By Emmanuel Di Giacomo for Autodesk University

Our planet is facing big challenges. The environment is at risk and population growth is accelerating in the megacities of tomorrow. The building industry consumes a large part of our natural resources. There’s a big demand for houses and infrastructure to welcome these future populations, and buildings are generating a large portion of the carbon footprint on our planet. How can we overcome all these challenges and make a better world for our children and grandchildren? …

By Ovidiu Paunescu for Autodesk University

This article presents ten tips and tricks for configuring your rebar project in Revit. Topics include working with rebar shapes and rebar constraints; techniques for presenting rebar in construction drawings and extracting fabrication data using schedules and tags; and best practices for placement and adjustment of free-form and shape-driven rebar, area, and path reinforcement.

General Rebar Behavior

This first section will cover tips for how rebar works in general. This information is applicable to most types of reinforcement in Revit.

1. Include Hooks or End Treatments in the Rebar Shape Definition

Let’s start with two project-level settings that determine how rebar behaves when adding hooks or end treatments…

By Matt Lemay and James Neville for Autodesk University

This article explores modeling pro tips and advanced skills for generative design workflows in Fusion 360. Topics include preserves and obstacles, synthesis resolution, starting shapes, T-splines, and part hollowing.

Preserves and Obstacles

Generative design outcomes that involve form bodies tend to work best with rounded preserve and obstacle geometry. The transition between preserves and a form body is more robust and more accepting of post-processing when the preserve has been pre-filleted or rounded. Rounding obstacle geometry helps to avoid creases, interferences, and gives the generative design some breathing room.

Related: Fusion 360 Introduction to…

Around the turn of the 20th century, manufacturers got serious about both automation and optimization. Liberated from the unwieldy requirements of water and steam power by newly available electricity, they found innovative ways to augment the abilities of human workers and automate tasks with machines and systems. Then they continued to tune those machines, processes, and people in a never-ending quest for better productivity. Quality went up and costs went down. The modern assembly line was born, and the modern consumer economy became possible.

Meanwhile, construction changed relatively little. Machines got larger and more powerful, but since each project was…

By Michel Beaulieu, Patrick Siemek, and Jae Kwon for Autodesk University

Introduction

Traditionally, bridges have been designed and documented on 2D drawings and spreadsheets. The main challenge with this approach was ensuring that all documents reflect the latest design through multiple design changes. This was a time-intensive process fraught with potential for human error and liability risk. To address these challenges, two 3D model-based BIM workflows have been developed: a Dynamo-based approach and an InfraWorks-based approach. The Dynamo workflow is highly customizable and powerful (e.g., able to leverage machine learning) but has a steeper learning curve. …

By Kayleigh Houde for Autodesk University

Our intelligent models are rich with modeled elements, parameters, and materials: they’re ripe for the assessment of their CO2 impact. Yet how is that assessment best accomplished? This article reviews ways to pull your BIM elements and apply rich Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) data sets against them, pushing that information back into Revit, and visualizing the overall impact using available color schemes in Revit.

Lifecycle Assessment and Embodied Carbon

Before we embark on measuring embodied carbon, it’s important to note some key terms that form the basis of the assessment.

Lifecycle Assessment

Lifecycle assessment is the industry methodology for assessing the…

By Angela Yee and Joan Allen for Autodesk University

Use of standards for construction project delivery has grown over the last decade, with national and regional mandates, and an increase in Building Information Modeling (BIM) has led to the development of the ISO 19650 set of standards. This article will discuss the development and use of these standards and how they relate to how people are using Autodesk Construction Cloud.

Introduction: Common Data Environment

“The common data environment (CDE), is the single source of information used to collect, manage and disseminate documentation, the graphical model and non-graphical data for the whole project team,” says…

By Markus Koechl for Autodesk University

iLogic is by far most-used application within Inventor. Autodesk Vault is the most-used PDM system for Inventor. This article explores how to achieve synergy between the two by connecting them.

iLogic and Vault

Benefits of Managing iLogic Rules and Settings in Autodesk Vault

A Vault administrator can manage all users’ access to external iLogic rules and set files based on lifecycles or object-based permissions. As a best practice, all files consolidate in a single folder structure. For this sample implementation, we extended the Inventor iLogic default location managing External Forms as part of the Design Data library (Figure 1).

Related: Inventor iLogic Best Practices and Fundamentals for…