The panel discussion will provide insights into transitioning from field roles to virtual design and construction (VDC) roles in construction. Attendees will gain practical insights, explore technological advancements, and discover professional development opportunities in this evolving construction career landscape. The discussion will cover how to attract field engineers to VDC, understand the changing role dynamics, integrate VDC practices, and utilize technology for improved project outcomes. Through real-world experiences and actionable steps, the panel will propose a roadmap for navigating this transition, developing training strategies, and leading teams to achieve construction excellence.

When managed correctly, geotechnical data holds present and future value. However, the interoperability and transferability of geotechnical data are not always straightforward, particularly when software solutions fail to offer data residency control and comparable structure. This leads to loads of unnecessary work for geotechnical engineers. Did you know that the average cost overrun for geotechnical projects is 28%? GeoDin geodata management solution is here to solve those headaches for geotechnical engineers, saving them precious time and resources. Let's discuss our latest innovations: interoperability with Autodesk Civil 3D software, which allows for access to contextual geodata, ingested from diverse sources, structured and stored on your data storage of choice, and funneled efficiently into your favorite design environment. We'll address major trends in geotechnical databases, as well as some practical insights into how this works.

Arcadis is a global architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) and infrastructure player with engineering teams working closely with visualization teams in Australia, Manila, Canada, and Romania. Since early 2019, Arcadis has provided traditional client-requested visualizations. As a leading AEC company and Autodesk Partner, Arcadis wanted to enhance its visualization capabilities through a new digital workflow integrating immersive worlds and mixed reality in its mobility business. The convergence of media and entertainment with the AEC industry through technology marks a transformative shift in both sectors. Traditionally distinct, these industries are increasingly finding common ground as they harness the power of advanced technologies to collaborate and innovate, and Autodesk is at the forefront of merging this technology to continue to deliver innovation to customers. This convergence continues to evolve and promise to redefine traditional boundaries and pave the way for innovation between these two industries.

On rail infrastructure projects, consultants provide tunnel ring models for entire alignment, created using a two-point adaptive family based on the track center point via Dynamo. But these models lack detailed tunnel features—segmentation and dimple holes. Coordination with stakeholders requires complete tunnel models with segmentation and dimple holes. We must develop this detailed model to accurately place services brackets along the tunnel. The ring comprises eight segments, including a key segment with a varying location. A family of these segments, with a rotation parameter set by the tunnel's center point, is essential. Our process involves deriving the tunnel's center from track center points using geometric translations. Dynamo makes placement points for adaptive components. The angle of rotation is recorded on the site for the key segment in XYZ, and we develop construction model using that data. This construction model aids subcontractor in accurate service modeling.

Energy efficiency, safety, and technology integration are fundamental aspects in architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) design and analysis. Explore how Autodesk and Ansys are advancing innovation in AEC through highly effective tools that streamline the application of powerful modeling and simulation technologies. By integrating AutoCAD and Revit with Ansys's simulation offerings, complex simulations are accelerated and simplified. Advancements in numerical simulation—like graphics processing unit (GPU) acceleration and new computational codes—boost computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and electromagnetic (EM) analyses, enabling more-detailed simulations and full-field EM solutions. We'll look at how these integrated solutions improve domain-specific applications, including HVAC system optimization, atmospheric modeling, indoor air-quality assessments, and 5G/6G channel predictions, showcasing the benefits of the Autodesk and Ansys collaboration for accuracy and interoperability in AEC and health and safety.

DLR Group anticipates that more than 80% of its workforce will need upskilling in the next two years. Sound familiar? During this session, DLR Group will present its approach to learning and development, featuring a comprehensive skills matrix that aligns skill levels—both technical and other critical ones—with specific tasks and functions performed. DLR Group will illustrate its journey that began four years ago with new-hire skill assessments and evolved into a program that ensures all employees, regardless of their roles or departments, possess essential skills and customized career paths. Learn how DLR Group used Power BI, along with learning management tools such as Pinnacle Series and KnowledgeSmart by Eagle Point Software, to build a program that supports its key focus areas and future business needs. Leave with ways you can help your firm facilitate mentorship opportunities, identify potential software cost savings, improve talent recruitment, and impact overall employee satisfaction.

Join us on an enlightening journey as Khatib & Alami explore the boundless potential of integrating building information modeling (BIM) with geographic information system (GIS). The collaboration between Autodesk and Esri has streamlined the integration process, and delivered tailored solutions to meet the evolving needs of global enterprises. Throughout this engaging session, participants will gain invaluable insights into optimizing workflows and the numerous use cases that open up once the floodgates of data interoperability are open. We'll equip you with the best strategies to use the combined power of BIM for buildings and infrastructures and GIS for districts and cities. Our focus on seamless integration of BIM and GIS data has yielded substantial benefits, facilitating effective communication and innovative applications for stakeholders throughout the spectrum of operations and asset management, and ensuring designs alignment with site conditions.

In this class, a panel of Autodesk experts will share productivity tips and tricks, and answer audience questions about real-time challenges. Attend this class for expert AutoCAD advice. The class will start with a brief presentation to introduce the support organization, the speakers, and the current customer support options. This is a real-time question-and-answer session, so please come prepared with questions about AutoCAD software. A computer will be in the class running AutoCAD 2025 software for attendees who need to demonstrate their issues. Panel experts will include members of the Technical Support, Quality Assurance, and Licensing teams.

Join us to learn about AutoCAD software's AI features that make your drafting more efficient than ever: Smart Blocks, Markup Import, and Markup Assist. We'll start by covering Markup Import and Markup Assist, the workflow that uses AI to interpret and apply feedback from marked-up PDFs directly into your AutoCAD drawings. You'll learn how Markup Import and Markup Assist can enhance collaboration, drastically reduce the time it takes to incorporate feedback, and reduce errors in your design workflow. Then we'll review Smart Blocks, a suite of AI tools designed to streamline your drafting and drawing cleanup processes. We'll cover Block Placement, Block Replacement, Block Search and Convert, and Object Detection—all of which use AI to help you find, create, and use your blocks. We'll end the session with an opportunity to share ideas on how else AutoCAD might use AI to increase productivity, enhance collaboration, and improve your drafting and documentation workflows.

Collaboration between software developers and practitioners is necessary and a key driver of success in today's fast-paced technological landscape. This panel discussion will explore this intricate relationship, offering valuable insights and strategies for a structured collaboration loop. At its core, this method serves as a conduit, directing real-world project feedback into the development process. This exchange enriches development and significantly enhances software solutions' relevance and usability, making them more effective tools for the end users. The feedback is not just valuable; it's transformative. This panel aims to share the experience of the engagement framework involving the stakeholders during the development cycle from a multifaced perspective. It also aims to learn how the process benefits from the collective wisdom of end users, making it a truly inclusive and participatory approach by fostering a community culture for software solutions.

As urban areas expand, the challenge is clear: evolve into sustainable and inclusive environments or risk growing disparities and instability. Many of the challenges we are trying to overcome are inherently spatial, so we must first understand their immediate surroundings in order to bring solutions to the table. Urban & Infrastructure projects should be able to collect and manage data to identify needs and prioritize them. Through the integration of BIM and GIS, we can adopt a geographic and holistic approach to overcome the challenges ahead of us by enabling the project to be visualized and assessed in that real-world context allowing professionals to enhance project understanding. In this talk, you will learn how to implement GIS (Geographic Information Systems) interoperability with BIM (Building Information Modeling) in early-stage planning to create inclusive and welcoming cities.

In this session, we'll showcase how to use drawing standardization, Autodesk proprietary formats, and publicly available information to quickly create dynamic near-real-time models of our sites in InfraWorks software. This process can often take hours to carefully insert each bit of information and set a style to carry out and get the desired look. However, by using drawing standards and InfraWorks rule sets, we can generate a site model in a fraction of the time—making this ideal for discussion with stakeholders and the public.

You've been using AutoCAD software to produce your drawings for some time, and you have a huge library of details. Now that you're moving to Revit software, what happens to all these details? You don't want to just trash them, and you don't want to recreate them in Revit. In this class, we'll look at the next step in your transition to Revit. We'll see how you can still use those details right in your Revit projects straight from AutoCAD. We'll explore how we can bring those existing details into Revit and have them be referenced correctly in our projects as if they were created there. We'll even look (when you have time) at how to Revit-ize your AutoCAD details to start building a true Revit detail library. So, if not being able to use your details is holding you back from switching to Revit—or you're just not sure how to do it—don't let that stop you. You don't have to throw them out—they're still good.

In this session, we'll share what the AutoCAD Customer Council Beta Program is and how you can become a member. We'll also share how the Alpha/Beta program works and how you can influence the next version of AutoCAD software. We run year-round Alpha and Beta programs. These programs include AutoCAD, the AutoCAD web app, AutoCAD mobile, and all the AutoCAD toolsets. You'll get an early look at new features and be able to share feedback directly with the product teams, product managers, developers, designers, quality engineers, and more. We also have multiple surveys—your feedback helps us better understand your thoughts on new feature ideas as well as on enhancements to existing features. This session will help you understand what our Alpha/Beta program is and how you can become a part of it.

Artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to significantly affect our industry. How can we use AI to improve our programming skills and make us more efficient? In this session, we'll go over the creation of a program using LISP to copy files from one location to another. Once created, we will use AI to convert a portion of that code into a visual basic script (VBS) so that the user can continue to work while files copy in the background.

Join this session to hear about the steps your company can take—regardless of trade, software, or construction type—to facilitate flow of data and deliverables between modeling and fabrication in the shop.

In an ever-changing world of technology, organizations must continually evolve their software use to remain competitive in their industries. This is true whether you work in 3D or with the tried-and-tested 2D AutoCAD software. Openly embracing AI, incorporating automation into design data, and sharing it through Autodesk's cloud environments can also play a vital role in an organization's digital maturity. In this class, we'll discuss how to automate existing AutoCAD blocks to make them into smart, parametrically driven dynamic blocks that allow for variations when used. Dynamic blocks represent good data elements that not only allow you to maintain consistency, but also significantly reduce rework and improve productivity. Who doesn't love that! To finish, we'll discuss one last key factor in driving effective digital maturity: implementing cloud-based processes to centrally store and manage the project data, or, in this case, sharing your dynamic blocks with the other kids (or colleagues).

This presentation will dive into a groundbreaking case study of BRK Ambiental, Brazil's second-largest water utility, which implemented advanced automation techniques in the design of water and wastewater treatment facilities. We will explore how the use of generative design software not only streamlined the utility's infrastructure design processes, but also significantly reduced project timelines and costs, while enhancing compliance with stringent environmental regulations. Attendees will learn about the specific challenges BRK Ambiental faced, including the need for rapid design of wastewater infrastructure to meet increasing demand and compliance pressures. The session will highlight how automated design tools facilitated innovative solutions and accelerated project delivery, setting a new standard for efficiency in the water utility sector.

In today's rapidly evolving design landscape, efficiency and customization are key factors in staying ahead of the curve. With the abundance of existing standard content in AutoCAD Mechanical software, you can now harness the power of these resources to craft your own bespoke mechanical components. Users can pick from more than half a million standard predesigned parts, ranging from nuts and bolts across 18 different standards. By using these standard parts as building blocks, you can significantly expedite your design process and ensure the building of custom content with industry standards. Once you've selected the foundational components, the real magic begins: customization. Whether it's adjusting dimensions, altering materials, or adding intricate details, the ability to tailor each component ensures that the final design aligns perfectly with your vision. By building a library of custom content, you can streamline the design work, reduce redundancy, and maintain consistency in your projects.