I had an absolute blast at Autodesk University 2022 in New Orleans. This is the biggest conference in the industry, with over 9k attendees.

It was the first time the event was in-person since 2019 and the first time I attended the event since 2017. AU is typically in Las Vegas, but they’ve switched it up this year to New Orleans. I loved the city vibe, but people had concerns about the safety of some quarters. The town is having issues with crime in the last few years.

Regardless, I am happy they switched it up and enjoyed NOLA.

Here are my highlights and insights from the event:

 

1- EVERYONE IS BUILDING THEIR OWN REVIT ADDINS

Here is the most significant trend of the last year: medium and large-sizes firms are starting to build their own plugins for Revit. I assisted a panel hosted by Bill Allen that asked: “Should Your Firm Build Custom Tools?”. The answer was: unanimously yes.

As an anecdote: last year, I had a live session with Michael Kilkelly from ArchSmarter, where he taught how to create a Revit C# plugin from scratch. It was a moderate hit at first, but in the last few months, it exploded in popularity! It seems architects are becoming programmers.

What are the goals of these custom addins? Typically, to automate repetitive tasks specific to a firm’s practice.

My question: what happens to the smaller firms? They don’t have enough budget to build their own tools. I hope Autodesk still pays attention to them and doesn’t abandon the development of automation features.

 

2- TWINMOTION WILL BE NATIVELY PART OF REVIT

Autodesk made a deal with Epic games. Twinmotion will be directly integrated into Revit. This is excellent news because Revit’s default rendering tools are atrocious. I still think Enscape is the better rendering tool, but I look forward to diving deeper into Twinmotion. This alliance might also unlock easier access to Unreal Engine. You can see the announcement video here:

     

 

 

3- AUTODESK ANNOUNCED FORMA

Autodesk’s CEO, Andrew Anagnost, dressed up as Gandalf for the main keynote. He announced the introduction of a new platform called Forma, which is uh… honestly, I’m not too sure. 😅

You can read the official announcement here.

Here is a an article by Architosh that goes in detail about Forma.

 

4- I TALKED ABOUT WILD BRICK PATTERNS

I was booked at the exact same time as Andrew Anagnost… but my session was still full! I think it went quite well.

Click here to watch to watch my session or download handouts.

Photo credit: Basam Yousif

 

5- AUTOMATE YOUR REVIT MODEL... DURING THE NIGHT!

One of my favorite sessions was by Håvard Vasshaug and Morten M. Raeder, where they showcased a tool called Night Runner, which cleans Revit models during the night. They developed this custom plugin for Norway's government building. I was impressed at how they managed to fix complex issues bugging down most BIM projects.

 

Click here to watch the session

You can learn more about Håvard’s work at Reope.

 

6- THE REVIT INFLUENCERS DINNER

I’ve got an invite to dine with the Revit team and other “influencers” at a Steakhouse. I even received Autodesk socks 🧦!

Seriously, I’ve had a blast with Harlan and Kimberly with the Revit team! It is nice to be able to talk to them directly.

It was quite the crew of Revit experts. Check out this picture, taken by Dan Stine:

 

The annual Revit influencers dinner at @autodesku

Soooo much fun.@ADSKCommunity #au2022@HarlanBrumm @FuhrmanKimberly @MThiessens @TheRevitGeek @DesireeMackeySE @nicocatellier @paulfaubin pic.twitter.com/RUJ1YNAm5Q

— Daniel John Stine (@DanStine_MN) September 28, 2022

 

7- TRENDS FOR REVIT 2024: 3D WALL LAYERS AND TOPOSOLID

First, let me preface by saying everything written here is based on what is publicly available on Revit’s public roadmap. Not sure if these features will make it in Revit 2024 or not. Regardless, here are the most significant features we can expect in the next Revit release.

• 3D Wall Layers. Currently, you can use parts in Revit… but the tool isn’t very good. In the upcoming release, you should have better control over multiple layers, without having to use the convoluted workflow to “unlock” layers in the wall structure.

• Toposolid. The current Toposurface tool is only “surface”. The new tool will be solid-based and will offer much more customization. For example, you will be able to create tunnels and other site shapes that are currently impossible without odd workarounds.

   

8- SHOULD YOU THROW OUT GENERATIVE DESIGN OUT WITH THE BABY?

One of my favorite sessions was by Bill Allen & Benjamin Guler of EvolveLab, where they wondered if you should throw out Generative Design with the bath water.

Generative Design had a massive buzz a few years back but had a rocky few years since.

The problem is with the hype. Generative Design promised to go from drawing walls to generating entire buildings in a single click. There is a step missing: generating specific parts of a building. Bill & Ben showcased a tool that could automate the creation of ducts. The user controls the inputs, but the “boring” part is automated.

Click here to watch the session

Fun fact: Bill & Ben will be joining Revit Pure Live on November 2nd.

 

9- /SLANTIS MAKES COOL SOCKS

You always come back from conferences with random vendor stuff. The problem is, I already have thousands of t-shirts and tote bags! That’s why I was riled up when the team at Slantis gave me a pair of socks and a chocolate bar. I NEVER have enough socks in my drawers. How cool are these?

In addition to the cool socks, /Slantis have an amazing women-led BIM Consulting team based in Uruguay, but operating worldwide. I got to meet with Mercedes and Agustina from their team, and I was impressed by their vision and ambition for our industry. I will be paying close attention to their next steps.

If you need some BIM consulting or content creation help, check out their website.

 

10- SNAPTRUDE: A REVIT ALTERNATIVE?

Direct Autodesk competitors don’t have booths. However, you can still find the outcast hanging around in hotel lobbies. In addition to the TestFit crew, I randomly stumbled upon the team at Snaptrude. They are out to build a cloud-based multiplayer Revit alternative. It is still early for them, but the product looks quite promising.

Click here to learn more about Snaptrude

 

11-  MAKING YOUR DYNAMO SCRIPTS COMPATIBLE OVER MULTIPLE VERSIONS

John Pierson closed the conference with a killer session with tips to make your Dynamo scripts compatible from one version to the other.

I appreciated John’s insights into how to leverage Comic Sans for your firm. 😉

Click here to watch the session

 

---

 

To recap, AU was amazing. I’ve met with many more people I didn’t specifically mention here, but it was an absolute pleasure discussing with you all. I am hoping to see you there next year.

Meanwhile, you can watch our Revit Pure Live sessions on our YouTube channel.