Content Managers?

[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.

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".

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.

(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 for

I 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.

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/thu...er/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/cate...evit-families/