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: 

12.4.12::Revit 201:
Converting Blocks to Families
12.18.12::Revit 201:
Revit + Light Meter

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

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Classroom Training – Open Revit 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 weeks:

12.10-12::San Francisco
Revit Structure Fundamentals
12.11-13::Seattle
Revit Architecture Fundamentals
12.17-19::San Francisco
Revit Architecture Fundamentals

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Ideate, Inc. Announces New Ideate BIMLink Workflows at Autodesk University 2012

SAN FRANCISCO, California - 11/27/2012 – Ideate, Inc., a leading Autodesk® Authorized Developer and Autodesk solutions provider offering quality software, training, support and custom consulting services to the AEC industry, introduces new Ideate BIMLink 2013 workflow enhancements at AU 2012, November 27-29, 2012, Las Vegas, Nevada. Ideate BIMLink is an Ideate-developed Autodesk® Revit® software add-on with a five star rating on the Autodesk Exchange Apps Store.

At AU, architects, engineers, construction professionals, building owners and project managers from firms of all sizes around the world who use Ideate BIMLink can see how their requested enhancements have been integrated into the software solution to further ensure the integrity, stability and quality of their building information modeling (BIM) data.

New Ideate BIMLink features include License Borrowing enabled (2013 only), Multi-Category Links, Smart Filtering that allows exclusion of items from Export, Read and write to existing Excel files, and Coordinate (XYZ) data.

“As developers, we are committed to making sure our customers get maximum productivity from their software solutions. To that end, we ask for feedback, we listen, and we continually refine and enhance. We update Ideate BIMLink and Ideate Explorer for Revit on an ongoing basis,” says Ideate Inc. president Bob Palioca.

Ideate BIMLink lets users access, analyze, control, edit, extract, and manage BIM data with speed, ease and accuracy within a reliable and stable platform. With Ideate BIMLink, users can pull data from a Revit file into user-friendly Microsoft® Excel®, edit and push Excel data into Revit with equal ease. The data – the “I” in BIM – can then inform BIM decisions with precision. Wasteful data-entry tasks are eliminated. Tasks that once took days take only minutes. A free 30 day non-commercial trial is available: http://www.ideatebimlink.com/index.php/free-trial/

To coincide with AU 2012, Ideate, Inc. is offering worldwide an Autodesk University 2012 bundle promotion until December 31, 2012. The combination is available via easy web download. It is limited to one offer per company. Included are single, stand-alone, full, upgradeable licenses of Ideate BIMLink 2013 and Ideate Explorer for Revit 2013 at US$599. Ideate Explorer for Revit finds hidden elements in Revit databases. The promotion offers a savings of more than 50 percent from US$1249. Network pricing is also available. For details, visit http://www.ideatebimlink.com/index.php/buy-now/ or contact: ideatesoftware@ideateinc.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) and is a leading Autodesk solutions provider offering quality software, training, support and custom consulting services to the AEC industry since 1992. Headquartered in San Francisco, California and operating five Autodesk Authorized Training Centers (ATCs) in the northwestern U.S., Ideate is recognized as an Autodesk Gold Partner for Architecture, Engineering and Construction, one of Autodesk’s highest levels of authorization.

Autodesk, ATC, and Autodesk Revit, are registered trademarks or trademarks of Autodesk, Inc., and/or its subsidiaries and/or affiliates in the USA and/or other countries. All other brand names, product names or trademarks belong to their respective holders. 

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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: 

11.27.12::Revit 201:
Scheduling 201
12.4.12::Revit 201:
Converting Blocks to Families
12.18.12::Revit 201:
Revit + Light Meter

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

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Faster Is Better – Temporary Dimensions in Revit

At Ideate, we look to improve on workflow. There are default settings and then there is what works best!

PROBLEM: You want to place doors and windows a fixed distance from a wall or room corner and it just seems like there are too many clicks.

ANSWER: Change the defaults for temporary dimension placement so they measure from wall faces to the edge of a door or window. The process is reduces you work by about 75%.

Where you want to control placement or spacing of windows/doors the new settings let you click and place in a way that the makes the most of the temporary display of dimensions. A better setting in most situations than the default!

Watch the following video for an example:



Credit: Ron Palma, AEC Application Specialist – Ideate, Inc.

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Jim Cowan
Ideate AEC Application Specialist
Jim Cowan’s extensive AEC design industry experience and Autodesk design solutions expertise have made him a sought after university curriculum developer, instructor and presenter. Jim’s areas of expertise include interoperability between solutions and overcoming barriers to the adoption of Building Information Modeling (BIM). Educated in Architecture at Edinburgh College of Art/Heriot-Watt University and in Landscape Architecture at University of Manitoba, Jim has special focus on sustainability issues: daylight analysis, sun studies, lighting analysis, modeling buildings and conceptual energy modeling (models with shading devices). YouTube Channel: MrJimCowan

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Classroom Training – Open Revit 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 weeks:

12.10-12::San Francisco
Revit Structure Fundamentals
12.11-13::Seattle
Revit Architecture Fundamentals

Know your software. Sign up now!

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In Revit – Masking Regions Not Masking

In a recent Revit support case the end user was copy/pasting masking regions from one drafting view to another. The issue they were running into was the pasted masking regions were not hiding any of the drafted details on the underside of the masking region. If this happens to your details you may want to use the following trouble shooting items:
 
1. Verify that the Region is at the “Front” of the detail. Select the masking region, and in the Modify|Detail Items tab pick the Bring to Front tool.

2. Verify that Visual Style in the View Control bar is set to Hidden Line.

3. Access the Visibility Graphics dialog box and verify that Transparency is set to 0%.

4. Select the Masking Region, right-click and select Override Graphics In View>By Element. In the View Specific Element Graphics dialog box ensure that the Surface Transparency is set to 0%.

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Ron Palma
Ideate AEC Application Specialist
Ron has over 24 years of experience in the architectural industry as a drafter, designer, lead project designer, trainer, and a CAD manager implementing Autodesk Architectural Solutions for a residential design firm. His instructional background includes being an Autodesk Certified Instructor, trainer, support technician, educator at Portland and Clackamas Community Colleges, as well as a U.S. Army certified instructor where he was a senior instructor at Ft Lewis Washington. Ron is a member of the Oregon Army National Guard and platoon sergeant, training and mentoring soldiers in their careers. Ron is a published writer and continues to author professional technical training manuals and shorts for AutoCAD, AutoCAD Architecture, and Revit. As an Autodesk Certified Instructor, Ron provides Revit Architecture training and support for AEC firms. Follow Ron @RonPalmaAEC.

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eLearning – Upcoming 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: 

11.20.12::Revit 201:
Design Options
11.27.12::Revit 201:
Scheduling 201
12.4.12::Revit 201:
Converting Blocks to Families

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

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Part 1: Loaded Type Has Been Renamed… to Protect the Innocent

Copy/Monitor Quirkiness Between Revit MEP and Revit Architecture

While researching an issue for an Ideate BIMLink customer, I ran into some quirky issues with the Revit MEP Copy/Monitor tool as it pertains to the copying of the “Architecture” families into the MEP project. 

Major Problem: My copy/monitored Revit Architectural families that show up in the Revit MEP project is not in the exact same location, nor does ALL of my parameter information come across and it does not get updated if I make a change!

To properly answer the above question we need to separate it out into its individual problem statements. 

Problem 1: Families are not in the same location. 

The reason for this is twofold. One is this statement from the Revit MEP help file itself: When copied, the host-based fixture type is automatically converted to a face-based fixture type in Revit. (The geometry of the original fixture family is copied to a face-based family in Revit.) This conversion enables easier hosting of these fixtures on surfaces in linked models. 

Family Changed From Ceiling to Face

The second has to do with how the Revit family itself was built. Most, if not all of the out of the box Revit MEP families were created with reference plans that are set to “act” or “define” the origin. Whereas not every Revit Architecture family has reference plans set that way. This is very apparent when a Revit Architecture family is swapped out for a Revit MEP family, as shown in the following video:

Family Changed to Type Mapping
 

As you notice in this particular video the height of the Revit Architecture outlet is 9.75" - which does carry over to the Revit MEP outlet, however, due to the way the Revit Architecture and Revit MEP families were built, the heights cannot be relied upon to match.

Problem 2: All of my Parameter information does not come across from the Linked model. 

This issue is a bit more problematic. One would assume that if a parameter exists on a Revit Architecture family then the information will come across into the Linked family. Alas, it is not to be, as demonstrated:

Family with Custom Parameters Copied

Problem 3: Parameters do not get “updated” when changed in the Linked model. 

When parameters are changed regardless of copy/monitor or type mapped – those changed values do not come through at all – only the initial copy/monitor will transfer the parameters and only those that are “type” and “system” – as noted. If the offset value (which is a parameter) is changed in the Revit Architecture file while item is copy monitored it does not cause the Revit MEP linked project to consider the fixture moved when using the Copy Monitor feature. Only if the fixture is “physically” moved (in the xyz) then Revit will generate a coordination warning.

Stay tuned because in December we’ll share information about using Ideate BIMLink as a way to push this instance data from the Revit Architecture to the Revit MEP file.

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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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Classroom Training – Open Revit 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 weeks:

11.28-30::San Francisco
Revit Architecture Fundamentals
12.10-12::San Francisco
Revit Structure Fundamentals
12.11-13::Seattle
Revit Architecture Fundamentals

Know your software. Sign up now!

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Quantifying Reinforcement in Revit Structure and Ideate BIMLink

One of the benefits of modeling reinforcement in your Revit model is that you can quantify it via a schedule. However, it is common practice for rebar schedules to typically include element cross-sectional geometry mixed with the actual rebar specification. As you know, in Revit Structure these two types of data can be extracted into separate tables i.e. – host element table and Structural Rebar table. The two can have relational parameters but cannot be combined into a single table.
 
Ideate BIMLink exposes this data and lets you extract information from the host object that the rebar is placed in, thus allowing you to create a schedule that contains both rebar information as well as information about the elements it is placed in. Creating such a schedule using Ideate BIMLink is easy:
 
1. Launch IdeateBIMLink from the Add-Ins tab

2. Create a New Link with Structural Rebar as the category

3. In the Properties dialog box, notice how you can add data about the objects that the rebar is hosted in

You can export this data to Microsoft Excel, Edit it if need be and bring it back into the Revit Model.

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Shruti Harve, LEED AP

Ideate Senior AEC 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.

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eLearning – Upcoming 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: 

11.12.12::Navisworks 201:
Clash Detection
11.20.12::Revit 201:
Design Options

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.

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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 weeks:

11.13-15::Portland
Revit MEP Electrical Fundamentals
11.13::San Jose
AutoCAD 3D Drawing and Modeling
11.28-30::San Francisco
Revit Architecture Fundamentals

Know your software. Sign up now!

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eLearning – Upcoming 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: 

11.12.12::Navisworks 201:
Clash Detection
11.20.12::Revit 201:
Design Options

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.

Read More