Tools of the Trade: 4 Innovative Revit Add-ins from Bootcamp Alumni

 I often get asked what type of add-ins a Revit Add-in Bootcamp graduate can create after completing the program. The answer is a lot of different kinds! In the Bootcamp, students learn how to develop practical, effective tools that streamline workflows and tackle real-world challenges. Here is a selection of Revit add-ins that recent Bootcamp students have created. These tools demonstrate the students' creativity and the hands-on, real-world skills they gain during the Bootcamp. Here is a selection of four tools created by recent Bootcamp graduates.

Create Legends from Views

If you're tired of manually creating legends for your projects, this add-in is for you! Sam Taylor, a recent graduate of the Revit Add-in Bootcamp, built a tool to automate the creation of legends from section views. He works for an architectural cladding manufacturer whose Revit models rely heavily on assemblies to create production tickets (assembly sheets). Certain panel features are the same on all panels, such as reveals, block-outs, and connection features, so they use legend views to describe these standard features on the tickets.

Here's how it works: you select a section view in the project browser, run the command, and the add-in exports that view as a DWG file. It then re-imports the DWG into a legend view, which it names after the selected view. This was a big win for Sam's company. A typical project contains a lot of panels, and making all the tickets is a tedious job. The process became more efficient and consistent by automating the creation of the legend views and placing them onto the corresponding assembly sheets.

What's next? Sam is already working on a new version incorporating a user interface so users can select multiple section views simultaneously, boosting productivity and saving time.

Anybody Out There?

Have you ever wondered about users leaving Revit open overnight? Nothing bad could happen, right? Well, one of our Bootcamp students, Aniket Dikshit, faced this issue at his firm, Kohn Pedersen Fox (KPF). Many team members left their computers on overnight, often with Revit open and a file loaded. This led to model corruption and ownership conflicts the next day. Yikes! To solve this, they created the "Anybody Out There" add-in.

This tool tracks user activity and checks if the user has been idle in Revit for over three hours. If the user has been inactive for that long and it's after 7 PM, a pop-up appears, giving them 5 minutes to confirm whether they're still working. If there's no response, the add-in automatically synchronizes and closes their Revit session. Problem solved!

This simple yet effective tool has helped KPF avoid unnecessary file conflicts, keeping projects running smoothly. No more corrupted models or forgotten sessions that hog ownership of elements. This add-in ensures that everyone's model is protected, even after hours.

Auto-Spaces for Levels and Phases

Creating spaces across multiple levels and phases in a project can be tedious and time-consuming. Jason Mammen of Alvine Engineering knew this pain all too well. So what does someone armed with Revit programming skills do? He set out to automate the process.

The "Auto-Spaces for Levels and Phases" add-in automates the creation of spaces for MEP projects with just a few clicks. Before this, spaces had to be added manually, level by level, and phase by phase—a process that frequently led to errors and oversights. Now, the add-in does all the work. The tool's dialog displays the space coordination views in the model. These views are created using another add-in Jason created. Users select the coordination views from which they want to generate spaces and specify the options for making them, such as auto transfer of room data and minimum room square footage. Clicking the "Continue" button generates the spaces from the selected coordination views and applies the options.

Thanks to this tool, Alvine Engineering is now saving hours of manual labor while ensuring that all spaces are created accurately and consistently across projects. This is another example of how simple automation can significantly impact project efficiency.

Replace Elevation Designation

If you work for production home builders, you know that clients often request changes to the front elevation designs of their homes. It could be a material change or a different design feature. Regardless, updating the model to account for elevation changes can be labor-intensive. Tom Flaherty, a BIM Manager at Lifestyle USA Design, saw an opportunity to speed up this process with his "Replace Elevation Designation" add-in.

The add-in handles a variety of tasks at once. It renames views, replaces the elevation letter in the sheet number, and updates other crucial project details, such as the code filter, masonry percentage, and sheet group names. Additionally, it applies new standards to sheet names and replaces seven different schedules with the updated elevation details—all in a fraction of the time it used to take.

What once required 2-3 hours of manual adjustments now takes only 2-3 minutes. This add-in has significantly streamlined their team's workflow, reducing the time spent on repetitive tasks and minimizing the potential for errors. No one wants to rename views by hand, and now, thanks to Tom's add-in, no one has to!

Conclusion

These are just a few examples of the problem-solving tools students have developed during the Revit Add-In Bootcamp. Each one addresses a real-world issue, demonstrating the immediate and lasting value of learning how to create custom add-ins.

By enrolling in the Bootcamp, you'll gain the skills to create powerful tools tailored to your professional needs. Whether you want to automate tedious tasks, enhance collaboration, or increase productivity, the Revit Add-In Bootcamp provides the knowledge and hands-on experience to get you there.

Ready to take your Revit skills to the next level?

Enroll now and start building custom add-ins that can transform your work. Click here to learn more and secure your spot in the next session. I can't wait to see what incredible tools you'll create!