Autodesk Informed Design What's New: May 2024

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Read '2025 and beyond: Autodesk Informed Design product roadmap' for the latest details on the futur...

Informed Design Web Application

NEW! Upload Output Files to Folders in Fusion Team Projects

The target folder for output files previously had to be within an Autodesk Docs project. Now, Fusion Team project folders can be selected as well. In the Select Upload Location dialog, members of Fusion Team projects will find them listed alphabetically in the Account/Project dropdown menu alongside their ACC projects. 

Video tutorial: Informed Design web app - generate manufacturing outputs

Note: Fusion Team permissions may be assigned at the project, folder, or subfolder level. Those with Editor permission or higher at the project level may select any project folder as the upload location. Those with Viewer or Reader permission at the project level may select as an upload location only the project folders in which their folder-level permission is Editor or higher, but can view the entire folder structure to which this folder belongs.

Read more: Minimum Permissions Requirements

Informed Design for Revit add-in

IMPROVED! Non-blocking Replace Operation

Previously in Replace, it was unclear whether changes to parameter values equated to an existing variant that could replace the instance immediately, or a new variant that would take time to generate. After submitting changes, other Revit activities were blocked until the variant had finished generating and replaced the designated instance.

We’ve now integrated the existing variants table from the Insert workflow into Replace. This allows designers to replace an instance in seconds by selecting an existing variant, configuring a new replacement variant, and generating multiple potential replacements simultaneously.

Video tutorial: Informed Design for Revit - edit or replace an existing variant

Replace no longer blocks other design activities while new variants are being generated. Designers are free to continue working on other tasks. When the new variant is ready, they'll receive a notification in the Replace dialog; then simply click on the Replace button, and the stored Revit element ID will be used to select the designated instance and apply the replacement.

If the designer closes the Replace dialog while waiting, the variant will continue generating in the background, but they won’t get a notification when it’s complete, and they'll have to re-select the instance they intend to replace.

With these improvements, we hope to streamline Revit design workflows with fewer interruptions.

(NEW!) Update Informed Design Content

As their product lines change and improve over time, building product suppliers may recommend newer release versions of their products, and older versions may no longer be supported.

With Update Informed Design Content, designers in Revit can review a list of Informed Design instances in their model that have relevant update-related actions.

Video tutorial: Updating product variants in Revit

The Update Content list includes instances with a newer release available, and instances with the release status Obsolete (which means they must be replaced with an Active or Default release, or removed).

If the instance selected in the Update list has a newer release available, clicking on the Replace button at the top of the table will launch the Replace dialog. From there, the designer can click on the Change release button to select another release, then use the newer release to configure a replacement or select one from the list of existing variants.

After replacing the instance in the model, the Sync icon button in the Update dialog can refresh the list. Any instances that were replaced using the newest available release will be removed from the Update list.

The Update list may also include instances of an Obsolete release that do not yet have a replacement. Designers can resolve these instances by deleting them from the model and replacing them with a different product via Insert. Alternatively, these instances can be left as-is and updated later when a new product release has been published.

Informed Design Inventor add-in

(NEW!) Form Layout Phase 1

The customization form can get long and complex for products with lots of input parameters. With the first phase of Form Layout improvements, we’ve created a new codeblocks workspace dedicated entirely to form layout and orchestration.

Many more form-specific codeblocks will be added to the Form Layout workspace toolbox as we expand options for form appearance customization in the future, but today we are starting with just two new blocks: the Control block and the Group block.

Video tutorial: Introduction to Codeblocks for Form Rules

Control blocks are used to include adopted parameters in the customization form. Product engineers also have the option to redefine the control’s default label in the form if the Inventor parameter name is unsuitable. For those who want their controls' default labels to update based on certain conditions dynamically, this can be achieved in the Input rules workspace.

Group blocks are accordions that can be used to nest related parameters. When Control blocks are placed inside a Group block, the Group can be expanded or collapsed within the Form to display the nested parameters selectively. Currently, only one level of nesting is allowed; Groups can’t be placed inside other Groups.

All Control and Group blocks go inside the Form block, which cannot be deleted. A name can be entered in the Form block to give the form a title in Revit, or the form title will be omitted if left blank.

The parameter reordering, default labels, and grouping defined in the Form layout workspace will be visible in the Input rules workspace’s Form preview as long as changes have been synced via the Update form button.

If dynamic control labels, numeric constraints, etc. were defined in the Input rules workspace and synced via Update form, these changes will be visible in the Form preview on the Form layout workspace. However, the Form layout workspace’s form preview controls are just visual, so input rule behavior should always be tested in the Input rules workspace.

Note: Adopted parameters can still be reordered in the Adopted list on the Parameters tab. The order in the Adopted list determines the order in which the parameters’ values are passed to the Inventor model for reconfiguration. Use ‘Set model values’ in the Input rules workspace to test and confirm the correct behavior before publishing.

Looking for a complete list of additional bug fixes and minor improvements? See the latest Release Notes.