March 31, 2015

Check Your Fire Ratings with Ideate BIMLink

Did you know that Ideate BIMLink provides an abundance of additional Revit ‘related’ data that can enhance quality control processes? You may be familiar with this concept of related data, because it aligns with how Revit schedules work. Within a Revit schedule, for example, it is possible to create a schedule of Generic Model elements and also include related data about the Rooms or Spaces in which these elements are located. Within the Ideate BIMLink environment, however, a far richer list of related data is available. This opens up a wealth of possibilities for sophisticated data management. 

Look for “Select available properties from:” option found at the bottom of the “Available Properties” list within the Properties tab. For example, when editing a “Door” link you will see the drop-down option as shown in the image. 

The Door Type link with additional available properties shown
Note that Type-based links, such as a Door Type link, will have different options for the available properties. While instance data includes spatial data lists such as Level, Coordinates, Rooms, Spaces, etc., Type data will only include these (non-spatial) related data lists: Project Information and RVT Link.

The Door “instance” link with additional available properties shown
Many BIM Managers have shared with us the significance of this data to their quality control tasks and as they do so, we capture each of these workflows as a sample link definition. One such example can be found within the sample link called “Doors-Check_Rating”. This link, found in the \Architectural subfolder and shown below, highlights the use of one of these extra parameters: Host Wall: Fire Rating.

Finding “Doors-Check_Rating”
The inclusion of the fire rating property means that you will be able to view the list of all door instances alongside with the wall fire rating data. Now you can ensure that 2-hour walls have doors that are adequately rated.

View all door instances alongside wall fire rating data
This sample link is one of over 140 samples that ship with Ideate BIMLink. Be sure to look through this sample content to master your BIM data and build your own quality control processes.

About the Author

Glynnis Patterson, NCARB – Director of Software Development
Glynnis is a Registered Architect and has worked within the BIM industry since 1998. A graduate of Carnegie Mellon University, she has worked as an architect, educator and construction site manager. Glynnis is currently the Director of Software Development Services at Ideate, Inc. and continues to work with AEC clients across the nation, developing, and consulting on solutions to Building Information Modeling challenges. In her spare time Glynnis does volunteer work for eclcofnj.org and growitgreenmorristown.org. @GVPinNJ


This article was originally posted on the Ideate Software blog.