Autodesk doubles down on the future of BIM with new data connections and AI capabilities

• Advancements in data, industry cloud, and investments in core portfolio lead the transformation towards outcome-based BIM.
• Autodesk announces new connection between Autodesk Forma and Autodesk Docs, Autodesk’s AECO data repository.
• The beta release of Autodesk Assistant in Autodesk Construction Cloud lets users ask questions around their specification documents.

Outcome-based BIM will unify workflows across the teams that design, build, and operate the built environment.

At Autodesk, we’re keenly aware of the digital transformation happening across the architecture, engineering, construction, and operations (AECO) industry. It’s a transformation towards a smarter, more resilient way of designing and making our homes, workplaces, and communities.

Yet we understand the challenges to achieve this future: the $3.7 trillion needed to meet infrastructure needs, the staggering amount of waste generated yearly from construction and demolition, the increasing project complexities, and tightening budgets.

Fortunately, AECO is an industry of problem solvers. And we believe that outcome-based building information modeling (BIM) is the solution to achieving outcomes like carbon neutrality or reduced waste throughout the project lifecycle.

The foundation of outcome-based BIM is data—data that’s granular, accessible, and open, uniting teams across the project lifecycle. Better data helps to meet accelerated timelines, provides AI-powered insights to improve productivity, and enables more informed decision-making, lowering risks down the line.

We are partnering with our customers to build the future of BIM. In some ways, we’ve already begun the next era of the AECO industry. We’re excited to share our progress towards this vision at Autodesk University (AU) 2024.

Data-powered collaboration across the project lifecycle 

We are buildingAutodesk Forma, the AECO industry cloud, to connect project data–within Autodesk and third-party solutions alike–to unify BIM workflows across the teams that design, build, and operate the built environment. The key to unlocking the value of this data is Autodesk Docs, our common data environment for the AECO industry. Autodesk Docs is the central hub that will connect, organize, and secure data across solutions like AutoCAD, Autodesk Construction Cloud, Revit, Tandem, Civil 3D, and Autodesk Workshop XR so that the right data can reach the right people, at the right time, throughout the project lifecycle. 

Earlier this year, we released the AEC Data Model API – an important step towards enabling granular data for Autodesk Docs users. Now, we’ve reached another milestone towards outcome-based BIM: Autodesk Forma is now connected to Autodesk Docs, Autodesk’s AECO data repository, and over time, this will bring with it new workflows and opportunities that connect teams, and project data, together to supercharge collaboration. For example, our digital whiteboard and collaboration tool, the Forma Board, can now import visuals from Autodesk Docs files and connect stakeholders – architects, engineers, and contractors – around a live digital concept. It’s all powered by Autodesk Docs and centralized data.

The Forma Board, powered by Autodesk Docs, connects project stakeholders around a live digital concept.  

That’s just the start. Over time, Autodesk Forma’s connection to Autodesk Docs will enhance the integration between Forma and Revit, laying the groundwork for a powerful, fluid connection between Forma’s planning tools and Revit’s detailed design and documentation capabilities.  

We’re also improving collaboration with the commercial release ofAutodesk Workshop XR, an immersive design review workspace connected to Autodesk Docs. Workshop XR allows design teams and stakeholders to walk through their 3D models at human scale for the ultimate design review experience. The extended reality environment provides a deeper understanding of the spatial experience within the built environment, helping teams create and catch design issues, preventing costly rework, delays, and project waste.

Accelerating better outcomes with data and AI 

Getting data right is foundational to advancing outcome-based BIM and improving customer workflows with AI. At AU, we’ll discuss exciting advancements from Autodesk AI that improve productivity, creativity, and sustainability. 

Like theEmbodied Carbon Analysis in Autodesk Forma, now in beta. The earlier in the design process you can measure the carbon footprint of building materials, the greater impact you can have on outcomes. This AI-powered capability will allow designers to test material design decisions from day one. It’s part of Autodesk’s Total Carbon Analysis for Architects in the AEC Collection, which measures carbon impacts from things like lighting, HVAC, architectural elements, and building materials.  

Autodesk AI is also making it easier to surface information from your mountains of data. With the beta release of Autodesk Assistant in Autodesk Construction Cloud, users can easily ask questions around their specification documents. Using natural language prompts, Autodesk Assistant can answer specific questions, generate lists of items, or even draft summaries for project communications. Over time, Autodesk Assistant will become more engrained in everyday workflows to help teams save time and reduce risk.   

Autodesk Assistant in Autodesk Construction Cloud helps users to find relevant information around their specification documents.

Additionally, the use of real-world data and context is especially valuable for designing and making better outcomes for the built environment. We continue to invest in our strategic alliance with Esri, and are excited to announce plans to expand Esri’s data availability within Autodesk Forma, giving architects access to valuable contextual data earlier in the design process. In addition to existing access to Esri’s terrain data, there are plans to incorporate contextual geographic data from ArcGIS, including both Esri and consensually shared customer data for buildings, zoning, roads, property boundaries, imagery and more. This expanded integration will help architects and planners use Autodesk Forma to design with location in mind and deliver projects that are more sustainable, resilient, and can better support local communities.

The expanded integration between Esri’s ArcGIS and Autodesk Forma will help architects and planners to design with location in mind.

Building the future by investing in the core

As we progress on this AECO industry transformation, investing in our core portfolio of products that are connected to Autodesk Docs – Revit, AutoCAD, Civil 3D and Autodesk Construction Cloud – is essential to this journey. We’re committed to continued improvements of these solutions to drive business resilience and efficiencies for customers.

For example, recent releases of AutoCAD, Civil 3D, and Revit have combined to deliver more than 500 features and enhancements, many of which were recommended by customer feedback. Here are a few updates to our core portfolio that improve our customers’ productivity to deliver better project outcomes:

• AutoCAD 2025:is now twice as fast to open files as AutoCAD 2024, so users spend less time waiting and more time designing.And coming soon, we’ll launch a private beta of a new type of insight that delivers near real-time information to help users get the most out of AutoCAD, right within users’ workflows.  

• Civil 3D: in Autodesk Collaboration for Civil 3D, we’ve enhanced existing capabilities to enable key infrastructure measurements, sectioning, and integration of 3D models. As well, updates to Sheet Set Manager for the Web brings its capabilities more in line with the desktop version.  

• Revit 2025:continues to deliver on customer feedback, with highly requested releases like Sheet Collections and PDF upgrades for managing document sets, interoperability improvements for more open workflows in BIM, and upgrades for performance, personalization and insights that benefit productivity.  

Additionally, we recently announced new capabilities forAutodesk Construction Cloud, including Sample Project Templates, Budget Snapshots and a new BuildingConnected Pro integration with Cost Management in Autodesk Build, that help teams cut through the noise to only see the information they need. 

The core portfolio is the on-ramp to outcome-based BIM. We’re committed to partnering with our customers on this transformation by helping them succeed today while we build towards the future and advance Autodesk Forma as the AECO industry cloud.  

Applying the future of BIM, today 

These announcements from AU 2024 show how the future of BIM and the AECO industry is becoming a reality today. We can see it in the hands of customers likeBaker Barrios Architects, which is using Autodesk Forma to build an innovative digital workflow that connects and consolidates several software products onto one central platform and to design with an outcome-based approach.  

Wayne Dunkelberger, chief design officer at Baker Barrios Architects, shares that Autodesk Forma has been a “seismic shift” for the firm: “(Autodesk Forma is) basically a time machine in which you’re seeing what the real world will feel like when the building is actually on site.” Dunkelberger also notes that the ability of Autodesk Forma to do multiple tasks in one tool frees the firm’s designers to “be more creative in solving the design problems for our client.”

Baker Barrios Architects is using Autodesk Forma to design with an outcome-based approach.

The success of customers like Baker Barrios Architects shows that while getting to the future is hard work, we’re well on our way. Data, AI, and Autodesk Forma are remarkable tools in the hands of motivated, innovative problem solvers. We’re making the future – one with less waste, with less knowledge loss, and with less friction from design to make to operate – together.

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