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Informed Design now provides two options for manufacturers to publish their product designs for usage in Revit: the Configurable method that’s been available since launch, and now, the streamlined Static method.
This article discusses the reasons why you might want to publish Static products, and compares the Static and Configurable product publishing workflows in Informed Design. For step-by-step instructions, please read To Publish a Static Product in the Informed Design Help.
Key Points
- In the Informed Design Add-in for Inventor, the workflows for Configurable and Static products differ across the Parameters, Rules, and Outputs tabs.
- Configurable products require parameter adoption and rule definition to ensure dynamic reconfiguration, while Static products make parameter adoption optional and keep adopted parameters read-only.
- Form layouts are optional for both product types but serve different purposes, with Static product forms being limited to displaying pre-defined values.
- Input rules apply only to Configurable products to enforce customization constraints.
- The Outputs and Publish workflows are largely the same for both product types, though Configurable products involve additional checks to validate synchronization between parameter values and the Inventor model. Static products with no adopted parameters simplify the process by skipping validation and form-related workflows.
Author & Publish with the Informed Design Add-in for Inventor
iLogic in Autodesk Inventor is a fantastic tool to add complex, rules-based configuration logic to your 3D CAD models. But what if you want to publish a model to Informed Design that isn't configurable? Or a model that has a simple set of configurations that can be defined in a table, such as iParts and iAssemblies?
Static product publishing is ideal for a simpler product with a limited, discrete set of possible configurations – such as those predefined in iParts, iAssembly, or Model States tables – where conditional logic isn't necessary. We also recommend Static publishing for those who want to use Informed Design workflows, but don’t currently have enough time or iLogic expertise to build out a configurable product model.
Parameters tab
CONFIGURABLE
- Adoption is required: At least one parameter must be adopted to publish.
- Adoption order is important: The order of this list determines the order in which parameter values are passed to the Inventor model for reconfiguration in Design Automation, so the parameter order should take into account any dependencies that exist between parameters so that the model updates correctly.
STATIC
- Adoption is optional: Parameter adoption is not required. Optionally, adopted parameters can be included on the form; they will automatically be set to read-only. These read-only parameters can be used to share product information with the Revit user.
- Adoption order doesn't matter: The adopted list determines the order in which parameters are listed in the Form by default, but apart from that it has no impact.
Rules tab, Form workspace
CONFIGURABLE
Form layout is optional:
- Tabs may be added within the Form block to structure Parameters and Groups.
- Groups may be added to organize Parameters into collapsible sections.
- Parameter blocks may be rearranged within the Form block to change their order in the customization form.
- Label text may be customized for Parameter names, Tabs, Groups, and the title of the Form itself.
- The state of the Form preview reflects the latest synced changes across both Rules workspaces. The only sync control is the "Update form" button which updates the Form preview based on the Form layout workspace. Other sync controls are accessed from the Input rules workspace.
STATIC
- If one or more parameters were adopted:
- As with Configurable product definitions, this step of the workflow is optional for those who wish to customize the appearance of their form.
- In a Static product definition, the sync controls for "Get model values" and "Reset defaults" are available in the Form layout workspace (rather than in the Input rules workspace, which is inaccessible for a Static product definition.) The form controls remain read-only and there is no Input rules workspace, so the product definition's form can't be used to update the Inventor model values.
- But even for a Static product definition, you may decide to use the current values of the Inventor model as the product definition's default values instead of whatever these values were at parameter adoption time. To make this change, you'll click the "Get model values" button to fill the Form preview controls using the Inventor model values and to set these values as the product definition's new default values.
- If parameters were NOT adopted:
- Since this step of the workflow pertains only to the layout of parameter controls within the product's form, it is not applicable to products without parameters adopted and can be skipped.
- The workspace canvas and form preview are both empty. There are no sync controls above the form preview, and blocks in the toolbox are disabled.
Rules tab, Input workspace
CONFIGURABLE
Input rules enforce manufacturer's rules during product customization:
- Since the parameters of a Configurable product are editable, the necessary constraints for these parameter values should be defined in the Input rules workspace.
- Before the product is published, these rules should be tested in the Form preview to make sure the proper guidance and corrections are displayed for the designer in Revit to keep their customization choices in compliance with the manufacturer's allowable range.
- Since each product variation will be generated on demand for Configurable products, values in the Form preview should also be tested in the Inventor data set using the sync controls, to confirm that the Inventor model will reconfigure and update in Design Automation as expected.
STATIC
Input rules are not applicable:
- Since Input rules don't apply to Static products, the Rules tab's Input workspace is unavailable when the Configurable toggle is switched Off.
- For Static products, the values of any parameters its author chooses to include in the form are always read-only. The configuration is known to be valid since the parameter values are predefined by the manufacturer ahead of time, and the product will remain in its pre-approved configuration, so there is no need to define or test rules.
- If rules were defined in the Input workspace when a product definition was set to Configurable and this product definition is later switched to Static, the previous Input rules are preserved in the Input rules workspace. These Input rules will simply be ignored and omitted from the Static product when it's published.
Outputs tab
CONFIGURABLE and STATIC
This phase of the workflow is the same for both Static and Configurable product definitions.
Publish prerequisites
CONFIGURABLE
The following prerequisite checks are performed: These checks ensure that the parameter values in the Form preview, on the Parameters tab, and in the Inventor data set are valid and in sync.
- Values in form controls are valid according to the rules: Current parameter values in the form preview must be valid according to the input rules. Form controls cannot show an active error state at publish time.
- Product definition’s default values are equal to form’s current values: The product definition’s default parameter values must equate to the current parameter values in the form preview.
- Inventor model values are equal to product definition’s default values: The base model’s values in Inventor must equate to the product definition’s default parameter values.
STATIC
- If one or more parameters were adopted: Only 2 of the 3 prerequisite checks are performed.
- For Static product definitions, it is not possible for a parameter in the form preview to show an error state since there are no Input rules to flag the value as invalid; therefore the Values in form controls are valid according to the rules check is omitted.
- The other two checks, Product definition’s default values are equal to form’s current values and Inventor model values are equal to product definition’s default values are still performed, to keep the product definition's default values in sync in both the form preview and Inventor data set.
- If parameters were NOT adopted: For Static product definitions with no parameters adopted, the form preview is empty and there are no default values to cross-reference against the Inventor model, so no prerequisite checks are performed.
Publish location
CONFIGURABLE and STATIC
- This phase of the workflow is the same for both Static and Configurable product definitions.
- Since the setting of Static vs. Configurable is applied at the release level, a published Product can have a mix of both Static and Configurable releases.
Insert & Replace with the Informed Design Add-in for Revit
As mentioned above, release 1 of a published Product could be Static while release 2 is Configurable, or vice versa. When browsing products in the Informed Design Add-in for Revit be sure to note the "Published as" value in the details; this designates the release as either Static or Configurable. After opening a release to-be-inserted in the Customize & Insert dialog, or an instance to-be-replaced in the Replace dialog, the user interface will vary somewhat, depending on whether the release was Static or Configurable.
Configure tab
CONFIGURABLE RELEASE
- Release opens on the Configure tab by default.
- Form controls may be used to modify parameter values, with the release's Input rules confirming valid customization choices. For releases with multiple Representations, the Representation-to-be-generated may also be specified.
- After making these selections, clicking the "Generate" button sends the variant to Design Automation where rules process the Inventor model and generate the corresponding Revit Family on-demand, or get it from the store of previously generated Families if one exists already.
STATIC RELEASE
- The only available variant has already been generated and all Representations its publisher chose to include are ready to insert, so nearly everything on the Configure tab is read-only for a Static release.
- If no parameters were adopted, there is empty space where the form controls would typically go.
- For releases with many adopted parameters, it may be preferable to review values arranged vertically in the form rather than horizontally in the Variants table. Apart from that, there is not much to do on the Configure tab for a Static release.
Select tab
CONFIGURABLE RELEASE
- Since parameter adoption is required, the Select tab’s Variants table will include a “Generated on” column followed by 1+ columns for adopted parameter(s.)
- The table initially includes only one row for the default variant configuration, with subsequent rows added for each new variant sent to be generated. The status of each variant – in progress, ready to insert, or failed – is shown in this table.
STATIC RELEASE
- Release opens on the Select tab by default.
- Static releases may or may not include adopted parameters; for those with 0 parameters adopted, the Variants table’s only column will be “Generated on.”
- Since only one configuration is available for a Static release, the default variant will remain as the table’s only row.
- There may be multiple level of detail Representations if the publisher chose to include them; as with Configurable releases, this can be specified in the Representations dropdown menu before Insert or Replace.
Instance Assignment in the Informed Design Web App
When assigning instances from a Revit model to create a Request for Outputs (RFO), the Instances table and the Instance details panel will look different depending on whether the selection in the Product menu is a Static or Configurable release. The Instance details panel’s Product summary now includes a “Published as” value designating the selected instance as Static or Configurable. Learn more about the Informed Design Web App here.
CONFIGURABLE RELEASE
- The Instances table includes columns for the Revit ID, the Variant name, and each adopted parameter. Sorting the table by the Variant column will group Instance rows of the same Family Type. Family Types may be unique due to their configurations, their level of detail Representations, or both.
- The Inputs section of the Instance details panel will always list at least one parameter, since adoption of 1+ parameters is required for a Configurable release.
STATIC RELEASE
- The Instances table includes columns for the Revit ID and the Variant name. The table may or may not have parameter columns, depending on whether or not parameter(s) were adopted for the release. The values in the Parameter columns will be the same for all instance rows; if the value in the Variant column varies, this is because multiple Representations were instantiated.
- The Inputs section of the Instance details panel may include parameters if any were adopted; if no parameters were adopted, this section will be empty with a message stating that.
Product Administration in the Informed Design Web App
When a Product is selected on the Releases tab, its table of releases now includes a “Published as” column designating each release row as Static or Configurable. If one or the other applies to all the releases, this column can be hidden.
CONFIGURABLE RELEASE
- The Parameters list in the Release details will always include at least one parameter, since parameter adoption is required for a Configurable release. Default values for the release are displayed alongside the parameters.
- The Preview shows the release's default configuration.
STATIC RELEASE
- The Parameters list in the Release details will include parameters if any were adopted; if so, the Lock icon next to the list header indicates that the values listed alongside these parameters are read-only.
- If parameters were NOT adopted, the Parameters list is empty, and a message under the list header states that no parameters were adopted.
- The Preview shows the release's default configuration, which is the ONLY configuration available.