The problem – Appending a given NWC creates hundreds of lights in your NWF, as they were exported with light sources from Revit:
Update: scroll to the bottom of the Autodesk Rendering, Lights pane and select the last entry. Press and hold the Delete key on the keyboard – it will rapidly delete lights out of the Navisworks model.
One way to get rid of all these light sources is to use a macro recorder to delete them all. This is because Navisworks 2015 does not allow you to delete multiple light sources at once (sadface), and it doesn’t allow you to “Clear Palette” like Presenter did.
The immediate workaround is to use Shaded mode with Headlight only, as this ignores Light sources. Not pretty.
You could also down-save to 2013, delete the lights in Presenter, then save-up to 2015, but that seems a little too hacky, even for me.
Here’s the clicky mouse macro method:
Install MouseController (I used choco install mousecontroller)
Open the problem NWF
When it “Can’t resolve external references” for each .ies file, just click Ignore All
Set up a macro to delete lights (see the Screencast below)
My best result was using Time Stretch 3.0x and Repeat every 0.8 seconds
Set it and walk away from your PC for a bit
Some other things to try:
Look for a light source subcategory in your NWC export view
Turn it off
Re-export
Append to a brand new NWF and see if the lights show up in Autodesk Rendering
Another thing to try:
Navisworks Exporter settings/File Reader/Revit
Untick “try and find missing materials”. Make sure that box is NOT checked.
Also turn off light source as in step 1 above.
Re-export
Append to a brand new NWF and see if the lights show up in Autodesk Rendering
Some of the bugs that might show up:
Missing IES file references
Regenerating thumbnail image …
The only real fix (at this stage) is to open each Lighting Family and untick Light Source. Obviously, this is not really an option if you are doing lighting analysis or using the lights for rendering in Revit or 3dsMax etc:
On latest R2 version of Revit 2015, with Navisworks 2015 SP3 and Navisworks Exporters R3, there remains a Navisworks export bug that affects some projects after upgrade from previous versions of Revit.
Set Level of Detail of view to something other than Fine
Set Level of Detail of categories in V/G to the setting you desire (can be Fine)
Try exporting again
or Try turning off categories one at a time to find out which Category the problem geometry resides in.
or using “uncut” in the Family Editor to uncut the voids from everything, and then using ‘cut’ to cut them again. after reloading back through into the project, this also allowed the export to continue.
or some other way…
The log file reports: Autodesk.Revit.Exceptions.ExternalApplicationException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object. at Autodesk.Revit.DB.CustomExporter.Export(View3D view) at NavisWorks12.LcIRevitBase.Export3DView(View3D view_3d, StateDictionary state_dict) at NavisWorks12.LcIRevitBase.ExportDocument(String& return_message, ElementSet elements, LcIRevitParameters* params)
Automation is the key to productivity. Don’t we use computers so that they can do the repetitive, boring stuff while we focus on the creative, interesting things? In BIM world, if there is something that is repetitive and requires little or no user interaction, it should be automated by some addin or script. RTV Xporter Pro is a great example of this.
Basically, it allows automatic exporting to a number of different formats, with little user interaction required. You can set up task schedules to export the formats that you need, from the Views or Sheets in your Revit model. You can use parameters from inside the Revit model (Views, Sheets, or Project Parameters) to automatically generate the correct names for the exported files. You can even integrate with the built-in Revision Schedule in Revit.
Coming from an architectural documentation background, I have spend many hours trying to find quicker ways of doing exactly these things. But RTV Xporter Pro takes a lot of the pain and guesswork out of it – you don’t have to reinvent the wheel, just use this to get the job done. My current work is more on the subcontractor side, and I have seen the time involved in generating deliverables that need to comply with certain requirements. This addin for Revit can help automate these deliverables, meaning you have more time to meet other deadlines.
This review is a collection of tip, links and resources to help you see the value in RTV Xporter Pro, and hopefully give you a head start in using the tool to accelerate your productivity.
When launching the addin for the first time in a Project, you will see this screen:
If you don’t need to use Project Parameters, click “Don’t load Project Parameters” Once the pane loads, you will be able to choose between the Revit Sheets and Revit Views tabs. On the right, you will see a Batch Process section. The two little arrows can add selected items from the left (current Revit model) section into the right (Batch) section.
Exporting PDFs … is very easy. Just add the Sheets you want, then click the Export button in the top-left. Tick the PDF box, and set any options you would like for target folder and naming, then click OK. Done!
3D Deliverable Export What about exporting multiple views to DWF, DWG, FBX, IFC and NWC with the click of a button?
Start RTV Xporter, then
Add the Views you want to export to the Revit Views tab.
Click Export in the top left
On the Export Views dialog, flick through each tab and set the options you would like. (Notice how the settings you see in the top of this dialog are essentially the same as the settings you would see in the DWG, IFC, or NWC export dialogs in Revit.)
Set each export tab to suit your preferences
Tick all the filetypes you want
Set output folder
Set File Naming Format
optional – Click Save to save your settings to an XML for future use or scheduling
Click OK
Do some other work in another instance of Revit, or grab a coffee
Come back and transmit your files to the required parties
Revisions RTV Xporter can load and edit your Revit Revision Schedule. This means that there remains one point-of-truth for Revisions, and it is stored in your RVT file – great! Additionally, the View / Sheet Set selections are also read and written by RTV Xporter straight into your Revit model. There is no external database to manage, and I must admit, I love that.
Summary As you can see, this addin could become an integral part of the way you handle the creation and transmission of documentation. It provides a powerful yet simple automation engine, that integrates well with native Revit capabilities. I recommend that you give it a try…
Activation: Once you have purchased a license, RTV Xporter Pro is activated using the send email request… receive activation code method. Features:
output to multiple formats at one time
automatic naming (including revision)
print to two different printers at the same time
batch processing (unattended)
task scheduling
uses native Revit Revisions
can use Sheet, View or Project Information parameters in automatic naming
ability to Check for updates from inside the addin
Advanced Features (some are ‘coming soon’):
new Transmittal function (RTV Xporter and RTV Drawing Manager share some of the same space but the Xporter is built to work on top of Revit’s internal functions where as the Drawing Manager has been built to extend Revit functions, particularly revisions and giving users in the UK an option to comply with BS1192)
remote processing server for Revit, which will allow you to send printing and exporting jobs to a PC other they your own for processing, like backburner for rendering in 3DS Max
new file export extension to export Revit files to GSI via Safe Software’s FME Server
Output formats:
DWF / DWFx
DWG
DXF
PDF
IFC
NWC
Drafting Views (as RVT)
FBX
DGN
RVZ
Configuration and Deployment: Batch settings can be saved to XML to allow for easy sharing of consistent options
Tip: Right-click in the data grid to see various ways you can manipulate it (add columns, filter by columns and rows etc)
Training: I also reviewed some of the course material for the official Xporter Pro 2015 Training course, and there were some good step-by-step guides to get you started.
Have you seen the BIM One Batch NWC Exporter? Its a free little addin for Revit that allows you to select multiple views and export them to NWCs all in one go. It works well, but it doesn’t have all the power of a full featured export addin (like RTV Xporter Pro – full review coming soon).
Important: during the signup process, you will have to choose a BIM One key – like a password. This is what will allow you to activate the addin manager, and use the installer. So, make sure you choose a BIM One Key before pressing ‘Save’ on the registration page.
Here’s what the addin manager looks like:
Quick demo of using the addin in Revit 2015:
From the BIM One site: Here are the steps to install the application:
“It turns out that viewtemplates can stop you from creating nwc files. After a little bit of testing we found out that if you do not include the following for the viewtemplate it will work:
In the past, some users have automated Revit to NWC export to happen overnight using customized journal files. Kyle Morin has now created an addin that monitors model changes and automatically keeps your NWC up to date, essentially in “real time”.
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.
Open the NWD in Navisworks
In the Selection Tree, select the branch that equates to the NWC you want to regenerate
Hide Unselected
Turn off Sectioning (if you want to make sure you get all of the geometry, uncropped)
Export to 3D DWF or 3D DWFx
In another instance of Navisworks, append that DWF. Navis will automaticlly make an NWC file.
Rename the NWC to match the one that you have lost
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 🙂
