Detailed building design solution said to offer LOD 200/300 detail, ‘AI-powered’ automation and integrated analysis
Autodesk is reshaping its AEC design software portfolio, introducing a new suite of Forma solutions, while making desktop products like Revit more deeply connected to the Forma industry cloud.
At Autodesk University today, the company unveiled a new product, Forma Building Design, and announced that its existing early-stage planning tool, Autodesk Forma, will be rebranded as Forma Site Design.
Launching in beta in the coming months, Forma Building Design is billed as an easy-to-use detailed building design solution, offering ‘BIM-level’ LOD 200/300 detail, ‘AI-powered’ automated design tools, and integrated analysis capabilities.
Nicolas Mangon, VP of AEC industry strategy, explained that with Forma Building Design users will be able to check facades, explore interior layouts, and optimise performance with carbon and daylight metrics.
“Forma Building Design is just the first of many new Forma solutions that will support a broader range of industries and project phases, all powered by AI,” he said.
Meanwhile, Autodesk is continuing to develop its desktop design tools while working to bridge the gap between desktop and cloud-native workflows. The company announced that Revit will be the first official Forma Connected Client — a designation for desktop products deeply integrated with the Forma industry cloud.
Revit users will be able to utilise shared, granular data and Forma’s cloud capabilities, such as environmental analyses, directly within the desktop BIM tool, without the need for exports, imports or rework.
Autodesk plans to bring more desktop solutions into the Forma Connected Client ecosystem but did not name which ones.
Finally Autodesk is rolling out the AI-powered Autodesk Assistant to Revit, AutoCAD, and Civil 3D, allowing users to automate tasks and surface insights through natural language prompts. In AutoCAD, for instance, Autodesk explains that users can check projects against drawing standards while Autodesk Assistant flags violations immediately.
In related news, Autodesk has announced neural CAD, a new category of 3D generative AI foundation models coming to Forma and product design sofware Autodesk Fusion, which the company says will “completely reimagine the traditional software engines that create CAD geometry” and “automate 80 to 90% of what you [designers] typically do.”
