September 29, 2011

eLearning – Upcoming Revit Classes

Join the Ideate Tech Experts for eLearning - live online classes that provide your entire organization with easy access to premium education.

Upcoming classes include: 
10.3.11::Revit 201: Getting Started with Presentations
Each class is designed to give you specific, improved results in a particular topic. You can interact with the instructor right from your own office, while eliminating travel time. Because the class schedule rotates, you can easily select your topics of interest and choose the day which best meets your schedule.

Click here for class descriptions, times and registration link. Questions? Contact education@ideateinc.com

Get It. Know It. Use It.

September 28, 2011

Searching for Specific Content with Ideate Explorer for Revit

Recently I spoke with a client who was wanting to search for elements within their Revit model that belonged to a level. Through the use of Ideate Explorer for Revit we were able to search in the entire project, for elements that belonged to a Level, and the search was specifically for walls. The following steps are used to find walls in the image:
  • Step 1 Indicates that you are looking in the entire Project for the element(s).
  • Step 2 Select that you want to look for items on a specific level.
  • Step 3 Indicates what is being searched for. (this can be a category, or a keyword such as the word “Brick” in a wall, window, or family name.

Once the item is selected, use the Tools menu to show where the element is located in the project. Happy searching! If you would like to make suggestions on what you would like to see in future releases of Ideate Explorer for Revit send us your ideas.



Ron Palma
AEC Solutions Application Specialist

Ron has 23+ years of experience in the AEC industry as a designer, lead project designer, trainer and CAD manager. His instructional background includes Autodesk Certified Instructor, trainer, support technician, educator at Portland Community College and Clackamas Community College, and a U.S. Army certified instructor. Follow Ron @RonPalmaAEC.

Get it. Know it. Use it.

September 27, 2011

Classroom Training - Open 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.

Here are a few of the training opportunities Ideate has to offer in the coming days:
9.28-30::Portland
Revit Structure Fundamentals
10.5-7::San Francisco
Civil 3D Fundamentals
10.10-12::San Jose

Revit Architecture Fundamentals
Know your software. Sign up now!

September 26, 2011

Assess the ‘Health’ of Revit Projects Using Ideate BIMLink

During a recent review of a 16 story hospital project modeled in Revit, our Support team found something with potential to cause untold difficulties down the road. The issue would have gone completely unnoticed until problems arose if our tool Ideate BIMLink had not caught it.

The project consists of more than 500 Doors. When we created a Door link using Ideate BIMLink, we found that the ‘Link Properties’ list was showing two ‘Mark’ parameters instead of one. How could this be? The Revit schedule parameter list showed only one ‘Mark’ parameter.


Upon further review, we discovered that the information contained in the ‘Mark’ column was identical in all the Door instances except for those under one particular Door family. We began to investigate that Door family.


When we opened that particular Door family for editing, we found that someone had inserted a duplicate ‘Mark’ parameter into the family. Ideate BIMLink was picking up on the duplicate. Once the duplicate ‘Mark’ parameter was discovered, we could delete to avoid a host of conflicts and issues downstream in the project model.


We routinely use Ideate BIMLink here at Ideate, Inc. to run quality checks on Models as part of our health check service, and it is proving to be quite a useful tool in conducting these checks.

To learn more about Ideate BIMLink, please visit our website: www.ideatebimlink.com



Shruti Harve,
LEED AP, AEC Solutions Application Specialist

Shruti holds a Master of Science degree in Architectural Computing from University of Strathclyde, United Kingdom and is LEED accredited. Her experience includes working in Architecture and Construction firms in India and the United Kingdom as well as Structural Engineering firms in the Bay Area providing design, 3D modeling and drafting services. At Ideate, Shruti provides training and support for Revit Architecture, Revit Structure, 3ds Max, Ecotect and AutoCAD Architecture.

Get it. Know it. Use it.