The class presents an overview of storytelling, which is the human side of communication. Thought-provoking case studies of master storytellers are presented to stimulate the principle that design matters. Storytelling guidelines are discussed to formulate the combination of best practices, CAD/visualization tools, empathy for the client's perspective, and passionate delivery of design intent. A special emphasis is placed on storytelling in the physical world where the words are actually the visualization of architecture and landscape elements. Workflow case studies that use mixed media Autodesk® software such as Showcase®, Revit®-based software, AutoCAD®, and 3ds Max® Design are presented as real-life examples of storytelling's integration with technology.

3ds Max Design software is a great tool for generating high quality visuals, but today's audience expects more. This class introduces the art of storytelling as a means to create compelling experiences that communicate (and sell) design intent and meaning. In our increasingly competitive and visually-oriented society, sophisticated presentations are more important than ever before. Learn how to reconcile the persuasive goals of a presentation with the indulgent demands of the modern audience. Starting with an understanding of the language and repertoire of storytelling techniques, this class guides you through a basic knowledge of rendering and animation features to more complex workflows with characters and real-time ready assets within a narrative framework. Discover the storytelling secrets of Hollywood and Madison Avenue to sell your designs using 3ds Max Design.

This class will illustrate the storytelling process undertaken for a recent international airport design competition in Dalian, China, and the critical role storytelling played in the firm’s competition submittal. The class will demonstrate how a variety of media was used to create an inspiring video that set the firm’s submittal apart from its competition. We will explore each phase of the project, starting with discovery and storyboards. Then we will move into a discussion of production for both live and CG elements, and we’ll end with compositing and editing. We will explain why key decisions were made and when they were made to get the best results. The audience will gain an understanding for each part of the process by seeing real-world examples and behind-the-scenes footage during each phase. Finally, we will share successes and lessons learned from our experience working with 2 Design and Production Teams that were on opposite sides of the world and 14 hours apart.

Engage with 2 principal designers of 3ds Max and 3ds Max Design software in a roundtable discussion about the art of storytelling as a means to create compelling presentations. Ian Hooper and Kelcey Simpson will show how to use the language and repertoire of storytelling techniques with the capabilities available today in 3ds Max and 3ds Max Design. Come and exchange experiences in crafting a narrative framework and learn how to bring your designs to life.

Not everyone is aware of the risks and hazards associated with complicated construction operations, even the professionals who perform those tasks every day. Special training is required before commencing this dangerous work. But does traditional training actually influence the behaviors of people when faced with an unsafe condition? Most research points toward the culture of the construction worker as the primary barrier to safer construction sites. To change these behaviors we must use more effective means of communicating safe and unsafe practices to positively influence people's instinctive decisions. This is how our industry can capitalize on Building Information Modeling (BIM)—to enable visual storytelling. All contractors need to add this capacity to their toolkits. This class will focus on how you can develop models and use them to explain safety hazards and procedures in a safe virtual environment, and we’ll explore 3 fundamentals of visual storytelling to help change safety behaviors.

Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) technology has given the artist an exceptionally unique tool for storytelling. Elevating our view from ground level gives us a chance to show architecture both in scale and context. This interactive discussion will begin with a brief introduction to examples of the types and applications of UAVs used in architectural storytelling. After discussing how the various class attendees use UAVs in storytelling, we will talk about best practices in craft operation and in storytelling techniques. We will then wrap up by collaborating on how the various class attendees work in post-production with the footage. This session features 3ds Max and Revit.

Storytelling has been present within architecture as long as the domain itself has existed. Initially, it was done with hand representations of volumes and narratives told over the sheets of paper. As the technology progresses, new ways of telling stories emerge: Renderings became easier and cheaper, causing their function to evolve. Industry saw a shift from only using them for end results (artifacts) to real-time renderings focused on driving communication and decision making. Now, with the democratization of AI, we are facing new possibilities: Visualization for ideation, but also for even faster creation of realistic outputs. This opens the doors for more-effective, data-driven storytelling throughout the design stages. In this live demonstration of the Veras extension within Autodesk Forma and Revit software, we'll show you how to easily create stunning visualizations and convert them to create compelling, data-driven storyboards throughout design stages using Autodesk Forma.

Whether you're proposing a new product, presenting a design, or helping clients imagine a better future, storytelling is often what moves ideas from possibility to reality. In today's data-driven world, storytelling has become an essential skill for anyone who wants to gain influence, inspire action, and help others see what's possible. In this engaging session, Tom Kelley shares memorable examples from business, design, and innovation, along with practical techniques for transforming data and insights into stories that resonate with colleagues and decision-makers. Along the way, you'll have a live "thumbs up or thumbs down" moment, as you help decide which topic Tom explores next. You'll leave with practical storytelling tools and a fresh perspective on how compelling stories help turn promising ideas into reality by first helping other people imagine a future that doesn't yet exist.

Fusion 360 software is a powerful CAD software system, and one of its most powerful capabilities is the Autodesk Rendering environment. This class will cover how to achieve impressive, photo-realistic renderings. Topics will include everything from basic layout and composition to best practices for using materials, lighting, and environment effects. While this class will focus on examples of product design within Fusion 360 software’s rendering environment, the ideas described can be applied to any rendering situation and any rendering program. Compelling renderings are a key tool for successful storytelling of designs and concepts to a wide audience. This class will help you achieve rendering awesomeness.

More and more architectural studios are tasked with delivering renderings as part of their communications with their clients. These renderings have become powerful and important tools to help clients understand the vision for their projects and to help approve the major milestones during the design process. Understanding how to compose an image to convey the desired message has become increasingly important. Understanding the basic rules of composition and how to engage the viewer using composition is the foundation of successful communication. Our class will teach storytelling through composition and will capitalize on the team’s design skills to create compelling visual communication tools that will enable class attendees to be more efficient and effective in their communications with their clients.

Synchronizing two robotic motion-control camera rigs, we’ve been able to create a new visual effect never attempted before: time displacement, which involves having the image reflected in a mirror show the reflection of an action 10 seconds after that action happens on the screen. We can detach the time of the reflection, but maintain the physics of a coherent reflection angle—all in a single take.

Join us for an insightful session with Gonzalo Navarro, exploring strategies for selling the most-luxurious projects worldwide. Drawing from ARX Creative’s expertise in architectural visualization, this talk will delve into how photorealistic renderings, immersive animations, and tailored storytelling can elevate luxury real estate marketing. Learn how to captivate high-end buyers by showcasing properties with precision and creativity, one visionary project at a time.

Sol Rogers will use REWIND:VR case studies to show the sort of work that is currently being commissioned and utilized—from architectural design and development to Rolls-Royce’s new Vision vehicles, BBC’s International Space Station Space Walk, and the launch of Nike’s new Soccer Team kit. You may remember the early, overhyped virtual-reality (VR) attempts of the mid 1990s that were expensive and unable to deliver a truly immersive experience—and in many cases, just left people feeling nauseous. This is the year where VR truly becomes a viable consumer product. So, what's changed in the past 20 years? Sol Rogers, CEO and founder of REWIND:VR, will look at the developments—from technology and platforms to smartphones and appetite for the medium. VR is no longer just a marketing gimmick. It's a serious industry predicted to have 170 million active users by 2018.

Join us for an insightful session with Gonzalo Navarro, exploring strategies for selling the most-luxurious projects worldwide. Drawing from ARX Creative’s expertise in architectural visualization, this talk will delve into how photorealistic renderings, immersive animations, and tailored storytelling can elevate luxury real estate marketing. Learn how to captivate high-end buyers by showcasing properties with precision and creativity, one visionary project at a time.

This class covers several techniques for shortening the amount of time needed to produce architectural animations. The class demonstrates the impact of planning during the layout and animatic phase of an animation project and how camera decisions can save time and money.

Autodesk Flow Studio software is a generative solution in the Autodesk Media & Entertainment Collection. This software helps artists produce layout, create content, and drive home visuals across film, television, and games. This solution can also be used in the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) space to help standup Revit content and aid with visuals to maximize customer impact.

Join us for an insightful session on how Ayelet Studio, with just three artists and an 18-member team, created the narrative-driven game Unsung Empires: The Cholas using Maya software as a pivotal tool. Discover how we harnessed Maya software's powerful features for prototyping, modeling, and animation to streamline workflows and bring the game to life. Learn how the immersive experience—enriched by captivating storytelling, unique artistic styles, memorable characters, engaging dialogues, and evocative music—resonated deeply within the gaming community, fostering a sense of pride among players. Explore the secrets behind the success of Unsung Empires: The Cholas and gain valuable insights into using Maya for game development.

The way we visualise and tell stories has evolved from static 2D rendering, to real-time 3D, to AI. The underlying problem these technologies serve has never gone away; it has changed shape as the needs of the industry have evolved. In this session you will hear from Lumion's Head of Product and explore the new ways of addressing, validating and building architectural solutions that are guided by customer feedback and experience. As a live case study you will experience Project Compass, a brand new Lumion product being shown to the public for the first time at AU, which addresses an intrinsically important stage of the visual communication pipeline in your architecture portfolio. You will follow the whole journey, from ideation, identifying the problem, exploring the solution space, and most importantly validating the outcome with the wider industry.

Augmented Creativity: Tools for a New Era of Storytelling

In the hands of visionary artists, AI is becoming a mental multiplier—fueling breakthroughs and enabling content creators to go further, faster, by giving them back what they need most: time. From tools like MotionMaker and Flow Studio to the potential of emerging infrastructure like Model Context Protocol servers, we’ll look at how Autodesk is building practical, artist-first AI toolsets.
 

In this panel, hear creators and technologists discuss how AI is shifting from potential to productivity, what it’s changing in daily workflows, and why its role as a creative assistant—not a replacement—is critical to the next chapter of storytelling.

This class will explain in an engaging and visual way the BIM (Building Information Modeling) adoption journey undertaken by Foster + Partners. We aim to help attendees reflect on their own adoption journeys as they plan and envision what’s to come. We will tell the story of change agents within Foster + Partners, sharing methods to help empower all attendees to be more effective change agents themselves. The speakers will analyze the human and systems challenges that arise when a company embraces new technologies within the real-world context of large, complex, high-stakes BIM projects that involve many teams that previously worked independently. Attendees will learn how to unpack and analyze environments, processes, and systems that either promote or inhibit innovation and technology adoption in their own workplaces. They will also discover different ways to think about their own paths toward innovation, and uncover alternate approaches to organizing their thoughts through sketching and increasing their creativity.