fbpx
  • HIVE Revit Family Standards

    What are HIVE Revit Family Standards?

    HIVE Standards is a system that helps BIM managers check and maintain the quality of Revit family content for the organization. It is set up in the HIVE Portal and runs automatic checks on the content in chosen libraries. It can also be modified to fit the organization’s own standards.

    Qualified content in a library has the checks performed. If you have 500 items in a library, there may be only 100 items that qualify.

    What qualifies a piece of content?

    • families of versions greater than Revit 2020
    • families that can exist outside of a Revit project model
    • families that have not been automatically upgraded (checks the source version only)

    Configuring Family Standards

    Access Family Standards by logging into the CTC HIVE Portal.

     

    HIVE Standards

    Select the “Standards” tab and select the “Family Ruleset” on the left side bar.

    HIVE Standards

    Select the applicable settings to be used for checks.

    HIVE Standards

    • Include Shared Parameter Use in Automated Rating: if a shared parameter file has been uploaded to HIVE, it will be used in this check
    • Include Custom Parameter Use in Automated Rating: checks for parameters not typically found in families (such as built-in parameters)
    • Include Custom Parameter Naming in Automated Rating: checks that custom parameters meet the established naming rules
    • Include Parameter Grouping in Automated Rating: checks that parameter groups follow established rules

    HIVE Standards

    • File Size: set a maximum size for the family file and include it in the rating

    HIVE Standards

    • Include Mapping in Automated Rating: check that the mapping used follows established standard
    • Include Unused in Automated Rating: check if there are unused sub-categories

    HIVE Standards

    • Reference Plane Naming in Automated Rating: check if the reference planes are named according to established standard

    HIVE Standards

    • Exclude Public Content with Combined Rating Less than Minimum: content from public libraries rated below this threshold will not be shown in search results
    • Exclude Org Content with Combined Rating Less than Minimum: content rated below this threshold will not be shown in search results

    Along with the Family Ruleset settings, additional options with the Common Standards can be applied. Common Standards are organization specific standards that apply to both projects and families. To access the Common Standards, in the left side bar select Common Standards.

     

    HIVE Standards

    Configuring Common Standards

    • You can upload your organizations Shared Parameter file to be used for various features within standards such as family checking.
    • You can use Parameter Grouping to establish valid parameter groups to be used with standards, select it from the left tree and use the arrow to add it to the right.
    • In addition to the Common Standards, you can set Parameter Name Rules and Custom Sub-Categories
      • Valid Parameter Name Parts: put valid parts of names that should be used when naming parameters. ie. ARCH E_ LC-
      • Invalid Parameter Name Parts: combinations of letters and symbols of names that should not appear in parameter names.

    Running Family Standard Checks

    Select the libraries you want from the organization list by ticking the boxes next to them. A green button will show up on the top right corner of the list when you do that. Press this button to start the process.

    HIVE Revit Family Standards

    • The checking process runs silently, without requiring any input from the user.
    • A scoring process is used during the check (Ex: Identity Data, MEP Connectors, Warnings etc.) to validate the content against the Family Standards settings (Family Ruleset and Common Standards).
    • You will receive a email with the review results and have the ability to download a Excel file that consists of all the results from the checks.
    • You can access and review the data in multiple ways.
    • Directly using the Excel spreadsheet, leveraging PowerBi and utilizing the WebAPI are a few examples.
    • For more information on CTC HIVE Family Standards visit www.ctcsoftware.com.

    For any questions reach out to your sales rep or contact us at info@solidcad.ca.

    CTC 2021 Revit Product Updates!

    CTC Software was actively preparing to release updates to our AEC tools for Revit 2021. This release took place on May 4th and affected all of our AEC offerings. HIVE has undergone a massive update, streamlining all aspects of user interaction and management. Our software suites have all been built to work on the new Autodesk 2021 platforms, and the SuperDoor Configurator and Casework Configurator content packs have been upgraded for 2021 as well.  All of these tools will continue to support the 2017 versions of Autodesk products and newer, so they will also fit into your workflows for any version from the last 4 years.  Additionally, the Mechanical Electrical Plumbing Productivity Pack content files have been upgraded to 2019, containing hundreds of updated families and a lot of new features and improved workflows.  These tools are purpose-built to support your entire workflow from beginning to end, putting the right tools in the right hands so all team members gain efficiencies every day.

    Contact CTC or one of our partners for more information about the 2021 updates to our tools!

    HIVE

    HIVE specifically has had major changes to the user interface of the content management system (CMS).  Many of you have provided feedback after extensively using the currently released HIVE system.  We listened!  The new HIVE has a major facelift, and the HIVE management portal on the web has been overhauled to make management easier, and to provide you with analytics for organization-wide use of CTC tools, project performance metrics and insights into how your teams are searching for content in the CMS.  As always, we strive to develop our tools alongside you, so you and your teams can work efficiently.  Feel free to share your experiences and ideas for how we can continue to improve.

    The other productivity tools in the software suites are all updated to work on the Autodesk 2021 platforms as well. This year we have decided to make sure that we support 5 version of Autodesk products, since we know many of our clients have projects with long lifecycles.  While Autodesk may not officially support 2017, we felt that we should continue to make our tools available for that release since some of you have let us know that your projects are still being managed in that version.  This new 2021 release of our tools will have the ability to communicate with the HIVE management portal so you can have a better understanding of the return on your investment this next year.

    CTC has 3 major Revit-based content packs.  The two that install into the ribbon are the SuperDoor Configurator and the Casework Configurator.  These, like our other suites, will be supported on Revit 2017-2021.  The other content pack, the Mechanical Electrical Plumbing Productivity Pack (MEPPP), has been heavily updated in its latest version. It will be supported on Revit 2019-2021 with the actual content delivered in Revit 2019 format.  We made this choice since most of the projects starting fresh in your firms will be on 2019 and later.  We did not see value in building on older versions, as existing projects in production do not see huge benefits in transitioning standards mid-production.  This MEPPP update has seen further standardization of the parameters used to help align our pack with metric users.  The first release will be in Imperial units of measure, but a metric pack will be coming soon.  This release saw heavy formula updates and further removal of unit dependencies.  The lighting fixtures, electrical equipment and mechanical equipment have seen major updates, improving face-based and level-based hosting in a single family, and general ease of use.  Many other categories have been touched as well, to ensure a uniform workflow and general consistent use.

    As always, we encourage you to contact us or our partners for more information on these workflow-improving tools.

    In the United States you can contact Applied Technology Group (ATG) at sales@ATGUSA.com. If you are are based in Canada, please contact:

    Mughees Altaf
    Account Manager — AEC Productivity Tools
    mughees.altaf@solidcad.ca 

    This article was created by CTC Software

    Working From Home with HIVE – CTC

    This article was created by CTC Software

    So, you need to work remote from the office and you have discovered it is a bit of a pain for production. Or, perhaps you have yet to discover the pains of extended remote work and you want to be prepared? CTC Software has tools to make all aspects of production more efficient, including the remote workforce.

    The biggest delay when working remotely in Revit, after the project model access, is getting and loading content. The project model has been properly solved by Autodesk’s BIM360 eco system. Sadly, that system is not very efficient at holding the content and allowing it to be loaded into project models. This content loading process typically involves someone using a VPN connection to remotely access the office network, then browsing across that VPN connection. When the time comes to load family content it is rather slow, but even worse is when system families or typical detail views must be accessed. These pieces of content are stored in project models, and these models can be rather large. Opening and transferring settings from these models is extremely slow across VPN.

    CTC has heard it said, “Well, I’ll just use Google docs, or Dropbox then…” Well, this may work, but keep in mind, small company libraries are about 1GB of content per Revit version so this could easily mean storing and syncing 4GB of Revit content, and this is estimating conservatively. Most firms have way more than that.

    So, what is the solution? CTC Has a toolset called HIVE. It is tuned to manage Revit’s custom libraries but can also be used for any kind of content. Since we are discussing Revit here, understand this, HIVE allows easy google-like searching of the regular loadable families, System families, typical drafting views, Schedules, and even fully assembled sheets. This all can be done with very minimal setup, and users get the content they need on-demand. All they need is an internet connection. This would not require any VPN for the content stored in HIVE.

    CTC has run demonstrations of HIVE from conferences like Autodesk University and BiLT. These conferences often have acceptable but certainly not speedy internet, and sometimes the internet at these events can be very unstable. While there, CTC often conducts HIVE demonstrations, browsing for any needed content with no perceptible delay.

    What does this mean for you? Well, your BIM Management team can easily configure HIVE to host all needed Revit Content, and your workforce can access it from any workstation connected to the internet. They will need the internet anyway to work on BIM360, so the system requirements and connections are already in place for them to use HIVE almost instantly.

    Contact your local CTC representative to get your trial of HIVE and understand how you can purchase this perfectly tailored solution for times just like the ones we currently find ourselves in.

    Contact:

    Mughees Altaf
    Account Manager — AEC Productivity Tools
    mughees.altaf@solidcad.ca