This video demonstrates the process of publishing sheets to Autodesk Forma Build within the context of a complex project environment. The scenario presented addresses projects comprising multiple buildings and associated infrastructure delivered across successive construction phases. The delivery model assumes multiple task teams, within which several organizations may participate, including vertically integrated entities. Each task team may further consist of multiple internal teams from the participating organizations. The workflow is considered in alignment with recognised project lifecycle frameworks, including RIBA and PROCSA stages.
Where a Forma project comprises multiple buildings, the project must be configured to use Collections. Each collection typically corresponds to an individual building or discrete asset. Enabling collections also allows Version Sets to be created in advance and logically assigned within each collection. Version sets that are not associated with a collection are unavailable as publication targets for sheets.
Discipline classification is derived from a defined number of leading characters in the sheet number, which are parsed to determine the discipline code and exposed as a filterable field. In addition, sheets may be assigned tags, enabling further filtration—for example, to allow contractors to isolate sheets relevant to their scope of work.
Autodesk Forma applies versioning to sheets sharing identical sheet numbers, even where those sheets are associated with different collections and version sets. To address this platform behaviour, a modified ISO 19650‑aligned naming convention is adopted in which the sheet number is positioned ahead of the project identifier. This convention supports consistent extraction of the discipline code from the sheet number and materially improves the ability to maintain uniquely identifiable information containers when evaluated in conjunction with their respective collection and version set assignments.
Where PDF files are used as the source deliverables, rather than Revit models containing native sheets, Optical Character Recognition (OCR) can be applied to extract sheet page size as metadata. This capability enhances efficiency within the Forma Build sheet publishing workflow by enabling sheets to be filtered by page size and published in grouped batch sets accordingly. Within the sheet publishing workflow, OCR capture regions are then configured to extract the sheet number and sheet title based on page size, ensuring consistent identification and classification of published sheets.
The Forma mobile application enables field‑based operators to access and utilise published sheets within Autodesk Forma while working on site. This capability is available irrespective of project scale or complexity (within the limitations of Autodesk Forma framework), ensuring that structured sheet information remains accessible to delivery teams throughout field execution.
If you need help adopting the AEC Collection or Autodesk Forma in your practice or you are looking to invest in hardware, please contact Micrographics so that we may be of assistance.
