CODEWITHSUNDEEP
autodesk-forgeautodeskautodesk-model-derivativeautodesk-designautomation
J.E.C.
J.E.C.

Reputation: 3012

How can I use the Design Automation API to extract metadata from an uploaded AutoCAD file?

Per my meeting with Denis Grigor, I was informed that the the Design Automation API has the same capabilities as Model Derivative API to extract metadata from an uploaded AutoCAD file. Model Derivative has a fixed-job pricing structure which is more cost-effective for large files, since it's charged per job, whereas Design Automation is charged per processing hour.

My client will only be extracting data from smaller files, so it doesn't make sense to use Model Derivative API if Design Automation can do the same.

I don't know where to start however. Which specific APIs do I need to use if I want to upload an autocad file such as .dxf or .dwg and retrieve geometric results using Design Automation API?

Upvotes: 1

Views: 704

Answers (1)

Petr Broz
Petr Broz

Reputation: 9942

Whether you are setting up a Design Automation pipeline for AutoCAD, Inventor, Revit, or any other "engine", the process is pretty much the same

  • develop and debug a plugin/script (in your case an AutoCAD plug-in) locally
  • upload the plugin/script to Design Automation service as an app bundle
  • create a Design Automation activity - a reusable template for tasks you will want to execute later, specifying the engine, app bundle, inputs, outputs, etc.
  • create a Design Automation work item, executing a task based on an activity with specific inputs/outputs (usually just URLs where input files can be downloaded from and output files uploaded to)

Here's a blog post with a simple example using Design Automation for Inventor - it takes an Inventor plugin that generates custom screenshots, and turns it into a Design Automation activity that is later executed with different input Inventor models: https://forge.autodesk.com/blog/simple-introduction-design-automation-inventor.

The same process is also explained in this tutorial: https://learnforge.autodesk.io/#/tutorials/modifymodels.

Upvotes: 1

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