Something popped up on Exchange recently, got tweeted, and then disappeared… but now its back!
This addin allows simple import of PDFs directly into the Navisworks 2015 Project Browser as sheets that can be reviewed, marked up and quantified. Previously, to accomplish this you could open the PDF in Design Review with vector information, save as DWF and “Import Sheets and Models” to bring the DWF sheet into Navis. As you may know, the 2015 release introduced a lot more Quantification functionality for 2D, and I believe this new PDF importing tool will become a key part of that workflow.
In short, it seems that the sheet import process for Navisworks 2D documets is about to get a lot easier!
Link to PDF Reader download page (sign in with your Subscription account login on Exchange and then the Subscription only button will change to “Free” and you can download AutodeskNavisworks2015PDFReader.msi)
EDIT via MLD in the comments: In a 3D view; 1 Ensure Section box covers all elements by,Unchecking then rechecking ‘Section Box’ 2 Select some objects and the section box 3 Temporary isolate elements 4 Uncheck then recheck ‘Section Box’ again 5 Reset Temporary Hide/Isolate
Another way – is the COINS Auto-Section Box add-in available on Autodesk Exchange. Install the add-in, restart Revit, select a few objects then click the button. It will create a section box around those objects in the selected 3D view – very easy!
A third way – is through a nice tip posted by Trey at Wikihelp. Here are the basic steps:
In a plan or elevation view, create a Callout (View tab > Create panel > Callout).
Open a default 3D view.
Right-click on the View Cube.
Select Orient to View > Floor Plans, and choose the Callout view you just made. Your 3D view will automatically have a Section Box that matches the Crop Region of the Callout!
There have also been a few quite a few posts on other blogs about IFC recently. Here is a selection: Using two different versions I alternate a bit between 2012 and Revit 2013 for optimal import results. Have not quite decided yet on what is best. 13 works faster, but I’ve seen a bug on windows which I love. Right now I use the 2012 imports, and so do I upgrade the file to 13 afterwards. Using ADT as a middle-man If an item … Certainly will not be exported correctly, you can isolate it in a view, export view’et to 3D DWG for ADT and send it to the IFC from ADT. Boring… but it works. I’ve done this on an entire parking garage with a fall in all directions and had to realize that the correct 3D geometry, after all, it is very important. via Google Translate of http://revitnorge.blogspot.com/2012/04/revit-2013-og-ifc.html
Improved ArchiCAD Connection Add-In for Revit ApplicationsFree Add-In developed for use by Autodesk Revit programs in the Structure and MEP disciplines. This application is recommended for use with IFC-based model exchange between GRAPHISOFT ArchiCAD and Revit applications. The Add-In for Revit applications variously enables direct import of ArchiCAD IFC models and IFC model export to ArchiCAD, or serves to optimize Revit’s standard IFC import and export functions used to exchange data with ArchiCAD. http://www.graphisoft.com/support/archicad/downloads/interoperability/
Geometry Gym – Revit import Grasshopper IFC addon You can test for yourself. Here‘s the grasshopper files used in the demonstration and some example IFC output.. You need to download the latest plugins from http://www.geometrygym.com/downloads
Autodesk have published an add-in for Revit 2013 that automates the upgrading of RFA, template and RVT files.Go here.
File Upgrader will batch upgrade previous versions of Revit files to the Revit 2013 format. The tool is intended to help upgrade family contents, template files as well as project files. Every time users open a Revit file which was saved in a previous version of Revit, a standard dialog is displayed in the Revit user interface stating that the file is being upgraded. During the display of this dialog, Revit tries to upgrade the document to the current version. This slows down the process of opening a file. To save time opening older file versions during each of the subsequent attempts to open the file, users can manually open each of the Revit files and save it to the current version. This can be time consuming if there is a large set of files to upgrade across various folders and sub-folders. The File Upgrader tool saves time and manual labor by automating this process. This plug-in was first published as an ADN Plugin of the Month: http://labs.autodesk.com/utilities/ADN_plugins. The plug-in has been provided with the complete source code needed to build the application, with the intention of encouraging users of Autodesk software to use programming to tailor the products they use to their specific business needs.
Additional info from the documentation provided below:
Usage Inside your Revit-based application, go to “Add-ins” tab ⇒ “Upgrader” panel ⇒ “File Upgrader” to start the command. Clicking this button starts the command and launches the “Revit File Upgrader” dialog.
Under the “Source” text box, specify the location of the folder where previous versions of Revit files resides. Similarly, in the “Destination” box, specify the folder where the upgraded filers will be saved.
Check the file types you would like to upgrade; you can upgrade .rvt, .rfa, and .rte files. By default, .rvt and .rfa are checked.
Press the “Upgrade” button to start the upgrade.
Once upgrade starts, Revit will open a file one by one, and save in the destination folder. The progress can be monitored in the list box at the lower part of the dialog.
After the upgrade process is completed, a dialog box is displayed with the total count of succeeded files over total number of files confirming the completion of upgrade. The status messages are also save as a log file, UpgraderLog.txt, in the destination folder.
For some reason, if the files fail the automatic upgrade process, the users can check the log file, and manually open the files and save them to the current version after resolving the conflicts/errors using the Revit user interface.
The tool handles nested folders. It also handles catalog files (.txt files) if it exists, copying them to the destination folder.
While using this tool, please ensure that the target folder is not nested inside the source folder.
Known Issues This plug-in only works when there is an active document in Revit.
After running the plug-in, the last document remains open in the Revit’s User Interface. The file is saved, but the user will have to manually close it.
These are due to the current limitation of API. We hope to address it in future.
Finally, an easy way to access and install Revit add-ins! There is already a good selection of free tools available, like Auto Section Box and an alternate IFC Export UI:
To get there, just press the ‘X’ icon in the upper right corner:
Go to http://apps.exchange.autodesk.com/ and click Autodesk Revit on the drop-down list. A number of free add-ins are already available.
Autodesk Exchange has been active for AutoCAD for a while now, but it looks like this will become a somewhat ‘official’ delivery method for add-ins in the future (think Autodesk Seek for add-ins…)
