TestFit 2.20: Massing Mode & Beyond

Why Massing Mode

Since 2017, TestFit users have generated millions of apartment units with our configurator. To that end, TestFit has solved unit mixes, parking garages, complex setbacks, and a myriad of other urban tech problems.

TestFit has always been about confirming assumptions to narrow the range of outcomes on sites. Our global customers have requested a new tool to assist in the creation of those assumptions.

With TestFit 2.20, users can manually craft any shape. We’ve called it massing mode, and the use cases are many. It can be used as a basic massing tool for urban planning, a simple blocking and stacking tool, or a surface parked retail center.

We’re going to show you what is possible and can’t wait to see what use cases you come up with. We’ve also added parking entrances / exits, support for user-defined currencies,  multiple garden improvements & more.

Introducing Massing Mode

In TestFit 2.20, TestFit Inc releases a state-of-the-art massing tool with automatic tabulation and surface parking configuration.  

This also gave us an opportunity to build out tools for simple (rectangular) & complex shapes alike (we call them spaces). Our customers can use this tool to configure context geometry on their sites and specify prototypes easily.

The simple massing tool in this release has four foundational features:

1. Layer Order – Sets the space hierarchy with a simple layering system
2. Shape Style – Either fill the site, create a custom shape, or offset a custom shape
3. Space Type – Users specify the type of space, and what bucket it should be tabulated in
4. Tabulations – Instantly tabulated following layer order, space style, and space type.

Included in the space type is parking, and parking can be set to solve with the TestFit configurator. Another space type, voids, can be used to remove building areas. We’ve included 9 typologies of space, including Retail, Multifamily, Hotel, Modular, Housing, Parking, Office, Park, and Civic.

We like to think of it as spatial Excel. You’re getting real-time tabulation: of the size, acreage, FAR, unit count derived from size factors and net rentable. Read on to explore all the features packed into 2.20.

1. Define Site-Filled Massing

2. Block and Stack Site-Filled Massing

3. Adjust Level Counts, Colors and Typologies

4. Block and Stack without Gravity (Enable/Disable)

5. Carve Away at Site-Filled Massing via the Setback at Height Tool

6. Carve Away at the Site-Filled Massing via Exclusion Zones

7. Carve Away at the Site-Filled Massing via Custom-Shaped Void Tools

8. Create Custom Shaped Blocks

9. Save and Re-use Multiple Custom-Shaped Blocks

10. Intersections of Geometry are Handled and Tabulated

11. Layer Order is Important to Determine Area Hierarchy

12. Void Spaces can Carve Away at Custom Spaces

13. Setbacks at Height can Carve Away at Custom Spaces

14. Defining Surface Parking Generates a Surface Retail Ddeal, while Solving for the Parking Ratio

15. Adding Multiple Custom Spaces to Surface Parking

16. Buffer Spaces for Surface Parking

17. Buffer Spaces for Building Massing

18. Re-use Old Sites with Presets

19. Expand Spaces in 2D with Real-Time Parking Updates

20. Expand and Move Spaces in 3D with Real-Time Parking Updates

21. Chamfered Radii for Buildings Allows for Curved Volumes

22. Custom Names and Colors for Created Spaces

23. And You can Gravity-Drop Burgers

If you’re a TestFit client, and looking to get started with Massing Mode, check out our dedicated Knowledge Base article:

Knowledge Base article

Garage Entrances & Exits

Users can now add garage entrances and exits to parking layouts. The garage entrance can have a side buffer and be placed on any level.

Support for User-Defined Currencies

Set your own currency. From GBP & Euros to Dogecoin, the world is your currency oyster.

Added Manual Mode for Low Density Sites

Garden Apartment Improvements

• Enabled placement of spaces inside the parking on garden sites.
• Improved garden site layouts when bisected by roads.
• Improved garden site layouts with custom target parking ratios.
• Added an option to rotate corner units in some garden building types.
• Added rotational snapping for garden and townhouse buildings in manual mode.
• Added two new garden building types: one with units around a single stair, and one with no corridors or cores.
• Added a default garden database for 4 story walkup buildings.

Other Improvements & Bug Fixes

• Changed amenity rents in the deal editor to use net area instead of gross.
• Added snapping to the rotation tool when aligned drawing is enabled.
• Increased the maximum floor height to 50′.
• Lowered the minimum balcony depth to 6″.
• Doubled the maximum UI scale for high DPI monitors.
• Added parking stall lines to the Dynamo importer.
• For low density sites, stall average is now tabulated for surface parking in addition to garages.
• Fixed setback interaction lines extending outside the site.
• Fixed low-detail parking spaces not showing up.
• Fixed the default floor load values for metric plans.
• Fixed sites ignoring easements when they were entirely surrounded.
• Fixed a crash placing easements through garden sites.
• Fixed missing unit, space, and easement labels in the PDF export.
• Fixed a crash for centered balconies slightly narrower than their units.
• Fixed missing garage liner mass on some sites with structured fill garages.
• Fixed some 3D context buildings clipping through the site.
• Fixed a crash placing inside corner units with large facade chamfers.
• Fixed a case where the camera took a wrong turn transitioning from 2D to 3D.
• Fixed inconsistent garage locations after copying a site.
• Fixed un-interactive setback edges when the setback distance is very large.
• Fixed a few crashes from complex boundary & setback combinations.
• Fixed a crash when changing the parking type from manual mode.
• Fixed 3D context buildings casting shadows despite being hidden by the site.
• Fixed outdated shadows when toggling 3D context buildings.
• Fixed amenities not contributing to lot coverage on garden sites.
• Fixed multifamily units mirroring after another was dragged.
• Fixed a crash when dragging some multifamily units loaded from an rsd file.
• Fixed incorrect corridor lengths from entries in square garden buildings.