Autodesk released its latest software releases in the spring, this included an updated Dynamo suite. Dynamo is one of the fastest growing programming platforms in the AEC industry. Dynamo now has direct plug-ins with multiple Autodesk programs, Revit, Advanced Steel, Civil 3D, Alias Design, Robot Structural Analysis, FormIt and Dynamo Studio (non-program specific use), this list keeps growing each year. There is also a Dynamo Sandbox environment similar to Dynamo Studio but is specifically designed for testing purposes on non-program specific uses.
Starting with the 2020 releases of programs (i.e. Revit), Autodesk decided that it was going to start releasing a new version of Dynamo at the same time. This year was no different and with this new release came several new capabilities.
In the release of the 2022 line of programs, Autodesk released Dynamo for Revit 2.10, which brought about a change in some of the core features that Dynamo uses. Here is a brief list of some of the enhancements that were made:
- Update to include CPython3
- Improved 3d graphics
- Improved Package manager
- Improved performance for Geometry nodes
- Added NodeAutoComplete for a hardcoded list of suggestions
- Added 67 new nodes between Dynamo for Revit nodes and standard Dynamo nodes including:
- AnyTrue and AnyFalse
- Math.Random nodes that include seed input parameter, allowing repeatable random data sets
- Geometry nodes for Dynamo PolyCurve and Solids
- A large list of Revit view functions
Check out the release notes for a list of many other enhancements or bug fixes or expanded list of items that are new within Dynamo for Revit 2.10.
Lets take a look at some of these enhancements.
NodeAutoComplete
This feature allows users to connect to a hardcoded list of suggested input nodes using a simple Alt + Left Mouse click. This will help with some of the basic inputs and start to save time. This feature will also aid beginners with some of the various inputs that are available.
Python2 vs Python3
When building a graph in Dynamo, there are times when it is necessary to access Revit’s API or build your own node, many times this is accomplished using additional programming. One of these programming languages is Python. Dynamo 2.10 now offers the ability for users to choose which version of Python to use IronPython2 or CPython3. See here to learn more about the difference between IronPython2 and CPython3.
AnyTrue and AnyFalse Nodes
Many times when filtering a list we many only want the True or only the False, while there are current ways of doing this, using the AnyTrue or AnyFalse node will be nice. A single node will report whether the list item is a Boolean and is True or False.
The catch to this is, the results of these nodes are in Boolean forms, so a False List item in the AnyFalse Node will have a True Boolean Output from the node.
New View Function Nodes
Anytime we can get new nodes, it is a great day. The ability to dig deeper into working with Revit Views is helpful when trying to create standard views or manipulate a view. Here is a comparison between the nodes that were available in Dynamo 2.6 (Revit 2021) vs Dynamo 2.10 (Revit 2022).
A few things to consider when working with newer releases of Dynamo. While there is a possibility that a graph made in Dynamo 2.10 (Revit 2022) will work in Dynamo 2.6 (Revit 2021); there is a chance that it may not, especially if one of the new nodes or new exposed API commands is used that was available before.
I could go on forever on the differences and new enhancements but the best way to learn and see what is in there, is to get out there and use the software.
Happy Programming!
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