Content Managers?

[Sweetshelby]

Has anyone tried out any Revit Content Managers? I found two online BIMContent and SmartBIM and just wanted to get some opinions from users. They look like a good idea to help find Families easier. Any feedback would be great!

Thanks,

[barathd]

Sounds promising - not sure it has much worth while content. I'm curious as well.

Regards

Dick Barath

[patricks]

We bought the Tectonic package last year, which has since been acquired by SmartBIM. I have it loaded on my machine now and running in 2008.

Although I haven't really had a chance to do much with it, it does come with a TON of content.

The issue I'm facing, though, is how to best integrate that content with our own office content we already have stored on our server.

[Sweetshelby]

How much did it cost to purchase and does it work as a network install? Have you used there content or had them build something for you?

[patricks]

No idea on price - boss purchased. I think I just d/l and installed something from their website. It was a standard installation if I remember. No idea on network deployment.

[andrew.arnold]

We bought the Tectonic package last year, which has since been acquired by SmartBIM. I have it loaded on my machine now and running in 2008.

Although I haven't really had a chance to do much with it, it does come with a TON of content.

The issue I'm facing, though, is how to best integrate that content with our own office content we already have stored on our server.

Hi,

If you are using SmartBIM Library you can incrementally harvest Family content using the SBL Family Content Publisher Revit Plug-in by structuring the folders where you place families properly. The next version of SBL will support viewing multiple libraries, and library merge operations that allow you to flexibly add families from one library to another.

You can learn more about SmartBIM Library from the BIM Community section of the Reed Construction Data web site, http://www.reedconstructiondata.com/bim/

Regards,

Andrew Arnold
SmartBIM Product Manager, AECO solutions
Reed Construction Data

[barathd]

Andrew:

What does it cost.

[patricks]

Hi,

If you are using SmartBIM Library you can incrementally harvest Family content using the SBL Family Content Publisher Revit Plug-in by structuring the folders where you place families properly. The next version of SBL will support viewing multiple libraries, and library merge operations that allow you to flexibly add families from one library to another.

You can learn more about SmartBIM Library from the BIM Community section of the Reed Construction Data web site, http://www.reedconstructiondata.com/bim/

Regards,

Andrew Arnold
SmartBIM Product Manager, AECO solutions
Reed Construction Data

Are there any new libraries available with 2009 content yet? The lighting families I see in the SB library right now are made for 2008, which will not render correctly in 2009.

[mbalsom]

I have been using this one for a while now http://www.familit.com and find it very good. takes up minimal desktop. Has some great added features, really like catalouge editor so easy on the fly. Has some content libraries.

[andrew.arnold]

SmartBIM Library Manager ships with Revit 2008 or Revit 2009 content. You can select the Revit version when you download the installer.

Andrew

Andrew Arnold
SmartBIM Product Manager, AECO solutions
Reed Construction Data

[andrew.arnold]

SmartBIM Library has a tiered pricing model based on the number of seats in your firm. You can learn more about SmartBIM Library features and pricing by inquiring through the Reed SmartBIM community web site, http://www.reedconstructiondata.com/building-information-modeling/bim-library/

[patricks]

I downloaded and installed the 2009 version, but did not get any extra menus or anything in my Revit 2009 program.

[chodosh]

An interface in within Revit is probably coming eventually with the evolution of Autodesk SEEK Beta (formerly the Content Search Alpha website now beefed up and linked to the user interface). Both the Familit and Content Manager from REED are external tools, not imbedded in Revit, and are capable of Library management for content local in your office, as well as content from on-line, allowing you to manage attributed content through more powerful means than our familiar Window's file tree.

[JamesVan]

I downloaded and installed the 2009 version, but did not get any extra menus or anything in my Revit 2009 program.

It is a stand alone program from which you can drag and drop content into Revit. No menu or toolbar in Revit.

[dbaldacchino]

Patrick, are you talking about SmartBim not being on your menubar? I recently installed it and I do get a drop-down menu and a toolbar (see attached).

[patricks]

Yeah that's it. I have it in 2008 (and an annoying extra toolbar row that shows up EVERY time I open 2008), but no menu or toolbar button or anything in 2009.

[DoTheBIM]

You will have to edit the revit.ini file after your install. The installer doesn't seem to be able to determine which Revit installation it belongs to. I had to do this months ago as well to get the menus to show up in 2009.

[dbaldacchino]

I didn't edit anything manually, so perhaps they fixed it recently. I have Revit Building 9.1 (can't let go!) and RAC 2008 & 2009 installed.

[iandidesign]

Regarding the common conundrum of managing office &/or project specific vs. OOTB content, I would hope that any Content Manager add-on would handle this without having to "physically" merge the files. Isn't that the point?

What I want to see are all the OOTB toilets grouped with any custom or 3rd party toilets, all in a single browser with preview image(s), data summary, etc. while maintaining my own directory structure so I can manage the different update requirements of each subset. Can someone please confirm if this possible with any of the products currently on the market and how well it works. Thanks.

BTW, this has been built into ArchiCAD for forever, although their libraries are loaded dynamically which is presents it's own set of issues.

[DoTheBIM]

I'm not sure about the others, but SmartBIM is largely a library "browser" rather than a "manager". It's been indicated that the direction for the product is to make it a manager as far as I'm aware, but everything that I've seen to date indicates it's a browser aimed at being a better alternative to the file folder method used through native revit interface. Now you can produce and open multiple libraries with the tool if you want... but from my experience it writes it's own directory structure and copies your content there (been a while since I played with it though) so some things may have changed regarding that. BIMContent is much closer to a "manager" type application but is a bit overwhelming for the typical user when first installed and opened when compared to SmartBIM. If the interface can be simplified via customization then you might have the best of both worlds there. I think I remember BIM Content Manager leaving your content where you want it and only making reference to it's location for drag and drop or other type operations, not sure how it addresses multiple libraries if at all. I'd lean to the side of the fence that the content provided with these programs isn't worth as much as some would have you believe, because most of the time you will need to customize some aspect of it to suit your companies needs, whether it be a simple change of a parameter value or an all out rebuild to get the flexibility you need and project environment functionality you want...nonetheless it provides a good starting point or reference for someone learning to build content.

[Haden]

Regarding the common conundrum of managing office &/or project specific vs. OOTB content, I would hope that any Content Manager add-on would handle this without having to "physically" merge the files. Isn't that the point?

What I want to see are all the OOTB toilets grouped with any custom or 3rd party toilets, all in a single browser with preview image(s), data summary, etc. while maintaining my own directory structure so I can manage the different update requirements of each subset.

I think the key to managing families and content lies in the file naming structure, which can be maintained without the aide of a 3rd-party add-on, although if one had a menu system that would facilitate following such a file-naming standard, it would help.

When I last looked at the Techtonic BIM Library manager (now Reed SBL), one thing that its library had going for it was a good consistent naming structure to the families provided, regardless of the folder structure. Such a naming standard which starts at the left and moves from general to specific is the best way to name family files. Where this becomes especially helpful is from within Revit, especially when hitting the "COMPONENT" button, where it helps to have all the component families list alpha-numerically sorted by the type of Revit family first, then the specifics second.

There is nothing more frustrating than looking through an alpha-sorted list for a specific sink, for example, and not knowing whether to look in the list for
"SINK-BATH-OVAL***", "LAV-OVAL***", "OVAL-SINK***", or "UNDERMOUNT-SINK-***", etc. :banghead:

This is something that every office should have in place, with or without the aid of a 3rd-party content manager routine. It's just unfortunate that the OOTB content that comes with Revit does not take into account such a logical naming strategy!

[Brian Myers]

It's just unfortunate that the OOTB content that comes with Revit does not take into account such a logical naming strategy!

I find historically one individuals "logical naming strategy" is another individuals "man, that makes no sense". :lol:

I've seen so many businesses now that I really can't keep count, and amazingly hardly any of them have the exact same strategy beyond perhaps "divisions" for specific types of items or the occasional firm that follows a national CAD standard to the letter (which really doesn't take into account a Revit style environment). I do agree that a standardize naming convention in the office can/is vital, but a good content manager can really be more effective especially in large office environments where large quantity and varied content can make choosing between similar items very difficult without seeing it first hand. :beer:

(As someone mentioned before, familit is a nice program and I've used it in the past).

[Haden]

I find historically one individuals "logical naming strategy" is another individuals "man, that makes no sense".

I think most of us are capable of recognizing the difference between one of several valid strategies, and an example where it is clear that no thought has been put into how things are named. ;)
I personally don't care who comes up with a strategy, but I think it's a little hard to defend the idea of ignoring an opportunity to maintain order in a simple way.

[iandidesign]

Using the file names as the primary organizing mechanism is extremely difficult maintain. With thousands of parts coming from a myriad of sources the office BIM manager is forced to rename everything except locally created content to match their chosen system, and repeat that effort with every upgrade. I think using metadata would provide a much more robust solution. Each part should have category and sub-category tags, version numbers, etc. This would enable sorting and searching by multiple criteria, be adaptable to regional classification systems, integrate with spec generating software, and allow intelligent replacement. Moreover, the content could be spread across any number of folders or network volumes, making the management of those myriad sources easier, while still aggregating like parts at the time of selection. Such a system would require the cooperation of content creators. Of course if a content manager was built-in then everyone would comply, especially manufacturers wanting to ensure their products were recognized by targeted seaches.

[Chad Smith]

I recently asked Autodesk if there was a company install version of Seek, and the answer I got from the Product Manager was no, but he wanted to hear more about what I would expect from such a product.
I typed up a 2 page brief and emailed it back. Some of the issues covered were;

Inter-office content networking, with networking failure backups so that you can continue to access content
Simple branding of the UI to suit the company image
Content management within the Seek UI
Browsing integration directly within Autodesk products
Using Type Catalogues and only loading in Types you require, all using the i-Drop technology
A pricing structure that I would consider to be fair and what I would think our company would pay forI think Autodesk have done a great job with developing Seek, epsecially with the i-Drop and the 3D viewer which addresses sharing content between manufacturers and companies. But, Autodesk currently doesn't have a means to address custom built company content, and I think Seek would make a great framework to develop this from.

The Seek team are open to suggestions if you feel this could be a great way to go then let them know.

[Chad Smith]

An interesting comment by Scott over on this thread (http://forums.augi.com/showthread.php?p=917531#post917531).

Rather than a server based approach as I mentioned in my last post, I'm now leaning towards a simpler approach that searches metadata in the content folders or reads directly from the content itself. If it's being searched directly from the software like Revit, I wouldn't think this should be too hard. Simple and not relying on a database setup.

[Mike Sealander]

Metadata would be the way to go, like Adobe has. We started using the Adobe manager for Creative Suite, and were able to dump a gazillion images in the same folder, and still be able to find them. Depending on the file name alone for categorization is limiting. Metadata could sort by manufacturer, model, color...in fact, by any family parameter.

[dhurtubise]

Thumbnail Explorer
http://www.raizlabs.com/software/thumbnailexplorer/Default.asp

10$ a piece and works great :-)

[Parker Chris]

I have been using this one for a while now http://www.familit.com and find it very good. takes up minimal desktop. Has some great added features, really like catalogue editor so easy on the fly. Has some content libraries.

Familit - This website no longer exists. However the majority of families from that website are available on the following website:https://measuredsurvey365.co.uk/category/revit-families/