon Interface

Publish your single line diagram to a drafting view.

Assign Panelboards to Electrical Distribution Zones

What's Hot in Revit Add-ons for December 2015 - March 2016

I was a little surprised by by how long it's been since it put up one of these "monthly" posts. Suffice to say, things have been a little busy in my world lately.

Since it has been so long, I've included nearly a dozen add-in related posts that performed the highest over the past 4 months.

Statistically, the Kubity Exporter was the clear high performer with a fair drop off between it and the second highest charting post. From there, the next ten were grouped together relatively closely. The relative stats are reflected in the form of orange pie charts to the right of the product logos.

Free Kubity Exporter – Revit Models to Virtual Reality with One Click

"This plugin enables the 'Export to Kubity' option in Revit and allows you to seamlessly transfer your models to the new Kubity app. Just click on the Kubity button and your Revit model will open automatically in your browser in just a few seconds."

Read the full story here »

Free Sweets Add-in – Download Free Manufacturer Content and Annotate it with ProductTag

"The Sweets™ app for Revit streamlines product selection, improves project documentation and allows in-project search, selection and annotation (tagging) for products. No more typing in manufacturer product info, no more errors, and no more leaving the project to find detailed product information."

Read the full story here »

FormIt 360 Major Update – Gets Windows Desktop App, and Dynamo!

"The greatest release of FormIt 360! Formit on Windows, FormIt on iPad Pro, FormIt and Dynamo, Monotone style, and a Mirror tool?! YES YOU CAN TOO! These are but a few of the many enhancements waiting for you."



Read the full story here »

Roundup – New and Updated Revit Add-ins on the Autodesk App Store for the Week of April 17, 2016

BIM SOFT has been busy with 3 add-ins debuting this week and 5 others updated.

Add-ins updated to Revit 2017 this week were:

• Advance Steel 2017 Extension
• Autodesk FBX Review
• Bonus Tools
• Ideate Explorer 2017
• IFC 2017
• Lumion Collada Exporter
• Palladio X BIM WindowsLayout
• Plot Manager 2017
• Purge CAD Drawings

NEW

Batch Rename Views
This tool is designed to modify the views names in Autodesk® Revit® project | USD 3.00

Batch Duplicate Views
This tool is designed to duplicate views automatically in Autodesk® Revit® | USD 3.00

Import / Export sheet data from Excel
The tool designed to import / export sheet information from and to Excel file | USD 5.00



UPDATED

Files Upgrader 2017
This application will help you to upgrade all your files to Autodesk® Revit® 2017 | USD 10.00
About This Version: Version 1.8.58.1, 4/23/2016

• Fixed an Issue with Registration
• Try clicking on Alt Key and press the A4H-Files Upgrader and you should get a status about the app.
• Through this status dialog you can stop checking for updates and the logo screen from appearing each time you start Revit.
• Minor bug fixation pointed at Check new version.

Palladio X BIM WindowsLayout
Arrange windows by a scheme | Free
About This Version: Version 1.0.5, 4/22/2016 – Added support for Revit 2017

Purge CAD Drawings
This tool is designed to purge unneeded Autodesk® AutoCAD® files from Autodesk® Revit® model | USD 5.00
About This Version: Version 1.1.0, 4/22/2016 – Add purge all feature which will purge all CAD drawings inside the model.

Unity for Autodesk® Revit®
Unity for Autodesk® Revit® 1.2 is an add-in to connect Autodesk® Revit® and Unity® gaming development platform | Free
About This Version: Version 1.2.0.0, 4/22/2016 – Unity for Autodesk® Revit® 1.2 adds weather effects along with the support of textures.

Lumion Collada Exporter
Using this add-in you can easily export your scene from Autodesk® Revit® to COLLADA format (*.DAE) | Free
About This Version: Version 1.6.1, 4/21/2016

• Unicode support added
• Geometry optimization option added
• Added support for True north
• Decal names bug fixed
• Double sided material improved

Automatic Circuit Breaker
The tool is designed to automatically fill in the circuit breaker rating for each circuit according to circuit load | USD 5.00/M
About This Version: Version 1.1.0, 4/20/2016 – The tool designed to automatically fill in the circuit breaker rating for each circuit according to circuit load.

EvolveFM - SaaS
EvolveFM is a zero footprint, browser based application for managing facilities information, including space, assets, operations, moves and documents. Visit www.cafmresources.com for more info | Trial
About This Version: No information available.

Import / Export Sheet Data from Excel

From the Autodesk App Store...

The tool designed to import / export sheet information from and to Excel file.

The tool will save a lot of time by transferring the sheet list information from Excel and from Autodesk® Revit® to Excel.

About This Version
Version 1.0.0, 4/18/2016
Initial Release.

The Import / Export Sheet Data from Excel add-in is brought to you by BIM SOFT and is priced at 5.00 USD.

There's more information available on the Autodesk App Store.

Batch Duplicate Views Add-in

From the Autodesk App Store...

This tool is designed to duplicate views automatically in Autodesk® Revit® saving the user time and accelerating the views duplication process.

The tool will be able to help automatically to Duplicate, Duplicate as Dependent and Duplicate with Detailing.

About This Version
Version 1.0.0, 4/19/2016
Initial Release

The Batch Duplicate Views add-in is brought to you by BIM SOFT and is priced at 3.00 USD.

There's more information available on the Autodesk App Store.

Batch Rename Views Add-in

From the Autodesk App Store...

This tool is designed to modify the views names in Autodesk® Revit® project.

It is a time consuming process to edit the views one by one.

Using this tool you will be able to rename many views easily.

About This Version
Version 1.0.0, 4/19/2016
Initial Release

The Batch Rename Views add-in is brought to you by BIM SOFT and is priced at 3.00 USD.

There's more information available on the Autodesk App Store.

Free Autodesk IFC for Autodesk Revit 2017 Add-in

From the Autodesk App Store...

The IFC for Autodesk® Revit® 2017 contains up-to-date improvements on the default IFC import and 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 files 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 building SMART website ( http://buildingsmart.org) or the Revit wiki (http://help.autodesk.com/view/RVT/2017/ENU/?guid=GUID-6708CFD6-0AD7-461F-ADE8-6527423EC895).

About This Version
Version 17.1.0.0, 4/19/2016

• New Export Functionality:
• Append "(Type)" to all internal Revit type property sets, to avoid having multiple property sets with the same name assigned to the same IFC entity.
• Changed how the classification code is parsed so that classifications can have brackets and colons in them.
• "Extra Low" level of detail now applies to all faceted BRep geometry, allowing many more files to export without hitting the size limit.
• If a user-defined property set contains the same property name more than once, take the last non-empty value (don't duplicate the property name).
• Rebar elements can generate up to 1024 consistent GUIDs for individual IfcReinforcementBars, up from 256.
• (IFC4) Zones can now have a long name, set by the "ZoneLongName" shared parameter for non-MEP zones, and the "IfcLongName" parameter for MEP zones.
• Export Bug Fixes:
• Don't create orphaned IfcStyledItems.
• Don't export invisible geometry in beams.
• Export DirectShapes of Walls category.
• Export elements with empty custom classification field values.
• Floors exported as IfcSlabs correctly report if they are load bearing or not, using either the "LoadBearing" shared parameter or the Structural built-in parameter, in that order.
• Improve performance in certain cases where we can't create a valid tessellation for a face.
• The "Use active view to generate geometry" option now works correctly.
• (IFC4) Correct the orientation of some IfcAdvancedBRep faces.
• New Import Functionality:
• Import IfcProxy as Generic Models.
• Import Bug Fixes:
• Fix how the IFC GUID is set for certain elements.
• Fix the orientation of some imported objects where part of the local placement needs to be calculated.
• (IFC4) Read in some missing relations caused by "IsDefinedBy" split into 3 inverse attributes.

The free Autodesk IFC for Autodesk Revit 2017 add-in is brought to you by Autodesk. There's more information available on the Autodesk App Store.

Related:

#revit 2017 is out! We'll be relasing out the #ifc open source soon for the first update. The alternate ui is now standard, though!

— Angel Velez (@avelezsosa) April 14, 2016

Free Advance Steel 2017 Extension

From the Autodesk App Store...

With Advance Steel 2017 Extension, Autodesk® Revit® 2017 users can quickly connect their models to Advance Steel 2017 using the export, import and synchronize functionalities to transfer the model BIM data in LOD350 for Structural Steel. This interoperability helps users to more rapidly produce general arrangement drawings, fabrication drawings, BOMs, and NC files for steel structures.

Using synchronization of BIM data between applications users can update the modifications without having to reimport the entire structure. Synchronization also reduces the risk of potential errors by offering the possibility to track changes made on the same model in different applications.

Using Advance Steel 2017 Extension, the BIM data from the Revit model can be imported or exported also in other formats such as SDNF (Version 2.0 and Version 3.0), CIS2 and PSS.

Grids Transfer

Structural Steel Connections Synchronization

Structural Steel Connections Transfer

About This Version
Version 17.1.6359.0, 4/18/2016

• New features and enhancements in 2017 version:
• Transfer and synchronization of structural steel connections: all the connections available in Revit 2017 are seamlessly transferred with Advance Steel 2017
• The synchronization dialog was enhanced to display any appended/deleted/modified connections
• All connections parameters, as well as the approval status are transferred and synchronized
• Transfer and synchronization of grids
• Synchronization dialog uses Revit project units
• Synchronization dialog uses Revit tolerances
• Export based on view settings: increases usability by offering the possibility to export objects using the Revit view settings ( Visibility/Graphics overrides, Isolate Elements and Temporary View Properties )
• UI improvements
• New section mapping lines for US, UK, Australia, Germany and France profiles
• Compatibility with the new Revit families for Germany, France, Poland and India
• The synchronization dialog was enhanced to highlight the selected element in the model

Enhanced UI

Visit “What’s New” online section for more information.

The free Advance Steel 2017 Extension is brought to you by Autodesk. there's more information available on the Autodesk App Store.

Revit Add-ons Lessons Learned – A Reference for Bloggers

Rules of the Road

I often take inspiration from Luke Johnson, he of What Revit Wants, because I like folks who are smarter than me. Sometime ago he published a short piece about rules industry bloggers should follow. It's stuck with me, though I can't find the article now. I do remember a couple of the rules:

• Always give credit
• Offer unique content

The first one's a biggie. The Revit blogosphere is co-dependent in that information is often shared, recycled and repurposed. My experience is that folks don't mind this, as long as you properly source your content.

There was a Revit-related magazine published a while back, "Revit World". Because of my interest in the topic, the first thing I looked for in the table of contents was Revit add-ins. Sure enough, there was a two page spread featuring them. I flipped over to it, and was surprised to see that the content was lifted whole cloth from my site, without any credit whatsoever. I'm sure it was an oversight. The editor apologized and assured me he would print proper credit in the next issue. He even agreed to allow me to author future like articles, which I was keen to do, so all was good. But alas, the second issue was never to be. All was not lost though as I repurposed my idea for the articles as the What's Hot in Revit Add-ons series of posts (and there's another one coming soon, I promise!).

Luke's second rule is a good one too, though, if you think about it, while Revit Add-ons has some original content, I repurpose and repackage much, much more than I create. For this kind of site, I think that's appropriate. So I would add:

• Or offer consolidated and convenient access to information

To these I would add a few more:

• Get permission before quoting sources by name
• Spelling and grammar matter
• Design matters
• Make your blog as presentable as possible
• Outsource aspects of the design if needed
• If you want to monetize your blog:
• First build a substantial reader base
• Schedule your posts so they drop at intervals, rather than "binge posting". This will help to drive up pageviews, which are very important to advertisers
• Develop a brand identity
• In marketing your offerings, be gently persistent
• Relationships matter, foster them above all else*
• Create your own ad widgets**

* ... some prospects take years to become clients, and that's okay. For example, while I was with LMN Architects from 2007-2011, every year at Christmastime Brian P. of the PPI Group would take me out for coffee, or for lunch, only for me to tell him that we at LMN had absolutely no plans to become an Autodesk "shop" (the royal we, I now realize, meaning "me"). When we finally did, I selected The PPI Group for our reseller, in no small part because of the work Brian had put in the preceding 4 years, during which he seemed to genuinely care about LMN and me, even when there was seemingly no sale to be made.

** ... in addition to services like AdSense, because your own will pay better. Drop me a line if you want to know how I make my ad widgets for this site.

Revit Add-ons – The Origin Story (Or, No Gamma Rays Here!)

Today, on the 5th anniversary of the first post on Revit Add-ons, I thought I'd write about the origins of the site. It's a story that I've wanted to tell here for some time, partly because I think it's a little humorous and whimsical, and partly because it might help to inspire others to create their own blogs, but mostly because it's part of my own narrative.

I worked at LMN Architects during a period when one (or more) of the partners very cannily steered the firm into more of a technology-oriented one than it had been, and it was none too shabby to begin with. One very clear product of this effort was and is LMN tech studio, or LMNts, the firm's R&D group.

When the LMNts blog was created, it was reported that it "only took 40 hours" to build the blog and publish it. I thought, "Only? That seems a little much to me..."

Then inspiration struck: I would go home that very evening and start creating my own blog, and then I would have a comparison! Though I had never created one before, you bet I was determined to bring it in under 40 hours!

For the subject, I chose Revit Add-ons. Why? Because I had been researching them while supporting LMN's transition from Bentley Architecture to Revit, and I was surprised when I couldn't find a single resource site online.

In my career, I had written A LOT of custom applications for MicroStation and Bentley Architecture, and I intended to do the same for Revit. Also, add-ins are one way to learn about a new application: they tell you both what's lacking in the foundation product, and what you can do with its API, and these are good things to know.

So I went home that night and used Blogger to create the site. And I was done that very evening. I don't even think I stayed up late. Sure, the site's changed a lot since then as I've tinkered with the branding, the layout, how I convey content, etc., but the framework was done, and the site was published, along with the first half dozen posts.

Supersized Roundup – New and Updated Revit Add-ins on the Autodesk App Store for February 28 - April 16, 2016

There are a few reasons for the length of this article, which covers nearly 100 add-ins. Firstly, I've been consumed the past couple of months with my new job, primarily with getting up to speed on courseware, presenting multiple classes for the first time, and traveling quite a bit too. Also, I've had some illness to contend with. Lastly, there have been a lot of add-ins updated – and released – of late, almost as though a new version of Revit was about to drop...

Speaking of, many add-ins have already been updated to Revit 2017, even though this platform version hasn't been officially released yet.

Something happened on the Autodesk App Store on April 12, 2016 that resulted in hundreds of add-ins showing as having been updated on that date. I have difficulty believing that almost all the Revit-related add-ins on the Autodesk App Store were updated on the same day, and presume this was caused by some kind of software glitch. Because of this, I've not included add-ins that were supposedly updated on April 12 but whose version numbers have not changed. And let me tell you, weeding out the others was not fun. As I was working on this piece, many add-ins that were incorrectly dated were corrected, so the fine folks at the Autodesk App Store seem to be working to correct the problem.

Ah well, that'll teach me to fall behind... again.

NEW

3D Section Box
3D Section Box - an application, which helps you to find elements in 3D models. Create section box around selected elements. Very useful when you have to work with 2D and 3D | Free

ExportMaster for Autodesk® Revit® - CatiaV4®-Win64
ExportMaster for Autodesk® Revit® - CatiaV4® exports your Revit models to Catia V4 format (.model file). You can set translation options while exporting model to CatiaV4 | Trial

ExportMaster for Autodesk® Revit® - CatiaV5®-Win64
ExportMaster for Autodesk® Revit® - CatiaV5® exports your Revit models to Catia V5 format (.CATPart file). You can set translation options while exporting model to CatiaV5 | Trial

ExportMaster for Autodesk® Revit® - IGES® - Win 64
ExportMaster for Autodesk® Revit® - IGES® exports your Revit models to IGES format (.iges file). You can set translation options while exporting model to IGES | Trial

ExportMaster for Autodesk® Revit® - Parasolid®-Win64
ExportMaster for Autodesk® Revit® - Parasolid® exports your Revit models to Parasolid format (.x_t file). You can set translation options while exporting model to Parasolid | Trial

ExportMaster for Autodesk® Revit® - STEP®-Win64
ExportMaster for Autodesk® Revit® - STEP® exports your Revit models to STEP format (.stp file). You can set translation options while exporting model to STEP | Trial

ExportMaster for Autodesk® Revit® - WebGL® - Win64
ExportMaster for Autodesk® Revit® - WebGL® exports your Revit models to WebGL format (.html file). You can set translation options while exporting model to WebGL | Trial

ExportMaster for Revit® - 3DPDF® - Win64
ExportMaster for Autodesk® Revit® - 3DPDF® exports your Revit models to 3DPDF format (.pdf file). You can set translation options while exporting model to 3DPDF | Trial

ExportMaster for Revit® - JT® - Win 64
ExportMaster for Autodesk® Revit® - JT® exports your Revit models to JT format (.jt file). You can set translation options while exporting model to JT | Trial

ImportMaster for Autodesk® Revit® - Autodesk® Inventor®-Win64
ImportMaster for Autodesk® Revit® - Autodesk® Inventor® imports your Inventor model (.ipt file) to Revit. You can set translation options while importing Inventor model | Trial