Autodesk is transitioning to a new model. Is your business prepared for the switch?

Autodesk used to sell a box of software, and to keep up with the current version, you paid an annual subscription. Each year, Autodesk came out with a new version, offering significant improvements.

Now, Autodesk is transitioning customers who own software to a subscription only model. Here’s how it works.

Today’s Four Minute Friday shows you how to download your Autodesk software through the Autodesk Desktop App.

When Turner Construction, a 110-plus-year-old construction company based in New York, was awarded a contract to build the new $26 million central utility plant for the Oakland International Airport in Oakland, CA, the reason was clear: Turner Construction had just been recognized by Building Design & Construction for having the largest volume of projects utilizing Building Information Modeling (BIM) tools.

Turner, which oversees about 1,500 projects each year and has 5,000 employees around the world, was one of the first construction companies to develop and use technology tools. BIM allows this global construction giant to improve project outcomes by developing information-rich virtual models that can address clashes before construction even begins.

The utility plant at Oakland, however, proved a mammoth challenge even for Turner. Its 8,300-square-foot-plant contained a complicated network of electrical, heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems, all critical to the efficiency of a busy, 24-hour airport.

Your construction project is going up, but is your team buried under a mountain of digital documents? Are you certain the plans you handed the subcontractor represent the latest version? Are well-intentioned mistakes eating into your company’s profits?

Construction project development can spin out of control when files grow unmanageable, creating long delays and expensive cost overruns.

Autodesk has the key. It’s called BIM 360 Docs. A complete, connected solution, BIM 360 Docs is easily accessed by any approved team member with a mobile device and an Internet connection. This app manages project documents, 2D plans, and 3D models. Designed for construction, BIM 360 Docs automatically organizes information in a cloud so the whole team—from designers and owners to contractors and construction crews—can have access to the same version of the same information at the same time.

BIM 360 Docs makes sure your entire team is reading a single story, all the way from pre-design work to the project’s conclusion. Since the documents are retrieved from a cloud, every participating team member has access to the latest version of each file. No more guesswork, and no more costly delays.

Are you losing critical data at the point-of-construction? Are 25 cents of every dollar you spend on a construction site getting lost due to inefficiency? Do you need to turn information pods into measurable improvements in quality, safety, and profitability?

Technologically savvy construction companies are solving these problems with BIM 360 Field, a field management software that merges mobile technology at the construction site with cloud-based collaboration and reporting. All you need is the software, a mobile device, and an Internet connection.

With BIM 360 Field, everyone involved in the project, including those on the job site as well as those who are off of it, has access to the same single, continuously updated trove of information. Since the product includes complete off-line capability, those who lack Internet connectivity can access and enter information from anywhere and simply sync back up when connection is restored.

BIM 360 Field’s top benefits are realized in three areas:

When your team is on a construction site, you—and they—need to be able to collaborate, streamline processes, and access real-time information. By feeding data directly into a cloud, your team can shave time off projects and reduce errors, sending more of your revenue directly into your profit column.

As a global leader in 3D design, engineering, and entertainment software, Autodesk builds the tools creators need to reduce time, increase profits, and improve their win rate. That’s why they fashioned Collaboration for Revit and BIM 360 Team.

Four Minute Friday

In today's Four Minute Friday we are going to take a dive into the issues module in Autodesk BIM 360 Field. Today's video will be part of a larger series of videos about BIM 360.

Four Minute Friday

AutoCAD Civil 3D 2017 has a new command named Earthworks Plan Production that analyzes the volume between two surfaces. With the click of one command, you can create a grid layout that shows elevations of both surfaces, cut and fill volume per grid square, and cumulitive volumes. 

Every industry can benefit from software designed specifically to suit the needs of their particular operations. But while most have to make due with generic programs or try to tweak software designed for an adjacent industry, this is not the case in construction, however.

BIM 360, Autodesk's construction management software, offers a bevy of tools designed to make every aspect of the construction lifecycle more productive; minimizing risk, improving access, cutting costs, and ensuring on-time delivery. In any construction project there are going to be a lot of moving parts, not to mention plenty of question marks.

BIM 360's comprehensive toolkit increases collaborative ability and coordination among team members, improves and integrates field data management, and streamlines the entire construction process from beginning to end. What can BIM 360 do for you? Here are a few of the key features you'll enjoy when you utilize this software for your construction lifecycle.