The Building Coder

.NET Core Preview and Open Source Add-In Projects

Open-source related discussions, interesting Revit API and AI related news – Revit preview release with C# 7 – RevitLookup 2024.0.9 is here – RevitPythonDocs for Dynamo and pyRevit – New Revit SDK sample browser and launcher – Purge add-in with rave reviews – SpeedCad tools OptionsBar and StatusBar – Managing multiple Revit API versions – DesignScript, Rhino, and other geometry libraries – Trading glass beads for AI IP... Read more →

Contour Lines, Batch Processor and Dynamo Shapely

Powerful tools and solutions for batch processing, 2D geometric analysis and toposolids – Revit batch processor sample code – Shapely for Dynamo – Retrieve Toposolid contour lines – Internet artifacts... Read more →

Xgbxml Fixes Building Geometry Gaps

A mighty beautiful Python solution for fixing gaps in the building geometry and new AI-related titbits – Fixing building geometry gaps – Open and render gbXML BIM model – Identify gaps in geometry – Add missing surfaces – Verify waterproof – LLaVA large language and vision assistant – Moonvalley text to video – DETR model detects objects in images... Read more →

No Geometry, Touching Geometry and Cut Geometry

Discussions of BIM, geometry, pyRevit and AI news – pyRevit discourse – The BIM has no geometry – Get touching elements – What is a stable representation of a reference? – CUT_EDGE reference voodoo – Revit and IFC coordinate systems – Chinese influencer deepfakes livestreaming 24/7 – Generative AI use and misuse... Read more →

Element Diff Compare, Shapely and RDBE

Exciting new and enhanced tools and libraries to check out – Revit element difference comparison – The Revit database explorer RDBE – The Shapely Python 2D geometry library – Measuring developer productivity... Read more →

System Family Predicate and Python Section Creation

Today, we shed some light on family and section view creation – System family predicate – Level-based family template – Create section view in Python... Read more →

Export, gbXML and Python Tips

Discussions on Python, handling DLLs, and various aspects of exporting to gbXML, FBX and MongoDB – DLL paradise in Python – Multiple gbXML export – GbXML energy settings – Automate FBX export with SendKeys – RFA export to MongoDB... Read more →

UV, Emergence, Fuzz and the get_ Prefix

Current topics of interest from the Revit API discussion forum and elsewhere – Switch metric + imperial units – What is UV? – What is fuzz? – What is get_Parameter and get_Geometry? – Default localised workset names – Bing Chat Python and Dynamo tutor – Claude on Slack summarises and answers questions – Emergence and sparks of artificial general intelligence... Read more →

CultureInfoChanger and IronPython3

Happy New Year 2023! Topics to begin – Copy as HTML 2022 – Size MEP connector with CultureInfoChanger – Journal files AU class – Bulk reload families with IFamilyLoadOptions – IronPython3, APS and RPS... Read more →

Point Clouds, Coloured Triangles and Faces

Let's look at accessing point cloud points and colouring individual triangles and faces – Assigning material to each face – DirectContext3D colorized triangles – Pick and access point cloud points... Read more →

Home Planet and to Dy or Not to Dy

Let's look at two serious choices that we are facing – one more serious than the other – To Dynamo or not to Dynamo – Home planet at great risk... Read more →

MEP API Intro and RevitPythonShell Lookup Nuptials

Back to the beginning with a quick look at the Revit MEP API, and a great step forward for RevitPythonShell – Revit MEP API intro – RevitPythonShell RevitLookup nuptials... Read more →

Outer Walls, Lookup Update and Filtering

Freshening up a few of our favourite recurring topics – RevitLookup update – Filtering for multiple built-in categories – Retrieving all outer walls – Zen and the art of React programming... Read more →

Getting Started Once Again

Welcoming my new colleague Carol leads to a renewed look at getting started – Access permission to load my first add-in – My first Revit plug-in todo – Books on Python for Revit Dynamo – pyRevit saves insane amounts of time – Newtonsoft Json.dll version conflict – Lost in the World by Steve Cutts... Read more →

Sci-Fi, Languages and Pipe Insulation Retrieval

Three quick notes on critical and inspiring sci-fi, programming languages and MEP filtering – Pipe insulation retrieval performance – Programming languages to learn – Agency by William Gibson... Read more →

Snooping Parts, C# Templates and Python Topics

A neat RevitLookup enhancement, powerful new Revit add-in template, and a couple of Python related topics – RevitLookup handles PartUtils – Nice3point Revit add-in C# template – IronPython hosting in C# add-in – Python 3, CPython, pyRevit and Dynamo... Read more →

View Sheet from View and Select All on Level

Increasing numbers of of Python and Dynamo oriented topics in the Revit API discussion forum, and a final deprecated API clean-up – The Building Coder samples clean – Retrieving all elements on level – Get ViewSheet from View – Fabrication transaction in Dynamo... Read more →

Autodesk University 2021, Python, Fuzz and Break

AU registration is open, fuzzy comparison is important for real numbers, Python learning material and time for a break – Autodesk University 2021 open and free – Real number comparison requires fuzz – Getting started with Python – Vacation time... Read more →

Addin File, Learning Python and IFC.js

Today, we look at the add-in manifest, learning Python and Dynamo, the status of the Revit Python shell and a useful stand-alone IFC viewer – Personalised add-in manifest – Learning Python and Dynamo – Quo vadis, RevitPythonShell? – IFC.js... Read more →

Splits: Persona, Collector, Region, Tag, Modification

I need to come to terms with a split personality. Meanwhile, lots more going on in the Revit API discussion forum – Two Jeremys – Multiple collectors versus multiple filters – RevitLookup handles split region offsets – Python and Dynamo autotag without overlap – Custom errors and preventing changes – Ecological cost of crypto currency and art... Read more →

Dynamo Book and Texture Bitmap UV Coordinates

The week is coming to an end all too quickly... here are some compelling topics before we enter the weekend – Explaining texture UV mapping using AVF – Más Allá de Dynamo Spanish-language book – A detailed 3D model of a human cell... Read more →

Save and Restore 3D View Camera Settings

Valerii Nozdrenkov shares a powerful solution to save and restore the complete 3D view camera settings and Ehsan Iran-Nejad publishes his set of Revit cheat sheets – Serialising 3D view camera settings – Revit cheat sheets... Read more →

2021 Migration, Add-In Language, BIM360 Research

I am too busy! Ouch! Here are just a few of today's topics – BIM360 Question? Join Accelerator! – What language to choose for a Revit Add-In? – The Building Coder samples 2021 migration... Read more →

Lat Long to Metres and Duplicate Legend Component

Today, we discuss duplicating legend components in Python, my own non-API Python work and some undocumented utility methods – Duplicate legend component in Python – Convert latitude and longitude to metres in Python – UIFrameworkService utility methods – Exceptions should be exceptional... Read more →

Cyrillic Lookup, Moving Grids and Combining Edges

Topics to start this week – Why SVG? – Internet privacy – Pointless meetings research – Cyrillic characters in lookup tables – Moving a grid – Combining edges... Read more →

Pet Change – Python + Dynamo Swap Nested Family

Pieter Schipper worked hard at solving the task of swapping nested families using Python and Dynamo and very kindly shares his solution here with us today, including his four Python scripts – Task at hand – Problems faced – Solution and detailed implementation – Collect all family instances in document – Export families via SaveAs – Update Nested Family Definitions – Reload updated families... Read more →

DevCon, Sun with True North and RVT without Revit

Please note that the European Forge DevCon in Darmstadt is looming imminent. Furthermore, here are some notes on two recent Revit programming discussions and a pointer to some of the top-rated online classes – DevCon Darmstadt – Personal DevCon invitation from Jim Quanci – Sun direction adjusted for project true north – Reading an RVT file without Revit – The top 100 free online courses... Read more →

pyRevit Home and ApiDocs Code Sample Collection

Two exciting Revit API related news announcements from Ehsan Iran-Nejad and Gui Talarico – New comprehensive pyRevit home page – ApiDocs.co code search sample collection... Read more →

Access BIM360 Cloud Links, Thumbnail and Dynamo

This post is somewhat overdue and hence rather full of various topics, mainly due to my struggles with my MacBook slowing to an unbearable crawl in the heat last week – Accessing BIM360 cloud links – Retrieve RVT preview thumbnail image with Python – Paolo's Dynamo primer and slide deck compendium – Slow MacBook with kernel_task using several 100% CPU – Failings of the political establishment... Read more →

Rapid Prototyping, Testing and Deployment

The pyRevit rapid application development environment can be used for the entire add-in lifecycle, supporting rapid debugging, testing and deployment as well. I successfully implemented invoking an external command defined in a stand-alone Revit plugin assembly from pyRevit! It's proving extremely useful... Read more →

Slow, Slower Still and Faster Filtering

Today I discuss (once again) an important performance aspect of Revit element filtering, a Python script for tagging JPEG images with EXIF data, prompted by a recent ski tour, and three other interesting topics that caught my eye – Slow, slower still and faster filtering – Python JPEG EXIT filename tagging – TED talks and population growth – Objective reality does not exist – Artificial intelligence judge... Read more →

Retrieving Linked IfcZone Elements Using Python

Today, I present a little exploration of how to access zones defined in an IFC file in Revit. If you are following this blog closely, you might guess that this is related to the room boundary CSV exporter project that I recently discussed. For this exploration, I installed and used RevitPythonShell. Here are the detailed steps – Importing IFC zones into Revit – Installing and using RevitPythonShell – Programmatically accessing IFC zones in Revit... Read more →

pyRevit Keynote Manager and Becker Forge Blog

Today, I discuss a simple Revit API getting started question from StackOverflow, a new Forge blog and a request for feedback on the keynote manager beta – Retrieving a wall type for creating a wall – CAD Becker Forge blog – pyRevit keynote manager beta... Read more →

Python Rotate Picked Around Bounding Box Centre

Let's highlight a nice interactive didactical Python-based Revit API learning challenge on how to get the bounding box from a Revit element and determine its centre – Cyril's Python HVAC blog – Rotating elements around their centre in Python – Retrieve element and bounding box from picked reference – Use location point instead of bounding box centre – Final working solution... Read more →

Revit 2018.3, SetValueString and External Events

I installed the latest Revit update, and want to highlight two of the numerous interesting ongoing Revit API forum discussions – Revit 2018.3 update – Avoid SetValueString – Passing Data via ExternalEvent.Raise... Read more →

Autodesk University Past and Future

Quick notes on the best speakers at the last event in Las Vegas, and your chance to become one of them at the next in London – Best AU Speakers in Las Vegas 2017 – CFP for Autodesk University London 2018... Read more →

How to Use GetAnalyticalModelSupports

I'm trying to retrieve connected framing elements through the API. My end goal is to select a beam and retrieve the element id of the elements its ends are framing into. I have been able to do this by checking location intersection of all other beams, but this scales by n^2 based on the number of beams for the check. I read the article on finding connected structural elements, but I'm confused on the actual implementation of it. Has anybody come across a working example showing how to call GetAnalyticalModelSupports? ... Read more →

Deleting a Global Parameter and RevitPythonShell

I have list of all global parameters from the active Revit document. I want to delete a specific global parameter from the list programmatically. Kindly suggest a way to delete a global parameter from the active document... Read more →

Determining RVT File Version Using Python

We discussed several approaches to read the BasicFileInfo and RVT OLE storage, aka COM Structured Storage, to retrieve stuff like the file version and preview image, and, more lately, alternative access to BIM data via Forge... Read more →

What's New in the Revit 2018 API

The Revit 2018 includes numerous exciting enhancements for add-in developers. The What's New section always provides very important information, both for discovering and exploring the newly added API functionality and for later reference. If you encounter any issues migrating your existing add-ins between different versions, this is one of the first places to look... Read more →

Q4R4 tbc Import and RevitLookup

I started working on the question answering system Q4R4 Question Answering for Revit API. The first step is to import The Building Coder blog posts into Elasticsearch and experiment with full-text queries on them. Furthermore, we are proud to present yet more enhancements to the revamped version of RevitLookup – Q4R4 sources and result presentation – Importing tbc blog posts into Elasticsearch – Listing and clearing the Elasticsearch tbc index – Strip and clean up HTML for JSON document – Q4R4 GitHub repo and tbcimport.py script – RevitLookup bug fixes – RevitLookup icons... Read more →

Dynamic Scripts, Model Elements, Vertical Alignment

Happy New Year of the Rooster! The Spring Festival is underway celebrating the Chinese New Year. Meanwhile, we continue our usual ongoing celebration of exciting Revit API news items – PyRevit dynamic cs script loader – Selecting all physical elements in model – Vertical TextNote alignment... Read more →

TextNote Rotation, DevCon, TensorFlow and Keras

The Forge DevCon developer conference has been happily united with Autodesk University, text note rotation is easy, and I continued my deep learning exploration for implementing a Revit API question answering system – Forge DevCon at AU – Setting TextNote rotation – TensorFlow and Keras – Updating restricted Python packages – Rules of machine learning... Read more →

Distances, Switches, Kiss-ing and a Dino

I continued my activity in the Revit API discussion forum and had lots of interesting discussions there. One recent thread caused me to bring up a favourite topic of mine, on keeping things simple. I'll also mention two other less recent recurring questions – Distance between two points in a specific direction – Revit command-line switches – Keeping things simple with the Revit API – Dino pondering lengthening days... Read more →

Forge Formats Python Script and IFC Open Shell

I went back to answering way too many questions in the Revit API discussion forum yesterday. However, two other interesting topics also cropped up when I finally let go of that pastime, and I just finished a good book – The Sellout by Paul Beatty – IFC Ids and Open Shell – Forge Python scripts – py_forge_formats.py – forge_authenticate_app – forge_formats – jprettyprint – Mainline... Read more →

Need for Regen and Duplicate Parameter Access

A Python Revit API question on renumbering viewports helps highlight two separate important programming aspects; I also add some other notes from the Munich Forge accelerator – Question – The need to regenerate – Use built-in parameters to access parameters – Forge accelerator and outage report – Added materials to 210 King model... Read more →

Vacation End, Forge News and Bounding Boxes

I am back from a very relaxing vacation. I did next to nothing, and that felt fine. Meanwhile, obviously, lots of important and exciting Forge community and Revit API related happenings – PyRevit Blog – Forge DevCon 2016 material and 2017 dates – Forge forums closing in favour of StackOverflow – Forge Accelerator in Munich – Bounding Box ExpandToContain Extension Methods – Bounding Box and Lower Left Corner of Rooms – Bounding Box of Selected Elements or Entire Model – Setting 3D section box to selected elements' extents... Read more →

Self-Organising Architecture, Voxel-Based Energy Analysis

I had an interesting chat last week with a group of students from the University of Augsburg on how to perform energy analysis on a bunch of autonomously assembled small building blocks, such as a colony of ants might put together. How can the resulting small building blocks be converted to a valid Revit BIM that can be used for building performance analysis? – BPA is now Insight360 – Self-organising construction and architecture – Back to the ants – project summary – Q & A – Two different energy model types... Read more →

Retrieving a C# out Argument Value in Python

Here is a short note on two interesting little items that just cropped up – Retrieving a C# out argument value in Python – ETH Zurich Sandstone Vault at the Venice Architecture Biennale... Read more →

Dynamic Model Updater Tutorial and Wizard Update

The Forge DevCon is over and was a great success. I am really excited to see where our paths will lead us in the near future as we continue to improve the connections between the desktop, Revit and BIM to the cloud and move forward towards freeing our BIM data. I published pointers to all the 'Free your BIM data' resources yesterday. Our main topics today are completely different and purely Revit API related – Updated Visual Studio Revit Add-in Wizards – RevitPythonShell Dynamic Model Updater Tutorial... Read more →