Introducing Revit 2024

Introducing Revit 2024

by | Apr 5, 2023 | AEC, Autodesk, BIM, Revit

Fresh from the Factory, Revit 2024 is rolling out globally! In this release, Autodesk has combined eagerly anticipated additions, like Site Tools for landscape designers, with highly requested enhancements from the community, like Dark Theme and a more modern user interface.

Here are three of the highlights from the new version:

Introducing Site Tools for Revit & Revit LT.

This new toolset supports the design and documentation of richly detailed landscapes. You can use Site Tools to:

  • Collect and rationalize existing conditions data from CAD Imports, CSV point files, and more.
  • Model your design intent freely and easily, with versatile site and massing tools for modeling topography.
  • Populate schedules, sheets, and views and calculate material quantities. Cut, fill, join, and run phasing scenarios. Use the design-to-documentation engine of Revit to save time and improve design quality when modeling landscape and site conditions.

Save time in concrete detailing.

Structural engineers and rebar detailers have new capabilities for creating, scheduling, and documenting rebar. Use the new bar bending details to:

  • Create reinforcement drawings and schedules with detailed fabrication instructions. With this new tool in Revit, when the model changes, the details adapt along with it.
  • Add and customize rebar bending details so that your views and sheets respect your typical practice.
  • Reduce errors and omissions in your document sets.

Evolve work together.

Link Coordination Model from Autodesk Docs into Revit makes it easier for project teams to sync and coordinate design deliverables. Keep project files light and teams on the same page.

  • Link models and views from any of the 60+ formats supported by Docs and the Autodesk Construction Cloud directly into Revit.
  • Underlay the coordination model as visual reference when designing in Revit.
  • Reduce the need for interpretation when coordinating up-to-date design deliverables with partners and project teams.   

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Sustainability and Inclusivity Inform Notre-Dame de Paris’ New Landscape Design

Sustainability and Inclusivity Inform Notre-Dame de Paris’ New Landscape Design

by | Apr 4, 2023 | AEC, Autodesk, BIM

Notre Dame Cathedral and its surroundings

Once the Notre-Dame Cathedral’s reconstruction has been completed, the area surrounding the building will also be redeveloped, and the City of Paris has already chosen the winning project team.
  • Notre-Dame Cathedral is still undergoing restoration after damage caused by the fire on April 15, 2019.
  • The City of Paris is taking advantage of the lengthy building process to rethink the area surrounding the monument.
  • Two things are central to the project team’s concept, led by Bureau Bas Smets: accessibility and the visitor experience.
  • Engineering company Ingérop worked on the digital model to visualize the cathedral’s future surroundings.

After the terrible fire that ravaged the site in April 2019, Notre-Dame de Paris is being returned to its original splendor thanks to the remarkable restoration work that has been carried out by laborers during the past three years. But the project’s scope also involves landscaping the 10 acres surrounding the monument—one of the most famous cathedrals in the world—elevating the entire area to its former magnificence.

To take on this massive project, an international competition launched in the spring of 2021; by September that year, four teams had been selected to work on redeveloping the cathedral’s plaza. The jury selected the design team to be led by the winner, landscape architecture bureau Bas Smets, working with GRAU Architects, Neufville-Gayet Architects, Ingérop, Franck Boutté Consultants, Les Eclaireurs, BLD Waterdesign, and Cronos Conseil.

Scheduled to begin in 2024, the redevelopment project makes plenty of room for greenery and creates an interior promenade in the former parking garage under the forecourt. The building information modeling (BIM) files, produced by the team and piloted by the engineering company Ingérop, provide a precise idea of what the future developments imagined by landscaper Bas Smets and team will look like.

Information (the I in BIM) is essential to the digital construction process. Data is central, so it is structured via the 3D model, shared, and used as a source of information and visualization through modeling technology and document exchange support with Autodesk Infraworks, Civil 3D, and Autodesk Docs.

The winners are required to fulfill certain specifications, such as meeting 2050 climate objectives, reviving natural surroundings in the space and returning to Notre-Dame’s roots, and rethinking the experience for pedestrians to experience the most visited historical monument in Europe.

A Witness to Urban Transformation

The Île de la Cité, the island in the river Seine where the cathedral stands, was the location of the initial settlement that developed into the city of Paris. Notre-Dame’s forecourt marks the French capital’s birthplace: just over 150 feet from the entrance to is Kilometer Zero, the starting point of every road in France. This is also the spot from which the distance separating Paris from other cities is calculated.

The Île de la Cité has witnessed more than 800 years of urban transformation, making the challenge of redeveloping these 10 acres on the Seine a unique opportunity to reinvent and shape a peaceful, inclusive, and sustainable city that is concerned about its environment.

daytime view of Notre-Dame and the surrounding water

Transforming the parking garage under the forecourt will make the new public space greener, more open, and larger than before.

A Symbolic Transformation

The first major ecological act proposed by the Bureau Bas Smets team is a plan to decarbonize the area. And what could be more symbolic of this than transforming a two-story underground parking garage, flush under the forecourt, to illustrate urban recovery?

This entirely redesigned space now has access to the adjoining crypt and—in the spirit of returning to the site’s roots—will also open onto the Seine. The remains of a dock were uncovered during excavations before the garage was built in the 1960s, proof that the site was once open to the river.

“The user experience was a decisive factor in the City of Paris choosing this project,” says Carine Dunogier. As head of urban development at Ingérop, she is employed by the group that helped Paris select the winner of a competition to redesign the park surrounding the Eiffel Tower. “On top of the 30,000 people who visit the cathedral daily, thousands of other people—workers and locals—pass through here every day. However, the area was ill-equipped and poorly thought out for people with reduced mobility.”

Looking up at Notre Dame from a staircase

The team selected for this project is led by the Belgian landscape architect Bas Smets and includes the architect and urban planner agency Grau, as well as the architecture agency Neufville-Gayet for the heritage component.

A covered space that is still open to the outside, this new underground agora will offer facilities including a reception area for groups, a café-restaurant, and public toilets. It will also highlight the dock remains discovered 60 years ago.

Using Real-Time 3D Visualization

The 3D models give a realistic image of what this $33 million project will look like once it is completed in 2027. They were created by Ingérop and produced using Autodesk Infraworks, Civil 3D, 3ds Max, and AutoCAD.

Autodesk supported the City of Paris by providing technological expertise throughout the competition for designing Notre-Dame’s plaza. Creating a 3D model of the existing site around the cathedral helped the four teams better understand the requirements (a crucial part of any design) and adapt their plans accordingly. The teams were able to access the model quickly and directly via Autodesk Docs in the cloud. This was especially significant working in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic—particularly because lead contamination around the cathedral required a drastic health protocol in accordance with the French Environment and Energy Management Agency’s (ADEME) recommendations, rendering certain areas off-limits.

an overhead view of Notre Dame

The urban elements—such as the forecourt, square, alignment, and banks—are all present, albeit in a fragmented manner, around the cathedral. The project highlights the quality of these elements and rethinks each of them from the perspective of the collective and the climate. Image courtesy of Ingérop.

By opening a staircase that will end near the foot of the cathedral, the monument will regain a grandeur that successive developments erased over the centuries as the city was built up layer by layer.

“The 3D visualization of the candidates’ projects, using Autodesk technologies, enabled the jury to immerse themselves in the proposals for the redevelopment of this historic district of Paris and choose the best design,” says First Deputy Mayor of Paris Emmanuel Grégoire. “We hope millions of visitors will enjoy this exceptional site once construction is completed.”

“Working and collaborating in the cloud allowed for a fluid exchange between all project partners,” says Vincent Duloup, project manager in charge of Ingérop’s Grand Ouest digital hub. “The digital model made it possible to engage in a constructive dialog with the diocese and the citizens’ commission of the City of Paris.”

aa view of the plaza in front of Notre Dame

Designed as a tree-lined plaza, the forecourt highlights the western facade of Notre-Dame, which is surrounded by more greenery. During hot weather, a sheet of water trickles onto the forecourt to refresh the atmosphere while creating ephemeral reflections.

Incorporating Nature to Improve the Visitor Experience

As an additional highlight of this urban redevelopment, the Île de la Cité will see the return of more abundant greenery. The area of the forecourt had been largely paved over but will be transformed into a tree-lined plaza. “It gets very hot in summer,” says Dunogier. “In fact, in the past, we saw that the lines to enter the cathedral would follow the shadow cast by the building, as visitors sought protection from the heat. Naturally shaded areas have been incorporated into the design to bring nature back into a space that accommodates around 100 cultural events every year.”

To help bring the temperature down on very hot days, a sheet of water less than a half-inch thick will also be spread over a wide swath of the square. Using recovered rainwater and a closed circuit, the primary objective is to have the water evaporate as much as possible in order to refresh passers-by.

Now visible to the whole world thanks to 3D modeling and enhanced by a virtual reality visit, the redevelopment project around Notre-Dame will highlight the multiple spaces that make up a site rich in history. With BIM as a matrix, the efficient use of modern construction technology will help teams restore the monument to an enhanced, greener version of its former splendor.

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Disable User’s Ability to Install Updates via Autodesk Access

Disable User’s Ability to Install Updates via Autodesk Access

by | Mar 23, 2023 | Autodesk

With the new Autodesk Access available since March 18, administrators now have more Users can install updates via Autodesk Access.  We don’t want users attempting to install updates either because:

  • My users don’t have install permissions, and the updates will fail anyway, or
  • I want to control the distribution of updates via another method, such as SCCM or Microsoft Endpoint Manager.

 

Causes:

Autodesk Access is the new desktop application for installing product updates on Windows devices.  This new application provides the ability for users to install their own updates, as long as they have install permissions.  This application is built with administrator controls in mind, so if you want to prevent your users from installing updates from Access, you can do so.  All users will still have Access available so that they can get information about updates that may impact them.

Solution:

The following registry key will disable the “Update” button in Autodesk Access, as well as notifications about new updates for the users where it is applied.

  • Create a new key in the HKCU/Software/Autodesk/ODIS folder.
    • Key name: DisableManualUpdateInstall
    • DWORD value: 1

AccessNewDisable_image.png

To set this key on your user’s devices, do one of the following:

Manually create a registry key on their device

  1. From the Search bar in Windows, type in “regedit”
  2. Browse to the HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Autodesk/ODIS folder.  If it does not exist, create it.
  3. Right-click on the folder, and choose New > DWORD (32-bit) Value
  4. Enter “DisableManualUpdateInstall” for the Name
  5. Enter 1 for the Data.

Distribute the registry key via Group Policy

If you use Group Policy in your company, you can distribute this key to multiple users via this process:

  1. Open the Group Policy Management Console, gpmc.msc
  2. Create a new (or edit an existing) Group Policy Object (GPO) in the Organizational Unit you prefer.
  3. Expand the User Configuration section > Preferences > Windows Settings > Registry
  4. Right click on Registry, and select New > Registry Item
  5. Use these settings:
    1. Action: Update
    2. Hive:  HKEY_USERS
    3. Key Path:  HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Autodesk\ODIS
    4. Value Name:  DisableManualUpdateInstall
    5. Value Type:  REG_DWORD
    6. Value Data:  1

Logon Script

You can include the following command in any CMD-based user logon script you may have configured:

REG ADD HKCU\Software\Autodesk\ODIS /V DisableManualUpdateInstall /D 1 /T REG_DWORD

Other methods

Any other system management tool that allows you to write registry keys should also work like the methods used above.

Autodesk Access has replaced Autodesk Desktop App

Autodesk Access has replaced Autodesk Desktop App

by | Mar 23, 2023 | Autodesk

On March 15, 2023, Autodesk Access replaced Autodesk Desktop Application (ADA) to provide the foundational capability to ensure you receive the continuous benefits of new features and fixes, making managing product updates easier than ever.

Autodesk Access is just the first step in Autodesk’s plan to further develop the platform to provide you with greater control, easier access, and additional capabilities to achieve your desired outcomes.

How does it help you?

Autodesk has heard from customers that product updates have been frustrating, and that the previous update system, ADA, didn’t meet their needs. Some customers didn’t want their users to install updates themselves. As a result, they uninstalled ADA altogether. Autodesk Access will make things easier for you, so changes are now implemented specifically for admins to address these issues.

Autodesk Access is built with trust, security, and admin controls in mind. Using the latest installation technology, it will deliver fast, reliable updates and offers many benefits, including:

  • Continuous software updates, new features, and hot defect fixes to stay productive without interfering with your workflows
  • Easy admin controls to disable user’s ability to install updates and new update notifications
  • Enhanced security and better performance, reducing risk of downtime

Once Autodesk Access is installed, users will be able to install updates if they have administrator rights. A simple registry key will allow admins to disable a user’s ability to install updates, while also allowing users to see information about available updates.

 

View our blog to see how disable user update access.

 

 

 

How do I get Autodesk Access?

You can get Autodesk Access in four ways starting March 15, 2023:

  1. With any new 2022 or later product installation after March 15th.
  2. As an automatic self-update of the Autodesk installer.  This will be a progressive, percentage-based rollout ending around mid-May 2023.
  3. As an update to ADA starting April 3, 2023.
  4. Direct download of the installer from the Access landing page

 

 

Do you need to uninstall ADA before installing Access?

No, when Autodesk Access installs, it will uninstall ADA.

 

 

Does Autodesk Access work for Enterprise or other large customers?

Yes!  All customers will benefit from Autodesk Access.  We have many plans for new features this year to make getting updates easier.  For those customers that manage their own updates, we included admin controls to disable user’s ability to install updates.  Users at large companies can benefit from Access by getting information about updates that may be available, even if they can’t install them.

 

 

Do the Autodesk Access services consume resources on my device?

All long-running services consume some resources.  Autodesk Access, and specifically the Autodesk Access Core, consumes 34 MB of RAM and 0% CPU while idle.  The only time it is not idle is during startup, and when it is installing an update, where it would consume some resources related to installations as expected.

 

 

Can I remove or uninstall Access?

Currently, Access is part of the Autodesk Installer and can’t be removed.  Admin controls previously mentioned provide the ability for you to control your user’s ability to update products, and because it consumes a very small amount of resources, we believe that it is not necessary to remove it.

Our goal is to provide a great, transparent update experience. This is the first step in an exciting roadmap to give customers control and easy access to new product features. We will continue to build on the new Autodesk Access platform with capabilities to make updates easier and with the controls you are looking for.

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Whats new in AutoCAD 2024

Whats new in AutoCAD 2024

by | Mar 19, 2023 | AutoCAD, Autodesk

AutoCAD 2024

Whats New

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Flexible Modern Workflows with AutoCAD Web and Mobile

Flexible Modern Workflows with AutoCAD Web and Mobile

by | Feb 9, 2023 | AEC, Autodesk

Accelerating modern workflow processes today requires the agility and connectivity that only cloud-connected applications can deliver. AutoCAD on the web and on mobile is at the heart of these case studies, precisely showing such acceleration.

 
 

IN OUR CURRENT POST-PANDEMIC WORLD, there is a growing need to develop not just cloud-based technologies for remote work but to accelerate these technologies and solutions to improve significantly upon the state-of-the-art remote work technologies.

Years before the global 2020 pandemic, Autodesk began leading the way in cloud collaboration so teams across disciplines, industries, and regions can work together more easily. With numerous cloud offerings, Autodesk customers can work successfully from home and other remote situations. Its flagship CAD solution—AutoCAD—has also evolved to accelerate and mature its cloud technologies and features.

Summary: The AutoCAD Product World

Autodesk’s AutoCAD offerings span desktop, web, and mobile app solutions. Most users will still prefer to do all their heavy 2D creation and editing on the desktop application. At the same time, AutoCAD Web is one of the few offerings on the market that further democratizes access to DWG data via the modern web browser regardless of the computer platform. (1)

 

 

Data from one stakeholder is passed through the cloud to other stakeholders via a seamless marriage of robust cloud technology, integrations, and an AutoCAD app built around the idea of the right tool for the job.

 

 

Mobile AutoCAD apps for Apple iOS and Google Android enable users to bring DWG data to the job site and integrate measured and verified field data into the DWG CAD file.

A critical purpose of AutoCAD Web—which includes access and use of AutoCAD on mobile—is to serve as a collaboration tool amongst various stakeholders. Data from one stakeholder is passed through the cloud to other stakeholders via a seamless marriage of robust cloud technology, integrations, and an AutoCAD app built around the idea of the right tool for the job. 

Right Tool for the Job: Case Study One

At Autodesk University, a session on the new AutoCAD Web offerings highlighted new features and capabilities via two case studies. In this article, I will highlight both to illustrate how the latest AutoCAD technologies streamline the nature of remote work, emphasizing a broader definition of remote work.

Remote Work means broadly working apart from teammates and collaborators, not simply what it meant during the COVID pandemic when workers were sent home. That was a “virtual office” context, whereas working apart can mean many things, like taking a brief walking break to a coffee shop and while at a local Starbucks getting an anticipated update from one’s project manager about one’s latest work.

Let’s imagine the scenario.

Picture an architecture firm designing a new home for a client. The project manager has acquired the new home design requirements and requested the latest floor plan from a drafter in the firm. The drafter working in AutoCAD on the desktop saves the newest version of the design to AutoCAD web and mobile—essentially pushing it to the cloud.

Scenario One – Both the project manager and the drafter from the architecture firm utilize AutoCAD on the desktop but also AutoCAD Web and Mobile and leverage the power of the cloud for faster and more seamless collaborative workflows. (Image: Autodesk) (click to enlarge, typical)

The project manager isn’t heading back to the office but instead heading home early. Upon arrival, the project manager opens AutoCAD on the web via the web browser on her home computer. From there, she can see the latest work from the drafter. The project manager can see errors that need fixing and can fast-track changes that need to be made from the most recent client meeting.

autocad web and mobile

The project manager can work from home using AutoCAD Web and Mobile to stay on top of progress and issues on the job. (Image: Autodesk)

What are the options in the old way of working to deal with these changes versus today?

Before the latest cloud and AutoCAD updates, the only course of action would be to wait until the next day to come into the office and relay the design changes and errors found in the latest plan. Fast forward to today’s AutoCAD Web, the project manager selects to jump into the errors spotted in the plan and fix them herself using AutoCAD Web and Mobile’s core editing tools. She quickly makes those minor adjustments fixing a door’s swing direction, editing some walls, and working with AutoCAD Blocks to adjust the furniture layout.

 

 

Before the latest cloud and AutoCAD updates, the only course of action would be to wait until the next day to come into the office and relay the design changes and errors found in the latest plan.

 

 

After dinner, the project manager jumps back into the AutoCAD Web, using the AutoCAD Mobile tools running on a powerful Apple iPad Pro with Apple Pencil. Intent on getting down the notes on the client’s changes, the project manager opens a Trace (a key new feature in the recent AutoCAD technology) where she can safely add direct feedback to a DWG without altering the drawing itself. Working with annotation and markup features (like revision bubbles) and the new Sketch command, the project manager uses Apple Pencil to draw arrows, leave freehand writing notes, and more to aid the drafter in tomorrow’s work.

 

autocad web and mobile

Using the power of Trace technology inside AutoCAD products means stakeholders can quickly communicate markups, get notifications about them, and monitor the status of input across the project stakeholder system.

It is essential to note the acceleration of work that has taken place thanks to these cloud-based technologies. The project manager completed her day with a combination of work in the early evening and then a bit later before bed using different devices: AutoCAD Web running on a Mac laptop in the home office and AutoCAD Mobile on an iPad. After completing all these tasks, the latest information was saved to the cloud and ready for colleagues tomorrow.

The next day the project manager was free to head to another meeting first thing rather than coming into the office to collaborate with her drafter. The drafter understood the new requirements and edits from the information left on the Trace by the project manager the night before.

Let’s look at another case study example.

Right Tool for the Job: Case Study Two

In this example, an architect works on a new restaurant layout with an interior designer. The architect uploads the existing conditions floor plans to AutoCAD Web. Then she can go to the field to verify the space in person using an Android tablet running AutoCAD on mobile. Upon inspection, she notes that several plan conditions are slightly different than the existing plans indicated. She decides to fix these minor adjustments while on-site using the editing tools in AutoCAD on mobile.

In this second case study example, both the architect and interior leverage the power of Trace feature technology on AutoCAD Web and Mobile to streamline collaboration. (Image: Autodesk)

Other observations are added to a Trace for later consideration by the interior designer. The architect shares observations in notes and freehand sketches on the Trace because the Trace technologies are deployed throughout the AutoCAD product line.

With these updates now saved back to the cloud, the architect notifies the interior designer, who then begins adjusting his concept ideas for layout items. Later in the week, the architect returns to the job site for another meeting about HVAC issues. Notified about a new layout plan by the interior designer, the architect opens that drawing from within AutoCAD Mobile on her Android tablet. With new realizations about some HVAC requirements, the architect sees that the new layout plan is nearly perfect but needs a small, suggested change to accommodate relocations of the restrooms.

AutoCAD 2023’s Trace feature technology mimics the analog logic of “tracing paper” for markup and iteration while leveraging the power of cloud technology for more seamless multi-stakeholder communications. (Image: Autodesk)

This time, the architect uses the Trace tools in AutoCAD Mobile to freehand her ideas about these changes and save them up to the cloud. The next day at home, the architect logs into AutoCAD on the web on her home computer and begins to lay out the restrooms in a new location on the plan. While at a coffee shop, the interior designer receives the notification of the architect’s latest plan, and he opens to review the changes on AutoCAD on mobile his iPhone. He now knows he has new opportunities to increase the restaurant’s seating capacity and looks forward to spending the day optimizing the restaurant plan for the client.

Case Study Observations

In both case studies, colleagues’ workflows have been accelerated and compressed into faster time intervals. Despite different locations between offices, homes, job sites, and coffee shops, working apart no longer means losing time and opportunity.

In the first case study, the project manager saved time as she didn’t need to head back to the office to relay information to her drafter. She could use any computer and tablet at home to summarize changes and prepare that information for her drafter ahead of the next business day. This also liberated her schedule to optimize a next-day client meeting further. In this case, travel is one of the most explicit forms of efficiency optimization when liberal use of cloud technologies is deployed evenly across firms.

autocad web and mobile

Autodesk’s AutoCAD Mobile brings the power of the cloud and AutoCAD technology directly to the most personal of your computing devices—your smartphone. Now wherever you are, you can stay in touch with colleagues, clients, and other project stakeholders with engagement in collaboration workflows. (Image: Autodesk)

Another observation is the power of capturing field information in AutoCAD on mobile, using technologies like the AutoCAD Trace and leveraging device technologies like Apple Pencil on iPad. In the second scenario, the architect of a restaurant project works with an existing DWG plan file produced on the desktop where it is most efficient to produce. The mobility of a tablet is ideal for viewing that plan file in the field and making quick comparisons, measurements, markups, or even edits. The old alternative way of working is to bring paper-based plans into the field and make markups on paper. That process is inherently slower.

Working with AutoCAD Web and Mobile

Autodesk rightly considers its AutoCAD product line an excellent example of a modern software app—built for a computing ethos that has long shifted the center of computing to the cloud and mobile.

AutoCAD on the web is supported on 64-bit Windows or Mac computers running Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, or Microsoft Edge. AutoCAD on mobile is supported on iOS, Android, or Windows 10 on mobile devices and tablets. AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT system requirements require relatively recent versions of Mac and Windows operating systems.

Closing Thoughts

AutoCAD on the web and on mobile is purpose-built for today’s remote workforce and attendant agile workflows. They are built around the idea of precisely providing the right tools for the job and, more than that, keeping user interfaces clean and streamlined and putting the focus on task-speed optimization.

AutoCAD Web is a standalone product (which then comes with mobile), or the two products come with complete AutoCAD subscription offerings–making AutoCAD a leading value on the market. There is even a free view-only (non-subscription) version of AutoCAD Web for stakeholders who only need to view CAD data. All of this means greatly enhanced flexibility for project teams, colleagues, and stakeholders to configure their DWG workflows to fit their exact needs.

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