The Week that was in Revit Add-ons for the Week of December 26, 2016

We're not expecting further posts this holiday weekend so we're going to publish this article a little early.

New

From around the Internet, for the first time, we posted about UL's SPOT, an online database of sustainability data that can easily be added to Revit models.

There were no new add-ins introduced on the Autodesk App Store during the week.

Updated

From around the Internet, we posted about recent updates to AGACAD's Smart Details, and belatedly posted about the most recent updates to Revolution Design's Selection Master.

There were no new add-in updates posted on the Autodesk App Store during the week.

Re-Welcoming Our Sponsor Revolution Design

You may have noticed in our recent year in review article that we placed a renewed emphasis on our sponsors/advertisers. As we stated in the post, Revit Add-ons is ad-supported. And, while our ad revenue doesn't make for a great hourly rate, it does help us to feel appreciated, and motivates us to put a lot of effort into the site. If you value the work we do on Revit Add-ons, please, show your support for our sponsors.

And speaking of, we're happy to welcome back as a sponsor Revolution Design!

As part of our emphasizing our sponsors more, we'll post about them as they come on board, as we are here.

Revolution Design first joined us as an advertiser way back in December 2012, which made them one of our very fist advertisers, and we're happy to have their support once again!

Revolution design offers a few different products, as discussed in greater detail in our product roundup. Their flagship product, Keynote Manager, offers a cloud services option to deal with the C4R issues that Revit has with keynote text files.

While their worfFlow tool suite is one of many on the market, it's the only one we know of that allows users to purchase individual tools,or a combination of tools, rather than the entire suite.

Lastly there's Selection Master, a robust selection and filtering tool.

Please, give their add-ins a look. Trial versions are available.

And welcome back Stephen Faust, President of Revolution Design!

Product Roundup – Add-ins from Revolution Design

From the Revolution Design website and the Autodesk App Store:

Revolution Design provides commercial add-ins for Revit as well as custom app development consulting.

Keynote Manager
Keynote Manager is the simple, efficient way to edit Revit's keynote files. Keynote Manager organizes keynotes in an easy to use free format and allows instant editing, drag and drop organization, commenting, file linking, and much more. Keynote Manager is the missing piece to unlock the power of Revit keynotes | Trial | 39.00-49.00 USD
★★★★★ (7 reviews)

Revit workFlow
Revit workFlow is a suite of tools designed to give your Revit productivity a turbo boost. Automatically update view reference links, define an office standard and rename views to the standard with a single click, create finish floor objects and automatically coordinate them with the finish schedule, and more! Get ready to fly... | Trial | 95.00 USD (individual tool custom pricing available)
★★★★★ (4 reviews)

Selection Master
Selection Master is the robust filtering and selection tool for Revit. Select elements by level, category, family, and many others with one click or build complex filter sets based on almost any property of an element. Use selection tools to identify elements on an unwanted level and the rehost tool to move them prior to deleting the level | Trial | 29.00 USD
★★★★☆ (2 reviews)

Revit WorkFlow Version 5.2 Released (Updated)

Originally published on October 15, 2016.

Updated on December 31, 2016, replacing information from the Autodesk App Store with that from the Revolution Design website, which is much more complete.

From the Revolution Design website:

Revit workFlow is a suite of tools designed to give your Revit productivity a turbo boost. Automatically update view reference links, define an office standard and rename views to the standard with a single click, create finish floor objects and automatically coordinate them with the finish schedule, and more! Get ready to fly...

autoLink

One of the Revit's greatest strengths in the realm of documentation is the automatic coordination of view callout tags and the views' actual detail location. Change the detail number on a sheet and all view tags that reference that view update automatically. However, Revit has no similar ability with generic annotations, text, keynotes, or scheduled parameters... until now!

autoLink allows you to reference views from instance parameters, text notes, or keynotes*, simply by typing the view reference. References are updated automatically when the reference changes.

autoLink also allows you to reference views from external linked files; whenever the location of that view changes the link is updated automatically, no coordination necessary!

• Reference views with a simple annotation symbol or inside any text parameter.
• Reference views from standard Revit text notes.
• Update links automatically when a view is moved.
• Fully customizable autoLink symbols and parameters.

*Linking inside of keynotes requires both autoLink and Keynote Manager

Keynote Manager Version 14.0 Released (Updated)

Originally published on October 15, 2016.

Updated on December 31, 2016, replacing information from the Autodesk App Store with that from the Revolution Design website, which is much more complete.

From the Revolution Design website:

Keynote Manager is the simple, efficient way to edit Revit's keynote files. Keynote Manager organizes keynotes in an easy to use free format and allows instant editing, drag and drop organization, commenting, file linking, and much more. Keynote Manager is the missing piece to unlock the power of Revit keynotes.



Simple Keynote File Editing

Revit's keynote system is a powerful way to integrate data into Revit families, reduce errors, and streamline documentation. The text files, though, are cumbersome and difficult to work with.

Keynote Manager was created to provide a simple, efficient interface to edit keynote files.

• Edit keynotes in a tree view instead of a long list in Notepad or Excel
• Automatically sequence keynote numbers
• Add & edit new notes without worrying about tabs or formatting
• Locate keynotes quickly with powerful, savable, search tabs.
• Multiple users can work on a single file concurrently
• Reorganize notes by simple drag and drop
• Select multiple keynotes and renumber in sequence

Selection Master Version 4.3 Released

From the Revolution Design website:

Selection Master is the robust filtering and selection tool for Revit. Select elements by level, category, family, and many others with one click or build complex filter sets based on almost any property of an element. Use selection tools to identify elements on an unwanted level and the rehost tool to move them prior to deleting the level.

Robust Filter Capabilities

Selection Master supports 6 types of filters:

• Parameter
• Level
• Level filters recognize level parameter, work plane, reference level, and schedule level so all offset beams, etc. are included.
• Level filters can be set to recognize multi-level elements like walls and columns by their top constraint, base constraint, or either constraint.
• Family
• Category
• Phase Created
• Phase Demolished

The Selection Master palette can be used to create filters based on any of these properties or combine as many filters as desired to refine the set. Find all doors over 7'-0" high on the second floor, or simply find every element related to the second floor level.

Product Roundup – Add-ins from Emanuel Favreau (Update #2)

From the Autodesk App Store:

• BIM addin development
• High quality rendering for architecture and graphic design
• Animation
• Virtual reality
• Complex geometry
• Maxscript tool development

From the Autodesk App Store

Boomerang
Use Boomerang to add sheets and rooms, to convert Autodesk® Navisworks® clash tests into families and to create topography from an Excel sheet.

Crowd
Crowd is a tool for Autodesk® Revit® that allows the user to place multiple elements randomly in an area defined by an adjustable box | USD 6.00

Flipbook
Flipbook for Revit is a simple and dynamic app that can generate images for animation, using keyframes with object and camera parameters | Free

RebuildWalls
RebuildWalls allows the user to convert Autodesk® AutoCAD® 2D lines into Autodesk® Revit® Walls and Lines | USD 16.00, Free 30-Day Trial

Rewrite
Rename multiple Views, Sheets, Levels, Grids, Reference Planes, Family Types, Families, Family Parameter Values, Rooms, Areas and Materials. Duplicate Multiple Views, Sheets and Family Types | USD 9.00

Smart Details Versions 2017.1, 2016.2 and 2015.2 Released

From the AGACAD website:

Smart Details - New Efficiency Level Accomplished!

Over the past few months, our Smart Details solution has been updated with several different features, so I want to list the updates and give a brief overview of them all in one place.

Performance improvements.

The speed of Smart Details has been dramatically increased, making all operations much, much faster than previous versions! Speed is always a good thing!

Now compatible with additional categories.

Columns, Foundations, Ducts, Cable Trays, Pipes. You can now distribute details on the faces of these elements too.

More details can be inserted on one face.

We have doubled the number of slots to create rules for details now. This flexibility gives much more freedom in creating solid body and void families.

SPOT – An Online Database for Easily Adding Acurate Sustainability Product Data to Revit Models (Updated)

Updated on January, 4 2017 to add the following:

Editor's Note: The Revit add-in mentioned in the article is currently under development and in private Beta testing. Launch is expected in April.

From the HingePoint blog:

Underwriters Laboratories (UL) wants to get credible sustainability data into Revit models more easily.

To do so, UL recently launched a web-based product, sustainability-information tool that will help users select credible green products and place that information into their Building Information Modeling (BIM) workflow.

“Most people know UL for our fire, mechanical, safety testing; we’ve been doing that for 120 years,” said UL public affairs director Mark Rossolo at Autodesk University. “What most people also don’t know though that we are the largest certifier of sustainable products for use in the buildings.”

The web app–called SPOT–features more than 40,000 products. SPOT’s database will help architects and designers identify products by sustainable attributes, MasterFormat product codes and building rating system credits such as LEED v4 and the WELL Building Standard™.

Product Roundup – Add-ins from AVATAR BIM (Updated)

Updated on January 18, 2017 to add LinkReloader.

From the Autodesk App Store:

Avatar BIM is a Consulting Firm specialized in BIM Technologies. Please visit www.avatarbim.com for more information.

LinkReloader
Quickly reload all links in a document without even having to open it! Link Reloader: Batch "reload from" multiple files at once! | Trial | €0,99
☆☆☆☆☆ (0 reviews)

The Week that was in Revit Add-ons for the Week of December 19, 2016

New

New add-ins released on the Autodesk App Store last week included Keyshot 6 Pro, for real-time rendering, the free Arrange Views, for predictably arranging views on sheets, Megara Shared Parameters Remover, for batch removing shared parameters from families, and the free A400 License Monitor, for analyzing network usage of Autodesk licenses.

Add-ins from around the Internet that we posted about for the first time last week included the EdgeWise family of products for automatically converting point clouds into Revit objects, including EdgeWise Building, EdgeWise MEP, EdgeWise Structure, EdgeWise BIM Suite, and the EdgeWise Revit Plug-in.

Updated

On the Autodesk App Store, Keyshot 6 HD received a relatively significant update, as did Graitec BIM Connect. For additional App Store updates not mentioned here, be sure to check out our latest roundup of new and updated add-ins on the Autodesk App Store.

Updates from around the Internet included the free Model Checker for Revit, as well as DigiPara's Elevatorarchitect.

Roundup – For the Week of December 19, 2016, New and Updated Revit Add-ins on the Autodesk App Store

The week of December 19 was a fairly busy one with regards to Revit add-ins on the Autodesk App Store as several new add-ins were introduced, and several more were updated.

The new free A400 License Monitor is for analyzing Autodesk network license usage. The Megara Shared Parameters Remover is for batch batch removing shared parameters from families. The free Arrange Views add-in is for arranging multiple views on sheets.

Keyshot 6 HD received a relatively significant update, and a new Pro version was released. Graitec BIM Connect also received a relatively significant update.

New

A400 Licenses Monitor
This application allows to you to check your current Autodesk® network licenses as well as licenses utilization over time. It provides a detailed analysis of licenses utilization including charts | Free

About This Version: Version 1.0.0.1, 12/22/2016 – First release.
☆☆☆☆☆ (0 reviews)

KeyShot 6 Pro
KeyShot is advanced 3D rendering and animation software simplifying the entire media creation process with an intuitive, streamlined user interface and a revolutionary animation workflow | USD 1,995.00

About This Version: Version 6.3.16, 12/20/2016 – For release notes, see this post
☆☆☆☆☆ (0 reviews)

Buy Greenlee Bendworks and Get a Free 3D Mouse

Greenlee is offering one of the more interesting promotions we've seen this holiday season: buy a yearly license of their Bendworks product and receive a free 3D Mouse and an ergonomic mouse pad.

The 3D Mouse appears to be a 3D Connexion SpaceNavigator, which is a 109.00 USD value.

Note that the promotional offer image above is a little misleading, as you're required to do more than download the software, e.g. from the terms and conditions:

1. Offer for mouse only valid with purchase of Bendworks Software yearly license
2. One promotional order per customer if quantity 5 are ordered

Regarding the second stipulation above, it's unclear to us if this means you can only receive one 3D mouse for every five product orders, or if you have to purchase five Bendworks Software yearly licenses to receive one free 3D mouse. If you're interested in this offer, we suggest that you contact Greenlee for clarification.

Additional terms and conditions apply. See the promotion page for full details.

This offer is valid through December 31, 2016.

Celebrate Hanukkah with the DynoMenorah (Updated)

Courtesy of Ian Siegal of KPF, and powered by Dynamo web workspaces, celebrate Hanukkah 2016 the parametric way with the DynoMenorah!

@RevitAddons @AutodeskRevit Check on it after sunset (4:30pm EST) to see the candles lit 😉

— Ian Siegel (@ian_siegel) December 25, 2016

And, sure enough, here it is lit (after dark):

Related

Dynamo Christmas Tree

Save 35% Off ArchSmarter Mini-Course Bundle Until January 3, 2017

Michael Kilkelly of ArchSmarter is offering 35% off his mini-course bundle now through January 2, 2017. The price is $225, down from $343.

Courses in this bundle are:

• Code vs Node
• Automate the Boring Stuff With Revit Macros
• Advanced Revit Scheduling
• Excel for Architects
• Managing Building Data with Dynamo
• Visualizing BIM Data with Revit and Power BI

There's more information available here

Free A400 Licenses Monitor

From the Autodesk App Store:

This application consists of a client that provides a graphical interface to consult network license usage and a server that monitors the network license server log and records license utilization.

This app allows you to:

• Check the current licenses utilization including information of the user, workstation and start time;
• Get a more detailed analysis of license utilization over time for each owned license including license utilization percentage, usage by user or group, license denials, etc.

Both server and client are very lightweight. Server can be run as windows service (in background). Client has a very simple intuitive interface.

20% Off ProtoTech Solutions' Line of Products, Including Revit 3D PDF, OBJ, and WebGL Exporters, Until January 8, 2017

ProtoTech Solutions is offering 20% off their line of products, including their 3D PDF Exporter for Revit, OBJ Exporter for Revit, and WebGL Exporter for Revit. Offer valid through January 8, 2017.

http://www.prototechsolutions.com/Live/plugins.html

EdgeWise Revit Plug-in

From the EdgeWise3D website:

Our team of scientists worked closely with Autodesk to ensure full integration with Revit 2016, 2015 and 2014. With EdgeWise Building and EdgeWise MEP, walls, windows, doors, pipes, conduit and round ducting are extracted automatically by EdgeWise advanced feature extraction algorithms and exported directly to Revit as the correct family objects.

The Revit Plug-in comes with a number of additional tools not found in your standard Revit installation, including the ability to fit an as-built wall or bring a point cloud into the family editor. Your EdgeWise Building and/or EdgeWise MEP licenses come with one copy of the Revit Plug-in, however, many customers purchase more plug-in licenses once they see the added value of its features and tools.

Check out the intro video below or contact us for pricing.

---

The EdgeWise Revit Plug-in is brought to you by ClearEdge3D. Pricing was not known at press time.

This add-in is compatible with Revit 2016, 2015, and 2014.

There's more information available on the ClearEdge3D website.

Related

EdgeWise Building
Edgewise MEP
EdgeWise Structure
EdgeWise BIM Suite

EdgeWise BIM Suite

From the EdgeWise3D website:

Purchase EdgeWise MEP, EdgeWise Structure and EdgeWise Building and Save!

The EdgeWise BIM Suite™ combines EdgeWise MEP, EdgeWise Structure and EdgeWise Building for a powerful automated BIM solution, one that will take you from field-to-finished BIM faster than any other software.  Purchase the EdgeWise BIM Suite and receive the speed and accuracy of structure extraction, cylinder extraction and planar extraction on a single platform for one lower price.

Purchase EdgeWise Building together with
EdgeWise MEP for a substantial discount.

Cut Modeling Time by Up to 70%

The EdgeWise BIM Suite arms you with three powerful software tools to create the most efficient and fastest BIM workflow. Users report up to a 70% savings over traditional modeling workflows.
 
"With the savings in labor time, it’s easy to justify the cost of the software." –C.J. Sondgerath, BIM Specialist, LP Ciminelli, Inc.

EdgeWise Structure

From the EdgeWise3D website:

Reduce Modeling Time by Up to 80% with the Automated Structural Modeling Tools in  EdgeWise 5.0

The Speed and Accuracy of EdgeWise Automated Feature Extraction – Now for Structural Steel & Concrete.

Modeling steel from scan data can be a pain. Current software is slow and often inaccurate, leading to missed deadlines and cost overruns. The new structural modeling tools in EdgeWise 5.0 change all that by applying our advanced extraction algorithms and automated modeling technologies to accurately extract steel, concrete and wood structure faster than ever before.

Extract precise, correctly specified structural steel, concrete and wood members
in just a few clicks – without clipping or cleaning your point cloud beforehand.

“EdgeWise Structure saved us 50% out of the box. We expect even more savings as we fully integrate it into our workflow. The QC and editing tools are robust and the spec catalog is extensive. It makes modeling structure so much easier.” – Keith McKinney, CEO, Piping Layout Consultants, Inc.

Edgewise MEP

From the EdgeWise3D website:

Reduce MEP Modeling Time By 70%

EdgeWise Delivers Dramatically Faster MEP Modeling Workflows and Full Revit Integration

For the first time, users can import 3D MEP models directly into Revit as Revit Family objects. Through this deep integration, EdgeWise  users can practically eliminate the need for manual MEP modeling of pipes, conduit and round ducting in Revit. Click here to watch videos of EdgeWise MEP in action.

The EdgeWise model comes into Revit as proper pipe,
conduit or duct families.

EdgeWise  leverages our powerful feature extraction and automated modeling technologies to automatically extract pipe, conduit and round ducting from laser scan point clouds. The Easy-Connect tool automatically joins MEP elements across occluded regions where no scan data exists, saving you countless hours of manual modeling.

Save Time & Money While Improving Competitive Advantage

Users report an average time-savings of about 70% over other pipe modeling software tools – which can add up to thousands of dollars on larger projects! With savings like this, you can bid more competitively, win more projects and grow your firm’s revenue. EdgeWise  users usually see a 100% return on investment in just one or two projects.

“I honestly don’t think we could have completed the project on time and on budget without EdgeWise.” –Ben Bennett, CTO, Digital Surveys

EdgeWise Building

From the ClearEdge3D website:

Fast & Accurate As-Built BIMs with Full Revit Integration

EdgeWise uses groundbreaking algorithms that can automatically identify and extract walls, windows, doors and other features from point clouds and export them as Revit family objects. You’ll save countless hours over creating as-built BIMs natively in Revit. Click here to watch videos of the EdgeWise building tools in action.

Walls, windows, doors and other planar features are automatically extracted
and exported directly to Revit as the correct family objects.

Full Revit Integration Dramatically Speeds Your Scan-to-Revit Workflow

The ClearEdge3D scientists worked closely with the Autodesk team to ensure full integration with Revit 2012, 2013, 2014 2015 and now 2016. With EdgeWise, walls, windows, doors and other planar features are extracted automatically by our advanced feature extraction algorithms and exported directly to Revit as the correct family objects.

"Revolutionizing Revit modeling from scan data like nothing else on the market!" –Larry Kleinkemper, President, Lanmar Services

Megara Shared Parameters Remover

From the Autodesk App Store:

This App adds a long waited feature, Batch Remove Shared Parameters, to Autodesk® Revit® families RFA files.

Features:

1. Recursive Families Search Engine: It automatically locates and processes all your Revit families under your root folder and its subfolders. 
2. Dynamic Parameters List File: No need for special files, just a notepad with desired parameters names line by line
3. App supports Removing Type or Instance parameter
4. You can choose Target Parameters group
5. Program shows progress bar and current family being processed. You have the right to keep an eye on your automatic bot after all.
6. Automatically upgrades old families from previous Revit versions
7. Fast families processing and parameters removal. It works in the background. It skips time needed for presentation and rendering.
8. Automatic Report Generation, creates log file on your desktop.

Notes:

• This bot loves showing up, it notes down the time it started and when it finished its work.
• It loves to work in peace so you'll have to leave your Revit program till it finishes its work.