{"id":7345,"date":"2021-12-08T12:00:09","date_gmt":"2021-12-08T17:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adsknews.autodesk.com\/?post_type=views&p=7345"},"modified":"2023-02-07T16:05:55","modified_gmt":"2023-02-07T21:05:55","slug":"app-developers-unlock-bim","status":"publish","type":"views","link":"https:\/\/adsknews.autodesk.com\/en\/views\/app-developers-unlock-bim\/","title":{"rendered":"How app developers unlock BIM productivity"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\" At Autodesk, we recognize every customer has unique needs, so we make our products flexible and customizable. Our software can be tailored to each customer through application programming interfaces (APIs) and plug-ins that work with both desktop and cloud solutions. We envision a future state in which Autodesk Forge, our cloud-based API platform, becomes the single environment where innovators come to design and create, no matter their industry or discipline. They\u2019ll no longer think about the products they\u2019re using\u2014they\u2019ll just solve problems. As we build out our vision for Forge, we continue to foster a community of third-party programmers who use APIs to develop solutions for our desktop products like Revit. This community is called the Autodesk Developer Network (ADN). Here are two stories of how our customers work with ADN members to automate processes, streamline workflows, and accelerate productivity in the building industry. <\/p>\n

Ideate Software: Countless hours saved on megaproject<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Delivering a railway network that connects the urban to the suburban, Sydney Metro Northwest is Australia\u2019s largest public transport project. From viaducts to bridges to tunnels, the project has generated a mountain of design data. Tucked into each decision about structural support\u00a0piles\u00a0and girders are tiny, but important, details. The task of unearthing that information for the right people at the right time can be enormous. Here\u2019s how SMEC, one of the lead design firms on the project, describes it. \u201cOne part of the project had close to 500 piles, all with differing top and bottom reduced levels and pile diameters,\u201d said Aaron Cass, Technical Officer, SMEC. \u201cAt one point during design,\u00a0we\u00a0were asked to produce a table of all the piles with\u00a0a prescriptive set of\u00a0descriptions. This is the kind of manual work that can really slow us down.\u201d All of\u00a0those details existed inside the\u00a0building information\u00a0models\u00a0(BIM)\u00a0in Revit, but SMEC needed a simple way to unlock them. The team turned to\u00a0Ideate Software<\/a>\u00a0for help managing project data. Ideate Software is a long-time member of ADN, creating plug-ins for Revit to help building designers save time and improve their accuracy. \u201cA Revit project can be extremely sophisticated and nuanced,\u201d said Glynnis Patterson,\u00a0Software\u00a0Development\u00a0Director\u00a0for\u00a0Ideate Software. \u201cOur customers are regularly asking us to help expose more information so they can have more access and more control of their data.\u201d Ideate developers have responded to customer requests with many solutions, including\u00a0Ideate BIMLink<\/a>, a tool that gives deep visibility and useability of your Revit data by converting it into Excel. For the Sydney railway data request, the\u00a0BIMLink\u00a0app exported the pile information so values could be manipulated, standardized, and reimported to Revit. Cass said the process would have normally taken three days, but\u00a0BIMLink\u00a0cut it to \u201cmere hours from start to finish.\u201d Recent product enhancements include\u00a0Ideate Automation<\/a>, which allows users to script and run Ideate\u00a0BIMLink\u00a0on multiple models at convenient times like non-business hours. Ideate Software offers four additional applications in the Autodesk\u00a0app store<\/a>. And according to Patterson, Ideate Software\u2019s mission across its suite of products<\/a>\u00a0is to increase productivity by reducing the time spent on routine, manual tasks.

\"Ideate

Ideate BIMLink. Image courtesy of Ideate Software.<\/p><\/div> <\/p>\n

CTC Software:\u00a0Automating\u00a0hospital design<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Whether they\u2019re innovating a pod environment to maximize emergency department capacity or elevating hospital design to attract\u00a0international clientele,\u00a0HKS Architects<\/a>\u00a0brings deep experience in health care design. Their specialists blend the intricacies of patient flow, medical equipment, and security with the need to create a healing environment. Capturing these design decisions is no small feat. Occupancy calculations, for example, had required time-consuming workarounds between Dynamo, Revit, and Excel until 2017, when HKS was introduced to\u00a0CTC Software<\/a>. CTC, another member of ADN, offers\u00a0BIM Project Suite<\/a>,\u00a0which automates the occupancy calculations right in the model. \u201cImplementing CTC\u2019s suite of plug-ins has been one of the best decisions I\u2019ve made,\u201d said\u00a0Vibhuti Harris, HKS\u00a0Firmwide BIM Leader. \u201cWithout\u00a0burning\u00a0our own\u00a0time on\u00a0development, we could take\u00a0CTC\u2019s\u00a0off-the-shelf tools\u00a0to\u00a0achieve\u00a0those\u00a0calculations and automate other mundane tasks in basically one click.\u201d Recognizing that CTC\u2019s programming expertise could further enhance Revit, HKS wanted to do even more. Occupancy rules are complex on medical projects. For instance, architects not only account for people per floor, but in the event of a fire, they also map out people per smoke compartment, door access and closures, and points of egress.\u00a0In partnership with HKS, CTC built an occupant flow analyzer plug-in, allowing architects to model multi-floor paths to egresses. That automated workflow is now part of BIM Project Suite. \u201cProductivity and speed are key in the industry today,\u201d said Saeid\u202fBerenjian, President, CTC Software. \u201cOur apps enable better project outcomes because\u00a0data use is more sophisticated, information fidelity is higher, and our customers can get paid far better on their elevated deliverables. This is part of what we call BIM 3.0.\u201d CTC developers have long used our desktop APIs, providing\u00a0additional Revit and Civil 3D toolsets<\/a>\u00a0in the app store. And more recently, they have begun harnessing\u00a0the cloud-based APIs on\u00a0Forge<\/a>. One of CTC\u2019s newest offerings is\u00a0HIVE.<\/a>\u00a0With dashboarding and model analytics, HIVE centralizes content management in the cloud. HIVE customers include HKS Architects, whose project managers have greater need than ever for anywhere, anytime control over teams in different settings and time zones.

\"CTC\u00a0BIM

CTC\u00a0BIM Project Suite. Image courtesy of CTC Software.<\/p><\/div> <\/p>\n

An open ecosystem for diverse needs<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Our API\u00a0toolsets, which fuel\u00a0solutions like Ideate\u00a0BIMLink\u00a0and CTC\u2019s BIM Project Suite,\u00a0are\u00a0an essential strategy for advancing a more open and interoperable\u00a0software industry\u00a0serving architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC). Together, Forge, Autodesk Developer Network, and our app store represent a growing ecosystem of solutions and service providers that\u00a0uses\u00a0our cloud-based and desktop APIs to advance\u00a0software\u00a0capabilities and productivity, according to Jim\u00a0Quanci, Senior Director of ADN.\u00a0Since Autodesk began developing APIs,\u00a0Quanci\u00a0says the goal has always been the same: to make our products customizable and flexible for firms of every size, region, and specialty. \u201cThe app store\u00a0and APIs are\u00a0all about\u00a0creating an open platform that gives our customers more choices,\u201d said\u00a0Quanci.\u00a0\u201cWe nurture this ecosystem because it allows our\u00a0customers to go where they need to go.\u201d Whether\u00a0you manage massive infrastructure projects like the Sydney railway or specialize\u00a0in medical facilities or other\u00a0industry segments, the complexity of project data is only growing, as are demands to deliver projects more efficiently.\u00a0These trends make open, collaborative, and connected workflows more\u00a0critical\u00a0than ever\u00a0to a thriving AEC industry.\u00a0We\u2019re committed to providing the\u00a0platform, ecosystem, and partnerships that ensure you can deliver better projects\u00a0faster and with more confidence in your data. Learn more about how we\u2019re moving the industry forward: <\/p>\n