Forja — How to Use

Last Updated: January 1, 2026

The Two Buttons at a Glance

Button Label What it does
Create Formwork Create Formwork Select a face, choose a formula, and place all component instances on that face in one operation
Formula Management Formula Management Define, edit, and delete formulas — name the formula, add components, configure positions and offsets

Before You Start — Create a Formula

Forja is configuration-driven. Before placing any components you must define at least one formula in the Formula Management form.

  1. Click the Formula Management button on the Forja panel.
  2. The Formula Management form opens with three panels: Formulas, Components, and Component Editor.

Adding a formula

  1. In the Formulas panel, click Add.
  2. Enter a name (for example, Standard Wall Form).
  3. The formula appears in the list and is now selected.

Adding components to a formula

  1. With a formula selected in the Formulas panel, click Add in the Components panel.
  2. The Component Editor panel activates on the right.
  3. Fill in the component fields:
Field Description
Name A label for this component within the formula
Category Revit category — select from the dropdown populated from your active document
Family Revit family within the selected category
Type Family type within the selected family
Creation mode How the component is placed on the face (e.g., at point, along edge)
Horizontal offset Distance from the face origin along the face horizontal axis (in mm)
Vertical offset Distance from the face origin along the face vertical axis (in mm)
Frontal offset Distance pushed out from the face normal (in mm)
Rotation Rotation applied to the placed instance (in degrees)
Multiple Enable to distribute multiple instances across the face
Distribution count Number of instances when Multiple is enabled
Distribution spacing Centre-to-centre spacing when Multiple is enabled (in mm)
  1. Click Save Component to save the entry.
  2. Repeat to add all components that make up the pattern.

Saving the formula

  1. Click Save All at the bottom of the form to write all formulas and components to the JSON configuration file at: %APPDATA%\AvantLeap\Tools\Forja\
  2. Click Close. The formula is now available in the Create Formwork command.

Placing Components — Create Formwork

  1. Open a Revit project. The Forja panel must be visible on the Avant Leap tab.
  2. Click Create Formwork.
  3. Forja prompts you to select a face in the model. Click on any wall face, floor face, or slab face.
  4. If the selected surface is not a valid planar face, Forja shows an error and returns to the prompt.
  5. After selecting a valid face, a formula selection dialog appears listing all saved formulas.
  6. Select a formula and click OK.
  7. Forja runs a pre-placement validation:
    • All required family types must be loaded in the active document.
    • If any family type is missing, a message lists which families need to be loaded before placement can proceed.
  8. If validation passes, Forja places all components defined in the formula on the selected face in a single transaction named Forja: Place formula components.
  9. The placed instances appear in the model. Use Ctrl+Z to undo the entire placement in one step.

Editing and deleting formulas

  1. Open Formula Management.
  2. Select a formula in the Formulas panel.
  3. To rename: click Edit in the Formulas panel and type the new name.
  4. To delete: click Delete in the Formulas panel. A confirmation prompt appears.
  5. To edit a component: select the component in the Components panel — the Component Editor loads all fields. Make changes and click Save Component, then Save All.
  6. To delete a component: select it and click Delete in the Components panel.

If you close the form with unsaved changes, Forja prompts you to save, discard, or cancel.

Configuration file location

Formulas are stored as a JSON file:

%APPDATA%\AvantLeap\Tools\Forja\formulas.json

You can back up or share this file to transfer formula definitions between machines or team members.

Log files

Forja writes a detailed log of each session to:

%TEMP%\AvantLeap.Tools.Forja\logs\

Check the log file if you encounter unexpected behaviour during placement.

Supported Revit versions

Revit version Framework
Revit 2025 .NET 8.0
Revit 2026 .NET 8.0

Important notes

  • All family types referenced in a formula must be loaded in the active Revit document before running Create Formwork. Forja does not load families automatically.
  • Placement uses the face's local coordinate system. Results depend on the face orientation in the model.
  • Forja does not support curved faces. Only planar (flat) faces are valid placement targets.
  • The formula JSON file is stored per machine. It is not embedded in the Revit model.