VisiSpecs, The Visual Specification System

From the vendor:

VisiSpecs integrates and automates the BIM model, Keynotes, Specs and related documents. NO CHANGES are required in the BIM Model enabling immediate integration.  VisiSpecs customers testify to the ease of learning, enterprise roll-out and fast ROI based on time and cost savings and improved quality and delivery.

• MICROSOFT WORD EDITING
• Document neutral supporting all docs instead of tied to one master
• Company/Client/Commercial/International masters easily imported
• Familiar editor makes VisiWord easy to trial, learn, use, and deploy
• Project docs and collaboration accessed directly in Microsoft Word or Revit
• Most robust editing environment for any spec editing tool
• Programmed routines are >40% faster than macros and other tools
• Quickly and easily edit even if you only use 1-2 times per year
• NO BIM MODEL CHANGES
• Immediate integration of your current project
• Easily link your elements + materials to required specs/docs
• Select in Revit with dynamic highlighting of the related docs
• SpecsIntact (UFGS) BIM Integration
• KEYNOTING INCLUDED
• Keynote Manager directly in Word or Revit
• Automatic selection of keynotes based on project specs
• Keynote Assigner with search, comments, and inline editing
• Keynote Verifier ensuring model, specs, keynotes are coordinated
• CLOUD BASED SOLUTIONS
• IT loves easy deployment and fast access anywhere / anytime
• Local backups to your server, BIM 360, or preferred path
• Reuse design preferences with easy access to lessons learned
• ROI SAVING TIME, MONEY AND IMPROVING PRODUCT QUALITY DELIVERED
• Customers have ROI on 1st and 2nd projects
• Easily verify recently completed project models and specs

Free 30-Day Trials, Customer Testimonials and Case Studies, Event listings and more can be found at www.chalklineinc.com.

NBS Chorus – Intelligent Construction Specification, in the Cloud

From the NBS website:

Intelligent construction specification, in the cloud

Work smarter and safer, collaborate better and connect your workflow

Construction success starts with the specification

Introducing NBS Chorus

Fully cloud-based

Chorus is a fully online specification platform for construction. Access anywhere, on any capable device (including Mac), with lightning-fast performance and ultimate scalability for all sizes of organisation. No complicated installs for IT to manage.

Overtur – Cloud Collaboration Platform for Door Specifications

From the Allegion website:

We've re-written the way specs are written.

An architect's cloud collaboration platform for the design and specification of door hardware.

Download Infographic

Allegion's Overtur™ is a cloud-based suite of tools where architects and door hardware consultants can come together to collaborate on specifications and the security design of doors and openings. These tools provide a centralized place to capture and maintain door hardware requirements and decisions, with easy options to push that information back to the design tools (e.g. Revit).

Free NBS Online Viewer Public Beta

From the NBS website:

Introducing the NBS online viewer

This article introduces some new public beta functionality that allows models and specifications to be uploaded and viewed from the context of a project within the NBS BIM Toolkit. We’re hoping that this new functionality will be well received by NBS users within their existing BIM workflows.

ProductXchange Plugin Version 1.3 Released

From the Autodesk App Store:

This Autodesk® Revit® plugin allows users who have subscriptions to coBuilder's ProductXchange system to work with their data from ProductXchange in Revit. The plugin allows the addition of product information (based on the available information in ProductXchange) to a Revit model, as well as its subsequent storage and maintenance as a part of the Revit model.

Users need to have a Revit model which corresponds to a workplace in their ProductXchange account in order to attach products to their corresponding elements.

The advantage of using the application is the consistency between your Revit models and the product information in ProductXchange which allows you to gain the maximum value out of managing this information in a single place and in a more robust and atomic way.

BIMsupply – Create Bill of Materials, Tenders, Bids and Direct Orders from the Cloud within Revit

From the BIMsupply website:

Design. Connect. Supply.
 
BIMobject® releases BIMsupply®, a cloud-based solution that will allow BIM users to create bill of materials, tenders, bids and direct orders seamlessly within a BIM project in Autodesk Revit. The solution will allow for cloud-based sharing of lists of products and materials with Building Product Manufacturers (BPMs) in order to get pricing, quotes or to place direct orders. The solution is the world's first O2O (Online to Offline) solution for BIM, fully integrated with Autodesk Revit, BIMobject Cloud and the recently released cloud platform Forge from Autodesk. BIMsupply will allow business matching between BIM users and BPMs. It will be a platform where they can connect and communicate on projects, products and materials through lists and in full 3D BIM.

BIMsupply will offer cloud-based 3D project spaces where designers, planners and specifiers can work simultaneously and invite any number of BPMs to join the conversation and BIM project model. No software installation is needed, it all runs in a web browser, and it is a real time 3D environment with full BIM data. The project can be explored, analysed, communicated and used to increase understanding of products, materials and configurations in context of the building design.

Free Knauf Revit Plugin for Specifying Wall Systems

From the Knauf website...

Revit users can now filter and select Knauf products directly inside Revit. The Knauf Revit plugin provides the ability to add over 10,000 wall systems to a project at the touch of a button,  directly from within Autodesk Revit.

To download the Knauf Revit plugin click the link below.

Revit Add-In

There's more information available on the Knauf website.

Editor's Notes: 

• The version of Revit that the add-in is compatible with is not apparent

Free Specify Caroma Add-in for MEP in the Australia & New Zealand Region

From the Caroma website...

Never again will you need to search multiple websites and catalogues for your bathroom and kitchens solutions!

Caroma proudly has one of the largest catalogues of Autodesk® Revit® files across Australia's building products industry. Our Revit® Add In contains our extensive range of market leading products and brands all in the one location, within Revit®, saving you valuable time during the design and specifying process.

Free Dulux Colour Atlas Add-in (Updated)

Originally published on August 28, 2014

Updated on October 25, 2016 to reflect current marketing information from the Dulux website, and to add links to related topics.

From the Dulux website...

Dulux BIM Solutions

Dulux BIM Solutions provides easy-to-use BIM content and add-ins so you can add Dulux colours to your Revit® & ArchiCAD® projects quickly and simply. Dulux BIM Solutions, inspiring colour creativity.

Dulux Colour Atlas

The Dulux Colour Atlas Add-In for Revit® provides access to over 4,600 Dulux Colours including Decorative, Powder Coatings and Protective Coatings without leaving Revit®. Using the Add-In, surfaces in Revit® can be 'painted', automatically generating data to populate specification schedules. Automating this process makes the painting in Revit® faster, eliminates manual data entry and reduces errors. Version 2.0 now includes the capability to paint 'Split Faces' and paint surfaces within the Family Editor.

Available for Revit® 2014, 2015 & 2016



There's more information available on the Dulux website.

Related

Free DuSpec Paint Specifications Add-in

Further Reading

• Product Review – BIMsmith Forge, for Creating Revit Wall, Floor and Ceiling System Families
• Free Benjamin Moore Color Suite for Revit
• Roundup – RTV Tools (including RTV Paint)

Free DuSpec Paint Specifications Add-in

From the Dulux website...

Dulux BIM Solutions

Dulux BIM Solutions provides easy-to-use BIM content and add-ins so you can add Dulux colours to your Revit® & ArchiCAD® projects quickly and simply. Dulux BIM Solutions, inspiring colour creativity.

DuSpec Paint Specifications

The Dulux DuSpec Add-In for Revit makes the process of creating detailed paint specifications within a BIM workflow faster than ever before. Using the DuSpec Add-In, specifiers can interrogate and data-mine their Revit project materials and apply DuSpec paint specifications to Revit Elements. These specifications can be scheduled and exported as both PDFs and Excel datasheets directly from the Add-In, or pushed natively back into Revit schedules.

Available for Revit® 2014, 2015 & 2016

View User Guide



There's more information available on the Dulux website.

Related

Free Dulux Colour Atlas Add-in

Free NuBIM Vulcraft Add-in for Joists and Decks

From the Vulcraft website...

SPECIFYING JOIST AND DECK IS EASIER THAN EVER
NUBIM® VULCRAFT ADD-IN FOR REVIT® SOFTWARE
AVAILABLE ONLY FROM VULCRAFT

VULCRAFT/VERCO GROUP’S NUBIM® ADD-IN FOR REVIT® 2017 IS NOW AVAILABLE.

The new version available exclusively from Vulcraft/Verco Group includes improved joist and deck families with added functionality. An improved user interface to aid in specifying joists and deck to a BIM Level of Development (LOD) of 300, thus keeping the model and drawings more in sync.

• Joist Types Available: K, KCS, LH, DLH, CJ, Ecospan®, Joist Girder
• Special Profile Joists: Scissor, Archchord, Bowstring, Double Pitch, Multi Pitch, Single Pitch
• Special Profile joists now have more flexibility for end depths and mid-span depths
• Joist End Tagging allows you to automatically place joist end data on your drawings
• Joist Loading Specification has been improved
• Dynamic Load Diagrams can now be created
• Joist Load Tables can be placed on drawings like any other standard Revit schedule
• All joist families show Conceptual Web Layouts at fine detail level
• Joist seats automatically adjust based on the slope of the joist
• Vulcraft/Verco deck profiles, including Vulcraft’s new Dovetail Deck, are also available through the NuBIM Add-In for complete specification of your Revit floor/roof system

All of these features combine to increase efficiency and improve accuracy when developing the  model and creating the contract drawings on your projects.

Free Benjamin Moore Color Suite for Revit

Now available from Autodesk® and Benjamin Moore. Track your project from start to finish as you choose paint colors, find product details, and build your specification.




Download Now

There's more information available on the Benjamin Moore website.

Free Spec Exchange Comes with a Free Specification Writer – Yes, a Real Person!

A couple weeks ago I posted about Spec Exchange, an add-in to streamline door hardware specification from Revit. I suspected this add-in was free, but I don't like to list add-ins as being free when they simply enable interoperability between Revit and another paid application. So, I thought I should do some investigating. I was able to glean from Allegion's website that the Spec Exchange add-in enables interoperability between Revit and their SpeXtra product, but wasn't able to find a price for SpeXtra.

I reached out to Allegion's Marketing Manager, Melany Whalin, and she informed me of some very interesting things that I'm happy to pass along.

Melany confirmed that the Spec Exchange add-in is free.  She also let me know that Allegion is a manufacturer of security products, including the brands Schlage, Von Duprin, LCN, Steelcraft and more.  Allegion can provide complete opening solutions with their breadth of products.

The plug-in can be downloaded for free and used by anyone to export their door schedules, it doesn't have to be used with SpeXtra. In fact, SpecXtra is Allegion's in-house specification software. It's not for sale or use outside of Allegion.

Now, here's where it gets interesting. Allegion also has 150 specification writers around the country that will write door and hardware specifications and create door schedules for architects for FREE. The Spec Exchange add-in was developed to increase productivity for both architects and specification writers, and the plug-in was designed for architects who want help creating their door schedules.  This plugin fits into your normal workflow and allows Allegion to provide seamless help with preparing your door schedule.

As Melany stated, "We do not charge for preparing door schedules, so although the plug-in is designed to work with Allegion’s system, there’s no sales tie here."

Melany went on to state, "The main purpose of Spec Exchange is to increase productivity around creating door schedules for architects who don’t want to write those themselves.  We often find that even architects who specify other products in the building, don’t want to specify door hardware as there are many fire, building and accessibility codes and requirements that they can’t keep up with. So, many architects want help with specifying door hardware and creating door schedules, and this plug-in is designed to help with those needs."

A free add-in that comes with a free person? That's Editor's Choice worthy right there.

There's more information available on the Allegion website.

Free Spec Exchange – Streamline Door Hardware Specification from Revit

From the Allegion website...

Door scheduling made simple
Specifying door hardware is time consuming work with lots of information back and forth between architects and specification writers. The risk of error—as well as the volume of change orders and call backs—increases every time information is entered and re-entered.

Until now.
Spec Exchange, a custom-developed Revit plug-in, streamlines the door scheduling process. The plug-in allows architects to export their door schedule directly to the specification writer, and then import the completed door schedule directly back into Revit.  It makes exchanging information as simple as printing a project manual. Once you generate the door schedule, you can export it in Revit to an Allegion specification writer, who then imports the door schedule into SpeXtra, our specification software. The specification writer creates the hardware sets and sends them to you for importing back into Revit—all without paper copies or re-typing. At that point, you have complete control of the information and can manipulate the data as needed.

Benefits and features

• Spec Exchange transforms a long, manual process into a short, automatic one. By eliminating the need to type and re-type a door schedule, Spec Exchange:
• Simplifies the specification process
• Decreases errors
• Reduces time spent preparing hardware specifications
• Eliminates manual data entry
• Streamlines the door schedule process
• Improves collaboration between architects and spec writers
• Allows architects complete control of their attributes from start to finish

There's more information available on the Allegion website.

Free GPDTools Add-in for Revit, Featuring ProductTAG: Add Manufacturer's Product Data to Generic Revit Families

From the Autodesk Exchange Apps website...

GPDTools featuring ProductTAG, enables users to ANNOTATE (TAG) manufacturer product data from over 375 manufacturers directly in to generic Autodesk® Revit® families with the enhanced ability to SEARCH and SELECT Revit families from over 1100 building product manufacturers distributing more than 100,000 Revit families.

Using ProductTAG to annotate manufacturer data into a generic door

Using ProductTAG to annotate manufacturer data into a wall assembly

There's more information available on the Autodesk Exchange Apps website.

Free NBS for Autodesk Revit plug-in 2.0: Integrating Specifications, Technical Guidance and National BIM Library Objects

NBS, the national standard specification company in the UK, has released their NBS Autodesk Revit plug-in 2.0 that integrates the Revit design model with the NBS specification model, technical guidance and National BIM Library objects.

I had previously blogged about the NBS Autodesk Revit plug-in 1.0 here.

Version 2.0 offers the following new features:

1. Drag-and-drop objects direct from National BIM Library
2. Synchronised design guidance
3. Automatically create an outline specification
4. Improved specification navigator
5. Improved object navigation
6. Improved association report
7. Combined IFC generation (Beta)

More information about these new features can be found on the Construction Code blog.

This free add-in may be downloaded from the TheNBS website.

Lastly, over on Jeremy Tammik's The Building Coder blog, Stephen Hamil, director of NBS, along with Chris and Calum from the NBS software development team, give a little insight into some of the API functionality they used when developing this software.

Drag and drop generic objects directly from the National BIM Library

Synchronised design guidance

Free NBS Plug-in for Linking Specifications to Revit

"At NBS we know that our software and technical information fits into the wider construction workflow. With this in mind, we aim to help construction professionals save time and improve accuracy with respect to coordinating their project information.

"A year ago we released an open software toolkit that allows NBS to be embedded into other software applications. This was done with the hope that other construction software vendors that produce documentation, CAD, programming or costing tools would choose to work with us. We are now delighted to have plug-ins for two of the major international BIM software tools. A plug-in for Graphisoft ArchiCAD was released last year, we have just released a plug-in for Autodesk Revit and we are optimistic that more will follow."

"The Revit database may be linked to an NBS specification file. The user may then associate the objects within the Revit model with the corresponding systems and products in the specification. Prior to issuing documentation generated from the coordinated Revit and NBS models, the user may select to 'Verify all annotations' to ensure that all associated information is fine and fix any information where required."

"The annotations are added directly from the specification database. There is no need to retype or export/import any information. This is clearly a big time saver and has significant benefits in terms of accuracy of information.

"The key reference information from the specification is added as parameters to the corresponding Revit objects. This means that the data may used in tags and schedules and manipulated to appear in whatever format a particular practice chooses. Furthermore, as these parameters are stored against the objects, then as this information is transferred to construction or FM systems then it is maintained. Figure 4 shows this information within the Solibri Model Checker software following an export from Revit to IFC 2x3.

"We will continue to improve the software tool kit so that more functionality is added to our plug-ins. We will also strive to work with other software vendors in the industry to support the workflows in the construction industry."

This free add-in may be downloaded from the NBS website.

Automate the Preparation of Specifications Using e-SPECS

e-SPECS® automates the preparation of the project specifications from AutoCAD® and Revit® based applications, linking your favorite design program with your specification master documents. e-SPECS is integrated with all versions of MASTERSPEC®, the industry standard for construction specification documents as well as the integration of your firm's Office Master.

e-SPECS integrates the construction documents instantly updating your project specifications as you develop your drawings. Insert a wall, door, window, or any other building object into your AutoCAD drawing or Revit BIM model and instantly update your project manual with the appropriate specifications.

Enter your standard text, keynotes, blocks, hatches, or any other AutoCAD drawing elements or Revit Families, and your specifications stay in-sync, in real time. Any changes you make to the designs will automatically be incorporated into the specification manual. At any time, you can review the "history" of your specification section to see why it was included in the project.

You can also review the Integration Reconciliation reports to get a complete overview of all the drawing elements that resulted in project specification sections. Now with e-SPECS you can even view your specifications directly in Revit and Mark-up those sections collaborating with your Specifier.

More information on e-SPECS is available here.

Link Specifications to Revit Models with BSD LinkMan-E

Welcome to a new world where your specifications automatically integrate with a BIM created in Autodesk Revit. Building Systems Design, Inc., proudly introduces BSD LinkMan™-E.



What is BSD LinkMan-E?

BSD LinkMan-E is a linking software product that allows the user to easily create, monitor and modify relationships between various representations of a building design project - as drawn using Autodesk Revit, as specified using BSD SpecLink-E, and, in future, as estimated using BSD CostLink/AE. This linking software is referred to as LinkMan-E or LME.

The LME user interface is a set of "Dashboards," together comprising a monitoring station that permits a project manager to view the status of project development in the linked applications, check for consistency, and identify discrepancies for corrective action. LME also allows the user to "turn on" missing products in SpecLink-E, based on data from Revit. In short, LME is a tool for coordinating the Revit building model (the BIM) with its specifications and (in future) its cost estimate.

More information here.