Tag: navisworks

Navisworks 2015 New Features

Luke Johnson

As Navisworks 2015 can already be downloaded and some others are posting about it, here are my top 4 new features:

  • you can set the faceting factor for NWC export from Revit
  • use quantity takeoff on your 2D sheets, including bucket fill tools and quick box selection
  • additional arrow markup tool (yay!)
  • integration with Autodesk Application Manager (download at end of that post)

EDIT  Additional Navisworks 2015 links will be added here

Navisworks 2015 System Requirements:
http://help.autodesk.com/view/NAV/2015/ENU/?guid=GUID-F70F2D5B-35D8-4471-8B0B-CABC38761F6A

2015 Licensing New Features (access 26 March 2014):
http://help.autodesk.com/view/NAV/2015/ENU/?guid=GUID-2A403388-F44E-48E3-B7E7-F03498B6245B

You can run a network license server on a Mac or on Linux:
http://help.autodesk.com/view/NAV/2015/ENU/?guid=GUID-32255831-B9CC-4E86-8E99-86910DB3D41E

    5 More Navisworks and Revit Tips from Twitter

    Luke Johnson

    And some news:

    How To Extract or Recreate an individual NWC file from an NWD

    Luke Johnson

    Let’s say something went wrong, and you have lost an NWC file that you need – but you don’t have access to the originating application or model.  Do you have an NWD file that contains this NWC, preferably a recent one?  Then you should be able to re-create that NWC file, which might get you out of trouble in the short-term.

    1. Open the NWD in Navisworks
    2. In the Selection Tree, select the branch that equates to the NWC you want to regenerate
    3. Hide Unselected
    4. Turn off Sectioning (if you want to make sure you get all of the geometry, uncropped)
    5. Export to 3D DWF or 3D DWFx
    6. In another instance of Navisworks, append that DWF.  Navis will automaticlly make an NWC file.
    7. Rename the NWC to match the one that you have lost
    8. Append or re-path it back to your main NWF file

    You will probably have to notify someone that this NWC is now somewhat orphaned or disconnected from normal workflows – but I’ll leave that side of it up to you 🙂

    Using DataTools, Excel and Appearance Profiler together

    Luke Johnson

    This forum post by John Lipp is definitely worth a read:
    http://forums.autodesk.com/t5/Navisworks-General/changing-part-color-in-Navisworks-by-Excel/m-p/3437673#M3555

    In part:
    Then repeat for the other datatools links changing the Category for COLORS_proengineer, COLORS_INVENTOR, and COLORS_User Data.

    Then after the profiles are set up, you can click Run in the appearance profiler, and the colors will change according to color properties that are being pulled from the excel file.

    I’ve attached the Excel file, Appearance Profiles dat file to import, and the NWF with the datatools links setup.  If you drop the three files in the folder with your models, open the NWF, import the .DAT file into the appearance profiler tool and run it, it should change the items in the models to either red or blue based off of the colors specified in the excel file.

    This example has colors specified in the excel file, but you could use some other property in the database such as “Out of Service” column with a value of either yes or no and create an appearance profile that checks if that property is yes, and if so, set the color of those items red.

    With the appearance profiler, you need to actively run the appearance profiler to set the colors if the excel file is updated.  If you wanted more automation, then you may wish to look into the Navisworks API.
    …

    Attachments:

    Attachment BLOCKS_support.zip ‏12 KB
     
     

    Glue and Navisworks together…

    Luke Johnson

    Quote:
    By using Navisworks with BIM 360, you can ensure that everyone on the team has access to the “single version of the truth,” collaborate and connect with the rest of the team for collaborative project review and coordination workflows.  This integrated BIM 360 solution gives you and your team access to the most up-to-date project data in the cloud, anytime, anywhere. There are different points of access tailored for specific roles, such as direct access from desktop apps for designers and VDC managers, and mobile access for project managers, clients, and field personnel. 

    It’s important to know that Navisworks and BIM 360 share the same core technology for large model viewing, navigation, and clash detection. If you run a clash test in Navisworks and the same test in BIM 360, you will get the same results. Navisworks and BIM 360 share the same data structure – which supports round-trip data exchange throughout. 

    Read more:
    http://beyonddesign.typepad.com/posts/2013/10/how-to-use-bim-360-and-navisworks-on-your-projects.html

    Coordination Guide for MEP

    Luke Johnson

    Quote:
    “The Mechanical Contractors Association of America (MCAA), in a tripartite project with the Sheet Metal and Air Conditioning National Association (SMACNA) and the National Electrical Contractors Association (NECA), has published Achieving Spatial Coordination Through BIM – A Guide for Specialty Contractors.  Dubbed “the Guide”, the publication was conceived, developed, and published to help MEP contractors negotiate one of the most challenging issues in the modern construction industry: how to best reconcile and incorporate leading edge technologies and processes into their projects’ spatial coordination efforts.  Click here to get more information and download the Guide.

    Lessons learned by early BIM adopters like MCAA BIM Committee Chairman Steve Shirley (University Mechanical & Engineering Contractors) and fellow members of MCAA’s BIM Committee members were combined to develop a set of best practices and proven, how-to information. The result is a guide that will help contractors better navigate this complex issue and make more informed business decisions about spatial coordination and BIM.  It will also serve as an educational resource for their employees who must act on those decisions.”
    http://www.mcerf.org/news/2013/mcerf-funds-landmark-bim-publication
    …
    The purpose of this Guide is to:

    • Provide MEP contractors with a roadmap for implementing spatial coordination in their businesses;
    • Identify factors MEP contractors should consider when adopting BIM technologies;
    • Help MEP contractors align their spatial coordination processes with industry best practices;
    • Enable MEP contractors to critically evaluate emerging BIM and spatial coordination software solutions and select the solutions most suitable for their own work;
    • Promote collaborative and fair contract language; and
    • Increase MEP contractors’ profitability and reduce customers’ costs by implementing best practices that increase prefabrication, optimize systems installation, minimize or eliminate rework, shorten construction schedules, reduce waste, and produce a better result.

    http://www.mcerf.org/initiatives/research/projects/mep-contractor-s-guide-spatial-coordination-process

    Download at:
    http://www.mcaa.org/mepguide/M29PDF.pdf

    Authored by Dave Quigley:
    www.linkedin.com/pub/dave-quigley/0/66a/856

    Thanks to Cindy James for referring me to this document.

    Graphical XML Editor for Modifying Navisworks files

    Luke Johnson

    Navis uses XML as a data interchange format for almost “everything”. 

    However, it sometimes doesn’t offer the greatest editing experience for that same data in the vanilla UI.  You will find that various users are direct-editing these XML files to streamline workflows in a number of different scenarios.

    Here is a simple example – in the Quick Properties / Definitions options in Navisworks, it is not immediately obvious how you can re-sort this list.  However, you can export that settings node to XML, and then use a graphical XML Editor like EditiX to view the schema and drag the nodes into the order that you prefer (see image).  Then, save the XML and then import back into Navisworks…

    Download at:
    http://www.freexmleditorsite.com/download.html

    Do you have a XML editing workflow that improves your Navisworks experience?  Feel free to comment!

    Navisworks Tips for Large Projects

    Luke Johnson

    For good navigation performance when clashing large data sets, consider these tips:

    1. Set File Options – Frame Rate to 25
    2. Make sure Guarantee Frame Rate and Fill in Detail are on
    3. Group all Clashes straight after the clash test
    4. Use the “Hide Other” option in Clash View settings
    5. Use a 3dconnexion device in Walk mode to quickly review the ‘clashing elements’

    Some other handy things to remember – tested on Navisworks Manage 2013:

    • To delete large Search Set folders without selecting them first (which can be time consuming or crashy), just right-click and Delete
    • If you have items grayed out in the right-click menu of your Search Sets pane, try right-clicking a folder, then right-clicking the item.  This successfully reveals them for me (things like Update and Duplicate).

    Working with 2013 version Navisworks files in 2014:

    The SP1 download includes the following important note:
    After installing Autodesk Navisworks 2014 Service Pack 1, you must ensure that other users who share your Navisworks 2014 NWF files also install the same Service Pack. Failure to do so may mean that your Selection Set data becomes corrupted. This applies to Navisworks 2014 only. Navisworks 2014 NWF files shared with Navisworks 2013 and Navisworks 2012 users are not affected

    via
    http://forums.autodesk.com/t5/Navisworks-General/Navis-2014-Memory-Issue/m-p/4553037#M6381

      Making links relative (from dderoeck here):

      The links in Navisworks are absolute.

      To make those relative I have made a special procedure to clear that out.
      1. Put the linked document on a place on your PC or Network and make a shortcut of the docs in the same folder as your NW doc.
      2. put the the script (Rename ShortcutsDescriptions) here in attachment in the same folder of your Shortcuts and NW doc. (Change txt in vbs)
      3. Execute the script (This will change the property of all the LNK files (The Shortcuts) )
      4. Make the links in NW as follow: The URL name = The Link name (= The name of the shortcut and thus the name of the linked document.)

      Using this way you can put your linked documents anyware and still have the connection between NW and the docs.

      Attachments:

      Attachment Rename ShortcutsDescriptions.txt ‏1 KB
       

      Make standard selection sets (not Search Sets) with Excel / Access, by dderoeck here:

      Analyze a XML and you will find a repetitive structure, so,

      I started an excel file with following cells:
      units SearchName mode disjoint test flags name2 internal SearchCriteria type locator Project

      Fill in this list with your Excel skills…
      SearchName, Name2, internal and Search Criteria are for me changeable, the rest is fix.

      Once this list is made, import it as a table in Access.

      Make a report in Access that creates the XML layout.

      Print the report as PDF file and copy the text to a text file, rename the txt to xml, import the xml in Navis Works. Done.

      Since you have the possibility to work with cells and formulas in Excel (Concatination, Replace,…)

      you can make very fast big listings of Search Sets.

      The Navisworks 2014 Service Pack 1 Story…

      Luke Johnson

      Thanks to Michael Priestman, over at this link:

      Hiya,

      The problem is actually a bit deeper than that. In 2014 release, we added an optimisation whereby we only stored GUIDs when required in order to perform some internal path-matching operations.

      However, this broke functionality in some models where GUIDs were re-generated each export. So, we attempted to fix this in the 2014 Service Pack. So whilst we fixed it, we also introduced serious performance problems and a memory leak. Some of those problems were addressed in the hotfix we released, but this didn’t address everything.
      The other complicating factor was that when we released 2014 Service Pack, we changed what data was stored in the NWD files, which meant that files saved with 2014 Service Pack would not load properly in vanilla 2014 release. This was mentioned in the release notes for the Service Pack.

      We hope to address all the issues around this area for our upcoming release.

      I hope this helps to explain the issue a little.

      Michael