SCRUG November 2015

This meeting was the

Add In Extravaganza

The Autodesk App Store has programs that can be added into Revit to do a variety of things. Nick Kramer  led the discussion.

He organized the presentation into three parts:

1. Free Apps
2. Subscription Apps
3. Paid Apps

Free Apps

• COINS - A click on the icon creates a new view with a scope box. The box can be adjusted by a small dialog box. A similar functionality is built into Revit, but COINS offers the ability to toggle it on & off and one may name the view as one create it which saves it in the project browser.
• CAD to Earth - When Google spun off SketchUp the link to Google Earth went with it. This addin brings it back.
• Align for tags - Generally one must eyeball the alignment of the various types of tags. If one spends the time to place the origin of all the various tag types in the same spot, this addin will get them all to line up.
• XLSX - This addin allows a two way communication with MS Excel. One may use a spreadsheet to coordinate information from various tables, schedules or control geometry.
• Revizto - Originally created as a paid walk through visualization tool, now it is free.
• Dynamo - Not so much an app as a programming language. Its use of visual elements opens up programming to a broad audience. Dynamo can do anything that Revit can do. Dynamo can do lots of things that Revit otherwise "cannot" do.

Subscription Apps

• etransmit - This app packages Revit files for archiving or transmitting. It can upgrade older files, strip views, remove sheets, and do another variety of things to reduce file size.
• Site Designer - Autodesk bought this app form another company. It has a stiff learning curve and gives Revit powerful site modeling commands.
• Space Naming Utility - For our MEP friends, it makes connecting MEP spaces with architectural rooms and areas a breeze.
• Worksharing Monitor - Companies with multiple people working in the same model will find this very useful. It keeps track of who is working in the model, when they save, and so forth.
• Batch print - Yes, batch printing is built into Revit, but this app improves on it. You may reorder sheets. Often it is the case that the first few sheets start with a "T" or a"G" and sort behind the "A" sheets.  
• Shared Reference Point - If the Revit origin point is not working as a coordination place between files, this app will create a new reference point to help files get on the same page. 
• Extensions - This is another consultants focused app (SMEP).
• NAVIS Exporter - Not much use for this now that NAVIS can read and write .rvt files.

Paid Apps

• Keynote Manager+ - Managing the text file based keynotes lists are made easy with this app and its lower priced cousin. The cheaper version is an external app. The more expensive one works inside Revit. Internet connection required! 
• Bluebeam - This advanced PDF writer is not offered in the App Store. When you install the program, it installs the app in Revit. 
• Kiwicodes - Actually a series of apps. Check the website for the list.
• CASE Tools - Also a series of apps. Sadly, this company was purchased and no new installs are offered. One app that I miss is the one that quickly creates drafting views and places images in them. The app also can resize the images based on user input. The end result is every photo with the same x and y dimensions. I remember importing entire folders of images for projects. 
• Rush Forth Tools - These tools focus on MS Excel integration & parameter manipulation. 
• UNIFI - A content management solution.
• CTC BIM - BIM tools for managers.
• EXCEL 2R - This addin allows a two way communication with MS Excel. 
• Solibre - A code compliance and design review tool.

These were the apps that we had time to speak about in the limited time of teh meeting. There are obviously many other addins available for Revit.

After the overall review of the addins we had a demonstration of COINS. It is very easy to use and after a few tries, we figured out what the controls did without reading any "help" file.