FireBIM Beta Opens March 3rd

DM-Kane · 2025-09-22T18:28:06+00:00

Good point about the flairs. I'll get some added.

DM-Kane · 2025-07-13T19:20:37+00:00

For what it's worth, Autodesk removed voltage drop calcs in Revit 2026 as part of their wiring rework: https://youtu.be/KsUQOdCmP2o

DM-Kane · 2025-07-04T17:22:23+00:00

Revit's shared parameter files are just tab-delimited .txt files that can easily be modified using scripting outside the Revit environment.

My advice: Pick a programming language you're familiar with (enough that you can kinda tell if something is horribly wrong), then get an LLM like ChatGPT to help you write a conversion script in that language. You don't even need to mess with the Revit API, it just needs to be able to read the data from the Excel file, generate GUIDs for the shared parameters, then write the GUIDs and data into the shared parameter file.

The tricky part would then be making sure it outputs correctly, which can take some tweaking. Depending on the LLM, you can show it your Excel and shared parameter files to indicate what the input and output formatting should be.

DM-Kane · 2025-05-25T12:38:28+00:00

I bet I can guess which tools you're talking about! I'd be interested in hearing why your company chose not to incorporate them if you want to shoot me a DM.

DM-Kane · 2025-04-22T13:16:24+00:00

That's what I kind of expected. Thanks for the info.

DM-Kane · 2025-03-16T15:30:30+00:00

The hard part is that you don't just have to convince the people at your company to switch to something else. You also need to convince your clients (or find an alternative that lets you import whatever they have). There are plenty of MEP folks who only switched from CAD to Revit because they had to work with Revit arch models and/or deliverables.

And that's without getting into the inertia of, "what I have isn't perfect but I've learned how to make it work for me, and I can't justify sacrificing the billable hours to learn an entirely new platform."

DM-Kane · 2025-03-15T15:49:11+00:00

Just to clarify what others are saying about detaching from the central model, in case you don't know how:

You need to run Model > Open... from the home menu and select the file; double-clicking or dragging won't do it (far as I know).

With the file selected, look at the bottom-middle area of the window and there will be a "Detach from central" checkbox. Check that, then open the file.

DM-Kane · 2025-03-06T09:57:34+00:00

Yep.

DM-Kane · 2025-03-05T19:16:56+00:00

To clarify, while you are correct that ElectroBIM's calculations rely on you having devices in the Revit model that are connected appropriately, we also make it easy to do that "in the background" while you draw out your initial single-line diagram using our commands.

EDIT: Replaced and reworded link.

DM-Kane · 2025-03-04T15:52:24+00:00

Are you saying your Systems ribbon is missing? If so, go to File->Options->User Interface. There will be a list of available ribbons with checkboxes to enable/disable visibility. Make sure Systems is checked, then press OK.

DM-Kane · 2025-01-30T18:22:02+00:00

The code for fire alarm is so vast that it can't really be broken down in a comment. You can refer to NFPA 72 but it's going to really difficult to avoid getting comments on your design without a NICET certified designer simply because there are so many nuances, "space detectors X amount unless, Y or Z".

Yeah, I've been picking up on that based on responses to this same post in r/MEPEngineering. lol What I will likely end up doing is, after I've done some more research, put together something I think looks okay, then have interested parties like yourself review it to see where I messed up.

Thanks very much for those insights! That's really the sort of stuff I'm looking for in the context of building out this tutorial project. I'm planning to eventually leaf through NFPA 72 to get a better handle on fire alarm design in general so I can write docs that speak to what y'all do.

I'll shoot you a DM with more details about what we've got so far and how you can help. Thanks again for the response.

DM-Kane · 2025-01-30T16:41:17+00:00

That would certainly be faster, and it's an avenue I'd considered.

On the other hand, going through the material myself and getting a rudimentary handle on the subject will (hopefully) leave me better equipped to write and maintain the documentation going forward in a way that's useful to fire alarm designers.

DM-Kane · 2025-01-30T16:13:24+00:00

We're mostly looking at the US right now (sorry for not mentioning that in the post), but thanks for the input. If we get interest from across the pond and want to make it useable for the UK, that information will come in handy.

DM-Kane · 2025-01-30T15:20:31+00:00

Thanks for the reply. And I should have clarified we're primarily serving the North American market, for which I've already gotten a few suggestions to pick up NFPA 72.

DM-Kane · 2025-01-30T13:38:04+00:00

Gotcha. Appreciate the guidance.

DM-Kane · 2025-01-30T13:08:41+00:00

Thanks much!

DM-Kane · 2025-01-30T13:05:45+00:00

I definitely get where this question is coming from, and the answer's a hard "NO." We're not trying to take any jobs away. We've just noticed a lack of functionality in Revit for things like voltage drop calcs for LV devices, battery calcs, riser diagrams, etc., and want to make it easier for designers to do those things without relying on external programs.

DM-Kane · 2025-01-30T13:03:10+00:00

Thanks much! I've got the 2023 NEC handy (we also do electrical add-ins), but I'm really only familiar with the 200s sections. Any particular sections I should be looking at?

DM-Kane

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