Data Exchange for Rhino: The New Light in Design Interoperability

GEOFFREY TEARS: Good day, everyone. And welcome to my session. Whether you're live or watching this on demand later on, I appreciate you joining. And hopefully, you can learn something new. The session today is "Data Exchange for Rhino-- The New light in Design Interoperability." And it's going to be considered an industry talk.

So we're going to talk about some high-level concepts and help the members understand how Autodesk platform services is helping with design interoperability between the likes of Grasshopper and Rhino, and Rhino 3D and Revit. My name is Geoffrey Tears. I am a Senior Solutions Consultant at Symetri. And we are an Autodesk Platinum Partner.

In the AEC industry, there is often a fragmented approach to sharing project model information and data, which leads to inconsistent project coordination, overexposure of sensitive information, and unnecessary rework between project milestones. To address these challenges, there is a critical need for a user friendly and seamless model sharing tool, especially when project teams are using multiple softwares or software programs like Autodesk Revit and [INAUDIBLE] Rhino and others.

Today, we're going to review some of the issues and complexities of software interoperability between these two software for project coordination and the design and architectural industry. Then, I will break down some typical workflows that designers and specialists use to achieve design interoperability between the two programs.

Then, I'll introduce the Autodesk Data Exchange for Rhino and how the use of Autodesk Construction Cloud helps facilitate the sharing of data seamlessly. Then, we'll have a quick demo video of the exchange for Rhino, highlighting the speed and ease of use. Lastly, we'll share some potential workflows that will hopefully help to frame the importance and nuance of the Data Exchange platform as a whole.

Some of the core learning objectives are to showcase the Autodesk Data Exchange for Rhino and its ease of use, provide insight on the most optimal workflows for design and exploration and coordination. And we'll facilitate industry discourse for those who are in the live session and opinions on software interoperability in the AECO. So hopefully, in the end, this helps project teams lower the learning threshold typically required for proper design interoperability and coordination in the design industry.

All right, so there's a quick introduction. Again, my name is Geoffrey Tears. I am a AECO Senior Consultant, a Senior Solutions Consultant. I'm located in Houston, Texas. My education is a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Savannah College of Art and Design, also known as SCAD, where I grew my passion for technology, digital fabrication, and of course architectural design.

Some of my specializations include architectural design, master planning, computational design, digital fabrication, GIS, architectural visualization, net-zero and sustainable design, building performance analysis, and lifecycle carbon analysis. And there's many more that I can probably go off on.

My experience is over 14 years. Before Symetri, I was a designer and project manager for a design build company. In addition to that, I've been in a Symetri for the last five years, also formerly known as Microdesk. And this is my third appearance at Autodesk, fourth if you include a metaverse version of me last year.

And I work for Symetri. At Symetri, we are continuously expanding to provide even better leading-edge solutions and services to more markets. We are 1,000 employees, of which 600 consultants and 100 developers are employed.

We are located in seven countries and 33 offices with over 400,000 daily users of our software in which we partner with. Since being founded in Sweden in 1989, Symetri has grown through 23 acquisitions and organic growth.

We continuously challenge ourselves and our customers to work smarter. And we are proud of the values that we live by-- passion, courage, teamwork, change. We effectively work in the product design life cycle manufacturing industries, and the building and infrastructure industry.

In addition to that, I'm a member of our co-innovation practice. It is our research and development wing at Symetri, in which we partner with researchers and organizations to develop new projects products, services, and processes within our industries. Our practice fuels innovation and growth by addressing industry needs, regulations, and operational resilience through digital delivery to ensure a successful adoption for you and the collective.

So our first-- we're going to jump right into it. Our first section is going to be about the complexities and design interoperability. As mentioned before, as you all know, there is a great amount of software knowledge, coordination, and complexity even in the smallest design projects.

When the average person looks at a building in person or in a rendering, they do not understand the hard work and stress that is involved along the way. Now, even more so, with the use of digital technology being standard in the AECO industry, the process of coordination remains as one of the greatest challenges in the project's lifecycle.

Design at any scale is not a linear process. At times, yes, a process does flow in order. No matter what stage of a life cycle of a building, an engineer, designer, or architect, interior designer, and even facility managers will indefinitely have to deal with multiple data sources in order to execute the building's needs.

At the feasibility and conceptual stage of a project, in which stakeholders need accurate site models and civil information to generate early designs based on real constraints, it is important that they have accurate information.

From that, moving into the schematic design and design development's NCD phases, where the project truly takes form-- again, background data and information is heavily required throughout this process. Then, throughout the project, through the project as the project progresses into construction and construction administration, this is where contractors and fabricators play a key role in putting forth the vision and setting it into reality.

Beyond that, with facilities managers, the maintenance and upkeep of a building and renovations that may happen in the future is also an important part of the process that requires a lot of data itself.

Again to mention, design is not linear. So now, consider this. In the previous slide where we discussed some of those phases, this does not only-- as I mentioned, this does not only apply to the design and construction phase, but the operation and management side of the building's life cycle either for general maintenance, repair, or interior renovations, and tenant improvement projects.

What this means is the need for a coordinated effort that requires accurate three-dimensional and informational data. In the past, this meant creating BIM and 3D models from outdated or inaccurate hand drawings and CAD drawings as well as as builds. Coordination of all software and data involved with an AECO project can be a daunting and confusing process. Oftentimes, it's just a mess.

So again, when we look at this chart, the idea is to show that literally a project can be started from any point and does not follow a singular process. And it's helpful to understand how and why we use certain data at certain phases in a design's life cycle. Who is Pepe Silva? Don't fall down the rabbit hole is my greatest advice. Whether or not you are familiar with the American sitcom It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, the picture is truly worth a thousand words.

As anyone who has experience in design technology from the general user to the seasoned experts, we have all felt the way that Charlie does in this picture-- confused, lost, panicked, overwhelmed, and a little bit crazy when you have to try and explain exactly what you figured out and what needs to happen for us to address.

Design interoperability-- all right, so what is design interoperability? We're going to break it down. The word "design" is a verb. And by Webster's dictionary, it is defined as, "to create, fashion, execute, or construct according to plan." Next, is interoperability. It's a noun.

And it is defined, also by Webster's, as the, "ability of a system to work with or use the parts of equipment of another system." By defining each term, we better understand why this is such an essential subject in our industry. Each person and each process and each firm must work together to achieve the common goal. This means interoperability through the software or programs or processes that we actually use in order to get that building off the ground, literally.

In our industry, from the architectural standpoint, at least, project responsibilities are often split and closely coordinated between two major sectors, design architects or designers, and architects of records or executive architects. Throughout a design project, project members will use several tools to convey the specific needs of the design.

This could mean early conceptual studies for shading or room layouts. Or it could mean effectively showing construction details throughout the construction administration and construction documentation phase. Often for early conceptual design, Rhino, SketchUp, and FormIt are used for quick workflows and ease of use.

Also, in addition, grasshopper inside of Rhinoceros and now, Autodesk Forma, are adding to that repertoire of tools that are going to require further coordination and interoperability. While Revit does have a powerful conceptual modeling interface, Revit is typically used for its BIM and documentation capabilities on many projects. This session is going to focus on the connection between Revit and Rhino.

So Rhino is widely used for many industries. This includes industrial and product design, marine design, building design, and the list goes on. It does have a lower learning threshold than Revit does. But that is because it's not specific to the building industry.

It also has the ability to create some highly complex geometries and the flexibility to edit those geometries almost seamlessly. Rhino is a nerves-based modeler that has the ability to import and export many, many different file types. This includes tooling options for digital fabrication such as 3D printing and CNC milling.

On the other hand, we do have Revit. Now, specifically for-- it's primarily specifically used for the building industry. Revit is a building information modeling software, or BIM, which allows for relatively seamless 3D modeling, data collection, and documentation throughout a building project's lifecycle. It is primarily used, again, in the building design industry and is widely used amongst architects, MEP engineers, and structural engineers in order to get the job done.

Revit's ability to manage the production and coordination project throughout its life cycle amongst the other tools provided by Autodesk, such as Navisworks, is what sets it apart as a leading BIM software. Now, one of the main issues that we have run into in the past is how do these two software actually converse with each other?

Now, most of whom have used Revit or Rhino are familiar with the typical process of exporting and importing 3D geometry. While there are plenty of options, such as DWGs, OBJs, SATs, and STLs, as well as FBXs for import options-- oftentimes, they can lead to many results, as well. So there is not one real great method outlined for importing and exporting geometry from Revit into Rhino.

In this example, we're just going to focus on three major ones. We're going to look at DWG, OBJs, and FBXs. As you can see, one model has led to three completely different options for what is delivered into Rhino from Revit. Again, depending on your firm and what the goal of this interoperability or this coordination is, you might use one tool over the other. Unfortunately, again, if someone is inexperienced in this process, it might be a daunting or confusing task for them to complete.

And again, through those options or by doing this process with so many different options of importing and exporting, we can get many separate-- many separate types of what we're looking for. Now, again, as I mentioned in the past, Rhino has great capabilities when it comes to aggregating different types of geometry.

So when it comes down to it, you do have-- those options from Revit can be utilized in Rhino, no matter what you actually send out. But again, there are different importing options for each file type.

Again, just breaking down the different options that we have here, you can see, it would require a standard document as some type of firmwide standards document or an understanding of the project expectations at that current milestone in order to effectively share or connect between these two software, oftentime leading to more time involved with model cleanup or downloading of models and sharing over time.

Again, time equals money. With a lot of time wasted on specialists having to do these tasks, oftentimes architecture firms will try-- or firms will try to put band-aids on this work in order to try and get it to work.

Now, in recent years, there has been some better options for working from Rhino to Revit. As you can see in the dropdown, this is a load-in screen for Revit. Again, Revit does have the ability to bring in different file types. Again, it has been expanded out to Rhino files, native Rhino files, and SketchUp files, which is great.

Now, there are some benefits and some cons to this, mainly in the fact that Rhino files cannot be categorized as a specific category. So as in this facade panel, I would want that to be categorized under curtain walls. Unfortunately, it would be left as a link.

And this is how-- and this further explains that situation. So as you can see, it is considered an import symbol and cannot be actually categorized or scheduled in. For the specialists, there is the computational designer's dream, which is Rhino Inside, which uses Grasshopper in order to facilitate seamless sharing between Rhino and Grasshopper geometry into Revit.

With Rhino Inside and Dynamo, you have the capabilities to write parameters, materials, all sorts of functionality to your geometry that is incoming. But again, this does require a lot of work and a lot of understanding of computational design through a visual scripting language, such as Grasshopper. As you can see, the work that it takes to get there can be quite complex and would require some specialized knowledge in order to achieve true interoperability.

So on we move to Data Exchange for Rhino. Why? Well, in our industry, communication is the goal. When it comes to communication, the common and data environment is a term that is being widely used in our industry, especially with the advent of the Autodesk Construction Cloud and Autodesk Docs.

Now, by taking advantage of the computational power of the cloud and Autodesk Construction Cloud with Autodesk Docs by the concept of a common data environment or one location where we can pull data from is made possible. In addition to that, with Autodesk Platform Services, formerly known as Autodesk Forge, their API integrations allow for the ability to interface with third-party software such as Rhino or Grasshopper and make seamless software interoperability exponentially more achievable by connecting it through our cloud interfaces.

And again, Autodesk Construction Cloud is what enables this workflow. So the process that we'll show here in a moment is taking essentially a base model from Revit and sending that model out for further development inside of Rhino and Grasshopper. So by utilizing the Data Exchange, which is an extension that lives in both Rhino and Revit, what we do is save the Data Exchange file to our BIM or our ACC project in a specific folder.

And from that, any user from either software can actually access that software within-- or that project within the cloud online through the Autodesk Platinum Services Viewer and then also pass through all of that information, including parameter data, into Rhino for further development. Again, depending on what-- or to make mention, depending on the complexity of the incoming Revit model, we'll extend the upload and download time.

Now, the benefits of this is any changes once this is connected can be updated within an instant by utilizing the Autodesk Platform Services and Autodesk Construction Cloud. Instead of project members having to download, share, and re-import models, these models can be overlaid within each other through this setup.

And in this session, we're going to speak of the ease of use of the product. So it's quick and easy. With the extension uploaded and installed onto your Revit platform, we'll go to Data Exchange. And we're able to load or create our data exchanges. So from here, what we can do is find the location of the Data Exchange itself and then program it to be what it needs to be.

And once we find that, we can actually take and send that Data Exchange out to our cloud-based services. And as you can see, we can view this online through Autodesk Docs. And it has all the geometry that I decided to send out for that project, including massing curtain panels, topography, and so on, and so forth.

Now, within the Rhino environment, what we can do is we do have the option to open a template for the Rhino connector. Now, this template includes all of the typical building design layers that are associated with Revit categories. So when we actually bring our project over, any of those model elements will be assigned directly to its proper category for visualization and cutting on and off.

Again, same process. We go and find that base model. And we are able to, again, preview it, make sure it's all good to go-- and then, from that, load it in. As I mentioned before, this was a little bit sped up. So it does take a little bit for a model this complex to come in. But again, once it comes in, you'll get the option to actually select any of the parameters that are in your project that you still have to [INAUDIBLE] that you would like to choose.

And then, from that, you have the ability-- just like any other Rhino model-- to cut model data on and off and explore and redevelop your project as needed.

Next is coming from-- whoops, [INAUDIBLE]. Next is coming from Rhino to Revit. Similarly to the Revit-to-Rhino process, opening the extension for Data Exchange and simply creating a new Data Exchange in the specific file location on Autodesk Docs allows you to send that geometric data and information, if you've written a blog, to ACC for further development in Revit.

Now, you do have the option to select by layer everything in view or specific selections. It is completely up to you. So it adds to the flexibility of what is actually being coordinated instead of sending over whole models. And again, since the base model is coordinated with the design facade model, this means that this object will always pop into its correct place.

Now, over in Revit, again, as simple as going through and finding that Data Exchange on our project list, finding the location of that Data Exchange, and then simply loading that new Data Exchange to our project. We can preview it.

As we can see, that little facade is coming in. It is a little broken in this image, but it's all good. That'll just come into place. So once I click Load, it does take a minute, since this was a pretty complex geometry. But once it is loaded in there, it is good to go. So again, from that, if our design team in Rhino had decided to change up our model or the project has progressed and it needs to get more detailed, that model is forever coordinated between the design team and the production team as they move through their project process.

Next, we'll break down some potential workflows, just to help grasp the future, in which I see is very bright when it comes to design interoperability. Our first and foremost is that the Data Exchange is expanding. At the time of this recording, Data Exchange is for Dynamo, Grasshopper, Inventor, Civil 3D, Tekla Structural Analysis software, and AutoCAD have been produced amongst others.

So again, as the ecosystem grows, more opportunity for pure seamless interoperability between all these different sectors is going to be made possible. In response to, especially the building sector specifically, this could have effects on project feasibility, design and documentation, construction administration, digital fabrication-- as we see more 3D printing and CNC prefabricated buildings being erected-- building performance analysis, life cycle carbon analysis, as well as integrating with GIS systems.

One of my favorite options that this begins to allow for is the connection between Autodesk Forma and its site modeling capabilities and its seamless integration with Revit in order to create site models quickly and effectively. And they are also georeferenced for, again, future development in other software such as Civil 3D or Infraworks. From that, we can send that coordinated model that will be used throughout our project's life cycle over to Rhino for further design development and, again, back and forth using that loophole.

Another great option, again, between that Revit and Rhino ecosystem and Forma is site and building performance analysis. From the macro side, utilizing Forma to Revit to Rhino allow for me to do some macro incident irradiance studies on an entire urban block. But also, from the macro standpoint, I'm able to look at sun and shadow studies from the standpoint of an individual building, if not a floor.

Digital fabrication-- with the advent of the Revit and Autodesk Inventor connector, digital fabrication from Revit models or Revit architectural and structural models straight to the actual production floor can be made possible. In addition, this will hopefully allow for seamless connectivity through the idea of digital twins.

Lastly, from the civil engineering standpoint, again, the macro standpoint, with data exchanges, we can actually send entire road systems into Revit for further development of road infrastructure or for site development for architects and engineers, something that has been an issue in the past when it comes to coordination and interoperability between these two very advanced software.

So why Data Exchange? Single source of truth is probably the main key for me. With Autodesk Docs, project teams have a single source of truth for project data and model information, fostering an industry-wide coordination. Reduced rework-- as we have mentioned in the past, the Autodesk Data Exchange is integrated with Autodesk Docs.

Plus it is easy to use. This significantly lowers that learning threshold and results in a higher return on investment for design firms as they carry out their daily tasks, particularly in coordination efforts, which many of the times did require rework in order to work with the two separate software.

Moreover, it's a seamless transfer of geometry and metadata. We can significantly reduce that information loss. And that better interoperability creates more opportunities for the AECO and manufacturing industries to explore and address and resolve critical issues such as net-zero and sustainable design, urban design, sustainable manufacturing, amongst others. By providing an intuitive platform for sharing essential project data with project stakeholders, design teams will be able to allocate their time, more effectively making impactful design decisions.

If there are any questions, please connect with us at Symetri. We will be at the expo for those at the actual event. Or find us online at symetrigroup.com. Thank y'all.