Now included as an add-in upon installing Dynamo® Autodesk® Revit® 2.19.3, Dynamo is a Building Information Modeling (BIM) tool that allows users to customize architectural project workflows. As a graphical programming interface with both proprietary and open-source aspects, Dynamo’s practical applications include increasing design efficiency and fostering interoperability across specialties and software programs. Dynamo essentially aims to do what CTC Software’s comprehensive BIM Suites already offer.
Dynamo is primarily used to automate tasks and increase the convertibility and accessibility of data to and from external sources to Revit. Its greater goal is to invite a variety of users (some of whom may not have a background in Revit or computer programming) to the table.
However, unlike CTC Software’s BIM Suites, Dynamo can hamper more complex projects and slow Revit modeling performance due to its supposed “user-friendly” spirit, which permits graphical code representations created by novice participants.
What Is Revit Dynamo?
Dynamo uses BIM’s machine learning and cloud capabilities to develop a pictorial programming language that pulls and pushes data in and out of a digital model. This means extracted data can be imported into a source external to Revit (e.g., a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet) or extracted from such a source and imported into a Revit design. Dynamo’s cross-program capacity enhances the integration of work products, making your BIM workflow more efficient. Importantly, Dynamo has both proprietary and open-source features.
On the one hand, Dynamo for Revit 2.19.3 injects Dynamo programming nodes, which are data units of any form that store values and point to other nodes. These nodes can’t be accessed without a Revit license, thereby offering application programming interfaces that can abstract code. This keeps particular copyrighted coding languages and patented operating systems private without diminishing interoperability.
On the other hand, Dynamo is described by Autodesk® as an “open source visual programming” solution. This facet of Revit Dynamo facilitates public collaboration between designers, developers, and other participants on free forums, principally https://github.com/DynamoDS/DynamoPrimer.
The open-concept side of Dynamo relies on users propagating graphical user interfaces (GUIs) that enable communications with a computer using visual emblems instead of traditional code languages (e.g., HTML/CSS, JavaScript, and Python). GUIs are more intuitive. In fact, GUIs are routinely encountered on the home screen of an iPhone, for example. An iPhone user doesn’t need to be a computer programmer to click a GUI, like the Instagram icon, to access data stored on that application.
How Is Revit for Dynamo Applied in Practical Situations?
Automation is Dynamo’s main benefit in real-world settings. Productivity within Revit is tremendously influenced by an architect’s use or disuse of add-ins that automate tedious tasks.
Dynamo offers a more natural mechanism for automation because users can symbolize computer logic with little to no training in conventional coding. For instance, an architect can represent a design command graphically (as a GUI) and apply it to avoid repetitive, costly keystrokes.
Further, Dynamo exports and synthesizes data across software platforms, even those existing outside the Autodesk universe. Consider a seasoned civil engineer who is hesitant about transitioning to Autodesk, preferring to plug and chug values on Microsoft Excel. If those calculations must be implemented into an architect’s design, Dynamo can incorporate them into an architect’s Revit rendering. The data can then be tested within Revit to ensure the civil engineering and architectural plans align to produce a functional structure.
Dynamo also has the grander vision of open learning and simplification of coding through its publicly accessible visual programming platform. That environment nourishes burgeoning designers by expanding their Revit® knowledge and allowing them to invent GUIs, participate in Q&A, and connect with individuals of differing proficiency–free of charge.
CTC Software’s BIM Suites Save the Expense of Dynamo Experimentation
Whether you utilize Dynamo for Revit or not, the add-in will be available in version 2.19.3. However, for most professionals, experimentation with new programming languages and modeling protocols is an unnecessary allocation of time and money.
With CTC Software’s trusted Revit add-ins similar to Dynamo, you can take advantage of BIM to automate design operations, seamlessly coordinate with others to bring your compositions to life, and other helpful practical applications. Perhaps Dynamo can assist you in learning supplementary ways of automating and sharing your design data. Nevertheless, CTC Software’s BIM Suites take the guesswork out of the process so you can optimize your Revit experience.
