Generative Design has brought a paradigm shift in the way we design. In early 2019 we launched a Proof of Concept for this new approach, taking advantage of our BIM and Station concept expertise. Having disseminated state-of-the-art Generative Design knowledge among our technical team, we began an ‘awareness phase’ and chose a subject for Proof of Concept from a range of study cases. The test application that we present today aims to help architects in Functional Program of Metro Station. We would like to share with you our experience from the last 12 months of experimentation.

For the last couple of years, the speaker has taught generative design classes at Autodesk University. The first years, we did an “Introduction to Generative Design” lecture; last year we did a lab showing the process and setup for applying a generative design to a part. This year we want to look at the results that you get from running the part and talk about how to interpret the information that you get back. We also want to look at how to download the desired result as a solid model, modify the file for any needed cleanup, and use it in an assembly. We are going to start by submitting a file to Generative Design in Fusion 360 software, then we’ll look at the results that are returned for strength, weight, and even cost. We will review sorting the results to get the best possible option for what we want, then we will download the file and talk about what you can do with the file. We’ll finish up by talking about changes to Generative Design in Fusion 360 that have come out this year.

How cool to watch or drive a drone! Well, there is a cooler way to think drones: You’ll be able to create a drone chassis after attending this hands-on lab! Fusion 360 software is an amazing product, with lots of environments to master. Generative Design in Fusion 360 is also available. Using the power of Generative Design, you can discover lots of details on how to use Fusion 360 to create a specific product. No matter if you’re a beginner or a seasoned veteran, this will be a detailed course that everyone can understand. Come along for an action-packed 90 minutes of learning, and find out how to create a design using Generative Design in Fusion 360!

In this session, attendees will get a look at how Generative Design in Fusion 360 software can help them improve the way they design and make engineering decisions. We will review the development progress we made throughout the year, and highlight why those features were key to improving how users capitalized on Generative Design. We will also look ahead to how we will be investing in improving our workflows, as well as growing our physics support to expand the types of problems that can easily be solved with Generative Design in Fusion 360. Lastly, we will show a sample of some of the successful customer projects that have been executed throughout the year.

Bonava is a leading residential developer of affordable housing units in Northern Europe. To achieve this goal, lowering costs and increasing productivity is essential. Standardized single-family housing units have been developed, with accompanying models, drawings, and documentation in Revit software. When the site layout is ready, Dynamo software helps to get the information from the houses to the site model and vice versa. While solutions for the houses are predefined, site design remains the largest variable. We use generative design tools to create more-detailed site-layout solutions in earlier stages, and measure both hard and soft values for each option. Now, numbers back up design exploration, making it possible to identify correlations between different design metrics. Furthermore, this lets us bring representatives of different disciplines to fact-based discussions very early on, to assess the plot and make informed decisions for further development.

We will discuss modeling pro tips and advanced skills for generative design workflows.

The design process has undergone significant changes in the last decade. Building information modeling (BIM) has revolutionized the way professionals design, plan, and manage projects. However, despite the numerous advantages of BIM, there is still untapped potential in the data generated throughout the design process. Analyzing data from Revit software and other sources can help designers make informed decisions about a design, ensuring that it meets the project's goals and objectives. Moreover, data empowers designers to explore more design options, and AI-assisted generative design tools can analyze data and provide optimized solutions. The data is stored in a centralized cloud database that's easily accessible, enabling the designers to quickly access and analyze it, making the design process more efficient. In this class, we'll identify four key phases to successfully capturing design data on projects: connection/integration, data syncing, visualization, and monitoring.

The dynamic between technology and design has shifted and will continue to shift, but this evolving relationship is not always seamless. We can tackle challenges of adoption, integration, and collaboration through open dialog that enables change and works with the transformative qualities of technology. Drawing on experience from Grimshaw, as well as wider industry conversations, Andy Watts will provide thoughts and insight on how industry participants need to work together to embrace technology.

Learn how to unlock the potential of seamless collaboration with Data Exchange, a powerful cloud-based plug-in that bridges the gap between Revit software, Rhino, Power BI, and other design tools. This dynamic course will delve into the world of interconnected design, enabling you to synchronize your design data across multiple platforms to optimize your workflow and foster real-time collaboration among team members. In this session, you'll explore the practical applications of Data Exchange through an engaging case study, learning how to harness its full capabilities for your architectural projects. Dive into the intricate process of data synchronization and management, ensuring efficient and accurate communication between Revit, Rhino, Power BI, and other critical design tools. Learn how to empower your team with a unified design environment, and unlock the full potential of your design software ecosystem in real-world scenarios.

Have you put off learning Dynamo for a while? Do you think now is the time? And are you curious about Visual Programming, Computational Design and Automation? Did you want to learn from the Dynamo team about all of these things? Maybe you want to be able to create your own Dynamo graphs after this Hands-on Lab? Come join us for the Dynamo Beginner Workshop focused on taking you from knowing nothing in Dynamo up to a working knowledge so that you can create your own graphs. You will understand the basic building blocks and concepts of Dynamo, explore how to create your own graph and correctly execute it and learn how to troubleshoot problems that may occur along the way. Come explore the world of Dynamo with us and supercharge your workalike through Computational Design and Automation!

Rhino is widely used by architects for early-stage massing and visualization, but environmental analysis remains a complex challenge for many users. That's where Forma comes in, providing detailed environmental analyses without requiring extensive technical expertise. In a live demonstration of the new Rhino-Forma plugin, we'll show you how to easily move geometry between the two programs, share best practices for structuring data, how to incorporate Grasshopper, and other tips and tricks. Learn how early environmental feedback can free up more time for creativity and reduce the C02 emissions of your design by up to 34%, and see how you can scale those benefits across your projects and organization.

In this session, learn how to go from developing conceptual models in Autodesk's early stage planning and design tool—Autodesk Forma—to highly detailed manufacturing design models in Revit and Inventor software. This talk will outline how Autodesk's Manufacturing Informed Design team has collaborated with the KOPE platform to create an end-to-end system that enables the design and specification of prefabricated products and systems through the industry's largest off-site market and database. This talk will demonstrate how manufacturing-led content can truly influence and validate design at an early stage by enabling a productized supply chain.

The current pressing issue of sustainability in the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry is changing the way buildings are designed and made. The basis of a sustainable project is the design and engineering principles that are used to achieve specific sustainable-development goals. But it's not always clear how we can meet sustainability goals with the use of specific technology. In this class, we'll focus on a piece of the technology landscape that Autodesk offers in the AEC industry, called Generative Design. We'll show some practical sustainable-design use cases that are solved with Generative Design in Revit software, going from architectural concept through building engineering to fabrication optimization. At the end of this session, you'll have some fresh inspiration on how to solve your own sustainable-design challenges with the use of automation and generative design methods.

Generative Design in Revit software was released last year for the first time in Revit 2021. This new suite of emerging tools enables generative design workflows that automate the creation and analysis of design options directly in the Revit context. This session will showcase the value that generative design brings to the design process, and demonstrate how analyzing more data-backed design options can lead to an enhanced design process. We will show how customers are using the tools to automate design exploration in their projects to optimize sustainability and efficiency and reduce construction waste. We’ll cover the product principles we use to prioritize new work and future directions. Finally, we’ll address the future of the product, where we intend to invest, and the road map for achieving our vision.

We developed A-SPEC, a computational design tool that aims to be a partner for architectural designers, based on the concept of "thinking together about RESTROOMS.” For any specified space, the cloud-based A-SPEC program will run multiple simulations and propose some better restroom-layout plans from tens of thousands of ideas. The design know-how that we’ve proposed in the past is utilized throughout the program to evaluate both the automatic calculations and the layout of the automatic design results derived from those calculations. The design results are converted into a 3D model using Forge Viewer, with veracity confirmable by the human eye. Finally, the results can be linked to Revit software and AutoCAD software via the Design Automation API. In addition to reducing design work time, this tool enables generalization and uniformity of design accuracy without relying on the individual know-how of designers.

In this class, we’ll cover four topics of automotive manufacturing: mold simulation and CAM, factory planning, automated manufacturing, and emerging design and manufacturing technology. We’ll begin with the challenges that automotive tooling companies face, and how the use of new technology and increased machine utilization can address the needs of more-complex and accurate tooling. From there we’ll move to factory planning and ways in which to address the challenges that drive change in manufacturing facilities; the problems that arise because of change; and the use of a unified digital model to manage this. We’ll then look at how manufacturing productivity can be increased using intelligent automation, and how it can improve consistency and component reliability. And we’ll finish discussing the use of emerging technology like generative design and additive and hybrid manufacturing, as manufacturers look to improve performance and efficiency of vehicles to meet sustainability and regulatory requirements.

In this class we will go over some of the new features in Alias software that can help in procedural modeling techniques, and tools that you can create with scripts to be driven through Dynamo software. Dynamo is a visual programming platform that you can use to create custom algorithms to process data and generate geometry. Since version 2019, we have had an integration of Dynamo in our Alias line of products (Concept, Surface, and AutoStudio). With the latest release of 2021, we have included Dynamo player, which enables anyone to run scripts and capitalize on the power of these tools to improve workflows and processes to save time and effort.

Last year at Autodesk University London, we talked about Stamhuis’s “Modular and Interchangeable Buildings.” Stamhuis has all the construction disciplines to realize within only one week complete stores as large as 4,000 square meters. This includes designers, structural consultants, 3D scan specialists, engineers, production planners, project managers, and construction workers. Stamhuis constructs 60 liquor stores per year. When we save one hour per project with a single small innovation, this saves us 200 hours per year, making the ROI for almost every optimization directly justifiable. With this background (complete standardization of processes, modular inventory, and recurring rollout in large volumes), we have started generative design. In the past year, we developed a floor-planning tool with generative design. The results have been amazing. Creativity is not a problem for generative design. Choosing the right option out of 120 is key!

In the first part of this session, we will create an associative parametric model to introduce fundamental concepts that underpin computational design while exploring visual programming in Dynamo software. The model will be enhanced by parameters retrieved from AutoCAD software and Civil 3D objects. We will show how to organize and export a point cloud representing the landform and link into Civil 3D. There we will integrate this landform as a triangulated irregular network (TIN) model into the model of the existing environment and perform several analyses, including grading, stormwater, and cut/fill balance. Based on this analysis, we will optimize the parametric model. As the model is dynamically linked, we can check the improvement immediately in Civil 3D and iterate the process easily. We will also show how to use Dynamo to link landforms created by designers as NURBS with TIN surfaces that engineers can use.

A fully optimized computer case was designed, validated, and manufactured using Fusion 360 integrated workflows. The enclosure serves to showcase various Fusion 360 technologies including Electronics Cooling Simulation, Generative Design, Generative Fluid Design, Additive Manufacturing, and Netfabb integration. Join us and learn how each one of these connected workflows contributes to the overall design and performance of the workstation. Our journey begins with the basic design and layout of the workstation and attempts to address common industry shortfalls. Advanced Fusion 360 technologies enable us to investigate novel designs for the internal case structure and flow-optimized ductwork, and then validate them with powerful, accessible simulation tools.