Mini Guide to Autodesk Forums and Developer Blogs by HingePoint

1
The Mini Guide To Top Autodesk Community Forums
API Developer Blogs
www.hingepoint.com
2
Brought to you by
HingePoint, a member of the Autodesk Developers
Network (ADN) www.hingepoint.com
3
Guide To Autodesk Community Forums for the AEC
Industry
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.
4
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.
5
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 publish 2. The
total number of posts 3. The amount of threads
that go unanswered 4. The amount of threads that
get answered 5. How involved the Autodesk
moderators are within the forum
6
The rating scale is as follows Frequency of
Posts If gt 10 daily 5 points, 5-10 daily 4,
4 daily 3, 3 daily 2, 1-2 daily 1 Total
Posts If of posts gt 100,000 5 points,
10,000-50,000 4, 50,000 20,000 3,
20,000-10000 2, lt 10000 1 of Unanswered
Threads If lt 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 gt 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
7
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 5 Answered Posts 5
Autodesk Involvement 5 Overall Score ????? 5
Stars
8
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 4 Answered
Posts 5 Autodesk Involvement 5 Overall Score
???? 4.8 Stars
9
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
4 Answered Posts 4 Autodesk Involvement
4 Overall Score ???? 4 Stars
10
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 4 Answered
Posts 4 Autodesk Involvement 5 Overall Score
???? 4 Stars
11
Navisworks This is a fantastic forum on
Autodesk. Navisworks has been around since 2009,
so there is plenty of information. Finding what
you need doesnt 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 5 Answered Posts 5
Autodesk Involvement 5 Overall Score ????? 5
Stars
12
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!
13
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
theblogosphere (is that still a word?). To
properly introduce you to these treasures, and to
ensure we arent playing favorites, we hired a
3rd party journalist to evaluate each Autodesk
Developer API blog based on pre-set criteria.
14
Sound interesting? We believe that each site has
unique value and HingePoint is grateful for
Autodesks generosity by making them available to
the public. So lets 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
15
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, Doesnt
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
16
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
17
AutoCAD DevBlog DevTech 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

18
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
19
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
20
Civilized Development Issac Rodriguez sometimes
mans this blog. This one is updatedmore 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 cant 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
21
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 isnt 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 Autodeskshare what you learn.
22
Download The 2016 Autodesk Industry Report For
additional resources
23
Visit our website, follow or contact us
Website
214-301-0000
Facebook
Twitter
Google
Linkedin
YouTube
2300 McDermott Road Suite 200-235 Plano, TX
75025