This blog provides set of instructions and necessary resources to get started with Autodesk Forge.
Official website: https://forge.autodesk.com/
1) Watch this video on 'What is Forge': https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xVwvBzemkg
2) Create your Autodesk account here: https://accounts.autodesk.com/register
3) Create your first app: https://forge.autodesk.com/myapps/create (select all the APIs while creating app)
4) Head to this tutorial: https://learnforge.autodesk.io and complete it till 'View your models'. We can come back to this page when necessary. If your aim is to work on BIM360, please complete till 'View BIM 360 & Fusion models'
5) For Design Automation, start here: http://learnforge.autodesk.io/#/tutorials/modifymodels
Documentation: https://forge.autodesk.com/developer/documentation
Postman Collection of API calls: https://gist.github.com/petrbroz/5d28d996738bb0da4f7838ca43d53765
collection require the following env. vars:
- `FORGE_HOST` (typically `https://developer.api.autodesk.com`)
- `FORGE_CLIENT_ID`
- `FORGE_CLIENT_SECRET`
- `FORGE_SCOPES` (space-separated, for example `
viewables:read bucket:create bucket:read data:read data:create data:write code:all`)
- `BUCKET` Forge bucket to be used in relevant requests
and wherever possible, the requests will automatically obtain or update a 2-legged token before they run
Courtesy: Petr Broz
Few Examples:
https://forge-rcdb.autodesk.io
https://forge-digital-twin.herokuapp.com/
Useful Tools:
After creating forge app, use this tool to create bucket, upload seed file and view it without coding: https://oss-manager.herokuapp.com
If you want to see API response for above feature, use this: https://github.com/libvarun/step_by_step_for_non_developers
Forge Extension for Microsoft VS Code editor: https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=petrbroz.vscode-forge-tools
Tips to begin with viewer:
In browser console, instance of viewer can be accessed with variable name 'NOP_VIEWER' you can debug viewer features in console itself.
For eg:- In viewer select an object, in console run this: 'NOP_VIEWER.getSelection()' what you got is dbid(it's like unique id of an object), also try NOP_VIEWER.hide(NOP_VIEWER.getSelection()) this hides the selected object(s).
Coming to your own forge implementation in your project, you can search for sample projects here:
https://forge.autodesk.com/code-samples
https://github.com/Autodesk-Forge
Now you have basic idea of what forge is and you have hands on experience with basic stuff.
For searching technical features like coloring objects, hiding and many more, please search here: https://forge.autodesk.com/blog
If you are stuck anywhere, please use forge help: https://forge.autodesk.com/en/support/get-help
If you think your problem is unique, you can directly get in touch with forge support by clicking 'contact our support team' link under 'Couldn’t find the answer you want?' section, you need to be logged in to use this feature, or just email us at forge.help@autodesk.com
Diving deeper...
Autodesk Interactive 3D Graphics Tutorial: https://classroom.udacity.com/courses/cs291
Three js Resources:
https://discoverthreejs.com/
https://threejs.org/docs/index.html#manual/en/introduction/Creating-a-scene
AR/VR Toolkit: http://forgetoolkit.com/
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