Revit Roadmap Update – August 2017

On July 12^th, we released our first major update for  Revit 2018 – called 2018.1. We hope you like the straightforward release numbering system. We are a little late, but now that Revit 2018.1 is available, we thought it be a good time to share a Revit roadmap update with you and point out a few changes.

But before we go into that, we want to give a shout out to Revit’s birthday. Revit joined the Autodesk portfolio 15 years ago this year. It’s been through a lot of changes since then, all of them great, and many of them thanks to the feedback that Revit users have provided. That’s why sharing our Revit roadmap with you is so important. As you read through the current roadmap, don’t forget that we take your suggestions seriously and you can always submit them through Revit ideas or by joining our Beta program.

Now let’s get started! If this is the first Revit roadmap you’re reading, here are the ground rules:

1. We’re sharing some of the highlights of our product development roadmap to give you a sense of the general direction Autodesk Revit is headed. There’s a lot more work going on behind the scenes, and this Revit roadmap update doesn’t reflect everything our development teams are working on.
2. We plan to periodically update the roadmap because it is subject to change. When we can, we’ll also share videos that show some of the work-in-progress software.
3. Roadmaps are plans, not promises. We’re as excited as you to see new functionality make it into the products, but the development, release, and timing of any features or functionality remains at our sole discretion.
4. These roadmaps should not be used to make purchasing decisions.

As a refresher, and to better explain the roadmap, for each discipline, we’ve grouped our plans by theme:

• Create: Efficiently create information that captures design intent.
• Optimize: Optimize designs for better results.
• Connect: Empower teams by connecting workflows for team-based project delivery.
• Automate: Boost productivity by automating tasks.
• Extend: Support the full project lifecycle.
• Modernize: Create a modern and effortless experience.
• Strengthen: Build a solid foundation for product reliability and efficiency.

We use themes, colors, and icons to keep track of the roadmap details.

Delivered with Revit 2018.1

Revit Idea Delivered with Revit 2018.1

Planned (Some features may be available for testing in Revit Preview)

Accepted Revit Idea (Some ideas may be available for testing in Revit Preview)

On to the update.

REVIT CORE

The Revit Core is the underlying technology that makes it all happen. This includes all the multi-disciplinary functionality, the technology enabling the Architecture, MEP, and Structure functionality, and web services that can read and write Revit information.

Automate

In Revit 2017.1 we introduced Dynamo Player and made the power of Dynamo scripting available to everyone on your Revit project team without needing to learn Dynamo. Revit 2018.1 extends the capabilities of Dynamo Player by adding support for interactive scripts. Via the new inputs functionality, Dynamo nodes that require an action from you will now display in the Dynamo Player UI allowing you to effortlessly play and interact with most Dynamo scripts.

We continue to look forward to extending the Forge platform by extending the Design Automation API to work with Revit. This API will enable partners and customers to use Revit’s engine as a cloud service to read, create, and update Revit files. This will allow for the automation of many tedious tasks and foster the creation of new cloud-based apps to solve targeted problems. Check out the AU and Forge DevCon classes on the subject.

Speaking of tedious tasks we want to remove, we want to make it easier for you to host your models in Autodesk Collaboration for Revit (“C4R”) by fixing the painful upgrade process. This will make it easier to take advantage of the latest and greatest in Revit technology and move from one release to another. We’re also added some enhancements to the API to the roadmap that will allow for partners to more easily create and access C4R models so that they can create applications that automate processing of C4R models.

Connect

We’re very excited to have made the Materials API available in 2018.1. A top wish list item for our partner community, it allows the automated creation of materials libraries and better transfer of material information between products. Adding a materials API is just one way we’re giving you better access to Revit model contents. This includes making it easier to save and access cloud-hosted models, creating new Forge services to automate tasks like printing to PDF, and opening up to make it accessible to web services.

When we talk to our customers about cloud worksharing, we know there are a couple of gaps in C4R that make it a challenge for some firms to adopt the technology. One is the difficulty of linking external (non-RVT) files into a C4R model. The other is the need for a low-trust model for projects, so that the right people have access to the right models. We’re continuing our work to fill those gaps to give your teams the best collaboration experience out there.

Modernize

You might not even have noticed, but in 2018.1 we implemented a very small change to how you rename views in the project browser so that now you can rename the views in-line and don’t have change the name in a dialog.  For sheets, we will still show the dialog as it contains two pieces of information, but all other views you can rename in-line.  This is just a small taste of what we are talking about with Modern Project Browser Enhancements.  We are not marking this one done yet.

We’ve also added a long-standing pain-point to our roadmap – content management. We want to make the experience of finding and managing your content better for you. Have ideas for how we can help you? Share it with us in the comments.

Strengthen

For 2018.1 we have released the latest enhancement in this area so that now you can organize your schedules in the project browser the same way that you do with views and sheets. We were able to reconsider this highly-ranked request based on your feedback and we’re thrilled to make it available to subscribers in a mid-year release. We’ve also moved one dialog closer to making all dialogs resizable by allowing you to adjust the size of the color fill dialog.

And while we’re thrilled to make these improvements available to subscribers, we have quite a few top requests we’re still working on. This includes the number one request on Revit ideas – OR in Filters. We hope to add a few additional ideas to the list next go around. So please keep voting on those ideas – it really makes a difference.

ARCHITECTURE

For architects, we are investing our work in these three areas:

• connecting our products together
• creating complex architectural elements simply
• working to provide solutions to help architects optimize their designs

Connect

With the 2018.1 release of Revit, we include a bunch of fixes and updates so that IFC works better. We plan to keep working on it so that Revit is certified for IFC4.

Behind the scenes, we are still working on supporting showing better Civil 3D topography in Revit.  Remodeling is bad – and we don’t think you should have to do it.  To minimize any remodeling if you are working with a civil engineer using Civil3D software,  we are working to better support more accurate geometry transfer of topography from Civil 3D into Revit.

Create

We have a few changes in this area from our last update.  In response to customer feedback and a desire to address more customer requests, we are taking off something we had listed in this area Railing-Baluster Modification has been removed from our roadmap.

On the railing front, we are focusing on adding Railing API support so that it is easier to create different types of railing patterns with our API – this should help the developer community do some interesting things with railings that are not presently possible with Revit.  We are still focused on adding additional functionality so that it’s easier to create geometry and making it easier to work in 3D views.

Optimize

We are adding an item for Evacuation Simulation to our roadmap.  The goal of this project is to display evacuation information like heat maps, evacuation paths, travel distances, and people evacuation animation directly within Revit without having to leave your design.  We want you to help you understand the impact of code requirements and fire safety on your design.    This is what we mean when we talk about providing you tools to optimize your design.  We want to help you by providing you access to innovative simulation and visualization tools so you can understand your design better and work in an iterative way.

MEP

Let’s look at some capabilities we are investigating for MEP customers of Revit, Plant 3D, P&ID, and our fabrication products to support users across building and plant design, detailed fabrication modeling for contractors, and deliverables to support the construction process.

Create

Fabrication pipe routing has been enhanced, enabling detailed modeling of sloped piping.

Model revisions are a part of managing a project that involves tight timelines and changes to material and labor availability.  We are investigating how to make it easier to change out elements from one type of connectivity and material to another. For example, your original specifications called for welded piping, but grooved piping is to be provided instead.

Managing Fabrication LOD (ITM-based) content is an area we hope to streamline, making it easier for content producers and users to make and use the content they need for detailed modeling.

Optimize

In the 2018 release, we’ve made several improvements related to the analysis of hydronic systems to support pipe and pump sizing and selection.  Revit now provides hydronic analysis for full hydronic loops. It aggregates the supply and return piping network into a total flow and pressure drop on the pump in the network.  We’ve also made it easier to leverage the analytical capabilities by enabling logical connections from terminal equipment to pipe distribution, need to have a fully connected physical pipe network.  Finally, we’ve optimized the computation as a background process, minimizing modeling delays while the computations update.

Looking forward, we are investigating support for more complex piping networks, such as those with primary/secondary loops, hydraulic separation, and multiple pumps in parallel.  With these investments, we hope to support your use of Revit on increasingly complex mechanical systems to support design analysis and validation throughout the project lifecycle.

Connect

Ensuring that a project meets the original design intent is a key concern of all stakeholders.  We hope to streamline the ability to more easily, efficiently, and effectively communicate the complexities of a design through a schematic, and to have the details of the design captured in the model with minimal data re-entry.

We plan to build this functionality using a combination of MEP-specific services and Autodesk general services intended to help streamline communication between stakeholders in MEP-related workflows.

Extend

Automated deliverable production is one of the ways in which we can help streamline the process of extending information from the model into the hands of those who need to procure, build, and install.  To support that goal, we are investigating ways in which we can automate the production of piping isometrics using Autodesk cloud services.

We’ve improved the Revit to Fabrication process by incorporating the reporting and worksheet capabilities from CADmep,  CAMduct, and  ESTmep products directly into Revit; no more exporting required.  Additionally, when exporting from Revit to CAMduct , branch/tap holes in ductwork developments export improving the sheet metal production process.

STRUCTURE

This part of the roadmap is focused on structural workflows from design to fabrication, supporting the key construction methods for steel, reinforced concrete, and precast concrete.

In this space, Revit is considered as a multi-material modeling and documentation authoring environment to help capture both design-intent and fabrication execution as appropriate.

Create

These modeling and documentation investments are designed to help deliver benefits like the following:

• Increasing the versatility of reinforced concrete detailing to include support for the complexities of civil structures, architecturally demanding buildings, and other concrete structures
• Providing more accurate steel design-intent modeling with connections, thus supporting fabrication estimating and extending to detailing.

Optimize

As a result of these investments, we expect to help speed up the authoring process with Revit. These improvements result, in part, by automating the process and driving it by several criteria related to structural analysis, code design, and constructability, including the following:

• Making documentation and modeling for reinforced concrete more time effective
• Transitioning from design-intent to fabrication readiness for precast concrete planar elements and, at the same time, based on predefined fabricator production rules
• Enabling the placement of steel connections to respect a variety of connections types and to be automated through rules determined jointly by engineers and fabricators

Connect

We are looking at ways to facilitate project-centric collaboration among structural stakeholders, from the conceptual phase through to detailed design and fabrication.  The current projects are focused on the following:

• Completing the design to detailing for fabrication workflow for concrete bridges, along with Infraworks software, where Revit is positioned to support it with documentation and reinforcement detailing.
• Connecting Revit and Advance Steel software in a more seamless workflow to take better advantage of design-intent accuracy for model and documentation preparation for fabrication (for example, transferring connections as logical entities rather than the geometrical composition of plates and bolts)

Extend

Our main goal is to support the full project lifecycle, extending from the office to the shop and the field.  With this mind, the upcoming features will focus on the following:

• Respecting workflow practices for concrete for rebar production, release, and installation so that it can be reflected in the Revit BIM model and protected from unexpected accidental changes
• Providing model data and deliverables for precast fabricators to run the process in the shop based on industry standards for data exchange
• Continuing to enhance the open IFC interoperability with respect to enhanced steel model fidelity in Revit

REVIT IDEAS & REVIT PREVIEW

There are a variety of other discussions and work related to connecting workflows from design to fabrication and beyond.  If you don’t see something listed here, it doesn’t mean that it isn’t on our radar for the Revit roadmap. If you have specific suggestions for ways we can make the product better, we encourage you to submit them to Revit Ideas.

If you would like to provide feedback on these capabilities, please ask us about participating in  our beta program (Revit Preview).  Reach out to revit.preview.access@autodesk.com to let us know that you wish to join our Revit Preview.

We continue to post updates periodically, and your feedback helps!  Let us know what you think.

Thanks!

The Factory