We Never Said Goodbye

You may have noticed that we've not posted on Revit Add-ons since early 2020. That's because early in 2020 I accepted a position with Autodesk competitor Bentley Systems as a consultant in their Civil Infrastructure group. Clearly, continuing Revit Add-ons would represent a conflict of interest. Therefore, for now at least, the site is shuttered from new content. However, the site will remain up and the ads will continue in perpetuity. 

I cannot adequately express my gratefulness to our advertisers and readers. This blog and the revenue it generated helped me through some lean years as I struggled with health issues. Fortunately, things are somewhat better nowadays.

Special thanks to those who helped along the way: Juan Osborne for our kick-ass logo and swoosh header graphic, graphic artist Dragan Vukicevic, who was responsible for much of the look of the site, and content contributor Aleksandra Matic, who did a lot of the heavy lifting down the stretch. Each was a pleasure to work with.

I won't say goodbye because who knows what changes tomorrow may bring. For now I'll simply say, see you down the road apiece.

Tim

Roundup – For Dec 30, 2019 - Jan 12, 2020, New and Updated Revit-Related Add-Ins on the Autodesk App Store

Revit

New

Auto Join Geometry
This application allows Autodesk® Revit® users to join geometry between categories or element groups automatically | Trial
★★★★★ (1 review)
About This Version: Version 1.0.0, 1/8/2020 – First version.

Distribute Lighting & Data Devices from CAD
Distribute Lighting Fixtures and Communication/Data devices from a Linked/Imported Autodesk® AutoCAD® drawing (Autodesk® Revit® 2019 & 2020) | USD 10.00/M
☆☆☆☆☆ (0 reviews)
About This Version: Version 1.0.0, 1/9/2020 – Initial release.

Updated

Pipe Pack 2019
This tool will bring the Speed, Accuracy and Quality together while modelling and Coordinating Pipes | USD 50.00/M
☆☆☆☆☆ (0 reviews)
About This Version: Version 1.0.0, 1/10/2020 – Initial release

Tally® v2019.12.20.01

From the Autodesk App Store:

About This Version

Version 2019.12.20.01, 1/6/2020

• Compatible with Autodesk® Revit® 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020
• EC3 export capabilities
• Additional support for linked Revit models
• Improved system family support

Description

Tally® is an Autodesk® Revit® application that allows architects and engineers to quantify the environmental impact of building materials for whole building analysis as well as comparative analyses of design options. While working on a Revit model, the user can define relationships between BIM elements and construction materials from the Tally database.

The result is Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) on demand, and an important layer of decision-making information within the same time frame, pace, and environment that building designs are generated. Tally is easy to use and requires no special modeling practices.

Tally is available for a 10-day free trial, after which a license must be purchased to continue use. Inquiries for non-commercial licenses should be directed to support@choosetally.com .

ENRWOOD-FRAMING v2.3

From the Autodesk App Store:

About This Version

Version 2.3.0, 12/27/2019

• Convert 2d plan to 3d floor.
• Adding the loads of wind and seismic on beam, joist, header, post and stud design
• Modifying  analysis diagram report.
• Control  wall and openings framing.
• Improving joist and rafter data.

Description

BIM software for efficient wood design framing under gravity loads. An easy and simple way to design your project. Automatic support detection according to 3D Model. Analysis and transfer loads according to the actual load path. Design module includes many types of wood.

Auto Join Geometry

From the Autodesk App Store:

This application allows Autodesk® Revit® users to join/unjoin geometry automatically.

You have two options:

1. Join/Unjoin elements between categories.
2. Join/Unjoin elements between element groups.

Distribute Lighting & Data Devices From CAD

From the Autodesk App Store:

Features

• Distribution of lighting and communication/data devices from an imported Autodesk® AutoCAD® drawing
• Useful in lighting distribution from DiaLux CAD output
• Convert CAD drawings to Autodesk® Revit®
• supports indoor and outdoor distributions
• Wall-mounted fixtures are not supported

General Instructions

Option 1 (by CAD layers)

One Revit family type will be used for all CAD blocks on the same layer (recommended for distribution from DiaLux)

Option 2 (by CAD block names)

One Revit family type will be used for each CAD block with a unique name

2019 – Year in Review

Hi folks, this is your faithful editor Tim Grimm here. I usually look forward to these Revit Add-ons year-in-review articles; they're an opportunity to look back at our accomplishment for the year and see what most connected with our readers. This year I approach this piece with some trepidation though. Although we published 476 posts during the year, this was well off the goal of 1,000 that we'd set for ourselves at the beginning of the year. Why did we fall so short? It's quite simple: I returned to full-time employment in March. Frankly, since then, it was all we could do to try to keep up with the low-hanging fruit of the Autodesk App Store, because contributors were BUSY there.

As a result, many of our regular features suffered, such as our 'weekly' roundups of the App Store, which were often several weeks, or even months, combined, our 'week in review' articles, which ended in early March, our monthly 'what's hot' articles, which ended in May, and our 'product roundups' and 'product reviews', which were almost nowhere to be seen.

Worse yet, for the second year in a row, our coverage of webinars, Dynamo and the Revit API suffered. And, for the first time, add-ins not published on the App Store were also under served.

It's clear to me now that, with how busy and productive the community is, comprehensive coverage isn't a job for one or two people, unless they're full-time, or are smarter than me and can automate the process. In fact, maintaining the site in the manner that I always have, which is manual entry, I could see the following individual content contributors being needed:

• Autodesk App Store and recurring features
• Non-App Store add-ins (including webinars)
• Dynamo coverage (including original content)
• Revit API coverage (including original content)

There's a major announcement coming in the New Year that may ultimately feed into something like the above. Or not. We'll see. Stay tuned.

Pageviews

Although our number of posts were down slightly from last year, 476 as compared to 500 (-24), our pageviews rose to a new high-water mark, from 664,301 to 695,688 (+31,387).