Free Autodesk COBie Toolkit for Revit

"This  toolkit is intended to assist project teams produce COBie deliverables in conjunction with their Revit model development. COBie (Construction Operations Building Information Exchange) is a framework for organizing data developed and accumulated during the course of a building project for delivery to facilities owners and operators involved in lifecycle management. COBie is evolving under the direction of the Engineer Research and Development Center, U.S.  Army, Corps of Engineers.

"Autodesk Revit 2013 and Building Information Modeling (BIM) solutions support the facility lifecycle management processes with tools and applications making lifecycle management easier, more efficient, and less costly.

"The toolkit contains the Revit template to produce COBie spreadsheets in conjunction with Revit model development and all of the template's supporting information."

According to the Inside the System blog,  when using this add-in, Autodesk was able to win the January 2013 BuildingSMART Alliance’s Design COBie Challenge, in convincing fashion:

• Autodesk Revit 2013 - 9 minutes to correct
• Bentley Systems AECOsim Building Designer (BETA) - 3.6 hours to correct
• Graphisoft ArchiCAD 17 (BETA) - 8 hours to correct

The free Autodesk COBie toolkit may be downloaded from the Autodesk website.

Kiwi Codes Family Browser Pro 2014 Add-in

Kiwi Code Solutions have introduced a new version of their Family Browser product for Revit 2014, Family Browser Pro. In addition to the previous features of Family Browser that users and BIM managers have come to know and love, the Pro version includes 3 significant enhancements that are specific to the Revit 2014 release:

• Project Specific Group.
• Ability to import Views.
• Ability to import system families and groups.

There's more information available on the Kiwi Codes Solutions website.

Free Structural Analysis and Code Checking Toolkit 2014 from Autodesk

The Structural Analysis and Code Checking Toolkit for Autodesk Revit software is a suite of tools that supports the Building Information Modeling (BIM) process and allows structural engineers to analyze and check your structure from within the Revit environment.

The toolkit contains the following items:

• Structural Analysis for Autodesk® Revit®
• The link with Autodesk® Robot™ Structural Analysis Professional 2014
• Structural Results Storage & Exploration tools
• Code Checking framework

Using this toolkit structural designers and engineers can optimize their workflows in the cloud and on the desktop by using the analytical model built in Autodesk Revit to conduct cloud-based structural analysis with access to Autodesk 360 services and by extending the Revit model to Autodesk Robot Structural Analysis Professional software or supported third party analysis solutions. Once complete, analysis results can be easily stored and explored in the Revit environment.

Using the toolkit structural engineers can also verify and design structural elements according to local building codes and regulations which can be easily and quickly implemented by using the Code Checking framework.

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

ofctools PRO Add-in

"When you work with Revit some tasks can be very exhaustive and slow like creating, editing or deleting multiple Revit elements. ofctools helps you optimize and streamline your work either with individual tasks or through a batch process. You may also combine different commands in a row to accomplish combined tasks.

"ofctools PRO does provide advanced maintenance commands. If you just need basic features you may want to check ofctools LITE that provides simple maintenance commands."

The ofctools PRO add-in is available on the Autodesk Exchange | Apps website for USD 19.99.

ofctools LITE Add-in

"When you work with Revit some tasks can be very exhaustive and slow like creating, editing or deleting multiple Revit elements. ofctools helps you optimize and streamline your work either with individual tasks or through a batch process. You may also combine different commands in a row to accomplish combined tasks.

"ofctools LITE does provide simple maintenance commands for quick results. If you need advanced capabilities check out the ofctools PRO version that contains not only everything you have in LITE version but 4 additional advanced commands."

The ofctools LITE add-in is available on the Autodesk Exchange | Apps website for USD 4.99.

RFA x DWG Add-in

"A frequent challenge, when you convert your collection of DWG files to corresponding Revit Families, is how to verify and check all the details in the the process. "RFA x DWG" helps to facilitate this process by building a visual comparison matrix between your DWG file collection and the Families you create.

"This plugin is inserted into the current Revit Project View and displays all Family Types matched side by side their respective DWG blocks in 2D, 3D or both.

"The final result is a matrix grid showing all Family types, DWG blocks and other information, making it easier to visually compare your files. This is a helpful tool as you start to create and document your Revit Families. It may also work as your periodic visual checklist for any future updates on your DWG or RFA collection."

The RFA x DWG add-in is available on the Autodesk Exchange | Apps website for USD 14.99.

Insert DWG Add-in

"Make a list of DWG files and insert them into the Revit current view in one single step."

The Insert DWG add-in is available on the Autodesk Exchange | Apps website for USD 14.99.

Parameter Maintenance Add-in

"The Parameter Maintenance Plugin offers an easy way to perform comprehensive maintenance, giving you the ability to add, remove or edit your Revit Family parameters.

"You can also load existing parameters from a TypeCatalog file to have full control of the your parameter editing process."

The Parameter Maintenance add-in is available on the Autodesk Exchange | Apps website for USD 14.99.

Material Maintenance Add-in

"The Material Maintenance Plugin offers an easy way to perform comprehensive maintenance, giving you the ability to add, remove or edit your Revit materials.

"It will also help you standardize your Materials with a naming convention for easy management."

The Material Maintenance add-in is available on the Autodesk Exchange | Apps website for USD 14.99.

Category Maintenance Add-in

"The Category Maintenance Plugin offers an easy way to perform comprehensive maintenance, giving you the ability to add, remove or edit your Revit Subcategories.

"It will also help you standardize your Subcategories with a naming convention for easy management."

The Category Maintenance add-in is available on the Autodesk Exchange | Apps website for USD 14.99.

Free Rename Families and Types from Excel (Updated)

"Have you ever needed to batch rename a set of families or types in your model and wished you could dump the data out to Excel and import them back in? This tool supports exporting family and type names to Excel where you can make changes to the names in a separate column and then import the changes into your model.

"This tool is only available under subscription."

There's more information available on the Case Apps website.

Update 5/8/2016: CASE and the CASE Apps website are no more but, courtesy of WeWork, the CASE Apps are now open source. They may be accessed on GitHub.

2012 – Year in Review, Part 2

Earlier this month I posted my Editor's Choice Awards for add-ins posted on this blog. Now I'd like to reveal the People's Choice Award winners as determined by total numbers of pageviews on this blog over the past two years. "Industrial" vendors such as Autodesk and Graphisoft are not eligible.

CADtoEarth, the add-in for coordinating Revit with Google Earth and Microsoft Virtual Earth, lands in the top spot with an impressive 3,381 pageviews.

LindabRevitTools, the add-in for light gauge steel framing, earns the #2 spot with 2,026 total pageviews.

At #3 is CTC's Revit Excel Link with 1,551 pageviews. Originally marketed as the most affordable link between Revit and Excel, Revit Excel Link is now part of the CTC BIM Project Suite Premium.

Congratulations to the award winners!

Related –
Award winning add-ins
Annual Roundups

Free RemoveEmptyTags Add-in from dp Stuff

On his dp Stuff blog, Dima Chiriacov has release another free Revit add-in: RemoveEmptyTags. This add-in finds and deletes empty tags in the active view or in the entire Revit project (careful with this second option!).

There's more information available on the dp Stuff blog.

Free "Rename View by Matching Elevation Tag with Room" Add-In Source Files

Over on Jeremy Tammick's excellent Revit API blog The Building Coder,  Trevor Taylor of ZGF has provided the source files for a useful real-world productivity tool that matches interior elevation tags with the rooms they fall inside.

"Naming interior elevation views is a major time-burner as there can be thousands of views in a project to rename, and they have to be coordinated when the room numbers or names change. If we don’t tie view names to rooms, we have no hope of ever keeping track of so many views."

There's more information on The Building Coder blog.

In-N-Out Family Parameters from Boost Your BIM

1. Select a folder to export parameter data for all families in that folder
2. This produces a CSV file that can be edited in Excel to set parameter values for each type
3. Import this modified file back into Revit to update the parameter values of the families

Use free for a limited number of families during each export, or purchase a license for $9.99.

There's more information available on the Boost Your BIM blog.