Why Cloud Services?

Traditional Revit uses a local text file to store keynote data which works fine… as long as everyone is on the same network. However when you need to share projects with other offices or across large geographical areas this system fails. Coordinating the keynotes quickly devolves into a mass of emails back and forth with attached text files, or a Dropbox file sharing system that is vulnerable to overwriting and still has issues with pathing.

In addition, Autodesk has introduced Revit model sharing over BIM 360. That’s great for Revit models, and with Desktop Connector even allows you to store keynote text files.  However, the system for storing text files is much like Dropbox and doesn’t work well for collaboration, so we are stuck in the same trap.

Revolution Design is proud to offer a solution to this issue with Cloud Services for Keynote Manager! Cloud Services stores your keynotes in a cloud based database, allowing access from anywhere in the world using the same path. Cloud Services keynote projects can be shared with anyone inside or outside your company as long as they have an account in the Revolution Design system.  You set their permission levels to share with outside users so you have full control over what they can do with your projects.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many seats do I need?

Of course this is up to you, but here are some things to consider when purchasing cloud licenses:

  • Cloud seats are available either as standalone (machine & user specific, not easily movable) or portable (concurrent use).  With standalone licenses you need as many licenses as people who will be accessing the cloud total; with portable licenses you only need as many as people will be accessing the cloud at the same time.
  • In order to provide keynotes to Revit from the cloud a cloud seat is required. This means that whenever a Revit model with cloud based keynotes is open you will be using a cloud seat.

I need to collaborate with another office, how do I do that?

Keynote Manager allows you to invite users to collaborate with you on cloud projects. You can simply invite the other user to the project and set the permission level you would like to have. Once they accept your invitation you they will be able to see your project and work with it. You can also change their permissions or remove them as a collaborator at any time.  See the video below for more detailed information.

The other office I’m working with doesn’t have Keynote Manager, can they still use cloud keynotes?

Unfortunately no. Because the cloud system is a proprietary system, anyone accessing the keynotes needs to have Keynote Manager installed and have cloud access. Other users will still be able to open the Revit model, but they will get an dialog that states that the project references an addin that is not installed and the keynotes will not be present. Note that you CAN export the cloud based keynotes to a text file using ‘Save As’ and send them the file for them to use but of course it will not stay up to date with the cloud keynote project.

Getting Started

Creating an Account

In order to get started with Cloud Services you will need an account in the Revolution Design system as well as Cloud Services licenses.  An account can be automatically created on purchase, or you can create an account and then add licenses to it.  To purchase a cloud subscription from the purchase page.  If you would like to create an account before purchase you may do so using the procedure shown in the video below; make sure to sign in with your new account on the purchase page before purchasing to make sure a new default account isn’t created. Once you have an account and licenses, simply follow the steps outlined in the videos below to get all set up and working in the cloud!

 

User Management

Revolution Design Cloud uses company and user level accounts. Your company account is set up as described in the last point. Your primary user account is the one that is set up with your company (but can be changed later). In order to allow access to cloud projects by multiple users you should set up user accounts under your company for each user that needs access to cloud projects.  User accounts can be set up as shown in this video.

Masters and Projects
Keynote cloud projects use a master and project system. Master databases hold the ‘standard’ keynote list that applies to all projects and keynote projects are derived from masters. Changes to master databases propagate down to the project level, and all changes at the project level become project specific (not affecting the master).  Every keynote project is required to have a master but masters are not required to contain any notes; if your projects don’t use any standard notes simply create a blank master and create all projects from that master.

Using Cloud Projects in Revit

Cloud projects can be set for Revit models and loaded in very much the same way as standard text files.

Collaboration

So you are set up working with cloud projects now.  Great!… what’s next?  One of the main reasons to use this system is to collaborate with other companies, so let’s see how to do that.  Collaborative projects will have an owner company that will create the project under their own account just like any other project.  Next, the owner company will invite other companies and/or users to collaborate.  The invited users or companies must accept then invitation and then will be able to work on the project at whatever permission level is granted by the owner company.