Essential Revit Add-ins for MEP Professionals
I have been using Revit since 2007 and various add-ins have been essential aids in our daily workflows. Without them some of what we did/do now, could not have been completed. Even though AUGI World has a dedicated section every month called Inside Track, currently written by Rina Sahay and is dedicated to 3rd Party Add-ins for Revit, AutoCAD and various other BIM software, our July issue is all about 3rd Party Add-ins. Make sure you check it out every month. Both Rina and the previous author, Shaun Bryant, may have covered some of the essential add-ins that I will be discussing here in past issues. I will showcase how these add-ins help with my everyday workflows as a BIM Manager so let’s jump right in.
Keynote Manager
Keynote Manager, created by Steve Faust at Revolution Design, is probably one of the first Revit add-ins I used when I first started using Revit. At the time, we were looking for a way to utilize the same notes across various sheets. After doing some research and trying numerous workarounds, I found Keynote Manager. It was developed as a better version of the “out of the box” Keynote functionality in Revit for Architecture/Structure. It is great at what it was created for, but for MEP, it did not do so well. We still gave it a go and I developed a strategy to use it for MEP. Our system was to have different sections of notes for each discipline with a specific letter for that discipline to separate the notes since the Key Value cannot be the same. I still use a variation of that method to this day as seen in Figure 1.
Figure 1 - Master Keynotes
I was constantly breaking the tool and having to reach out to Steve for fixes or workarounds and as an independent developer, he was great at getting back to me and fixing the things I broke. In fact, he is still that way today. Thank you, Steve, for putting up with all my antics over the years.
We recently started using a Master Keynote file that houses several hundred notes that can be “imported”, for lack of a better word, into a projects Keynote file and renumbered as needed. This newish functionality in Keynote Manager has been a game changer for us using the same notes on all projects. Apparently, this feature has been available since version 13.5, and we are on version 20 now. Guess I was living under a rock when that dropped, oops. If you are creating keynotes in Revit, then you absolutely should be using Keynote Manager!
CTC Software – BIM Project Suite and BIM Manager Suite
I have also been using this suite of tools for quite a long time as well. Probably just as long as I have been using Keynote Manager. There are a lot of tools within each suite and over the years a few new ones have been added that I am using today. Back in the day, before the cloud was a thing, we used to do weekly/bi-weekly model exchanges. One tool that I used all the time during these ancient times was the Project Cleaner from the BIM Manager Suite. This tool, at the time, was invaluable for our projects. Now that all of our projects are in the cloud, this tool has been “retired” for me.
Spreadsheet Link
This tool was created to give you the ability to export your Revit Schedules to excel, have someone without Revit access manipulate the data outside of Revit and then import it back into the model. I, however, do not use it for this. I use it an entirely different way. Most of us are aware that editing schedules in Revit can be time consuming. I use Spreadsheet Link (SL) to quickly rename/renumber our sheets and views during our Model Setup process. When using SL in Revit, it gives you an Excel looking dialogue. In the SL settings you will see I have a Master Sheet List and Master View list created in our Starter File that I open here. After adding the schedules to In the SL After unlocking it (not sure why this is still a thing though), I use Excel functionality to copy/paste information between lines or drag the information down, so it renumbers it. I also use Find/Replace to change out information like Level 1 to First Floor or something similar. This has saved me countless hours across a multitude of projects over the years.
Figure 2 - Spreadsheet Link Settings
Schedule XL
While this tool also works with Excel Schedules, instead of being a round trip of information, this is a one-way trip of data from Excel to Revit. When imported, you can create a schedule or a drafting view. When creating a schedule from Excel, the settings allow you to change how that looks so these imported Excel schedules look and feel more like a native Revit schedule. With either a schedule or drafting view, if that data is updated in its original Excel format, it can be reloaded and updated in Revit. It will also automatically update when the project is first opened. This is a great tool when you have something like a Matrix or some other complex schedule that is not easily recreated in Revit.
Sheet Assistant
This is a fairly new tool that came out a few years/versions ago and I use it for every single model I set up. I even wrote it into the documented process that I developed for others to use when they set up our models. As a long-time BIM Manager, I pride myself on consistency across disciplines. When MEPF is in the same model, which has been the norm for quite some time, I want to be able to “flip” through the sheets and have all the views, notes, etc., lined up in the same exact location. I do my best to make sure these views line up with our clients' (typically architects) views as well. There have been some projects where that was not the case though. Our standard is to have at least 5” of blank space on the right side of the sheet for General Notes, Keynotes, Legends and Keyplans. Since Architect’s have dimensioned plans with Gridlines, those dimensions and extended gridlines impede on that 5” of blank space from time to time. Our gridlines extend to about 5’ outside of the building on the farthest wall and if the view placement, even with those shortened gridlines, I will move our views to the left on the sheet to accommodate the minimum space of 5”.
Using this tool is super simple. You will need to set up a sheet how you want it to look. How you do that is completely up to you. I either use a detail line from grid intersection to Title Block corner or reference lines when no grids are present. Once your sheet is set up, you use it as a template to place the views for the other sheets in the same place. Select the template sheet and then select the sheets you wish to use the same view placement. With the sheets selected, you just go down the list, selecting the “existing unplaced view” and selecting the view from the drop-down menu. Make sure the radio button is filled in, otherwise the view won’t be placed when you hit apply. If you have views placed in different locations on the sheets, you will need to repeat this for every view that is different.
Figure 3 - Sheet Assistant Workflow
The key to getting the views to line up using Sheet Assistant is to have similar views cropped the same way (recommended to use scope boxes) and to have no sections placed on the views.
View Creator
Our starter file has two floor levels and a roof with all the discipline-specific views we use that work for most of our projects. If these three levels are not enough, I will use View Creator to create additional levels and all the necessary views for the project. When creating additional views, you select the level associated with the view, select all the view templates you want to create views from, the views phase and the scope box you want to use for the view. Make sure you give the different sections an abbreviation that matches your view naming standards and add them to the bottom before hitting create views.
Figure 4 - View Creator Dialogue
Besides creating additional levels and views, View Creator does a few other things that I have not particularly used but could be useful for some of you reading this.
- Elevation, Section and Detail Creation
- Dependent Views – create dependent views utilizing scope boxes
- 3D Views – create 3D views based on view templates
- Schedules – duplicate schedules by level or phase
- Sheets/Title Blocks – view and control Title Block usage
- Worksets – create 3D views for specific worksets
- Duplicate Views – allows mass/repetitive duplication of multiple views
- View Templates – drag and drops views to assign view templates
Shared Parameter Manager
Wow, this tool has been a tremendous help for me when managing the Shared Parameters for all the companies I have worked for since I started in this industry. It allows me to create custom parameters within any of the custom parameter groups we have. I can easily move them from group to group if need be or I can make a selection set of parameters to load into a project or family. I have tried other Parameter Management tools and I always find my way back to this one.
Figure 5 - Shared Parameter Manager Dialogue
There are a few other tools that I use from CTC Software, like Type Swapper, Import/Link Manager and Family Processor that I won’t be discussing here so I can talk about some other handy tools for my daily workflows.
Scope Box Synchronizer
I found this handy little free tool from Omnia Revit on the Autodesk App Store many ions ago. It looks at any links you have and your model and will bring those Scope Boxes into your model from the linked model with the click of a button. When you run the tool later, it will tell you if those scope boxes are out of sync with the linked model and allow you to fix that. Version 2.0 from the end of 2023 has a new UI that I am eager to try out because my work computer still has an older version installed. If you are using Scope Boxes between models, this is a must-have tool.
Figure 6 - Scope Box Synchronizer
pyRevit
Now pyRevit has been featured several times before within the pages of AUGI World but how does it help with my workflows? Out of all the tools built into pyRevit there are a few that I use all the time. The first being the option to turn on Colored Tabs for the UI. Now this might not be important to you, but this helps me visually determine which tabs belong to the same project or family.
Figure 7 - pyRevit Colored Tab Settings
The second being a few of the Wipe Commands: Wipe Unpurgeable Viewport Types (for those pesky random viewport types that randomly show up in our projects), Wipe Data Schema (been using that a lot lately because of Schema conflicts in 2024), and Wipe BIM360 Collab Cache (nice single button to clean out some space on the HD and corrupt local files).
Figure 8 - pyRevit Wipe Commands
Arrowhead Assigner
From Parallax Team, this tool allows you to batch update the arrowhead type being used by your tags, text types and annotations. Having to do this one family type at a time was a huge chore. Now that I can do this in a matter of a few minutes, I will never go without this tool again.
Figure 9 - Arrowhead Assigner
Preview Image Generator (P.I.G.)
When it comes to creating preview images for Windows in File Explorer, it’s absolutely horrid. For the Revit families, this is especially the case. The native way these are created makes it impossible to tell what most of the content looks like when you set File Explorer view to any of the Icon options. PIG as I call it, it even has a PIG in its logo, is here to save the day and create crisp, clean and easily identifiable thumbnail previews for your Revit families. These thumbnails are used in various locations involving Revit from file explorer, opening a Revit family or a Content Management Solution. More on the latter later.
Figure 10 - PIG Settings
CMS (Content Management Solutions)
I would recommend a Content Management Solution for any firm that has Revit content they are maintaining. There are several options out there and it is up to you and your firm to decide which one works best for your needs. Family Browser, Hive, Avail and Unifi (now called Content Catalog) are the main ones I know about. I have used all of them but Avail so far. For quite a long time I used Family Browser from Philip Miller at Kiwi Codes and I even beta tested V4 for him. It works great when your content lives on a network drive and that is where you want that content to live. We are currently using Unifi 3.10. I have beta tested the new Content Catalog version of Unifi and there is a lot left to be desired with several key features from Unifi being omitted in the new version. I am pretty sure we will continue to use Unifi as long as we can. What drew me to Unifi in the first place was not having to maintain multiple versions of our Revit families because we used many different versions of Revit. I like to create content in the oldest version of Revit so that content updates can be used on most projects. Users having to see the upgrading dialogue each time they loaded content, while very minimal, was still a pain point for users. This forced me to have several versions of content just so they would not see the upgraded dialogue. Unifi eliminates that because your content is upgraded in the cloud and the appropriate version is loaded into your project without watching it get upgraded. Win-Win for everyone in my book. Another great feature of Unifi is the different libraries you can create (and control access to) as well as the built-in content request function which is currently missing from Content Catalog.
Figure 11 - Unifi Libraries
Honorable Mentions
While these may be the main tools in my current toolbox, there are plenty of others that I have used or are currently using in my day-to-day tasks, and I would like to mention a few of them here that you can look up and research for yourself. Those tools are Autodesk’s BIM Interoperability Tools, Iconic BIM – Guardian, JOTools – Transfer Single, Evolve Labs – Helix, ArchiCAD – IFC Exchange, DiRoots – ProSheets, and the Bluebeam Add-in.
Conclusion
To sum up, MEP professionals can improve their workflow by using Revit add-ins. These tools, such as Keynote Manager, CTC Software's BIM Project Suite and BIM Manager Suite, offer various features that can reduce time and boost efficiency. Other tools like Scope Box Synchronizer, pyRevit, Arrowhead Assigner, and Preview Image Generator also have unique advantages. A Content Management Solution is also suggested for firms that need to manage their Revit content. By using the right mix of add-ins, MEP professionals can simplify their work and achieve more productivity. What Revit add-ins do you have in your toolbox?
