Autodesk Platform Services

Goodbye Cloud Credits. Hello Flex tokens.

whitney.lawrence — Mon, 07 Nov 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Goodbye Cloud Credits. Hello Flex tokens. whitney.lawrence

25 Apr 2024

Autodesk Platform Services (formerly Forge) has moved from Cloud Credits to Flex tokens on November 7

The following information is not intended for customers who access APS/Forge via a Token Flex Enterprise Business Agreement (EBA). Please check with your account manager if you have questions.

In March of this year, we announced that the move to Flex tokens was coming. Now the change is here. On November 7 at midnight GMT, Forge will stop the sale of Cloud Credits (in select countries) and begin the transition to Flex tokens as the new official currency. Your Cloud Credits will still be accepted until their expiration date. Then upon either usage or expiration of Cloud Credits, you will need to purchase Flex tokens in order to continue using premium APIs and services. This article contains all the details you need to know about this change.

Where are Flex tokens sold?

Flex tokens are available in over 20 countries including North America, Europe, Japan, and more. In countries where Flex tokens are not sold, customers will remain on Cloud Credits and the process to purchase them remains unchanged.

All you need to know about Flex

A Flex token is a virtual currency from Autodesk. Flex tokens are like Cloud Credits, but are worth so much more. Having Flex tokens now enables you to both access a wide variety of Autodesk software and have access to the Forge platform. See rate sheet for details.

For more information on Flex tokens, pricing, or to purchase Flex tokens, please visit https://www.autodesk.com/benefits/flex

A Flex token operates just like a Cloud Credit and cost the same as a Cloud Credit. So, while most APIs are free of charge, the API usage rates for premium APIs will not change and are as follows:

Premium APIs	Cloud Credit (CC) cost	Flex token (FT) cost
Design Automation API	2 CC per processing hour	2 FT per processing hour
Model Derivative API	0.5 CC per complex job 0.1 CC per simple job	0.5 FT per complex job 0.1 FT per simple job
Reality Capture API	1 CC per 50 photos uploaded	1 FT per 50 photos uploaded

Early benefits of Flex tokens

There are some benefits you can realize now with Flex tokens. If you happen to hold both Cloud Credits and Flex tokens, the good news is that if you run out of Cloud Credits then Flex tokens can be consumed so you don't go into the negative and risk service disruption. Note the cost per API is the same whether you are using Cloud Credits or Flex tokens. See table above for rate details.

What will happen to Cloud Credits on November 7?

You will still be able to use your existing Cloud Credit balance first until you have spent all your Cloud Credits, or they have expired. Then once you have run out of Cloud Credits your account will begin to spend Flex tokens.

Unused Cloud Credits expire a year after their purchase date.

Changes to subscriptions – introducing Full Access

With the move to Flex tokens and a true pay-per-use model, we are no longer offering annual APS/Forge subscriptions. Instead, customers with a positive balance of Flex tokens will be granted Full Access. Forge will no longer need to be renewed each year. Just maintaining a positive balance of Flex tokens (or remaining Cloud Credits) will ensure that you have access to all Forge APIs and services, or "Full Access".

If you run out of Flex tokens, then you will be placed in a 14-day grace period. That gives you 2 weeks to purchase more tokens and regain a positive balance of tokens. If the grace period lapses, your account will be set to Limited Access - allowing you to only access the free APIs, blocking access to premium, pay-per-result APIs. To resume Full Access, reach out to support to pay your balance and unblock your account.

Please note that if you are in a country that still uses Cloud Credits, this subscription change does not apply to you. You will still need to maintain an annual subscription and positive balance of Cloud Credits to maintain uninterrupted access to Forge APIs and services.

Changes to the Autodesk Platform Services 90-day trial

Cloud Credits or Flex tokens will no longer be spent during the 90-day free trials. Now you can enjoy unlimited, non-commercial use of APS/Forge during the 90-day free trial. Please note that non-commercial use is defined as to be used solely for testing and evaluation purposes. See Terms of Service for details.

When the 90-day trial ends, you will automatically be switched to Full Access. That means that you can access all Forge APIs for commercial use. Free APIs can be called at no charge, but if you are using the premium, pay–per-result APIs; you will start to spend Flex tokens. Again, if you are using only the free APIs, you can continue to do so at no charge for as long as you like for commercial purposes with Full Access.

Want to start using your applications commercially sooner? No problem. You will have the ability to switch your account from Trial to Full Access at any time and start using Forge for commercial purposes.

Questions? We’re here to help

We want to make sure that this transition is a smooth one. Please reach out anytime to our support team with any questions you may have. They are standing by at forge.help@autodesk.com

Announcements

Pricing

Pricing changes for Reality Capture API

whitney.lawrence — Wed, 07 Sep 2022 00:30:40 +0000

Pricing changes for Reality Capture API whitney.lawrence

25 Apr 2024

Whitney Lawrence

New pricing for Reality Capture API

On March 29 we announced a pricing change to 1 Cloud Credit per gigapixel. That was the first of planned changes for the Reality Capture API. We have now implemented the second step on September 7, 2022 at Midnight UTC.

Introducing ‘per photo’ pricing for Reality Capture API

On September 7, we updated our pricing for Reality Capture API from a per gigapixel approach to a per photo approach.

Current Pricing	New Pricing
1 Cloud Credit per gigapixel	1 Cloud Credit per 50 photos

* For EBA customers the new price is 1 token per 50 photos

Size of the photo will no longer be the determining factor on processing Reality Capture API calls. The new ‘per photo’ pricing will help streamline cost and usage estimates regardless of image size.

Historical usage data no longer retrievable

As part of shifting to this new approach, we will only be able to report usage data on a per photo basis after September 7. That means that per Gigapixel usage data will no longer be displayed and historical data will no longer be retrievable. Due to this, we recommend that you download your data in advance of September 7 Midnight UTC.

To download your data, just log into your Forge Account and visit the Usage Analytics page. If you need assistance reach out to forge.help@autodesk.com.

If you have questions on this new feature, please reach out to forge.marketing@autodesk.com

Announcements

Pricing

Cost support batch linking/unlinking of multiple budgets to multiple contracts with new API

zhong.wu@autodesk.com — Wed, 01 May 2024 18:41:18 +0000

Cost support batch linking/unlinking of multiple budgets to multiple contracts with new API zhong.wu@autod…

1 May 2024

Zhong Wu

Mikako Harada

Does your App integrate with ACC or BIM 360 Cost Management? If so, please pay attention and continue reading with patient.

As the current behaviour, Cost supports to link multiple budgets to one contract, check the 2 related endpoints as follow:

Link to budgets while creating a contract: POST v1/containers/{containerId}/contracts
Update the contract to link to multiple budgets: PATCH v1/containers/{containerId}/contracts/{contractId}

The current behaviour is changed, the budgets parameter in the request body of the 2 endpoints mentioned above is deprecated, as a replacement, the new endpoint as follow is provided, it supports batch linking/unlinking of multiple budgets to multiple contracts, here are the details:

API: POST v1/containers/{containerId}/budgets-contracts:link
You can link/unlink budgets to contracts as an example:

curl -v 'https://developer.api.autodesk.com/cost/v1/containers/e94b9bc8-1775-4d76-9b1d-c613e120ccff/budgets-contracts:link' \
  -X 'POST' \
  -H 'Authorization: Bearer AuIPTf4KYLTYGVnOHQ0cuolwCW2a' \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{
        "create": [
          {
            "contractId": "226449d0-9481-11e8-87fb-215990a8aeb3",
            "budgetId": "f77f7cfa-47a4-41d4-be49-dafc92202903"
          }
        ],
        "remove": [
          {
            "contractId": "d241d341-eb21-4893-b21f-3152d6db4faa",
            "budgetId": "0d760290-a82b-41ac-9e62-aa70b7217d42"
          }
        ]
      }'

Be noted: linking the same budget to multiple contracts in a single API call is not yet supported. You’ll need to call this API multiple times to link the same budget to multiple contracts.

For the detail of usage, please follow the New Tutorial, and Change Log is also included for track.

If you have any questions, please contact us through aps.help@autodesk.com.

Announcements

BIM 360 API

Autodesk Construction Cloud (ACC) APIs

Autodesk Developer News - April 2024

Kristin Kim — Tue, 30 Apr 2024 16:56:36 +0000

Autodesk Developer News - April 2024 Kristin Kim

30 Apr 2024

Marnee Dupont

Want to receive the Autodesk Developer Newsletter? Sign up here to get the latest Developer News delivered right to your inbox every month.

Newsletter

Restore OSS content

adam.nagy — Tue, 30 Apr 2024 09:31:13 +0000

Restore OSS content adam.nagy

30 Apr 2024

Adam Nagy

Object Storage Service (OSS) is a low-level service in the sense that, unlike Autodesk Docs or Fusion Team, it does not provide versioning or recycle bin (from where deleted files can be restored) functionality.

If you need file versioning (accessing previous versions of a file), you need to implement that yourself - see https://aps.autodesk.com/blog/file-versioning-buckets

If you need to be able to restore deleted files, you need to implement that too. Either store deleted files in a separate secure bucket that you don't provide your customers direct access to, or just store the deleted files under a different file name in the same bucket that you do not expose to your customers. The latter is simpler because you can quickly and easily copy files around within the same bucket using PUT /copyto/newObjectKey

You must implement protective measures so that buckets and files do not get deleted or their content overwritten by accident, because all OSS operations are irreversible.

Data Management API

Important Update: Authentication V1 migration extended - May 22nd, 2024 - Final!

rosalesduquej — Mon, 29 Apr 2024 19:42:41 +0000

Important Update: Authentication V1 migration extended - May 22nd, 2024 - Final! rosalesduquej

29 Apr 2024

Jaime Rosales

Autodesk Platform Services Community,

We hope this message finds you well. We have some important news to share with all of you regarding the deprecation of Authentication v1 for Autodesk Platform Services (formerly Forge). In response to your feedback and to ensure a smooth transition for everyone, we have decided to extend the deprecation date of Authentication v1.

Extension of Deprecation Date

The new deadline is May 22nd, 2024. This extension provides you with additional three weeks to finalize the migration of your applications and workflows to Authentication v2.

Last Call: Why It Matters

May 22nd, 2024 will be the final day Authentication v1 is available. We want to emphasize the importance of completing your migration before this date to avoid any disruptions to your services. This extension is your last opportunity to ensure a graceful transition, and we urge you to take full advantage of it.

What's Changing for Existing Apps

For a smooth migration process, here's a summary of what's changing for existing apps:

· 2-legged Workflow: Utilize the new /token endpoint with ID and Secret in the header. Detailed tutorials are available here.

· 3-legged Workflow: Experience the new /authorize endpoint and use the obtained code with the /token endpoint. Find comprehensive tutorials here.

We strongly recommend referring to our detailed migration guide for a step-by-step walkthrough of the process.

How to Get Assistance

Should you have any questions or encounter challenges during this transition, our dedicated support team is ready to assist you. Feel free to reach out to us at aps.help@autodesk.com. Your success is our top priority, and we're committed to providing you with the support you need to make this migration as seamless as possible.

Conclusion

Thank you for being part of the Autodesk Platform Services community. We appreciate your continued collaboration and look forward to powering the next generation of groundbreaking applications together. Let's make it a smooth transition together!

Authentication

Architects 49 Ltd.

marnee.dupont — Fri, 26 Apr 2024 18:57:09 +0000

Architects 49 Ltd. marnee.dupont

30 Apr 2024

The Challenge: Code compliance bottleneck during early-stage design

A49’s code compliance process was a bottleneck during early-stage design. One code specialist was tasked with reviewing designs against zoning regulations that change frequently. The manual process was repeated for each design concept across hundreds of projects a year, making it time-consuming to iterate designs that optimize project goals and profit. A49 needed a way to validate more design concepts early and quickly.

A49

Exponential productivity gain with code compliance plug-in for early-stage design

Established in 1983, Architects 49 Ltd. (A49) is an architecture firm with more than 250 collaborators working on projects around Asia and the Middle East. A49’s diverse team creates a broad range of architecture from small residences to large mixed-use projects.

“Having crucial information at early design stage is critical for making informed decisions, and Forma has that capability.” Patana Rattananavathong, Associate - Digital Technology Specialist

“It’s a simple tool, but it’s a huge time saver. It gives our architects more time to create higher-quality designs—or just go home and have a better quality of life.” - Bunda Pongprot, A49, Associate Partner, Head of Integrated Research and Innovations

The APS Solution: Custom Autodesk Forma plug-in validates code compliance in real-time

A49 built a custom plug-in for Autodesk Forma that validates code compliance in real-time. Using the Forma API, A49 links zoning regulations from its server to Forma’s AI-powered design engine. Designers can review design compliance while exploring a wide range of options that optimize building footprint and volume, open space, area efficiency, and other variables. They perform the entire workflow in the Forma interface, and the final concept moves seamlessly into downstream design workflows.

The validation process used to take days. It now happens in seconds. Designers have gained time back to explore more options that maximize profits. A49 continues to innovate—next up is an AI-powered chat feature that allows architects to query more complex building regulations in Forma.

Forma API

Autodesk BIM Collaborate

Revit

AutoCAD

Autodesk Docs

3ds Max

Navisworks

AEC

Business Outcomes: Exponential productivity gain and more design options

Real-time feedback speeds code compliance process from days to seconds
Efficiency gains allow designers to explore wider range of options that maximize profits and project goals and meet code
Single environment for design exploration reduces data loss, enables data to flow downstream

Redefine the Future at the Autodesk Design & Make EduHack

sanjana.chand — Thu, 25 Apr 2024 17:20:58 +0000

Redefine the Future at the Autodesk Design & Make EduHack sanjana.chand

25 Apr 2024

Sanjana Chand

Do you have a passion for solving hard problems? Do you get excited when learning new languages or technologies? Are you a master coder (or on your way to becoming one)? And are you currently majoring in computer sciences or a related field?

If you answered yes to any of those questions, you’re the perfect person to participate in our upcoming Design & Make EduHack!

Autodesk Platform Services and Autodesk Education Experiences are joining forces to craft tomorrow’s innovators at a fully virtual hackathon this September. This hackathon is exclusively for students in computer sciences and related fields who are also in the Design and Make spaces. Take this opportunity to learn or expand your knowledge of Autodesk APIs and impact the world.

Whether it's developing software that improves people's lives or contributing to the advancement of AI, the possibilities are endless. We can’t wait to see the innovative solutions you’re coming to play with.

What can you expect?

Sign up with your team and be ready to start coding from day one! Teams can contain up to 4 people, and you can only participate on one team. Make the most of the weekend and come ready to showcase what you've built on Demo Day, September 29!

Timeline

Pitch Day: September 27

8 AM PST / 11 AM EST / 5 PM CET / 8:30 PM IST

We want to hear what you want to build, so come tell us on Pitch Day! You can get feedback on your ideas and share your expertise.

Coding and support period: September 27-29

Begins directly after your pitch on Friday, September 27

During the weekend, you will have unlimited access to Autodesk technical support resources, including:

The Autodesk Platform and documentation
Autodesk engineering teams
Developer advocates

Whether you're an early bird or a night owl, someone will be online to guide you and answer any questions you may have.

Demo Day: September 29

Submissions must be in by 8 PM in your local time zone

On Sunday, September 29, by 8 PM in your time zone, you and your team will submit a demo video that shows off the solution you built and compete for the winning spot in one of the 4 challenges.

Judging Period: September 30

Our judges will be so blown away by what you have to show them, they’re going to need a whole day to process and decide.

Winner Announcement & International Award Ceremony: October 1

8 AM PST / 11 AM EST / 5 PM CET / 8:30 PM IST

Winners will be announced and presented with their awards (and prizes!) on Tuesday, October 1 at a virtual Hackathon Showcase.

The Challenges

Rise of the Machines: Byte Back

AI is the future. Autodesk Platform Services enables data access, granularity, and interoperability across industries and workflows. So much access to data unlocks AI-powered automations and insights across siloed project data.

Inception of Intelligence: Dreaming in Data

Autodesk Data APIs let you share the right data with the right teams at the right time. As a developer, you can access the underlying cloud APIs to power your custom apps and workflows. We want to see the creative ways you can make data work for you and your teams.

Hack the Planet!

The APS toolbox enables you to deliver insights to realize more sustainable outcomes for the future. Use Autodesk APIs to:

build dashboards focused on increasing your sustainability score
connect materials databases
calculate carbon footprints

link to LCA platforms
and more! Unlock data from Fusion, Revit, and other tools to create a holistic sustainable solution.

Ctrl+Alt+Delete: Dungeon Challenge

Get creative with the three.js library and build a fun game we'll never want to put down. Bonus points will be awarded for using the Autodesk Viewer.

An award will also be presented for the best overall presentation. Each challenge will be judged based on the criteria found below.

Judging Criteria

Innovation

Show us an application that does something no one has seen before! The more creative, the more points you get.

Elegance

How easy is it to use your app? Is it intuitive? Does it offer a stellar user experience?

Business problem solved

Does your solution have real world benefits? Can you deploy it live for people to use and solve their real-world business problems?

Progress made during the weekend

The more you can accomplish during the actual week of Sept 19-23, the higher you score with the judges.

Depth of Autodesk API use

How many Autodesk APIs and services were you able to leverage? The more you combine, and the more advanced use of the platform you show, the more points you can score here.

Wow factor

Is your app jaw-dropping? Can we not stop talking about it? Does it excite us?

The Prizes

Of course you’re in it to win it, right? So what do you win? Each person on a winning team earns glory, bragging rights, a bundle of cool Autodesk swag (valued at $75) and a gift card valued at $250 (Total prize value is $325).

Get your ideas flowing and register now!

Hackathon

Autodesk and Nemetschek: Openness unleashed with Design and Make Platform

KrisztianHegedus — Wed, 24 Apr 2024 18:11:11 +0000

Autodesk and Nemetschek: Openness unleashed with Design and Make Platform KrisztianHegedus

24 Apr 2024

Krisztian Hegedus

To help our customers achieve their business goals more effectively, Autodesk continues to open its environment to partners—and even competitors.

Think about the last time you captured a brilliant photo 📸 on your smartphone. Perhaps you edited it with one app, applied shiny AI touchups with another, and then effortlessly shared it with your friends across the globe via social media. You probably did all this without worrying about file formats or file size — and you did it with apps that were all likely made by different companies.

This fluid experience, quality, and speed are only possible because of open platforms.

Platforms have changed the lives of consumers with innovative, easy-to-use, end-to-end solutions. Open platforms and software interfaces enable apps to work together, allowing developers to build upon each other’s work, with information flowing fluently and securely between tools. It is time for professionals in the industries that design and make to see these same benefits, which is why Autodesk is committed to building an open Design and Make Platform. We are committed to the success of our customers and to leading their industries into the future.

Our Interoperability Agreement with the Nemetschek Group is a recent example of this commitment to building an open platform. Autodesk already has several Strategic Alliance Partnerships with companies such as Esri, Eptura, Ansys, and Haas. We also have thousands of developer and industry partners whose data and workflows have been incorporated into our ecosystem. However, what sets this interoperability agreement with the Nemetschek Group apart is that Nemetschek and Autodesk are traditionally viewed as competitors.

How this helps customers

The interoperability agreement illustrates both companies' recognition of the changing ways people work today. Professionals in the architecture, engineering, construction, and operations (AECO) and media and entertainment (M&E) industries want real-time access to their data, and they want all of their tools to work in concert to make them more effective at their jobs. This interoperability agreement is a significant step in that direction. We want to improve open collaboration between AECO and M&E stakeholders by enhancing existing interoperability between our industry clouds and desktop products.

Under the terms of the interoperability agreement, Autodesk and the Nemetschek Group will provide each other access to their APIs and industry clouds. At present, this openness will allow improvement upon existing data exchanges and the ability to open new data-centric workflows that span disciplines and industries.

Enabling open, interoperable workflows across disciplines and vendors has the potential to power automation and unlock valuable insights for better decisions at every project stage. We can’t yet say exactly what new tools and processes will emerge from this agreement, the same way no one could have predicted what apps developers would end up creating for smartphones thanks to its open developer ecosystem. However, we are confident that our commitment to openness and customer-centricity will improve how projects are designed, delivered, and managed and provide increased value to our customers.

We’re not simply guessing at what customers want. We’ve asked them. In our 2024 State of Design & Make report, industry professionals widely reported that their world has changed rapidly over the past half-decade, with an unprecedented demand for new work—driven by demographic shifts, sustainability requirements, and the need to retrofit the existing built environment. They also told us that the work itself has changed, with labor shortages forcing companies to seek out tech tools and workflows that allow their people to be more productive.

Above all, our customers repeatedly expressed the importance of data and digital transformation in helping them achieve their most important business outcomes.

62% said that digital transformation enhanced their firms' productivity, and digitally mature companies were significantly more likely than others to report benefits such as improved performance.

More digitally mature AECO companies are also more process-mature
Source: Business Resilience Insights, AECO - 2024 State of Design & Make

However, some leaders identified data management as an obstacle to their digital transformation efforts. This is something we hear all the time from customers, even outside the context of the report: It’s easy to generate data; and it’s relatively inexpensive to store it; but it remains very difficult to access and use the right information —with the right people, at the right time (early and often)— to generate insights that drive business value.

An open environment with open platforms will be vital to solving this challenge and helping our customers unlock the full benefits of digital transformation. At Autodesk, we are committed to building such a platform in partnership with other innovative industry players.

A relentless commitment to openness

The interoperability between ecosystems is powered by Autodesk Platform Services (APS), which includes Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) and web services that enable customers, partners, and software vendors, such as the Nemetschek Group, to connect to Autodesk’s industry clouds and design solutions.

Our three industry clouds (Autodesk Forma for AECO, Autodesk Flow for M&E, and Autodesk Fusion for Design & Manufacturing), all powered by APS, are meant to break down data silos and give industry professionals access to real-time data at the exact moment they need it. The goal of APS is to enable connected teams, connected data, and connected workflows. This means that customers can move beyond files so information can flow securely in and out of the platform as needed, fluently connecting business systems, dramatically speeding up decisions, and reducing errors.

For example, APS is leaping into the future with new data-centric APIs like AEC Data Model, Manufacturing Data Model, and Data Exchange. These deliver capabilities for customers to leverage granular properties in new ways. APS is making customer's data more accessible than ever, connecting a multitude of innovative workflows from authoring to publishing through optimization and coordination, system integration, data visualization, and many more. Customers already rely on APS to enable seamless information flows by supporting over 60+ file formats with translation and extraction web services (Model Derivative API).

All of these web services help to radically simplify the interoperability experience without worrying about file formats or size.

In addition to supporting bi-directional interoperability, Autodesk actively champions open industry workflows. As a member of the buildingSMART Strategic Advisory Council, Autodesk is deeply involved in advancing openBIM practices. Notably, several Autodesk products are IFC-certified by buildingSMART.

The industries that design and make — and the vendors that serve them— are entering a new era. It is an era where vendors must recognize that open platforms provide tremendous customer benefits. And it is an era where industry professionals will no longer need to waste their time hunting down information and performing redundant rework. Rather, they will be able to focus on optimizing their projects with automation, AI, and insights.

Ultimately, we believe, this will be an era that changes our ideas about what is possible for the companies and creators working in the industries that design and make. And it starts with moves like this one.

AEC

Media and Entertainment

AEC Data Model API

Model Derivative API

Data Exchange API

Autodesk DevConX in Beijing

whitney.lawrence — Tue, 23 Apr 2024 18:10:35 +0000

Autodesk DevConX in Beijing whitney.lawrence

23 Apr 2024

Join us for this special virtual Chinese DevConX event. Interested in attending? Email APS.Business@Autodesk.com

December 18 December 20