AU 2022 News Roundup: Conference Insights and Coverage

AU 2022 is over, but the conversation continues about the news, partnerships, and features announced at the conference. From key context and insightful recaps to unique perspectives and inspiring interviews, check out some highlights of the coverage from top industry magazines and publications:  

Architecture & building engineering coverage 

Martin Day discussed the importance of the Autodesk platform in AEC Magazine, and what the announcement of Forma means for architecture, engineering, and construction professionals. Day also had another piece that recapped what the Data Exchange Connector between Revit and Rhino makes possible.   

“With Forma, Autodesk is looking to offer a turnkey tech stack, located in its proprietary cloud, with all Autodesk’s tools, from concept (FormIt) to Digital Twin (Tandem). Through its own in-house developed connectors, non-Autodesk products (Rhino, SketchUp etc.), can be linked to the Forma common database, where the data should seamlessly flow between apps.” –Martin Day, AEC Magazine 

Justin Stanton’s piece in BIM Plus features two interviews—one with Autodesk’s own Amy Bunzel, and the other with Andrew Dobson, who led a session at AU 2022 about his work using BIM to restore London’s Big Ben.   

“What most excited me about Autodesk’s cloud vision is the potential for greater data analysis. If we capture data about work on a historical building, can we use as-built data to inform what repairs it will need in 50 or 100 years? Hosting a digital twin of a historic building in the cloud has the potential to evolve between multiple design and alteration projects and managing the building day-to-day.” –Andrew Dobson in BIM Plus 

Jess Weatherbed covered the partnership between Autodesk and Epic Games in The Verge, which will allow owners and other stakeholders to walk through designs before construction begins.  

“The partnership will introduce easy-to-use tools to designers, with features typically seen more often in game development…and a huge library of 3D assets to populate environments.” –Jess Weatherbed, The Verge 

Roopinder Tara explored the importance of the partnership between Autodesk and Schneider Electric, and the new electrical plug-in for Revit, in Engineering.com.  

“The electrical plug-in allows electrical engineers to: 

• Lay out power sources, equipment and loads of a buildings electrical system using drag-and-drop smart diagrams that are capable of calculations. 
• Analyze demand loads of electrical system and subsystem. The plug-in bases calculations on local codes. 
• Optimize systems to ensure equipment is sized properly and will meet demand loads. 
• Generate reports like load letters or cable schedules with calculations done automatically.”

  –Roopinder Tara, Engineering.com 

Jeff Yoders broke down all the big announcements for those who work in building engineering in the Engineering News Record.  And he did a separate piece on the technical aspects of the British Antarctic Survey upgrades that was featured in the General Session Day 1. 

“Our main specialist contractors actually build elements of the design offsite in Cambridge, U.K., to ensure that all of that works. Those assemblies are then tagged so that you can sequence the build so that when you actually get it down to Antarctica you know how long it will take. How do I fit these pieces together? What do they look like?” says Megha Nagendra Wells, technical director, information Management, Sweco. 

Construction coverage 

Matthew Thibault shared his five big takeaways from the conference for construction professionals in Construction Dive.  

Charles Rathman gave a great run down of the big news from AU 2022 for construction professionals in For Construction Pros, with a specific focus on what’s new in Autodesk Build. Rathman also provided a great survey of some new developments and innovations by Autodesk partners like Manufacton, FARO, HP SitePrint, and others who were in the Expo.  

“Autodesk Build users can now reply to an RFI by email even if they have no license for the software. Users can now also create different RFI Types and choose between workflows with one or multiple reviewers or coordinators. This automates the review process, standardizes RFIs with multiple stakeholders and enables users to control who sees what parts of a project.” –Charles Rathman, For Construction Pros 

IronPros sat down with Autodesk’s Christine Acker to talk about what’s new and what’s ahead with Autodesk Construction Cloud.  

“With the release of model-based workflows, teams can link models to the assets tool and extract data directly from the model. This reduces the manual time spent, decreases the loss of data between phases and ensures that changes to the model will be captured in Assets.” –Christine Acker, IronPros 

Product design & manufacturing coverage 

Claudia Schergna had a great breakdown of the big announcements through the lens of product design and manufacturing in Develop3D.  

“[Autodesk] aims to facilitate the growing demand for tools to keep remote teams always connected, and to make sure everyone in the supply chain has access to the data they need precisely when they need it. The aim is to reduce production times, save resources, facilitate the connection between team members and democratise tools, making them accessible on any device.” –Claudia Schergna, Develop3D 

Edward Wakefield had a great piece in 3D Printing Media Network about the 3D printed smart bridge from Dar that was featured in the AU 2022 Expo.  

“The smart bridge was created using artificial intelligence, robotics, digital twin technology, and 3D printing, and is part of Dar Al-Handasah’s efforts to introduce a safer, more sustainable, and smarter design to the country through its digital capabilities and innovations.” –Edward Wakefield, 3D Printing Media Network 

Media & entertainment coverage 

In Architosh, Garfield Lucas shared the release of Maya Creative, an on-demand version of Maya for aimed at artists in smaller studios.  

“This more affordable and flexible version of Maya is a good option for those looking to scale capacity whilst still accessing professional quality VFX (visual effects) and 3D tools. Autodesk’s goal was to introduce a cost-efficient option for freelancers, boutique facilities, or small business creative teams, who don’t need the same API access or extensibility required for larger production workflows.” 

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