Work with Autodesk Revit

Work with Autodesk® Revit®

HiveDrive is integrated with the operating system, but for some applications such as Autodesk® Revit® it is also installed as an add-in, adding some additional and dedicated functionality to the software.

HiveDrive Add-in for Autodesk® Revit® is installed automatically and is compatible with versions:

• Autodesk® Revit® 2018
• Autodesk® Revit® 2019
• Autodesk® Revit® 2020
• Autodesk® Revit® 2021
• Autodesk® Revit® 2022
• Autodesk® Revit® 2023
• Autodesk® Revit® 2024
• Autodesk® Revit® 2025
• Autodesk® Revit® 2026

Description of interface

HiveDrive Add-in for Autodesk® Revit® adds two components:

• HiveDrive Ribbon menu
• HiveDrive Task Panel

Ribbon

Clicking on the HiveDrive tab in the Autodesk® Revit® multifuction bar, and looking at it from left to right, displays the following commands:

• HiveDrive section

  • Open Client: with Revit open, it allows you to also open the HiveDrive client separately at the same time.
  • Show/Hide: with the on/off mode, opens or closes the HiveDrive client from Autodesk® Revit®.
  • Show/Hide logger: is required and will be asked to open during any remote technical assistance sessions to verify operations performed on Autodesk® Revit® or error messages generated by the software
  • Options:

• Project Section.

  • Open HUB.
  • Create
  • Task/To do list
  • Options

• File section

  • Save in HiveDrive: allows the file to be saved within the HiveDrive virtual disk, thus enabling it to all the peculiarities of HiveDrive in terms of permission-enabled storage, live collaboration, chat and project management
  • Make collaborative: this feature combines multiple buttons already existing in Autodesk® Revit® into a single operation. Specifically, it saves the file in HiveDrive, enables collaboration, saves the file as central, closes it, and reopens it as local
  • Current active users
  • Ask users to sync
  • File status
  • Slide show

  IMPORTANT! Some commands are temporarily disabled and will be activated when the respective features are released

Task Panel

The Task Panel appears the moment a document is saved or opened within a HiveDrive project.

It consists of three sections:

• Synchronization
• Search
• Chat

Synchronization

It gives useful information during worksharing in worksharing mode, particularly informing users who was the last collaborator to synchronize the model and when.

In case a synchronization is in progress, it notifies the user who is synchronizing the model at that time.

If the Project Safer role is enabled (at the application or project level), in the event that the Project Safer is not reachable, a flashing yellow message will appear indicating that it will not be possible to synchronize but only to work with the local model until the connection with the Project Safer is re-established.

Search

Search field, as in the HiveDrive client, allows you to search for any item contained in HiveDrive projects.

As with the client search, a set of buttons that correspond to related options appears for each type of result. For example, a folder type result will allow the aforementioned folder to be opened in Windows Explorer.

In particular, as far as Autodesk® Revit® is concerned, if the search result is a project file or a family, it will be possible to open the document directly in the current work session.

In case then the current document is a project and the search result is a family, an arrow will appear that will allow you to insert the family directly into the current document.

Chat

The chat is the same component also found in HiveDrive client and has the same functionality, such as the ability to create new rooms or mention users.

In addition to HiveDrive client, there is the ability to send a selection of one or more elements of the Autodesk® Revit® model to chat. This selection is represented in a message with a button inside. Any user who has opened the model from which the selection comes, will be able to click on the button in the message and within the model the elements in the message will be selected.

This command is particularly useful in the case of collaborative work. For example, in a complex project where there are several plants, if I want to request a colleague to change a particular element of a particular plant, I can simply select it and forward it in chat mentioning the colleague and describing the change request.

The colleague at this point will receive the notification in both HiveDrive client, HiveDrive mobile app, and within Autodesk® Revit® and will be able to retrieve the selection by simply clicking the button in the message.

Work with files

How to save a file in HiveDrive

To save a file within a HiveDrive project, simply run the standard "Save in HiveDrive" command found in the HiveDrive Ribbon or via the Autodesk® Revit® "Save" command; in the latter case, in the save mask that appears, click on the HiveDrive link, select the desired project, and navigate through the subfolders until you find the desired location.

How to save a family (in .RFA format)

Saving an Autodesk® Revit® family within the project folder in HiveDrive will share it with only those users invited to that specific project.

If there is an enterprise-wide need to create a general library of families, available and retrievable for all users of all projects, a new project will need to be created in HiveDrive where all families in .RFA format will be collected and stored.

How to open a file

You can open a document stored within a HiveDrive project in the following ways:

• double-click on the file within "Windows Explorer".
• double-click on the search result in HiveDrive client or in the search result inside the Task Bar
• via the "Open" Autodesk® Revit® command by going to the HiveDrive link to the right of the file open mask and navigating the desired project folders

How to work with point clouds

The point cloud is generally a very heavy text file and is not useful for design and collaboration purposes; in fact, it is usually the practice to link a file where what is called "decimation" of the point cloud is applied.

Although it is important to keep the original file, for practical operation using it in HiveDrive would be unhelpful for collaborative work.

What we suggest is possibly to create, within HiveDrive, a separate project for storing such files without overloading the project you are currently working on, or to save these files separately in any case.

For collaboration within HiveDrive we therefore recommend using only the "decimation" files with the .RCP extension; this way users will download and use only the parts they need.

Once a "decimated" point cloud is inserted into a project, therefore, we recommend building a folder dedicated only to point clouds and keeping in "Keep always sync " mode only those functional to the project.

Warning: file acceptance and download times for each user invited to a project will be longer the greater the number of point clouds (or any very large file) that will be placed in project folders.

How to work with linked files

Linked files within Autodesk® Revit®, when placed within HiveDrive folders, take advantage of both absolute and relative references.

Regardless of where you have chosen to store the files, within HiveDrive they are always presented to the Operating System in c:\HiveDrive{project name}\subfolders: this makes it easy and straightforward to use relative or absolute paths.

HiveDrive, being natively integrated with the Operating System, also supports any type of file and allows you to link other Autodesk® Revit® files to Autodesk® Revit® files, but also files in .DWG format, point clouds, or other Autodesk® Revit® compatible file extensions, such as .IFC, .STEP, etc.

Worksharing

HiveDrive natively supports working with worksets and central models.

How to create a central model

You can in fact take a central model saved on the cloud or on a server and transfer it to HiveDrive via a simple copy/paste or save as and vice versa. To enable collaborative work on a new file, you can either proceed with the normal workflow provided by Autodesk® Revit® or use the "Make Collaborative " button on the HiveDrive ribbon that will automatically do all the necessary steps:

1. Save files in HiveDrive
2. Enable collaborative mode
3. Saving central model
4. Closing central model
5. Opening local model

How to open local model

Once the central model is created, all project participants are enabled to open their local model with a simple "Open " operation by going to select the project and the subfolder that contains the central model within HiveDrive.

How to start a synchronization

To start a synchronization simply use the native Autodesk® Revit® commands found in the "Collaborate " ribbon, once the synchronization starts HiveDrive will notify each user who has opened the same model of the synchronization in progress.

Synchronizations are exclusive by setup: unlike the regular Autodesk® Revit® behavior in which each user can synchronize at the same time greatly lengthening the synchronization time, HiveDrive allows you to synchronize one user at a time optimizing the time and giving certain information regarding the synchronization.

Project Safer

The Project Safer is a project role, and can be assigned to one or more computers included in the project network. This role is intended to prevent operations performed in intermittent or low performance network situations from "corrupting" the central model. In practice you will be able to work with your local model but will be able to synchronize only if a connection is established with all Project Safer set up in the project.

If there is no connection with one or more Project Safer set up for the project a yellow flashing warning will appear in the HiveDrive Task Panel within Autodesk® Revit® making it clear to the user that they will not be able to synchronize. In the event that a user nevertheless tries to initiate synchronization in this situation the synchronization will be cancelled and an on-screen message will appear to alert the user that they need to establish a connection with the Project Safer(s).

Check whether the VPN connection needs to be enabled in case the Project Safer role is assigned to a private, unpublished HiveDrive HUB on the Internet.

Unlike the other project roles the Project Safer role can be assigned to a HiveDrive HUB but also to regular HiveDrive installations. This is to allow work in whatever network configuration you choose to set up on a project-by-project basis.

We recommend assigning the Project Safer role to the computer that is for the longest time available, i.e., that is never shut down and is the most reachable, either via VPN or posted on the Internet.

The central model

The central model of a .RVT project managed in HiveDrive is present within the project folders and is distributed in the decentralization logic to each computer that is part of the project network.

Each user then has a local copy of the central model: this improves write and synchronization performance and also makes offline work possible.

HiveDrive takes care of keeping each copy of the central model aligned.

Warning! If your intent is to work on the local model, avoid opening the central model by double-clicking from resource explorer, the risk is to block everyone's work and to corrupt the central template.

The local model

Regarding local models, these are created in the location defined in Autodesk® Revit® settings, usually located in the documents folder. It is possible though not recommended to place local files within HiveDrive in order to have a backup of them as well or to be able to make local work portable to more than one owned computer.

For proper opening of a local model we recommend to open Autodesk® Revit® and via the "Open" mask go to browse HiveDrive projects until you find the central model, at this point the mask should automatically select the flag: [ ] Open Local Copy and then upon opening the document the local copy will be created if it is the first opening, if on the other hand a local copy of the .RVT file already existed then Autodesk® Revit® Revit® will propose to overwrite or open the existing local copy.

Warning! If your intent is to work on the local model, avoid opening the central model by double-clicking from resource explorer, the risk is to block everyone's work and to corrupt the central template.

Synchronization error

Although HiveDrive tries its best to help you work with the complex file workflow with worksets, there are cases when problems can occur, we have listed some of them:

• Project Safer role not arributed: possible corruption of the central model if two designers synchronize without being connected to each other.
• I have finished synchronizing Autodesk® Revit® but turn off my computer or disconnect it from the network before I have completed uploading my changes to Project Safer: other users will be blocked until I finish my uploads.
• Computer crash or power outage during a synchronization: try to turn the computer back on you are able to complete the synchronization, in case of errors you will need to retrieve the utl latest version of the central model from the backup or overwrite the central model with one of the local files.

Error messages

In case of synchronization errors, the following messages may appear:

• Sorry is already synchronizing, wait for him to complete: Another user is already synchronizing and you must wait for him to finish his synchronization before you can proceed with your own.
• One or more project safer are not reachable, synchronization of central model is not allowed. Unable to synchronize central model: You cannot synchronize because you are not connected to one or more Project Safer set up in the project:
  • control your network connection if you are working remotely.
  • perhaps to connect to Project Safer(s) you need to get VPN connection in case they are not reachable in a public network.
  • if despite the above the message does not go away maybe there is a network problem or a problem with Project Safer itself, contact the project administrator for instructions or contact support.
• Something went wrong: this is the generic error related to a cause not yet gesita. Please contact support providing more information.

How to recover a corrupted file

If the central file is corrupted, there are two ways to recovery, at the client's choice:

1. the classic one that is also common with other systems, and that involves finding the user who has the most up-to-date local file and doing "Save As" on the file go and overwrite the corrupted central file or create a new central. This operation involves the fact that only the work of the user you started from via this restore is saved, the others will then lose the changes made since the last synchronization
2. on HiveDrive, on the other hand, the alternative is to right-click "Windows Explorer " on the core file, and use the "Recover previous versions" command. This opens a mask that allows you to retrieve various versions of the core file by date (in the "Collaborate tab of Autodesk® Revit® you can see when the file was last synchronized). Once the recovery is done, HiveDrive exports not only the central file but also all of its file folder named "Central_name_backup" that contains all synchronization data, permissions roles, etc. HiveDrive asks for a recovery path in any case: it is also possible to do this on the desktop and then reinsert the file within HiveDrive (this, however, is the equivalent of making a new central). If, on the other hand, we overwrite directly in HiveDrive the old central file with the extracted one, there will be the possibility to save also the work of other users because Autodesk® Revit® automatically triggers a reconciliation procedure between central and local files (warning!: this procedure is not always successful). It is understood that this procedure cannot be applied when there are conflicts on the central file, as work without the Project Safer role must be resolved via the conflict resolution tool in HiveDrive.

How to send Autodesk® Revit® selections to chat

As previously described the chat within Autodesk® Revit® has additional functionality that allows you to interact with the model. Specifically, it is possible to send selections of elements and for the recipient of the message it is possible to simply click on the button within the message to go get the selection within the document.

We came up with this feature by looking at the way our users work and collaborate, in this case mainly plant engineers who have to work with hundreds if not thousands of elements and often when they have to compare on a change they need to see the same elements in the model. This workflow is natural when two pesone can look at the same monitor in presence, it becomes more complicated with remote work. From these thoughts comes the functionality that aims to establish true collaboration in remote co-design and co-editing workflows. At HiveDrive we are always receptive about our customers' needs especially if these can then lead to improved collaboration, you can always send us suggestions via the portal https://support.silentwave.eu or through your contact person.