The Importance of Auditing Revit Models

We have recently had several cases come through tech support in which folks were receiving error messages when attempting to edit their families in Revit 2015 R2. The message states "Family <family name here> is corrupt and cannot be edited. Please reload the family to repair the project." Receiving messages such as this one can be a little disconcerting, especially when you are in the middle of a large project. The fear is that the Revit model is corrupt or heading for corruption. In most cases, you may have to look for an archived version of the model or a local file to create a new Central model from, since most corrupt models are difficult to manually repair.

As we discovered, the recent rash of corrupt families within a Revit model has to do when a Revit model was upgraded to Revit 2015 R2. This corruption was more than likely due to the end user not selecting the “Audit” checkbox when opening (or upgrading) their Revit projects for the first time in Revit 2015 R2. Had the “Audit” option been selected, the family corruption issue may not have occurred.

The audit feature in Revit will scan, detect and sometimes fix corrupt elements within a Revit model. So when should you select the “Audit” option?

1. Whenever upgrading a Revit project from one version to another. For example, if you want to upgrade your Revit project from Revit 2015 to Revit 2016, select the “Audit” checkbox prior to opening it for the first time in the newest version.

2. Select the “Audit” checkbox when upgrading ALL models to Revit 2015 R2 for the first time.

3. If your Revit model is starting to take its time opening or you notice general performance issues, then auditing it may improve the time it takes to open your project.

4. If you receive messages such as "Data in file <revit project name.rvt. is corrupt and needs to be manually recovered" or "Family <family name here> is corrupt and cannot be edited. Please reload the family to repair the project."

5. If you are doing any sort of Central File maintenance, including creating new Central Files.

Remember, it is always a good idea to make an archive copy of your model prior to Auditing and Upgrading to the next release of Revit. The reason being is in case the upgrade process introduces errors or corruption issues that cannot be repaired, or if you find a compelling reason to go back and work in the previous version of Revit.

For information on training and consulting for the various products Ideate services, visit our website at www.ideateinc.com

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Sash Kazeminejad, ACI, LEED AP
AEC Senior Application Specialist
Sash brings proficiency in Autodesk solutions including AutoCAD and Revit Architecture to Ideate customers. His industry experience includes project management, BIM Management, and design for Architectural firms in California, Montana and Oregon. He is LEED accredited professional and is on track to achieve California licensure with Oregon to follow. In his academic life, Sash was awarded a variety of college scholarships, earned a BA in Environmental Design, a MA in Architecture from Montana State University (MSU) and taught Building Information Modeling courses at MSU Gallatin College. As a Revit Architecture Autodesk Certified Instructor, Sash provides Revit Architecture training and support for AEC firms. @sashpdx

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Added Features and Performance Improvements in Ideate BIMLink for Revit 2015 & 2014

Ideate, Inc. is pleased to announce the availability of Ideate BIMLink 2015.1 and Ideate BIMLink 2014.4. These Ideate Software solutions bring an array of enhanced features (video) customers have requested and are designed to work with Autodesk Revit 2015 and 2014 respectively. 

• Get going with Ideate BIMLink 2015 today. Download the 30-day trial. 

RECENT ENHANCEMENTS: 
Customers have asked and we have listened. This version contains often-requested enhancements: 

• Get only the data you need with extensive filtering 
• Make light work of comprehensive take-offs with support for linked Revit files
• Enhance QC with newly editable properties. Just a sampling: Workset, Scope Box, and Phase 
• Go BIM»field or field»BIM with XYZ editing and publishing 
• Create NEW Areas and Masses to facilitate space and code calculation tasks
• Make collaboration easier by creating Schedule Keys for Door Hardware, Rooms Style, and other Key Schedule work. 

Ready to adopt BIMLink? Check out the newly updated prices and bundles. 

For additional questions email: sales@ideatesoftware.com.

This post was originally published on the Ideate Software Blog.

Ideate, Inc. Announces New Ideate BIMLink for Revit Improvements

San Francisco, CA, 11/05/2014–Ideate, Inc., a multi-decade veteran Autodesk Developer Network member and Autodesk Gold Value Added Reseller today announced the availability of Ideate BIMLink 2015.1 and Ideate BIMLink 2014.4. These Ideate Software solutions bring an array of enhanced features [video] customers have requested and are designed to work with Autodesk Revit 2015 and 2014 respectively.

Ideate Software is a set of far-reaching Building Information Modeling (BIM) data management tools that help the Revit community clean up models, delete problem items, analyze files quickly, improve speed and accuracy in data flow, increase collaboration and overcome repeated workflow interruptions.

This recent Ideate BIMLink update lets BIM and Virtual Design and Construction (VDC) managers, project leaders, facility managers and other users access, analyze, extract and edit BIM data with speed, ease and accuracy. Users can quickly pull volumes of information from a Revit file into user-friendly Microsoft Excel and round-trip the data with equal ease.

Ideate Director of Software Development Glynnis Patterson says, “These new releases encompass the performance improvements industry professionals have requested. We make sure our BIM data management solutions are robust and our updates meaningful and frequent.”

Bob Palioca, President, Ideate Inc. says of the new Ideate BIMLink release, “As our AEC customers encounter heightened needs for collaboration across disciplines and greater client demands, we respond. This point release is evidence of our ongoing commitment to our customers’ success.”

Customers who tested the new features offered comments on the most valuable aspect of Ideate BIMLink to their workflows. Tay Othman, Job Captain for Gensler, noted greatest value in “Automation and extending Revit capabilities.” Erica Spicer, Project Coordinator at PDR said, “Having the model be the central up-to-date single point of truth for all schedule-related information.” And Dan Morrison, VDC Engineer for BPi - BGC POS International acknowledged, “Being able to manipulate data in ways that can’t be done within Revit.”

Ideate BIMLink carries a five star rating on the Autodesk Exchange Apps Store, and is available with a non-commercial free trial. For more information, call 888.662.7238, contact sales@ideatesoftware.com, and for support, contact support@ideatesoftware.com.

About Ideate, Inc.
Ideate, Inc. is a leading Autodesk Authorized Developer with 25+ years’ experience in software development and specific focus on Building Information Modeling (BIM).  As an Autodesk solutions provider, Ideate has offered quality software, training, support and custom consulting services to the architectural, engineering and construction (AEC) industries since 1992. Headquartered in San Francisco, California and operating Autodesk Authorized Training Centers (ATCs) in California, Oregon and Washington, Ideate is recognized as an Autodesk Gold Partner for Architecture, Engineering and Construction, one of Autodesk’s highest levels of authorization. 

Ideate Software is a comprehensive set of far-reaching BIM data management tools. Ideate BIMLink powers the “I” in BIM, allowing users to pull data from an Autodesk Revit file into Microsoft Excel for fast and precise editing, and push the data back into Revit with equal ease. Ideate Explorer for Revit lets users search, filter, quantify and select to easily manage the 100,000+ elements in a Revit model. Both solutions help Autodesk Revit users solve problems in AEC workflows and help the Revit community leverage BIM to its fullest advantage.

Autodesk, Autodesk Revit and ATC are registered trademarks or trademarks of Autodesk, Inc., and/or its subsidiaries and/or affiliates in the USA and/or other countries. Microsoft Excel is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and other countries. All other brand names, product names or trademarks belong to their respective holders.

This post was originally published on the Ideate Software Blog.

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Spring Cleaning for Revit 2015

Now that Revit 2015 has been published, many of our customers are starting to do their early prep work in advance of their official migration to Autodesk Revit 2015. In light of this work, here are a few simple spring cleaning tips for your consideration.

Before You Migrate to Revit 2015...

Family Audits

1. Open your office standard family (.RFA) files created in the past one year.
2. Launch Ideate Explorer for Revit.
3. Review all contents and delete anything that surprises you.*
4. Purge and then repeat to ensure nested content has been removed.

Template Audits

5. Open your office standard template (.RTE) files.
6. Launch Ideate Explorer for Revit.
7. Review all contents and delete anything that surprises you.*
8. Purge and then repeat to ensure nested content has been removed.

If you don’t have time to review all your new content (hah!) then at least be sure to audit your templates and your Titleblock and Annotation families, as they often have non-standard lines and sometimes an import or unexpected raster image may sneak in.

*Use Ideate Explorer’s built-in audit filter to find the most common culprits.

A toilet and title block family as seen by Ideate Explorer within the Revit Family Editor

Upgrading a Revit Project to Version 2015

Important information from Autodesk about the upgrade process, new to 2015.

Autodesk’s best practices when upgrading your project.

About the Author

Glynnis Patterson, NCARB – Director of Software Development Glynnis is a Registered Architect and has worked with 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 implementing best practices solutions. In her spare time Glynnis does volunteer work and builds Lego projects. @GVPinNJ

Images in Schedules Using Revit 2015

In this release of Revit, Autodesk introduces the new IMAGE parameter type. This new parameter is displayed by default as an Instance and Type parameter for most of the model system and component families. Views, Sheets, Datum, and View Specific families are excluded. The IMAGE parameter type is one of the displays as an available choice of parameter types when creating custom projects or shared parameters.

The new 'Image' Type

When an IMAGE parameter is built into a family, users can associate it with an image loaded in Revit or select from any path. The images are managed by the ‘Manage Image’ dialog box which was improved in this release with several new features. 

1. The ‘Add’ button will embed a new image.
2. The ‘Reload’ button to refresh or update the image file.
3. The ‘Reload From’ button will repath the image file from a different folder location.
4. The actual path of the images is displayed in the new ‘Path’ Column.

New enhancements in the "Manage Image' dialog

The images will be embedded into the Revit project, and like any other image, it will have some impact on the file size. To keep the file size under control, keep the images less than 300kb in size, with a maximum measure of 300 x 300 pixels, and a resolution lower than 96 DPI. Several common image editors like Windows Paint, Photoshop, or SnagIt Editor will enable you to fix or re-size the images in batches. 

This new functionality enables us to create legend-type schedules. For example: Furniture, Light Fixtures, Walls, Finish Materials, etc. This is also a great function for Room Data Sheets!

Images displayed in a sample Finish Material Schedule

See how you can build a Finish Material Schedule and a Wall Rating Legend using this new feature in the video discussion Revit 2015 Images in Schedules.

Images displayed in a sample Wall Schedule

Also, for information on training and consulting for the various products Ideate services, visit our website at www.ideateinc.com

Don’t forget to look through other great features our Ideate Technical Team has found in the new 2015 releases for Revit MEP, Revit Structure, Revit Architecture, AutoCAD and more: ideateinc.com/2015

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Cesar Escalante, AIA, LEED AP, CCCA
AEC Solutions Application Specialist
Cesar has a Bachelor of Architecture degree from the University of Central America in El Salvador, a Master of Architecture from the University of Texas, and is a CCCA (Certified Construction Contract Administrator). His experience includes roles as Project Manager and Project Captain at architecture firms in Oakland, California. As a member of the Ideate Tech Expert team, Cesar teaches Revit Architecture Fundamentals and provides client support and consulting. Cesar’s interest in the built environment includes his work as a volunteer for Habitat for Humanity.

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Classroom Training: Open Revit and AutoCAD Classes

Know It. Ideate Training.

Position yourself to land dream projects. Tap the full potential of your software solutions. Increase your facility, fluidity and capability to maximize the value of your precision software tools.

5.13::Portland
Revit MEP - Overview

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Revit MEP - Mechanical

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Revit MEP - Documentation

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AutoCAD Fundamentals

5.27-5.28::Portland
Revit Architecture Beyond the Basics 

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Classroom Training: Open Revit, Navisworks, and AutoCAD Classes

Know It. Ideate Training.

Position yourself to land dream projects. Tap the full potential of your software solutions. Increase your facility, fluidity and capability to maximize the value of your precision software tools.

5.13-5.14::San Francisco
Navisworks Fundamentals

5.15::Portland
Revit MEP Mechanical

5.16::Portland
Revit MEP Documentation

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AutoCAD Fundamentals

5.20-5.22::Seattle
AutoCAD Fundamentals

5.27-5.28::Portland
Revit Architecture Beyond the Basics

5.27-5.29::San Francisco
Revit Architecture Fundamentals  

Know your software. Sign up now!

Revision Improvements in Revit 2015

In Revit 2015, users now have the ability to create revision clouds using a variety of familiar sketch tools, such as lines, rectangles and circles. This sketch method allows for greater control over the consistency of cloud arcs due to less clicking and the minimum arch length setting. In addition to the sketching portion of the revision clouds, editing revision cloud shapes is far simpler task because the arc lengths of cloud segments are longer than the traditional revision clouds. In addition to the enhanced revision cloud drawing tools, users now have the ability to delete Revision sequences within the Sheet Issues and Revisions dialogue box, resulting in a quick removal of unwanted Revisions and their corresponding clouds and tags. Like prior versions of Revit, users can still merge and move revisions as they see fit.

Revit 2015 Revision Improvements: Users now have the ability to delete revisions and specify the minimum arc length for revision clouds.

Revit 2015 Revision Improvements: Users now have the ability to create revision clouds using a variety of familiar sketch tools.

Check out the video Revit 2015: Revision Improvements

Also, for information on training and consulting for the various products Ideate services, visit our website at www.ideateinc.com

Don’t forget to look through other great features our Ideate Technical Team has found in the new 2015 releases for Revit MEP, Revit Structure, Revit Architecture, AutoCAD and more: ideateinc.com/2015

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Sash Kazeminejad, ACI, LEED AP
AEC Senior Application Specialist
Sash brings proficiency in Autodesk solutions including AutoCAD and Revit Architecture to Ideate customers. His industry experience includes project management, BIM Management, and design for Architectural firms in California, Montana and Oregon. He is LEED accredited professional and is on track to achieve California licensure with Oregon to follow. In his academic life, Sash was awarded a variety of college scholarships, earned a BA in Environmental Design, a MA in Architecture from Montana State University (MSU) and taught Building Information Modeling courses at MSU Gallatin College. As a Revit Architecture Autodesk Certified Instructor, Sash provides Revit Architecture training and support for AEC firms. @sashpdx

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Trim / Extend Multiple Elements in Revit 2015

In Revit 2015, users now have the ability to trim and/or extend multiple elements using a selection box. In previous versions of Revit, this feature was unavailable, therefore, users had to select individual elements to trim and/or extend.

In Revit 2015, simply select the Trim/Extend Multiple Elements button, then select the trim/extend reference boundary, and finally, click and drag your mouse over the elements that you want to extend or keep. You can also still click to select individual elements to trim and/or extend and do a combination of individual selections and selection boundaries under the same command.

Check out the video Autodesk Revit 2015: Trim/Extend Multiple Elements

Also, for information on training and consulting for the various products Ideate services, visit our website at www.ideateinc.com

Don’t forget to look through other great features our Ideate Technical Team has found in the new 2015 releases for Revit MEP, Revit Structure, Revit Architecture, AutoCAD and more: ideateinc.com/2015

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Sash Kazeminejad, LEED AP
AEC Application Specialist
Sash Kazeminejad brings proficiency in Autodesk solutions including AutoCAD and Revit Architecture to Ideate customers. His industry experience includes project management, IT, and staff design for Hennebery Eddy Architects in Portland, Oregon. He has completed seven divisions of the Architectural Record Exam, leads Revit workshops, is LEED AP accredited and is on track to achieve California licensure in 2013 with Oregon to follow. In his academic life, Sash was awarded a Montana AIA Scholarship, earned a BA in Environmental Design, an MA in Architecture from Montana State University (MSU) and taught Building Information Modeling (BIM) and related topics at MSU Gallatin College. As a Revit Architecture Autodesk Certified Professional, Sash provides Revit Architecture training and support for AEC firms.

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View Title Enhancements in Revit 2015

View Title Family in the new release of Revit 2015 displays new and powerful enhancements at the parameter level. The list of parameters a View Title can report was expanded to a total of 16 parameters, this is a significant increase from the 6 parameters in previous versions. The new fields the label can use include parameters like ‘View Family and Type,’ ‘Phase,’ and ‘Associated Level.’

This enables the View Titles to be constructed with View Parameters only instead of manually placed entries. It reduces errors and improves the accuracy of the information reported by Titles. In addition, the label can now report custom Shared Parameters, expanding the flexibility of the reported information. This was a long standing feature request that was finally addressed in this release.

Below is an example of a View Title built with a label with multiple View Parameters. If you notice, there is no need for any redundant user entry because all the fields are extracted from information existing in the actual model.

Check out the video Autodesk Revit 2015: View Title Enhancements

Also, for information on training and consulting for the various products Ideate services, visit our website at www.ideateinc.com

Don’t forget to look through other great features our Ideate Technical Team has found in the new 2015 releases for Revit MEP, Revit Structure, Revit Architecture, AutoCAD and more: ideateinc.com/2015

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Cesar Escalante, AIA, LEED AP, CCCA
AEC Solutions Application Specialist
Cesar has a Bachelor of Architecture degree from the University of Central America in El Salvador, a Master of Architecture from the University of Texas, and is a CCCA (Certified Construction Contract Administrator). His experience includes roles as Project Manager and Project Captain at architecture firms in Oakland, California. As a member of the Ideate Tech Expert team, Cesar teaches Revit Architecture Fundamentals and provides client support and consulting. Cesar’s interest in the built environment includes his work as a volunteer for Habitat for Humanity.

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Autodesk Revit MEP 2015: Tag Improvements

In Revit MEP 2015, when users now move a tagged element, or drag the tag head, the tag leader and elbow adjustment behavior is now consistent with that of text leaders. When you move or adjust the tag, the portion of the leader from the element to the elbow is flexible, while the portion from the elbow to the tag remains fixed.

Additionally the instance property Elevation at Top has been added to isolated foundations, wall foundations, and foundation slabs. Elevation at Top specifies the elevation of the highest point or plane of the foundation. You can use this information in tags when documenting a project. 

Click HERE for a video on Autodek Revit MEP 2015: Tag Improvements.

Also, for information on training and consulting for the various products Ideate services, visit our website at www.ideateinc.com

Don’t forget to look through other great features our Ideate Technical Team has found in the new 2015 releases for Revit MEP, Revit Structure, Revit Architecture, AutoCAD and more: ideateinc.com/2015

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Bill Johnson
Ideate Senior MEP Application Specialist

Bill has over 20 years experience in applying AEC design solutions for large commercial companies. A graduate of Pasadena Institute of Technology, he has worked for TEECOM Design Group, GTE/GTEL, Greg LeDoux and Associates, and Scottish Power in England. Bill has also had the opportunity to act as Lead AutoCAD Designer for multimillion dollar communication sites which have included structural, electrical, HVAC, conduit, cable plans and equipment layouts. He has a Sustainable Design Certification from the University of California at Berkeley.

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Autodesk Revit 2015: Changing View References

The ability to swap an existing view reference with a new one was a long standing request that was finally addressed in Revit 2015. In previous versions of Revit, reference views already in place could not be changed without deleting and recreating the view. This has changed: simply select the view in plan, and select a different view reference from the drop-down list displayed in the Options Bar. The feature works with every view type, including detail view, drafting views, plan, elevations, and sections. Watch this video for more information.

Also, for information on training and consulting for the various products Ideate services, visit our website at www.ideateinc.com

Don’t forget to look through other great features our Ideate Technical Team has found in the new 2015 releases for Revit MEP, Revit Structure, Revit Architecture, AutoCAD and more: ideateinc.com/2015

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Cesar Escalante, AIA, LEED AP, CCCA
AEC Solutions Application Specialist
Cesar has a Bachelor of Architecture degree from the University of Central America in El Salvador, a Master of Architecture from the University of Texas, and is a CCCA (Certified Construction Contract Administrator). His experience includes roles as Project Manager and Project Captain at architecture firms in Oakland, California. As a member of the Ideate Tech Expert team, Cesar teaches Revit Architecture Fundamentals and provides client support and consulting. Cesar’s interest in the built environment includes his work as a volunteer for Habitat for Humanity.

Get it. Know it. Use it.