In our firm we have a group of designers and we all are using revit 2020, we also have some Dynamo scripts working fine. They use a several packages, like RIE, MEPOVER, Clockworcks, Orchid, BIM4struct and others.
I was wondering if its safe to go to revit 2021 now, I am very interested in the performance upgrades. Am I gonna have problems updating?
You should roll out the releases about 2-3 weeks after they launch, after testing in your environment. There is no reason not to do this - any ‘but this won’t work right now’ will still be the case in any time which passes. You only delayed having to do that work and cost the office the increased productivity via new tools and features (people flow toolkit, generative design, etc.) by waiting.
Some tips to help you migrate Dynamo:
Plan on a new Dynamo node library for each version, and pushing those to the local machine (using the one the application defaults to is fine) to configure user environment.
Plan on a new Dynamo Player graph location for each version, and more what build was in use in the folder (I don’t recommend the file name as the names get too complex).
Start a sub folder called ‘still testing’ under the main dynamo player folder. Have your sample data set from 2020 which you originally authored the graph in, and the matching DYN in there.
Install your Revit add-one first. This is a good time to perform the annual review of ‘do people really use this’ to ensure you aren’t spending time and money for something which is rarely used or used by only a handful of people.
Run each DYN on the associated RVT, and make the necessary changes to the graph (oh we need to change this drop down or that name), or to the environment (looks like we need a new version of _____).
Once the graph runs, copy it into the top level folder.
As environment settings change, be sure your updated version will be pushed to the larger group.
Once all graphs are copied, test them each one more time to be sure an environmental variable doesn’t break an earlier graph. I recommend testing via automation of some sort (that is Dynamo for Automation, or similar).
Thank you for the awesome guide !!.
I will plan the update carefully as you suggested.
The big key for this aspect of your annual upgrades, is to plan on them annually. That is, you know the 2022 product line will launch every spring - no need to wait for the first update (20XX.1), but give it a few weeks for a point release (20xx.0.1) incase there is a big bug fix. Then plan on another update cycle (less intensive) in the fall (20xx.1.0), and again wait a few weeks for any major bug point release (20xx.1.1). Your testing should ideally start before the point release so that if there isn’t one (like with the 2021 product line) you can push when you’re comfortable, or if there is one (like with the 2020 product line) you can push as soon as that’s released.
It’s hard to know ‘when’ to plan this effort, but if you look back on the release date for the last 4 years or so you can get a good idea on when you’ll need the time to do the due diligence testing noted above.
All that said, just because the new version is out, doesn’t mean everything should update. I recommend ‘starting the jobs in the newest version’, and updating projects when they’re in the last 6 months of support (current release - 3, so for now that’s 2018 projects, next year it’ll be 2019, etc.).