Project Falcon - Wind Tunnel Simulation

"The free* technology preview, Project Falcon, is wind tunnel simulation software designed to be used early in the conceptual design phase. It has seamless integration with Autodesk® Alias software. It allows for interactive investigation of the aerodynamic performance of designs at any stage. Industrial designers can get intuitive simulation results for their designs in seconds with no specialist knowledge required. Simply launch Project Falcon and results appear immediately.

"In addition, the latest release of Project Falcon installs as a standalone version. This allows anyone to bring geometry in from anywhere. A robust STL reader was added that opens the doors to conceptual wind tunnel simulation to everyone. Practically all modeling software export STL that can simply be imported into Falcon.

"Project Falcon makes use of a revolutionary new automatic meshing technology that can handle any geometry at any stage of design. Flow and wind pressure results update almost in real-time in response to changes in wind-direction and speed. These results can be used to improve design decision making much earlier in the process.

"Understanding the aerodynamic behaviour of your design is critical whenever air flows over, around, or through a design. As “organic” surfacing becomes more prevalent in industrial design, so too does the opportunity to create designs that work in harmony with the wind to reduce costly aerodynamic drag."

This free technology preview may be downloaded from the Autodesk Labs website.

Maximo Integration for Revit

"The free* technology preview of the Maximo® Integration for Autodesk® Revit® 2013 products helps extend the value of a Revit building information model (BIM) into the operations phase of the building lifecycle. Richly attributed data about building assets, that are developed in Revit during the building design and construction phases, can be published directly into Maximo during commissioning or at building "handover," thus supporting more immediate and efficient use of Maximo once the building is occupied. The Revit asset data can be exported in the COBie data specification, if desired. In addition, the BIM/3D asset data can be viewed inside Maximo, in context with Maximo applications and processes.

"The technology preview consists of an add-in to Revit 2013 and integrated visualization of Autodesk® BIM 360 Glue™ viewer inside Maximo Version 7.1 or newer."

This free technology preview may be downloaded from the Autodesk Labs website.

Structural Concrete Setout Point Add-in

Over on his The Building Coder blog, Jeremy Tammik has released a free full-blown add-in for the automatic placement and management of structural concrete setout points. And, for all you developer types out there, Jeremy has even been kind enough to include the source code and assembly files.

There's much more information over on The Building Coder blog.

NumberStuffByDirection from dp stuff

This free Revit add-in "is called NumberStuffByDirection and it does exactly what the name suggests - it batch-numbers elements in sequence"

"Basically you need to have an Integer Instance parameter in the elements that you want to number (i.e. parking spot number)."

This free add-in may be downloaded from the dp stuff website.

ChangeTextCase from dp stuff

"This free add-in allows you to alter the CASE of Revit TextNote elements. You will have an ability to chose between UPPERcase, lowerCase, TitleCase, and SentenceCase. Apart from that you would be able to chose whether you want to alter selected text notes only or all visible text notes in the active view."

This free add-in may be downloaded from the dp stuff website.

Palladio X BIM WindowsLayout

"Using this addin, all open windows can be arranged by a scheme. Contrary to the built-in windows arranging tool which allows you only to tile or cascade windows, PXBIM WindowsLayout assumes that you want the active window to get most of the screen space. You can give 20 to 80 percent of the screen space to the active window while the inactive windows will arrange in the remaining space. Additionally, you can save and restore your window configuration. Optionally, you can decide if you want the re-arranged windows to be zoomed in or not."

This free add-in may be downloaded from the Autodesk Exchange | Apps website.

Purge CAD Patterns

"After importing CAD files to Revit, tens if not hundreds of unwanted Line Patterns (Line Types as per AutoCAD terminology) are created. So every time users wish to select a pattern, the list containing unwanted Line Patterns are displayed. The default purge command doesn't assume that you don't need them, and so, unfortunately users have to delete each of the Line Patterns one by one..

"Many Revit users have started to notice this issue since the new CAD exporting dialog has been provided, with a dedicated table to map Revit Line Patterns to CAD Line types. This tool helps purge all such imported line patterns with a single click."

This free add-in may be downloaded from the Autodesk Exchange | Apps website.

AWWA Pipe Content for Autodesk Revit MEP

The American Water Works Association (AWWA) Pipe Content Pack for Autodesk® Revit® MEP 2012, Autodesk Revit MEP 2013 and Autodesk® Revit® 2013 software MEP designers, drafters, and engineers create more accurate water and waste water designs through access to additional components. Extend the value of your investment by utilizing additional content – helping you to increase productivity and the speed of design completion. The AWWA Pipe Content Pack now includes ductile iron and steel pipe fittings, based on AWWA standards.

This subscription add-in may be downloaded from the Autodesk Subscription website.

Credit: Luke Johnson's What Revit Wants blog.

Timber Roof Framing Extensions for Revit 2013

Roof Framing Extensions for Autodesk® Revit® 2013 software applications is comprised of two extensions that help automate modeling of roofs in Autodesk Revit, Autodesk Revit Structure and Autodesk Revit Architecture software applications.

The Rafter Framing extension enables the definition and generation of various types of “A” frame roof models. Another extension creates truss roof systems.

Structural elements are created based on a selected Revit native roof object. Generated timber roof structures can be exported to Autodesk® Robot® Structural Analysis software to perform further structural analysis and design tasks.

This subscription add-in may be downloaded from the Autodesk Subscription website.

Credit: Luke Johnson's What Revit Wants blog.

Structure Generator Extension for Revit 2013

The Structure Generator Extension for Autodesk® Revit® 2013, Autodesk® Revit® Architecture 2013 and Autodesk® Revit® Structure 2013 software is a capability that helps users create and visualize a physical and analytical model of a structure based on the massing model.

With a parametric approach, common data format, and faster model regeneration, the Structure Generator Extension helps users to create different variants of architectural models and helps them to validate the structure of the model. The extension helps to coordinate models between the architect and structural engineer and can help reduce the number of changes required in the model during the later phases of design.

This subscription add-in may be downloaded from the Autodesk Subscription website.

Credit: Luke Johnson's What Revit Wants blog.

Suite Workflows 2013 - Enhanced Rendering Interoperability for Autodesk Suite and ELA Users

Suite Workflows 2013 is a feature offered to Suite users and customers with enterprise agreements. It enables to push data from AutoCAD, Autodesk Inventor and Autodesk Revit into Autodesk 3ds Max and Autodesk Showcase without the need of an explicit export/import process, or the need to know different exchange formats. Suite Workflows also simplifies setting up a scene in Autodesk 3ds Max and Autodesk Showcase by using presets that can be customized and organized using the Workflow Manager, providing an important time saver to the process of importing geometry and selecting the right configuration for an appropriate communication of a user’s design.

This subscription add-in may be downloaded from the Autodesk Subscription website.

Credit: Luke Johnson's What Revit Wants blog.

ArchVision RPC Plugin/Content

"RPC Plug-ins provide the ability to place, edit, create, and render all types of RPC People, Trees, Cars and Object content. Delivered through ArchVision Dashboard, you may download RPC Plug-ins for Autodesk products including demo versions for supported applications. Supported applications include Autodesk Revit, AutoCAD, 3ds Max, 3ds Max Design and Adobe Photoshop. Thousands of RPC People, Trees and Cars are available for download and placement into supported applications. Extensive Demo RPC Content included (Search Term: Demo). RPC Content plans are also available for purchase."

This free add-in may be downloaded from the Autodesk Exchange | Apps website.

CADtoEarth

"CADtoEarth offers some very exciting capabilities. Here is the partial list of what you can expect from the tool: Upload a model directly from modeling session onto Google Earth or Microsoft Virtual Earth. - Import a section of the surface of the Earth directly from Google Earth into modeling session. - Position your 3D structure on the imported surface within modeling session and then upload it back to Google Earth or Microsoft Virtual Earth. - Perform the same operations on 2D objects in modeling environment and Google Maps."

The free CADtoEarth add-in may be downloaded from the Autodesk Exchange | Apps website.

PowerMeasure

"Simple and useful. Do you need to measure the surface of a face or the length of an edge from an object of Revit, PowerMeasure is the solution. With a simple modeless dialog will display the length and surface information from selected faces in Revit. You simply click on the Get button available on the tab AsiaSW / PowerMeasure, so that by now you can click on the button Pick available on the form PowerMeasure and select faces or edges of objects from which to obtain area or length information. The length and area information are expressed in the current unit of the Revit project, you can change them from standard Revit user inteface (Manage/Project Units). You can also copy the information read from PowerMeasure Windows clipboard to paste wherever you want."

The price for PowerMeasure is USD 9.00.

PowerMeasure may be downloaded from the Autodesk Exchange | Apps website.

Family Loader Pro

"Family Loader Pro provides a better way for you to manage and use families in Revit. Now you don't need to remember all the complex folder structures at all. You could be able to find family based on several frequent use search conditions like category, name etc. and use it by dragging and dropping which is the most natural way of using family. With this app, you could: 1. Index all your families in order to be found easily later; 2. Perform dynamic and runtime search when search condition is changing; 3. Visually view the family preview like preview in windows explorer; 4. Show/hide family name in the search UI to choose the way of showing search result as you want; 5. Easily drag and drop to use family; 6. Predefine sets of families and batch load in one click."

There's a free trial of this add-in on the Autodesk Exchange | Apps website.