The Mini Guide To Top

Autodesk Community

Forums & API Developer Blogs

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Autodesk develops some of the most powerful and effective software in the AEC (architecture, engineering and construction) industry.

For a novice or intermediate user, these robust software solutions might be a tad overwhelming. Having a bit of outside help can make users more productive and effective.

From “how to create specific design elements” to locating the program control elements, Autodesk community forums help bring experienced professionals together to make the workflow process easier.

Guide To Autodesk Community Forums for the AEC Industry

Question – What forums are the best at providing helpful insights into the computer aided design (CAD) software?

Answer – We did some research using an objective 3rd party to identify and evaluate 15 of the community forums that we think will be the most helpful to those with ties to the AEC industry.

Each of the 5 (There are over 70 Forums but we only ranked 5 for this survey) Community Forums that follow, were rated on the following scale:

1. How frequently they publish2. The total number of posts3. The amount of threads that go unanswered4. The amount of threads that get answered5. How involved the Autodesk moderators are within the forum

The rating scale is as follows:

Frequency of Posts – If > 10 daily = 5 points, 5-10 daily = 4, 4 daily = 3, 3 daily = 2, 1-2 daily = 1

Total Posts – If # of posts > 100,000 = 5 points, 10,000-50,000 = 4, 50,000 – 20,000 = 3, 20,000-10000 = 2, < 10000 = 1

# of Unanswered Threads – If < 1 post going unanswered per day = 5 points, 1 = 4, 2 = 3, 3 = 2, 4 = 1

# of Answered Threads – # of post that get answered in a week. If > 10 per week = 5 points, 6-10 = 4, 3-5 = 3, 2 = 2, 1 or less = 1

Degree of Autodesk Involvement – This is the number of Autodesk employee/moderator answers at the top of the forum. If 5 or more = 5 points, 4 = 4, 3 = 3, 2 = 2, 1 or less =1

Autodesk Community Forums

Revit Architecture: This is one of those forums that will either be immediately helpful, or it is going to seem foreign to you. It is specifically designed for architectural users. If you are an architect, or work at a firm, Revit Architecture might be the “best of the best” for you. There are over 200 different forum threads dating back to 2006. Posts are answered and addressed daily and it really is easy to use and follow. There is also an easy to use feature so you can search for specific questions. Ultimately, this is a forum you need to bookmark when working in an architectural spectrum.

Post Frequency: 5 Total Posts: 5 Unanswered Posts: 5Answered Posts: 5 Autodesk Involvement: 5

Overall Score: 5 Stars ★★★★★

AutoCAD: This is the main AutoCAD community forum for 2013 through 2016. If you are running an older version of CAD, there are older forums available. As the main forum enveloping all practices and procedures, this is an excellent location to start before possibly streamlining your search in order to obtain a more specific result.

There are over 500 AutoCAD forum threads, so there are plenty of topics. In fact, there are almost too many topics. Chances are you will find the answer you seek, it will just take more time. You might learn valuable insights through the additional clutter, but on occasion, it may lead you astray.

Stars Post Frequency: 5 Total Posts: 5 Unanswered Posts: 4Answered Posts: 5 Autodesk Involvement: 5

Overall Score: 4.8 Stars★★★★

BIM 360 Glue: Glue is a new forum with just over a year under its belt. This drastically limits the amount of information available, and as it appears to be serviced by admins every few days, important questions may not receive the kind of attention that you may need.

This results in the slightly lower overall score.

Stars Post Frequency: 4 Total Posts: 4 Unanswered Posts: 4Answered Posts: 4 Autodesk Involvement: 4

Overall Score: 4 Stars★★★★

A360: This is one of the best forums on the Autodesk Community! A360 is on the newer side with about a year and a half of posts, but there are a good number of posts, without too many repeats.

The great news for A360 users is that the admins are extremely active.

With an ever-growing number of admin posts, all of which provide extremely helpful information, this is a premier forum to join.

Stars Post Frequency: 4 Total Posts: 3 Unanswered Posts: 4Answered Posts: 4 Autodesk Involvement: 5

Overall Score: 4 Stars★★★★

Navisworks: This is a fantastic forum on Autodesk. Navisworks has been around since 2009, so there is plenty of information. Finding what you need doesn’t require as much sifting.

Overall, it receives the top score with a 5. The forum gets ranked with a perfect score as it does allow you to search through the asked questions, the answered questions and those that are still pending. This way, you know whether or not a particular question has been answered or not.

This is a forum that all Navisworks users should join!

Stars Post Frequency: 5 Total Posts: 5 Unanswered Posts: 5Answered Posts: 5 Autodesk Involvement: 5

Overall Score: 5 Stars★★★★★

Conclusion Of The Community Forums

There are some truly helpful community forums available, if you know where to look.

There are roughly 70 community forums to be found on the master site, however, we think these are the 5 “most relative” to the AEC community.

Visit each of these forums and bookmark the ones you think are the best fit for you and your company.

Download the 2016 Autodesk Industry report to see the full list of the best Autodesk Community Forums. Best of luck!

HingePoint Guide To The Best AEC Autodesk API Developer Blogs

The Autodesk Development Network Open possesses one of the most valuable collections of Autodesk related API blogs in the…blogosphere (is that still a word?).

To properly introduce you to these treasures, and to ensure we aren’t playing favorites, we hired a 3rd party journalist to evaluate each Autodesk Developer API blog based on pre-set criteria.

Sound interesting?

We believe that each site has unique value and HingePoint is grateful for Autodesk’s generosity by making them available to the public. So let’s make exploring new blogs fun.

Each AEC (Architect/Engineer/Construction) blog was rated on the following scale:

•How frequently they publish•Quality of the writing & teaching•How complete the API is (fully featured or partial)•How long the blog has been in existence

The rating scale is as follows:

Frequency – If Daily = 6 pts, Weekly = 5, Monthly = 4, 3 Months = 3, 6 Months = 2, Yearly = 1

Quality – If long article with code samples and screen shots = 5 pts, Short article, with few samples or screen shots = 4, Editorial advice, no code samples = 3, Basic directional advice, then send you somewhere for answers = 2, Doesn’t answer issue = 1

Completeness– If fully = 5 pts, If partial, ranges from 4 down to 1 pt.

Age of the Blog – If 5 years or older = 5 pts, 4 years = 4, 3 years = 3, 2 years = 2, 1 year or less =1

AEC Blog Sites

The Building Coder: A fantastic blog by Jeremy Tammik. He easily provides some of the best information that is simple to follow and contains quality illustrations.

While not an everyday blogger, he is someone any Autodesk user should follow if you are using Revit for BIM, design, architecture, engineering or drafting automation.

Frequency 5 Quality 5 API Completeness 5 Maturity Level 5

Overall Score: 5 Stars★★★★★

AutoCAD DevBlogDevTech covers AutoCAD in this blog.

It is clean, easy to follow, and while there is a good amount of scrolling involved (no individual pages, just one long blog post), but still easy to use.

Frequency 5 Quality 4 API 4 Maturity 3

Overall Score: 4 Stars ★★★★

AEC DevBlog: Monitored and maintained by the same quality individuals who offer up the Cloud and Mobile DevBlog.

This website is great; offers outstanding coding information, and while a bit longwinded, is extremely helpful… but not quite to the same level as the Cloud and Mobile offering.

Frequency 5 Quality 4 API 4 Maturity 3

Overall Score: 4 Stars ★★★★

Infrastructure Modeling DevBlog: Another DevBlog offering. It is nice the bloggers break up their content in this fashion.

It allows the reader to find almost exactly what they want...but in a more focused way.

It has some nice information and great screenshots, again can be longwinded.

Stars – Frequency 5 Quality 4 API 4 Maturity 3

Overall Score: 4 Stars★★★★

Civilized Development: Issac Rodriguez sometimes mans this blog. This one is updated…more or less whenever Issac wants to update it. Some of the information is helpful, but as it has not been updated since May of 2014, it really can’t be considered up to date.

Past backlogged blogs might prove helpful, but for newer content, other blogs, or the Autodesk Community Forums, should probably be utilized.

Stars – Frequency 1 Quality 3 API 3 Maturity 4

Overall Score: .75 2.75 Stars★★

Conclusion of The API Developer Blogs

There are some truly helpful blogs available by Autodesk and we are grateful to all authors that take time to share their knowledge. While some of the blogs are updated on a daily basis, which to read, or to read first, really comes down to a personal choice.

Some might decide they like the style of writing, and method of instructions, better on a newer blog that isn’t updated as frequently. Decide for yourself.

We at HingePoint, think you will enjoy these AEC Autodesk Developer blogs as they are sure to assist you with Autodesk software automation and related projects. Take a cue from Autodesk…share what you learn.

Download The 2016

Autodesk Industry Report For additional resources

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