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Autodesk launches full lifecycle platform under Forma brand
Justin Stanton Editor, CM Digital
Autodesk Assistant in Revit enables teams to quickly surface project insights using natural language prompts
Autodesk has launched what it describes as the “first truly unified environment for planning, designing, building, and operating”.
Branded Autodesk Forma, it includes Autodesk Construction Cloud’s construction management tools, creating “a deeper connection from design to construction to operations”. The tools include Autodesk Estimate, a new cloud-based estimating solution that connects 2D and 3D takeoffs to costs, materials and labour calculations to help contractors and subcontractors produce more accurate estimates.
Complementing these changes, the current offering for early-stage planning, previously known as Autodesk Forma, will be rebranded to Forma Site Design. Launching in beta in the coming months, Forma Building Design is a detailed building design solution with automated design tools and integrated analyses. It is designed for accessibility and intuitiveness, Autodesk said, enabling “users of all skill levels to design with intent and deliver with impact”.
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As part of the latest initiative, Autodesk is introducing Forma Connected Clients, a label recognising when a desktop product is deeply integrated into the Forma industry cloud. Revit will be the first official Forma Connected Client. Revit users will be able to tap into Forma’s contextual data marketplace, environmental analyses, and collaboration features without leaving their desktop environment and without the need for exports, imports or rework.
Over time, Autodesk will evolve additional desktop solutions into Forma Connected Clients, “unlocking broader capabilities and enabling more powerful cross-product workflows for more customers”.
What about AI?
AI is also in the mix. Autodesk Assistant is available with Revit, AutoCAD and Civil 3D, enabling teams to use natural language prompts to automate tasks and surface insights instantly. For example, in AutoCAD, users can analyse their projects against drawing standards and have violations flagged immediately, “breaking down hours of tedious review into minutes of intelligent analysis”.
Further development of Autodesk Assistant means teams tap into everything from specifications and submittals to RFIs, issues, change orders and schedules.
Finally, Autodesk Docs has been renamed Forma Data Management and is now the common data environment for all of Forma. This means every Autodesk customer, whether working on desktop or cloud, can benefit from unified data access and collaboration, with no migration needed.
The announcements were made at Autodesk University.
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