I've been using NavisWorks for a couple weeks now and it is the greatest program I have found since I came across Revit. I will post some examples a little later...
The biggest problem I see with it is that the exporter is not free, with subscription costs it is over $1400 just to be able to export to NavisWorks! This is because you have to purchase Roamer to use the exporters.
Granted most of the time NavisWorks will import the native file format without having the original program installed. On the other hand there is a rather large list of file formats that cannot be imported, it has to be exported from the original program.
So what are we to do? Require the subcontractors purchase NavisWorks....that will go over well (note the sarcasm) Do we buy it for them? Or maybe it's just a matter of having them export to dxf, dwg, dwf or ifc first.
If they have to export to a different format first there will most likely be data loss, even in the NavisWorks help file it states you will get the best quality and limit the amount of data loss if you export from the original program with Publisher.
Comments?
Edit: After talking with NavisWorks they have no plans of making the exporter free, although if enough users request it they may consider it. Their suggestion for now is to export to dxf, ifc, etc. then you can bring it in natively, but they did confirm there is possibility of data loss.
NW Jetstream will not export the GUID associated with objects from Revit 2008 series (either Structure, MEP or Architecture) to dxf nor as a direct export to nwc formats. This feature worked quite well on the prior releases of Revit, but is a bust on the current Revit release. Seems a bit unusual considering Autodesk now owns Navisworks.
ReplyDeleteDonald Spring
dspring@corefundamentals.com