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 order to streamline design-to-manufacturing workflows, there is a dire need to simulate anything. The Fusion 360 and Ansys relationship is getting stronger and deeper, which means more power to the users. With Fusion Simulation software, you can do a variety of analyses like linear and e-cooling. With Ansys Simulation you can simulate virtually any analysis type. Generative design outcomes can be validated with advanced analyses such as transient, nonlinear, fatigue, and random vibration, to name a few, in Ansys. This technology will enable users to do design in Fusion 360 and simulation in Ansys. Fusion Simulation setups can be packaged into neutral files and pushed to Ansys Mechanical and Discovery on the same or a different computer enabling designer-designer and designer-analyst workflows.

Modern structural optimization based on reducing materials has facilitated improvements for some structures like canopies and bridges. However, when applied to buildings, these approaches to optimization are less appropriate, as they can impact internal building layouts, frustrating our architectural colleagues. Procedural generation—a method for using algorithms to generate geometry—when combined with more familiar structural optimization like Generative Design in Refinery, offers us a new methodology that can drastically reduce the complexity of the problem. It achieves this by mimicking human processes and applying them to the option generation process, such as aligning the building's structural frame with key features in the building layout, like cores and atria. This technique also offers the opportunity to include multidisciplinary constraints by adjusting the building structural frame to match the position of internal features, such as internal walls and corridors.

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.

In this session, we’ll explain how computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and generative design were used to reduce and optimize a maternal health ward in Sierra Leone, Africa. We will illustrate how one nonprofit firm is using this technology to design energy-efficient health centers for underserved communities. This session will show how we utilized generative design and CFD to perform building-performance analysis. We’ll present a case study in which CFD analysis was used to target and locate prime locations for louvers and vents to promote a completely passive strategy. We’ll explain how we optimized daylighting for a more sustainable building with an unreliable power supply and reduced operating costs. These strategies are crucial for health care centers in developing countries, where resources are limited and maximizing the environment is a necessity.

In the structural engineering industry, one of the challenges is reducing manual and tedious design tasks. Computational design tools such as Dynamo software give structural designers, engineers, and detailers the possibility to automate the creation of their deliverables to build structures with minimal energy. By doing so they spend less time on the repetitive tasks and more energy on the important parts of the design. In this class, you’ll learn how Dynamo can support design automation and computational modeling workflows for structural analysis and design of concrete and steel structures. You’ll learn about the appropriate packages to perform automation in your own daily workflows, and you’ll receive a set of teaching examples.

This session will be a hands-on introduction to Dynamo as a visual programming tool. Knowledge of Dynamo combined with a little knowledge of Python is all you need to help create, compute, and manipulate complex design forms. Learn how to control curtain panels and place adaptive components. Learn how to use basic geometry to create complex surfaces, and how to use parametrics to place adaptive components. Learn how Dynamo can help you with solar studies when using parametric panels and components to design with optimum use of sunlight and energy.

This class will provide basic to intermediate understanding of the Civil 3D Toolkit package in Dynamo for Civil 3D software. Learn how to capitalize on the Civil 3D Toolkit when solving basic to complex dynamo graph.

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.

While it's not directly shown, it's likely that the teachers at Hogwarts used a lot of magic to make quick work of the mundane prep for their classes. This session will review applications of generative design from the standpoint of the graph author rather than the user. Using Generative Design in Revit software, we'll use our own brand of magic to find the optimal seating chart in potions (Revit integration), lay out the care of magical creatures OWL on the Hogwarts grounds (FormIt 360 software), and design the layout for the campgrounds at the Quidditch World Cup (Civil 3D software). This magic may not be as old as what the students at Hogwarts learn, but it will still help move your Revit, FormIt 360, and Civil 3D work to the next level via Generative Design in Revit!

Integrating building performance analysis results in the early stage of conceptual design supports effective design exploration and decision making. Such integration requires domain expertise and can be technically challenging, time consuming, and computationally expensive. Machine learning demonstrates great potential for building seamless workflows that provide faster analysis feedback. However, one of the challenges in the architecture domain is the lack of diverse data sets to train effective prediction models. This talk will provide a brief overview of the potential of machine learning in building analysis-prediction models and demonstrate how we can capitalize on generative design to compensate for the lack of data. We will present a workflow where generative design features for Revit software, Dynamo software, and Insight software are used to generate a synthetic data set for training a machine-learning model for energy-analysis prediction.

The South China University of Technology (SCUT) robotic team never stop seeking brand-new solutions for improved efficiency and quality workflow from design to manufacturing. Zhen-Po led his team, the South China Tigers, to a first-place RoboMaster 2019 regional championship through the adoption of generative design tools in Fusion 360 software. Zhen-Po was hired by the RoboMaster’s organizer, DJI, an electronics manufacturer in China after graduation. Combining 27 parts to only a single part for the stabilizer mount achieved a final weight of 170 grams—a 42% weight reduction compared to the original computer numerical control (CNC) process. Reducing the material waste while enhancing the strength by generativity adding support, therefore reducing the mass of the robot while ensuring structural integrity, the mechanical team’s entire iterative cost was reduced by 80%, which would not have been possible before.

FormIt Pro software is Autodesk's premier architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) 3D modeling and analysis environment for conceptual and computational design workflows. Take advantage of FormIt Pro in the Architecture, Engineering & Construction Collection to expand and diversify your services while designing with sustainability in mind. This class will show workflows that involve FormIt Pro and other products in the AEC Collection. Start your FormIt Pro model by assigning a location and importing a BIM context from InfraWorks software for 3D terrain, buildings, and roadways. Explore design options quickly and efficiently in FormIt Pro by integrating Dynamo graphs while controlling the graph through FormIt Pro software’s simple interface. Quantify and present design options by importing a FormIt Pro massing model into Revit software to quickly document space-planning and feasibility studies. Present real-time visualizations to clients by importing a more detailed FormIt Pro model into Revit for a walk-through, and continue to detail and document the design in Revit.

We’ll start by exploring the basics of Generative Design in Fusion 360 software, then look at how understanding the inputs can help us to design not only functional but also fun designs. To make our new artistic design, we need to explore how 3D printers see the designs. Small tweaks can help the 3D printer create better results. We will show examples of artistic designs and the quality of the 3D-printed outcomes.

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.

Generative design, machine learning, algorithm, neural network—these terms flood social media and technical forums. But are you familiar with these concepts? If the answer is no, welcome to the first generative-design class for non-geeks! There is no need to hold a degree in computer science or to work on the most-innovative projects; everybody can optimize their workflows using Dynamo software and Generative Design in Revit software. In this class you will learn how to take your automations to the next level where you set the rules and select the end solution among the fittest results. After this session, you will be equipped with a set of samples to start optimizing your daily workflows.

Dynamo for a long time has been the go-to tool of Revit users to quickly script solutions to time-consuming routine problems. However, there is much more that Dynamo can do beyond scripting. There is a whole world to explore with packages and integrations which you may not be aware of. See what is possible with AI, geometry manipulation, coding, generative design in Autodesk software, and document updates, as well as accessing web APIs with Dynamo. If you think you know Dynamo, then you’ve only scratched the surface. Check out this class to see the true potential of Dynamo and visual scripting.

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

Building information modeling (BIM) platforms and design software have opposite strengths. To get the best from each, it's beneficial to have them working in combination and complementing each other throughout the whole design phase. Doing so will also help bring BIM culture closer to designers, breaking the entrenched silos between the disciplines. Embracing designers in BIM allows for earlier implementation in the project and delays design freeze, as every iteration is captured in the federated model. This workflow proposes a fully integrated approach to the use of Rhino software and Revit software, describing the interoperability requirements of these platforms at the different stages of a project. Interoperability is a big challenge—we will review how an agile methodology can let you incorporate emerging technologies, and how this technology affects the design process.