An Update on the AEC-APPS Website - Social Networking for Apps!

It's been over 4 months since I last visited the AEC-APPS website,  the community-driven collection of apps for the AEC industry, created by SOM and CASE. The site was in Beta for these past 4 months. Now, at official launch,  there's a plethora of Revit add-ins available on the site, and it's easy to browse for add-ins too, though I don't see a way to filter for just Revit add-ins. I got better results searching using the keyword "Revit".

Here's the official announcement for the AEC-APPS launch on the designreform blog.

I'll be posting on the Revit Add-ons blog about the add-ins I've not previously covered that I see on the AEC-APPS website.

My hat's off to SOM and CASE for pulling off this innovative idea!

US Customers Can Try Online Versions Of Autodesk Revit 2014 and Autodesk Revit 2014 LT

"Autodesk Revit 2014 and Autodesk Revit LT 2014 online trials went live on autodesk.com [on April 18th].

"The online versions do check for eligibility. At this time, these links are not visible to everyone. Users must be in the US and must have a decent internet connection to our [Autodesk's] data centers  For those who meet the criteria, this is a great way for them to try Revit without having to download and install the application itself."

Here are the links:

http://www.autodesk.com/products/autodesk-revit-family/free-trial

http://www.autodesk.com/products/revit-lt/free-trial

Credit: Scott Sheppard's It's Alive in the Lab blog.

Free Building Coder Samples Updated to Revit 2014

Over on his excellent The Building Coder blog, Jeremy Tammik has migrated his Building Coder Samples to Revit 2014. These free code samples may be downloaded here.

Free COINS Auto-Section Box Gets a Major Update!

The COINS Auto-Section Box tool gives you tremendous speed and agility over managing three-dimensional views when analyzing model areas of particular interest. It allows you to quickly create temporary and permanent views to be used for immediate interrogation of the model or for construction document deliverables. This works by allowing you to focus on the model instead of managing views or a view’s properties.

New features:

• Support for Revit 2014
• New "Toggle Section Box" command
• Ability to arrange the section box view side-by-side with the selected view
• Support for creating section boxes from view outlines, section lines, and scope boxes
• New "Quick Auto-Section" command (twice as fast!)
• Worry-free selections - automatic filtering of 2d and datum elements

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

 

 

 

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.