FormIt What is It?

What is FormIt?

➲Whether you are an Architect who needs to do a quick sketch, a General Contractor who wants to do a virtual mock up, or a student designer who wants to create a more free-form design, there is a common solution: sketch-based modeling software. You need something that is less formal and constrained than Revit to get started with a design or to more easily incorporate scenes that tell a story such as a Phased Site Logistics Plan. It would be nice if that tool could more easily translate into Revit as the Design Concept passes into Design Development.

This is where Autodesk’s FormIt tool comes in!

WHAT IS FORMIT?

A modeling tool in which users can “sketch, collaborate, analyze, and revise early-stage design concepts, and work smarter from the beginning with BIM-based conceptual design” - Autodesk’s FormIt site. FormIt is directly comparable to other similar solutions, such as those provided by Trimble, but FormIt takes it further. By being an Autodesk product, there are some inherent connectivity boosts between Revit, InfraWorks, BIM 360, and Dynamo. By being a geometry based (instead of face based) sketching tool, the items produced are ‘smart’-er.

For example, a geometry sketch will be able to adjust itself after having parts removed. Take a cube geometry (1) and cut a circle through it (2). Now select a side of the cube and pull it to the middle of the circle (3). See how FormIt processes that shape and automatically removes material? That is the power of a geometry sketch instead of a face-based sketch which would require you to redraw the entire piece (Figure 1).

Figure 1

WHAT SHOULD I KNOW BEFORE GETTING STARTED WITH FORMIT?

The User Interface of FormIt is unique as it combines the Contextual Modify Menu of Revit and the right-click menu of Inventor (Figure 2). The rest of the user interface is straight forward: Tabs (1) and Tools (2) at the top, Drawing Area (3) in the middle with Navigation and View Tools (4) beside the drawing area, and the Side Menus (5) on the right (Figure 3). Navigation

Figure 3

itself matches Revit’s Zoom (scroll wheel), Pan (M3), and Orbit (Shift+M3).

To extrude a shape, click on the face only, then click on where you want to extrude from, and finally either click where to extrude to or enter a numerical distance. Do not select the edges in addition to the face or it will move the whole shape instead of extruding a face of it.

Grouping is Best Practice! Select everything to group, rightclick for the context menu, and choose the Create Group option. Groups have their own history tree! Double-click to “enter” the group to use the Undo command within its history without impacting the model “outside”. The rest of the model stays as-is while the group changes are undone! You can also nest groups. A shortcut command called Group Edit (GE) will allow you to go directly to a geometry no matter how nested it might be.

LET’S TALK ABOUT DRAWING IN FORMIT!

Sketch away with lines, rectangles, circles, and more! Extrude created faces to make solid geometry (Figure 4). Start with Primitive Geometries such as cubes, domes, pyramids, cylinders, and roofs (Figure 5). Select the geometry and use the Context Menu to Scale them uniformly or non-uniformly. Sketch on top

Figure 6

Figure 7

FormIt PRODUCT FOCUS

Figure 8 of the geometries to add parts. Delve into the Advanced Geometry Tools to join and cut geometries, create sweeps, cover spaces, or shell/hollow out geometries (Figure 6). Combining these tools should really let your design start taking shape. This should be enough to get you started on a simple concept (Figure 7) or a more complex design (Figure 8).

There are some other features that really help though. The Axes are there by default, but the Context Menu allows you to set the Axes where you need them. This matters for sites that are at an angle but where you want to draw orthogonally still (Figure 9).

Figure 4

When moving an object on an Axis, the shift key will lock the movement to that axis. This functions like constraining an object Orthogonally while being moved in Revit.

Since FormIt uses geometries, sometimes what you need to edit is inside of a shape. You can cut a section in any plane. It will snap align to a surface by default when you hover over the shape. You can have multiple sections active (Figure 10).

Figure 12

Figure 10

COOL TOOLS AND FEATURES!

Loft! It can be used for sites! Since FormIt can open DWG files, you can have realistic sites very easily within FormIt using the Loft tool (Figure 11).

Figure 13

Figure 11

Flatten Faces! This tool allows you to bring in SKP files and flatten any faces that are not actually flat. This makes editing them easy and creates a better end result when importing them into Revit (Figure 12). Additionally, you can use Flatten Faces to align a face along a slope. Instead of pulling a face directly out (Figure 13), you can use the tool to extend the face along the plane it is in (Figure 14).

Materials! These are pulled directly from Autodesk’s material library. When you create your own, Revit will import them including their mapping (orientation, scale, and other edits). Take a picture and upload it to create a material from a photo (Figure 15).

Figure 14

Levels! Levels set in FormIt will import into Revit. Levels are important for Energy Analysis and they will give you rough Areas. When you bring a FormIt model into Revit, the levels will come in. However, the views will need to be created in relation to them.

Plug-ins! These are effectively tools that Autodesk has developed but do not have a home officially in the toolbars. Everything from quickly flipping Axis orientation of imported or modeled objects to creating light strings. (image16.png) Simply go to the Plug-In Side Menu and use the checkbox to turn them On. This will add the tool the Side Menu for you to use with setting options when you open them.

Figure 17

FormIt PRODUCT FOCUS

Figure 15

Figure 16

FORMIT CAN DO LIGHTING, SOLAR, AND ENERGY ANALYSIS!

Energy Analysis requires a Location to be set and Levels to be defined. The resulting information will be viewable in Autodesk’s Insight (Figure 17).

Solar Analysis will use the Axis that is set unless a location is specified. The results can be viewed by month or year (Figure 18).

Lighting Analysis shows Sun and Shadows. This will also use the Axis that is set unless a location is defined. Turn it on and then drag the circle across the arc to see how the Sun and Shadows play out across the day. Change the day to see how the seasons affect the lighting (Figure 19).

Figure 18

DID YOU SAY DYNAMO?

Yes, I did! Autodesk has premade some Dynamo Nodes for FormIt, but you can also make your own. Easily create Louvers, 3D Text, Stairs, Railing, Curtain Walls, and more. Dynamo can run multiple endpoint scripts simultaneously! Several pre-made scripts let you choose a path for the script to follow – you can update that path and run the script to update it. It will find the path and adjust as needed (Figure 20).

OTHER FORMIT ITEMS TO NOTE

While this article is a short introduction to FormIt, I wanted to mention a few additional items. You can Collaborate with multiple people in a single file! Useful if you have a great team

PRODUCT FOCUS FormIt

Figure 19

Figure 20

that communicates well, different areas to focus on, or multiple buildings. It has a very effective Touch Mode capability for use on tablets or touch screen laptops. Layers are how you can hide items, which works really well with grouping and group management. Visual Styles can punch up your client presentations. You can toggle sketchy lines, shadows, grids, and axes, or change line, face, and even environment colors.

Speaking of visuals, Scenes are an important item to learn in order to tell any kind of animated story or to set up a series of views. Scenes can be set to show specific layers, materials, visual styles, and more. Learning how to use Scenes is a bit tricky. Play is the only way to see a Scene with settings applied. The process is this: (Figure 21).

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Turn on Edit Camera Make changes Update Scene Turn off Edit Camera Play to review

CONCLUSION

I know many users who have tried FormIt years ago – I urge them to give FormIt another go. I know many more who have never heard of FormIt. Since FormIt is included in the AEC Collection for free, I try to spread awareness as far and wide as I can. There is a free version too, but with less bells and whistles. You can model for free, but collaboration and Autodesk materials are not an option.

On an important note, the FormIt team is very active on Autodesk’s Forum. The FormIt community is still small enough that the team can be very attentive to posts, requests, and with providing help. Their roadmap is sound and will be focused on more in-depth integration with Autodesk products as well as some new features. They need more users, more testers, and more feedback. They need you!

As someone who has used non-Autodesk solutions for many past proposals, concepts, layout planning, and more, I can honestly say that I don’t use them anymore. FormIt meets my needs and will only continue to grow. There is a lot more cross-over functionality from a FormIt model too. Bringing the file into Revit is useful for more than just visuals! The hardest part for me was learning the Context Menu and how to extrude faces.

I urge everyone to at least give it a shot! Reach out and tell Autodesk or myself what you think of it. And if you love it like I’ve grown to do, shout it from the rooftops!

Andrell Laniewicz has working in the VDC world since 2011. During this time, she has been involved in everything from Model Coordination, 4D, 5D, and Quantification to Proposals, Site Logistics, and more. She has worked for General Contractors and MEP Design to Fabrication firms. She has taught BIM for Construction Management at Universities, presented at Autodesk University and BiLT, and consistently delivers social media content. At U.S. CAD, Andrell works with clients to evaluate their existing workflows, implement solutions and technology, and providing training to get clients to their ultimate end goal. She focuses on Revit, Navisworks, BIM 360, FormIt, and MSuite within Architecture, Construction, and Fabrication. She has her Certificate of Management in Building Information Modeling from AGC of DC.