Courtesy Building Systems Design

Autodesk Revit users scrolling futilely through the program’s supplied materials library may soon get relief from having to add custom materials and asset properties manually. Atlanta-based software developer Building Systems Design (BSD) has created two free resources to expand Revit 2013’s catalog almost instantly. This September, BSD will launch a library of nonproprietary Revit objects complete with material asset information at the annual Construct tradeshow. (Full disclosure: Construct is organized by Hanley Wood, ARCHITECT’s publisher.) The initial release will come as an RVT project file to permit sorting and searching, and contain 400 types of walls, doors, windows, floors, and ceilings, says BSD president Robert Dean. Plumbing, bath, and roofing objects will be added in the near future, he says.

A sample of the approximately 200 wall types BSD will include in its free Autodesk Revit 2013 object catalog
Courtesy Building Systems Design A sample of the approximately 200 wall types BSD will include in its free Autodesk Revit 2013 object catalog
Detail view of the wall types in BSD's Revit 2013 object catalog
Courtesy Building Systems Design Detail view of the wall types in BSD's Revit 2013 object catalog

Because Revit’s supplied materials library is limited in number and asset information, Dean says, designers often have to create custom materials or download proprietary objects from manufacturers. “We think it will be extremely helpful to many architects to have a standardized set of useful objects that are organized to be easily retrievable by relevant properties, such as hourly fire ratings and sound ratings,” he says.

Any Revit 2013 or 2014 user, regardless of whether they subscribe to BSD’s programs, will be able to download this catalog. For BSD, providing this resource means that Revit users will be employing objects linked to specifications in its construction specifications program, SpecLink-E. Current SpectLink-E subscribers will be able to activate the associated specifications by using the objects in Revit.

Current SpecLink-E and Revit 2013 users who can’t wait until September can import another free material library file by BSD that was released in June. When users apply one of the 1,600 materials in this catalog to a Revit element, such as a wall or floor assembly, the element will automatically link to the associated set of specifications in SpecLink-E. The materials also come complete with asset data. BSD sourced most of the materials for this library from SpecLink’s catalog of 620 specification sections, which conform to the 2004 edition of Construction Specifications Institute’s (CSI’s) MasterFormat and the CSI 3-part specifications format. This library will also be compatible with Revit 2014.

Screenshot of Building Systems Design's Revit object catalog, which can be sorted by object data
Courtesy Building Systems Design Screenshot of Building Systems Design's Revit object catalog, which can be sorted by object data

Note: This story has been updated since first publication.