By Dennis Collin
Dynamo for Revit 2.16 is automatically installed with Revit as an internal add-in. The Dynamo scripting environment has been available for several years now and the provision of scripts can make many tasks easier to perform.
At first glance nothing obvious stands out from previous builds of Dynamo, however there have been lots of tweaks under the hood including the introduction of natively supported Polycurves. This means Dynamo 2.16 will only work with Revit 2023.1 or later. Existing Polycurve and Curve nodes are more tightly integrated with Dynamo’s kernel making them native and more robust in their behaviour.
Fig 1. New Graph Node Manager, makes it easier to highlight and resolve problematic nodes within a script
A new extension is now included with Dynamo 2.16, Graph Node Manager which provides users a quick tool for effective graph management. The graph manager shows all current nodes within the script, and information displayed for each node. This information can be exported out to a CSV or JSON file for further analysis. It is also possible to zoom to a selected node and filter or search for nodes in more extensive graphs.
For complex scripts it is vital to group and colour code nodes for debug and to make it easier for script users to provide relevant inputs. Dynamo 2.16 provides a new Group Style Sub menu for selecting some predefined group styles. These are named and coloured according to typical scripting standards (I have detailed the principles here in a previous post)
Some new nodes have been included, a Custom Selection node permits users to create a drop-down list with custom labels and values. Also, many existing nodes have been improved, eliminating some bugs and graphical glitches.
There is new functionality for wires to make it easier to pin, unpin or hide wires individually or from a group of selected nodes.
And new reporting tools display more helpful messages on outdated nodes or packages and show where to look within the graph to replace or update affected nodes.
Dynamo now has a Notifications feature. These notifications can be accessed through a new blue bell icon in the top right corner of the interface. The bell will display the number of new notifications. If accessed, a list of notifications will display, with the option to read more, dismiss or mark all messages as read. This feature can be enabled or disabled via Notification Centre in the preferences panel.
In addition, Dynamo now has new security and warning settings environment for users, should a script try to access a resource outside of a trusted location. These settings can be reviewed via a security tab on the preferences panel.
For a complete list of new features in Dynamo 2.16 click here for the full release notes.