The Role of Dynamo in Generative Design

In the last few years, generative design has made waves as a potential disruptor in the design process. The basic premise of generative design is that through an algorithmic iterative design process, designers can produce a range of potential design solutions. This unlocks prospective outcomes that were previously impossible to produce by human means alone.

Autodesk Dynamo originated as a standalone, open-source visual programming environment for designers to explore conceptual designs without needing to create physical prototypes. Dynamo was designed to be accessible to anyone: non-programmers and programmers alike.

No longer a standalone product as of January 31, 2022, it is now available in:

• Revit (as Dynamo for Revit, with versions 2017 – 2019) – Lets you customize your building information workflows. Enables rapid design iteration and broad interoperability.
• Civil 3D (as Dynamo for Civil 3D since version 2022) – Process simple, repetitive or complex tasks quickly and efficiently.
• Advance Steel (with versions 2017 – 2022) – Generate complex structure using native beam and plate elements.
• Robot Structural Analysis Professional (Dynamo for RSA).
• FormIt Pro (Dynamo for FormIt) – Solid modeling environment for conceptual designs; produces real-time changes.
• Alias (Dynamo Extension) – Comes with sample scripts. Generate quick concept variations; reduce repetitive modeling.
• Dynamo Sandbox – A free download of the core Dynamo technology that is not integrated into any other software product. It has limited functionality and is used mostly to provide feedback on new features, development and testing.

Dynamo enables users to create visual logic to control the way data (numbers, text, etc) is processed in Revit. It gives users the ability to visually script behavior, define custom pieces of logic and script using various textual programming languages. These custom algorithms are composed of elements connected together to define relationships and sequences of actions.

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Dynamo is a programming environment that requires no programming experience. Download the free Applied Software resource, “Ultimate Guide to Autodesk Dynamo,” today.

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A bridge to the future of design, Dynamo serves as the engine to the Generative Design Tool inside Revit. It offers powerful opportunities for revamping and automating the design process in digital workflows.

Dynamo is a tool that makes data integration easier and can access project information in a straightforward manner. It also supports powerful data reporting workflows. Using Dynamo, it’s possible to extract granular data from multiple applications and compile them into a single data repository. This can then be connected to dashboard tools like Power BI to provide insights into projects.

It is used to author ‘studies’, which are essentially the programmatic instructions for Revit to run specific generative design analysis in the form of parametric conceptual designs.

As a computational tool, Dynamo is versatile and powerful. It is also rapidly evolving and growing more powerful with each version. To stay competitive in the AEC space, companies need to consider computational design tools like Dynamo and understand how they can impact their workflows.

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If you need a partner to help you investigate or implement computational design, contact Applied Software today. The experts of Applied will help you champion the solution that is right for your company.

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