1. Start with your own plan
Open a floor plan in Revit and save your work. Start with one representative plan containing external walls, openings and building grids. Think through the building’s outline. A rectangular building, a stepped façade and several separate wings need different treatment. The automation should identify the perimeter and work along each façade side, placing dimensions outside the building.
2. Describe the automation you want
Open a new chat in Ideatura and explain the drawing you want to produce. For example:Create an automation for external wall dimensions in selected floor plans. Follow the building’s façade perimeter and place three dimension strings outside each side, parallel to that façade. The closest string should capture wall ends, door and window openings, and curtain grids. The second should locate the host-model building grids between the façade endpoints. The third should show the overall length of that façade side. Add controls for the plans, excluded wall types, dimension style and three offsets in millimetres. Include options to move dimension numbers and display the detected perimeter for checking. Show me the controls before running.Following the perimeter is the key instruction. Explain how dimensions should turn with the façade, respond to recesses and remain associated with the correct building or wing.
3. Define the three strings
Separate detailed setting-out information from grid positions and overall dimensions.
These offsets are starting values. Adjust them to suit the drawing scale, surrounding annotations and available space.
At corners, check that the dimensions reference the intended façade ends. At openings, confirm that the references correspond to the edges you want to measure.
4. Build the controls
Ask Ideatura to expose the choices you will need when reusing the automation.
Use Draw perimeter lines during testing to understand which outline the automation is following. This is a checking aid within the run; it does not make the run a preview only.
5. Test the perimeter and refine the result
Run the automation on one plan. Read the report, then inspect the dimensions in Revit. Check that the perimeter follows the intended façade, the strings sit outside it and each string measures the correct references. Inspect corners, recesses, openings and curtain-wall bays closely. For stepped façades, angled walls, separate buildings or courtyards, describe the required treatment explicitly and test a representative area. Curved façades need their own dimensioning rules. Give a focused correction when something is wrong:At the recessed entrance, follow the two returns and the recessed façade. Keep each dimension string outside its corresponding face. Leave the dimensions on the other façades unchanged.Before rerunning, decide how to handle dimensions already created so the test does not leave duplicates. Once satisfied, save the automation with a clear name and description, then test it on another plan before using it more widely.
