Twinmotion 2023 With Autodesk Revit 2024

With the recent release of Autodesk Revit 2024, it's a very exciting time. An interest of mine was in the inclusion of Twinmotion. If you read my previous blog, you may recall that I discussed the Twinmotion plugin for Autodesk Revit 2023 as well as the workflow between Revit 2023 and Twinmotion 2022. I also looked at how to install the Datasmith plugin within Revit.

 

I was happy to discover that the connectivity between Revit 2024 and Twinmotion 2023 has significantly improved. This blog post will outline the changes.

Opening Revit and Twinmotion

When you launch Revit 2024 and notice that the dark interface is now an option, it's a great development for a CAD and CGI visualiser. It aligns with AutoCAD, 3DS Max, and Unreal Engine, and significantly enhances colour optimisation in a creative workflow.

 

Moving on to Twinmotion, the good news is that Revit Access now enables you to obtain the 2023 edition of Twinmotion. There are numerous enhancements included in this version, which I will detail in my upcoming blog post.

Activating your Twinmotion Access

Go to the Twinmotion Access from the Products and Services page on your Autodesk login. Upon activating Twinmotion Access, you will be redirected to Twinmotion.com where you can download the latest 2023.1.0 release of Twinmotion.

Keep in mind that Twinmotion necessitates a capable GPU (Graphics Processing Unit), as indicated in the Check System Requirements section on the download page. Particularly, for the Path Tracer feature, you'll need a GPU such as Nvidia RTX 2000 or higher.

Download the Twinmotion 2023.1.0 and install it.

Installing the Datasmith plugin on Revit 2024 is unnecessary. All you need to do is open Revit and have the project available. Twinmotion will now appear on the view tab.

Open, Synchronise and Export

You now have the choices to either Open in Twinmotion, Synchronise, or Export. Choose the Open option in Twinmotion and the model will be sent directly to Twinmotion, provided that it has been installed as previously mentioned.

Use the option New Project, as this is the initial import to Twinmotion.

When you save your Twinmotion project, it becomes linked to the Revit project. This means that any changes or additions made to the Revit project can be synchronised to the Twinmotion project.

Conclusion

The ability to connect Revit with Twinmotion is a valuable asset for conceptual visualisation in a dynamic workflow. I view Twinmotion as an essential component of Autodesk Revit, and having it integrated into the View tab as a presentation feature, rather than an external plugin on a separate tab, is truly remarkable.

In Revit, Twinmotion is clearly a huge improvement to the presentation of a project.

 Being able to Auto Sync while still having the option to export to Datasmith is a significant advantage, as it allows the Revit project to integrate with Unreal Engine for further immersive capabilities.

Once again, the Autodesk Access to Twinmotion provides all the features of Twinmotion direct from the Epic Games launcher, but the cloud-based features are still restricted.

I've been conducting various experiments since the release of Twinmotion 2023.1 and Revit 2024, and I can confidently say that the workflow from project design to presentation is seamless and maintains conceptual design continuity with the Auto Sync feature in Twinmotion.

 

If you would like to discuss how you can get the most out of Twinmotion within Autodesk Revit, please get in touch with SYMETRI on info@symetri.co.uk or call us on 0345 370 1444 for more info.

AI AND GENERATIVE URBAN DESIGN YOU CAN START USING TODAY WITH SPACEMAKER

The integration of AI technology with design apps is still in its infancy. 2022 saw massive strides in image generation from tools like Midjourney and DALL-E 2 and the render engine Veras being used time and time again to put a new spin on the out-of-the-box model that comes preinstalled with Revit.

Spacemaker, Autodesk's most recent AI tool for early urban design and analysis, takes a slightly different approach from an AI standpoint. Spacemaker, dubbed by its creators "AI-on-the-shoulders," helps urban designers, planners, and real estate developers rapidly mock up and assess various building configurations on a given site. To guide the designer towards the best solution, it can take into consideration factors like wind, solar, view quality, and a variety of other metrics.

SPACEMAKER AT A GLANCE

The tool itself is completely web based. Starting a project involves choosing a location from an interface resembling Google Earth. Your site is generated in a matter of seconds and is available for work to start after the choice is confirmed.

SITE STUDY

The ability of Spacemaker to automatically create 3D building designs based on a set of user-defined objectives and parameters is one of its key features. This can be referred to as the "broad brush" approach because it allows for the rapid generation of many configurations as well as their quick comparison and evaluation

Sample site in London – The ‘Explore’ mode allows the fast generation of multiple site configurations. The red zone denotes the proposed building plot.

 

In less than 30 seconds Spacemaker has generated 95 proposals for this site.

The building size (height, width, minimum building margin), specified layout formations, and number of stories were generated by Spacemaker using user inputs. Any of these studies may be chosen by the user as the foundation for a design going forward, and Spacemakers analysis capabilities may be used to further optimise the website.

SITE ANALYSIS

Solar analysis of one of the generated proposals

Wind analysis of the generated proposal

REFINING GEOMETRY

The AI generation in Spacemaker acts as a ‘kick-off’ for a site proposal. The user can actively improve the design after selecting an iteration. This can be done natively in Spacemaker or the geometry and site can be exported to a third party application like Revit and imported back.

 SPACEMAKER EDITING CAPABILITIES

The kind of early schematic design that Spacemaker is designed for is well suited to its user-friendly interface for geometry editing. Those used to working with 3D software’s such as Formit and Sketchup won't have any trouble getting used to the tool. The Spacemaker-generated schematic buildings can be converted into polygon buildings, enabling the construction of more unique shapes.

CONNECTING TO REVIT 

Spacemaker users have the option of sending proposals right to Revit on their desktop. Achieved with a plugin which can be downloaded for free from the Spacemaker website.  Using this approach has the benefit of converting the native geometry into correctly categorised Revit objects, adding levels and grid lines, and incorporating topography and existing buildings.

To be a part of the Spacemaker journey at this time is exciting. There is a wide variety of design, exploration, and analysis tools included with this application, all of which will be covered in more detail in upcoming blog posts.

 If you would like to learn more about Spacemaker, please get in touch with SYMETRI on info@symetri.co.uk or call us on 0345 370 1444 for more info.

What’s New In AutoCAD Electrical 2023

 This blog looks at what’s new in AutoCAD Electrical 2024 release.

Schematic Symbol List Report

In AutoCAD Electrical 2024, you can create a symbol list report that includes the symbols used in the electrical project and the symbol description. Additionally, you have the option to surf a specific symbol that is used in various locations of the project.

Wire Type Synchronisation

Wire Types can now be synchronised for all wires in the network with the same signal code across the drawings.

Before, when you updated the type of the wire connected to the source arrows, the destination wire type was not updated. Now, when the wire type is updated at the source arrow, all wires in the network are updated to the same wire type as the source. New wire layers are created along with its properties if the destination drawing doesn’t contain the new wire type.

Manufacturer Content

Schneider Electric catalogue content and the associated panel footprint drawings for control relays, foot switches, pilot lights, and enclosures are in AutoCAD Electrical 2024 toolset.

Siemens AG catalogue content and the associated panel footprint drawings for ET200 series are in this release of AutoCAD Electrical toolset.

Quality improvements

·        PLC Database - Multiple assemblies can be linked to the PLC modules in PLC Database File Editor dialogue box.

·        Connectors - The parent pin of the connector can be populated based on the catalogue information.

·        Symbol Builder - BTESTBLOCK workflow no longer hides the pin wire connections in the Symbol Builder Attribute Editor.

·        Surf - The Surf dialogue box for cable markers displays all characters.

·        Components - The CNT value is synchronised between schematic and panel components.

·        MS Access Database Engine - Install Access Database Engine dialogue box no longer displays a false alarm for some scenarios when launching AutoCAD Electrical.

·        Symbols - Enhancements in Toggle NO/NC contact workflow.

·        Rebuild - Support for large projects in rebuild workflow.

·        PDFSHX System Variable - Set PDFSHX to 2 to store text objects that use SHX fonts as hidden text when the drawing is exported to a PDF. This makes the text searchable and selectable in the PDF.

 

Graphics Enhancements

Below is a list of 3D improvements that have been made to the Shaded (Fast) and Shaded with Edges (Fast) visual styles:

·         Support for Map 3D and Civil 3D

·         Large coordinate system support

·         Selection (Fence, Lasso, Polygon)

·         Paper space support

·         Point cloud support

·         Line weights

·         Dimming of Xrefs and locked layers

·         General stability, visual fidelity, and performance improvements

 

Below is a list of improvements that have been made to the 2D graphics system:

·         Pan performance is improved for drawings with raster images or wipeouts

·         Display performance is improved for trace background, Markup Import and Markup Assist, and ViewCube

·         Layout switching performance improvement

 

For further information on the benefits of using AutoCAD Electrical, please contact us at Symetri to arrange a consultation.

We offer scheduled AutoCAD Electrical Essentials training and bespoke training tailored to your requirements.

Contact us via email or telephone.

info@symetri.co.uk

0345 370 1444