Spotlight: Forma Building Design, and a daylight check before you open Revit
Indoor Daylight is now a public beta in Forma Building Design. Parking, furniture and a DWG export land before the Revit model.
Yesterday’s leftover standard was Revit 2027 IFC 27.4. The unused Autodesk leftover is a different Forma product from Street Design: Forma Building Design, posted 4 November 2026.
That is not a new authoring tool. Firms already mass in Forma, then redraw the plan in Revit or AutoCAD when the client asks whether the rooms get light and whether the basement actually holds the stall count. Autodesk’s claim is narrower. Indoor Daylight is now a public beta on every Building Design seat. Parking, furniture and a DWG export sit in the same floor plan.
What the post actually says
Indoor Daylight lives in the analysis panel, in 3D and in floor plan. Select daylight, then Indoor Daylight. Autodesk says it starts automatically, with nothing to set up, and that it shows how the current design gets natural light during occupied hours over a typical year. It sits next to the analyses that were already in Building Design: sun hours, and daylight potential on facades and windows.
That is a schematic read. It is not a ClimateStudio or IES run. Autodesk does not publish the climate file, the lux bands, or a LEED or WELL mapping. Treat the colour as a layout check before you open Revit, not as the issued daylight report.
Two AutoCAD moves are the other useful change. Import a DXF into the floor plan and trace over it. Export a floor plan back as a DWG. Import is DXF only. You choose which buildings, components, labels and units go into each DWG, so a presentation sheet and a technical continue can be two files. Autodesk still offers the existing upgrade into a Revit BIM model.
Parking is a floor-plan tool, not a civil corridor. Copy or edit a type for width, depth, accessible and EV markings, and the access aisle. Drop spots, drag a row, or pull a handle to repeat. Spots snap to walls, grids and columns and highlight when they overrun the floor or overlap. Garage doors sit under the same button and use the regular door tool. Totals by type feed the area metrics panel. A DXF export puts parking on its own layer.
Furniture is for scale. Some pieces scale freehand, some keep a linked width and length, and some add chairs when you widen a table. Place in plan, then look in 3D. Autodesk says furniture is included in the Revit export as families, or as blocks in DWGs.
Forma Building Design is already in the AEC Collection, a Revit standalone licence, and the Forma for Buildings bundle. This post is a since-July roundup, not a new SKU.
What a BIM lead should do
If the office already has Building Design and still redraws the schematic for a light or parking argument, this is a morning on a non-sensitive option. Open one plan. Ask four questions: does Indoor Daylight change when you move a window or a partition; does a DXF underlay stay useful enough to trace; does the DWG carry the layers you asked for, including parking; and do furniture pieces survive as families in the Revit upgrade you already run.
Do not put the public beta on the issued energy or daylight package. Do not treat a stall count in Forma as the parking drawing. Keep the record in Revit or AutoCAD until those checks close.
Start at Autodesk’s 4 November Building Design post.
Frequently asked questions
What did Autodesk announce?
A 4 November 2026 roundup of Forma Building Design changes since July. Indoor Daylight is a public beta for all Building Design users. The same floor plan now has parking types, furniture, DXF import and DWG export. The product is already in the AEC Collection, a Revit standalone licence and the Forma for Buildings bundle.
Is Indoor Daylight a production daylight study?
No. Autodesk calls it rapid insight for schematic design, in public beta. The post does not name a climate file, a lux band or a LEED or WELL mapping. Keep the issued daylight or energy package in the tool the BEP already names.
Can I import a DWG into Forma Building Design?
Not as a DWG. Autodesk says import currently supports DXF. You trace over that underlay in the floor plan, then either upgrade the design to a Revit BIM model or export a DWG back to AutoCAD.
Does this replace Revit or the parking drawing?
Autodesk still treats Building Design as schematic work before BIM. A stall count and a furniture family in Forma are a layout check. The record stays in Revit or AutoCAD until those checks close.