Converting a SAT file to IFC for Import to Revit and Navisworks and Exploding to individual forms (better element hierarchy)

Luke Johnson

This can be done with AutoCAD MEP 2015, or Architecture, or similar verticals that have the IFCEXPORT command.

  1. Open AutoCAD MEP
  2. New DWG file
  3. IMPORT -> select SAT file
  4. IFCEXPORT
  5. Open IFC in Revit

The advantage of doing this over importing the SAT directly to a Generic Model family is that the IFC method will result in individual forms for each bit of the SAT file. If there are 1200 forms, you will get 1200 families in Revit. This, in turn, will export to Navisworks with this level of element hierarchy (instead of just one big imported SAT element).

This will also result in higher granularity of clashes when using the converted SAT via IFC method (more forms to clash against).

You probably know that you can attempt to explode a SAT in a Revit family, but I find that sometimes unsupported elements disappear using this method… so I like my way via AutoCAD a bit better at this stage.

Are you using the BIM 360 IdeaStation?

Luke Johnson

IdeaStation is the Autodesk term for a place to share and rate your wishlist items on various products. The BIM 360 version is here:

BIM 360 IdeaStation – Autodesk Community

You can up the rating of a given idea by clicking the Kudos button. Do you like my idea?

There are IdeaStations for other Autodesk products too. Check them out at:
Ideas-Page – Autodesk Community

Exclusive Competition – Your opportunity to win a new SpaceMouse Pro Wireless from 3Dconnexion

Luke Johnson

I have been a vocal supporter of 3D mice for some time now. I believe they make the experience of working with 3D models much more tactile and engaging. Personally, I use a SpacePilot Pro all day (the wired version), and it is brilliant for smoothly coordinating models in Navisworks. Newer versions of Revit (with improved display performance) have also made the 3D mouse proposition much more Revit-friendly.

I suggested the folks at 3Dconnexion run a competition through What Revit Wants, but I didn’t want to run a plain ‘ole “Why I want a 3D mouse”  thing. Instead, I think its important for the designers and providers of these devices to understand why there is some resistance coming from the AEC community. Is it cost? Organizational restrictions? Have you tried them in the past and found them hard to use? I’m not giving you any more ideas – its a competition!

And if you are using one, why do you love it? Honest responses will be more highly valued.

Up for grabs are two SpaceMouse Pro Wireless devices – a cutting edge model, released just a few weeks ago. Here are the links to the competition entry pages:

Note: this competition closes on 31 July 2014
All the best with your entries!

You may also want to check out my review on using a SpacePilot Pro with Revit.

Decreasing the pain with Point Clouds

Luke Johnson

A few tips from Adam Sheather:

  • Change your (Recap) temporary folder locations for conversion 
  • If you need to move cloud file between offices, convert them first to lower transfer times.
  • Ask for ptg files for readability
  • Using Remote Desktop services may be an issue if your card doesn’t support at least OpenGL 3.1 for remote services.

From:
Stuff and BIMs: Point Cloud beginer tips

You may also be interested in my detailed post at:
What Revit Wants: Creating Revit Geometry from Point Clouds (Points to BIM workflows)

Embed Dynamo, Python, macro or other code to Create Self Aware Families in Revit – recorded RTCNA presentation from Zach Kron

Luke Johnson

Video:

via this tweet

my tweet:

Three things I've learned from 6 years of blogging

Luke Johnson

Back in 2008, I thought it might be cool to start a Revit and BIM blog – but I had no idea how long my interest in the subject would endure, or how many readers would actually be interested in what I had to say. I have certainly learnt a lot over that time, and I hope I’ve been able to help a few of you as well.  Here are 3 things that blogging has taught me:

  1. Writing forces you to distill and crystallize your thoughts, and often prompts you to challenge the very things you are suggesting your readers accept
  2. Its more important to be consistent rather than prolific (people get bombarded with way too much information as it is!)
  3. Attribution is key – if you always share your source, others will reciprocate

And one final thought: Share your unique knowledge and workflows. Once people know the basics of a thing, they are often only interested in the un-ordinary (like formatting their Autodesk USB drives).

Over 80,000 views to this page (and counting)

But I’m not giving up yet! Thanks for your continued interest and engagement.

Some recent milestones for What Revit Wants:

And one final, sobering static:

  • over 550 draft posts waiting to be finished (!)

Concurrent Keynote Editing, Instant Keynote Update and Keynote Search addin for Revit 2015

Luke Johnson

This new keynoting addin from Kiwi Custom Solutions stores per-project Keynotes in a database to solve concurrent access problems. Revit 2015 allows some interesting pathing to happen for keynotes, that looks like this:

Using this addin, you can either create a new set of keynotes for each project (based on a template), or you can “link” projects to one common keynote definition (allowing an entire office to work collaboratively on one master keynote file).

Any changes are updated instantly in Revit.

Here’s some steps:

  1. Download trial here
  2. Install
  3. Start Revit 2015
  4. You may be prompted to activate
  5. Open or Start a Revit project
  6. The Easy Keynoter setup wizard will start…
  7. and you will be prompted to select a local or network location for the database SDF file…
  8. and give your Keynote template a name, like Default
  9. Then import an existing Keynote text file. You could start with the Natspec version. Or import your office standard.
  10. From here, you can start using and modifying your Keynotes in the Easy Keynoter dialog.

You can close the Easy Keynoter pane with the little X (like other palettes), and open it with the button on the Addins ribbon.

There is also a search option:


 Summary of key features:

  • no problems with multiple users editing the keynotes at the same time as with other systems
  • keynote changes are reflected immediately in the Revit project
  • Drag and Drop Keynotes from the Palette
  • search function

    Direct Access to Text from your Revit database using Revitlookup and SysExporter

    Luke Johnson

    Combining Revit Lookup and Sysexporter has a lot of potential for getting hard-to-reach data out of Revit in almost realtime. For example, in Revit 2013 there are limited options for scheduling Revit Links. But if we open Revit Lookup (Snoop Database), and then start Sysexporter, we can see this (find Snoop Objects in the list and select it):

    From here, we can copy that list of Revit Links to Excel and do some LEFT and RIGHT operations to strip the Element ID:

    Now, we can copy a group of element IDs to the Select by ID box in Revit (maybe need a trip to Notepad++ to remove linebreaks) to multi-select a group of Links, based on their Discipline or Level. Then, you can assign them to a particular Workset. See where I’m heading with this?