Navisworks Keyboard Shortcuts for blazing fast clash reviews

Navisworks is a powerful tool and a very important part of our workflow, but as we dove deeper into Navisworks I realized it was an incredibly slow process working through all the unimportant clashes to focus on what really matters. 

I knew I wanted keyboard shortcuts to speed up the process but Navisworks does not allow you to create new keyboard shortcuts, so I decided to hack my own using Autohotkey; which is a simple programming language that is used to automate tasks in windows.

These shortcuts are specifically aimed at making the clash review process as effecient as possible (I have a feeling this going to make a lot of people VERY happy).

First off all the shortcuts are based on the number pad on the keyboard (if you don't have one you can buy an external one like pictured) or you can modify the included autohotkey source code. Note that the Num Lock must be turned off for this to work!

Navisworks Keyboard Shortcuts

Included in the zip file is the executable, the autohotkey source code if you want to customize this to your liking and a pdf that shows what the shortcuts are.

Most of the shortcuts are self explanatory but they do some very handy things.

0 - sets the clash to 'Reviewed' and brings up the assign to dialog (assign is a great tool to organize your clash reports and add comments for sending out to subs)

1 - sets the clash to 'Reviewed' and then automatically moves on to the next clash (my clash reports only contain clashes set to 'Reviewed', in my world 'Active' means it still needs to be reviewed)

2 - moves to the next clash in the list without changing the status

3 - set the clash to 'Approved' and moves to the next clash

4 - selects the clashing object in the left side of clash detective and zooms to that object

5 - full screen (if you have 2 monitors I recommend putting Navisworks on the second monitor, this way when you use full screen it puts the full screen view on the left monitor and leaves all you tool palletes open on the right monitor)

6 - selects the clashing object in the right side of clash detective and zooms to that object

7 - selects the clashing object in the left side of clash detective and turns on the select filter (the select filter is a great way to quickly slim down the number of clashes, if you don't use it then go learn it now!)

8 - moves to the previous clash without changing the status

9 - selects the clashing object in the right side of clash detective and turns on the select filter

. - focus on the overall clash (this is great if you get lost in your model)

/ - Sets navigation to classic walk mode

* - sets navigation to classic orbit

- - sets the clash view to 'Dim other'

+ - sets the clash view to 'Hide Other'

Keep in mind this is truly a 'hack' way to do this, so there will be times this doesn't work as expected and is provided as-is. Remember to close this application after you exit Navisworks as it might mess with other programs that may have 'Autodesk Navisworks Manage' in the window title. If you use other programs while using Navisworks you can simply turn Num Lock back on and this shouldn't affect any other programs.

I hope this proves to be useful for everyone and I hope it inspires others to share the tools they have developed. I believe sharing is important to move us all forward as a group. 

Please provide feedback and any other ideas you may have to improve the tool. 

Autodesk Quantity Takeoff 2011…move along folks, nothing to see here

I’ve been patiently waiting for a new release of QTO, which finally came out yesterday; a mere 7 months off of Autodesk’s release cycle for the rest of their software. I figured they must be doing great things with all the time they’ve had to work on the product right?

Well, not so much. The only notable new feature is takeoff coloring of the model. The rest doesn’t get me excited, which you can see here http://doddsandends.typepad.com/blog/2010/11/autodesk-quantity-takeoff-2011-released.html (sorry Jason)

3D is still unusable for the most part, none of the navigation tools have been brought over from design review. No sectioning, walking, hiding, etc. No split screen, can’t have multiple documents open. Still can’t total your quantities inside qto.

All that said, it is still a good program and we will continue to utilize it, I just needed to express my disappointment in the development of the product.

Scan to BIM

I haven’t seen this posted anywhere else besides a tweet that Beau sent out the other day. This is too exciting to not be talked about.

This should help reduce the cost of laser scanning since previously you generally had to rely on the scanning company to convert the point cloud to a model in AutoCAD. I have not tried it yet so I can’t speak to it’s usability but I am excited to find a project to use it on.

http://www.avatech.com/solutions/building-design/product-details.aspx?product=90

The Scan to BIM software add-in takes the ordeal out of the process of getting 3D laser scanning data into Revit. It enables you to import point clouds directly into Revit, visualize them directly in Revit, and interact directly in Revit with automated recognition and placement of walls and openings, as well as pipes and ducts.

Back in action

I just signed up for the blogger social event at AU and realized I haven’t posted since March (my jaw dropped a little when I saw that) I must admit I had lost my motivation towards BIM and it was a rough year while I tried to find my path in life. Some of you know that I found a deep passion for photography and this overtook my life; it was all I could think about and nothing else mattered. I couldn’t see balancing work life with my newly found purpose.

Recently I went through Dale Carnegie Training, which Darren Lewis explains nicely in his blog post How to be human.  This really awakened me and revitalized my passions for life in general. I have re-dedicated myself to BIM and am very excited for the coming year.

My focus will be helping implement Lean construction methodologies with BIM and really changing our entire process rather than simply inserting BIM into the same old processes. We continue to bring in lots of work at Neenan despite the economy, which speaks volumes of how great this company already is; I’m excited about the potential this company has.

Soon I’ll be posting about what we’re doing with Vela in the field using iPads on the jobsite amongst other things. No real content in this post, just a reintroduction to get myself motivated to post again. For those of you going, I look forward to seeing you at AU!

p.s. for those of you interested I am still fully immersed in photography as well and am selling my work for install in commercial/residential buildings. If you have any connections with interior designers I would appreciate you forwarding my contact info on! We just finished an install in one of our medical buildings which you can  see on my other blog www.kinghamphotographyblog.com and you can see my work at www.kinghamphotography.com

Undocumented Features of Revit 2010

By now you have all seen the new features (go here if you haven't) Instead of re-hashing that I'm going to run through some of the lesser known or undocumented features.

The GOOD

Performance has been improved over 2009, in my testing it is the fastest version yet (seat of the pants testing), but most people are reporting it's about the same speed as 2008 was (which is good!)

You can now add the current revision to your drawing list.

In a worksetted file you can discard your changes AND relinquish at the same time, before you had to just close out, don't relinquish, re-open and then relinquish.

Instance Properties dialog is now re-sizeable.

In print setup you can now have halftone print as thin lines (there is a checkbox under options)

You're now able to create filters for sections, elevations and callouts. So for example you could turn off interior elevations by creating a new filter with the elevation category and filter by family and type of interior elevations, add the filter to your view and turn the filter off.

Keyboard shortcuts were added for the following: Gray inactive worksets, each dimensions type (aligned, linear, angular, radial, arc length) Extend is now it's own tool so you can create a shortcut for this as well. ALL of the items in the view control bar now can have shortcuts (except for the scales of course) Borrow and return license

External tools can have shortcuts too, this is what it looks like in the keyboardshortcuts file:

; Add-Ins
"NW"    ribbon:"Add_Ins-External-External Tools-Navisworks 2010"

The BAD

Type Properties is NOT re-sizable

Orient to view/direction has no keyboard shortcuts anymore, you now have to right click the view cube, if you need to orient to a plane you have to right click on the steering wheel. This is a major step backwards.

Switch windows isn't easily accessible anymore, but can be added to the Quick access toolbar

Same with the worksets selector and the type selector.

My thoughts on the ribbon...it's great for new users and discoverability of tools, which sounds like this was the main intent from reading their blog. For advanced or even slightly experienced users this is a step backwards for productivity. If you don't use keyboard shortcuts now, you better start. This is the only way you will remain efficient in 2010. There will be a lot of disappointment around this release, when Phil Read is putting up angry blog posts you know things are bad.

With that, we will be upgrading. It is certainly not a rush though, I'm going to wait at least a month to let the users play around in it first because it is going to be a major disruption.

Overall I give this release a thumbs down. Maybe in 2011 they will address the users needs rather than corporate's...

New-ish Navisworks blog

Beyond the Paper has been around for quite some time but has been focused on DWF, now Volker will also be posting about Navisworks.

Volker has a couple of posts already...

Introducing Autodesk Navisworks Freedom 2010

Navisworks NWD or Navisworks NWF file format?

Welcome to the Navisworks world Volker!

Revit Grids in NavisWorks

I've been struggling to find my bearings in NavisWorks because the grids from Revit are not 3d so they do not come into NW. I've come up with a pretty good solution in the meantime.
I created a 2-Pick family in Revit that I creatively called 'Grid.rfa'

The grid bubbles and the grid line are extrusions 1/4" high, I tried using Model Lines but they are just too hard to select in NW. The grid name/number are tied to a 'Grid' parameter.

I created an empty project that I linked the structural model into and proceeded to Copy/Monitor the grids into the project. From here I can use the pick option for creating the 2-pick family grids with 'Lock' checked.

Then all you have to do is set the 'Grid' parameter in the newly created grid.

Now what happens if the grid changes? That never happens so we don't have to worry about it....oops had a moment of insanity.

Since we copy/monitored the grids we can simply do a coordination review (look in help if you don't know what this is) the grids will automatically be updated and since we used the lock option to place the new 2pick grids they will move right along with the monitored grids. The only coordination you have to do is check the grid names and make sure there are no new grids, coordination review will not currently tell you if new grids have been added.

Now here's the cool part, when you select the grid in NavisWorks you can look at the properties and you instantly know what grid you're looking at. No need to track down the grid bubble.

I also found it useful to group the grids in Revit and then copy the group to each floor, that way it's always easy to find the grid in NW.

I anyone would like my Grid family just leave a comment or shoot me an email and I'll be happy to send it to you.

Autodesk University 2007 Schedule

We will be sending 15 people to AU this year! There will be a wide variety of users, from Architecture, Structure, MEP, Management and Visualization.

I take back my comments I posted on Steve's blog about there not being enough advanced Revit classes at AU. I've come to the realization that I've pretty much reached the end of Revit technically. I now need to focus my skills on management and further implementation into the rest of the company.

I'm pretty happy with my schedule, a nice variety of advanced Revit classes, BIM and business/management.


Tuesday

8:00 AM-9:30 AM
General Session - Designing the Future

10:00 AM-11:30 AM
Effective Collaboration with the Autodesk® Revit® Platform

1:30 PM-3:00 PM
Autodesk's Revit® SDK Sample Smörgåsbord

3:30 PM-5:00 PM
The Fusion of Technology Innovations

Wednesday

8:00 AM-9:30 AM
Building the Future - AEC Industry Presentation

10:00 AM-11:30 AM
Expanding BIM with the Autodesk's Revit® API

1:30 PM-3:00 PM
Methodology for Implementing BIM: Educational Processes vs. Professional Practices

3:00 PM-4:30 PM
Technology Underpinnings of Integrated Practice in Building Design and Construction

5:00 PM-6:30 PM
Effective Techniques for Large Projects in Revit® Architecture

Thursday

8:00 AM-9:30 AM
Running Revit® Architecture in Virtual Machines

10:30 AM-12:00 PM
The Essential Guide to NavisWorks

1:00 PM-2:30 PM
A Walk-through NavisWorks

3:00 PM-4:30 PM
From Concept to Construction: Real-World Construction Management Techniques and Best Practices with Revit® Architecture

5:00 PM-6:30 PM
Advanced Massing Studies in Revit® Architecture

Friday

8:00 AM-9:30 AM
The Successful Implementation of Building Information Modeling in a Construction Project for the 2008 Beijing Olympics

10:00 AM-11:30 AM
Sharing 3D Geometry Among AutoCAD® MEP, Revit® Architecture, and Revit® Structure

Collision Detection in NavisWorks

Here's a few images of some collisions I found on a small project we're working on.
It was extremely easy to convert and import the files into NavisWorks, took about 10 minutes and this was my first go at it!
This was simply checking Mechanical against Structural, the collision detection runs so fast it's ridiculous. In Revit this would have taken an hour.
Next step is to learn TimeLiner

Should Autodesk make a free file exporter for NavisWorks files?

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.

del.icio.us Tags: NavisWorks, autodesk, bim

Autodesk acquires NavisWorks

Apparently Autodesk realized that their idea of one integrated Revit model was not going to work in reality. They were trying to push this idea of linking all the Revit models together, which seems like a great idea until you realize in a real world size project that Revit struggles enough with one discipline, the computers are just not up for the task yet.

Now Autodesk can scrap that idea and push everyone to get NavisWorks (I'm sure the Archicad users are cringing at this acquisition)

BTW this is my first post using Windows Live Writer, so far I really like it, very simple and intuitive.

del.icio.us Tags: NavisWorks, BIM, Autodesk, Revit

Link

Speaking of IFC's

Revit Architecture Achieves Full IFC 2x3 Certification

While I have my reservations about using IFC's this seems to be a step in the right direction towards interoperability.

While Archicad has been the leader with IFC's for a long time it looks like Autodesk is finally taking this seriously.

I hope IFC does become the standard but I think it's still a few years out before we really get there.

After the BIM Conference....

Back from not-so-sunny Anaheim, the conference had it's good and bad points. There was a bit too much focus on interoperability, IFC's, Lifecycle, etc. The IAI had a bit too much involvement. Don't get me wrong they have a great vision of how a BIM is going to work in the future and the lifecycle of the building is really where the value is going to lie in the future.

For now though the real money is in 4D/5D for us and this was barely touched on.

I did come away with some new software that will help us in early design where a Revit model may not make sense because it is too complex to change quickly and easily early on.

One is DProfiler developed by the Beck Group, we will be using this in very early design to help the owner figure out if they can afford to build the project. It can export to Revit and next month it will link to Timberline so we can use our existing database for estimating.

Another is Onuma which is a very interesting product for preliminary design/programming. It is all web based which makes for very easy collaboration. It is very quick at laying out bubble diagrams, and as they're created there is 3d geometry being created too, along with all the square footage, counts, etc f or programming analysis.

The National BIM Conference, May 15-17, 2007, Anaheim, CA

I'll be attending the National BIM Conference with a few others from Neenan. Will anyone else out there be attending? Looks like it will be a great conference. Would like to meet my fellow bimmer's!

www.bimconference.com

NavisWorks Contact

Does anyone out there have a good inside contact at NavisWorks? I've been trying and trying to get a working demo version to try out on our projects and I'm having absolutely no success. I initially tried to contact them directly, received no response. So I then contacted a local reseller, they sent me a demo version but when I try to activate the software it says I've already activated it. They don't know what to do so they forwarded the request to NavisWorks....guess what? No response!

Follow up to this....
The president of NavisWorks happened to see this and just called me directly and said I will have a working version in the morning. Thank you! Looking forward to working with you.

Importing ABS files into Revit

Unfortunately Revit will not import ACIS objects from ABS, you have to convert them to solids first.

In previous versions of ABS it was as simple as going to a isometric and exporting to ACAD, everything converted to ACAD faces perfectly, well now in ABS07 it's not so simple, with all the new options in display configurations you must have some things setup first.

If there is any piping in the project it will probably be displayed in 1-Line but we want 3D!

First go to a 3d view

Now go to display manager






Right click on configurations and click new













Now right click on the new configuration created and click set to current viewport








Click ok to leave the Display Manager.

Now go to style manager





Now set all the pipe size definitions so nothing is set to 1-Line














Click ok to leave the Style manager.

Now type in ConvertTo3DSolids at the command line.
Select all of the objects, select yes for erase selected objects. This will convert all of the ACIS objects into ACAD solids.

Now export to ACAD (version doesn't matter)

You will probably need to delete the 2d information the mechanical engineer has in the file or it will show in Revit.

After that import the resulting file into Revit.

The best method I have found is to create a new project and import the dwg into an in-place family. The family category needs to be set to Generic Model, if you do not set it to this the geometry will not show cut in sections.

Now just link in the rvt file to your main project, I also like to import the file to a workset that is not visible by default in all views, the ABS file really slows down revit so you only want to turn it on when you really want to see it.

What a pain! If anyone knows of an easier way please let me know. For now we will continue this so we can see the HVAC in our drawings, in the future we will probably just be using NavisWorks for collision detection.

Offline files - may lead to heartache for central files

If you don't know how offline files work take a peek here .
This is how I typically make families and templates available on laptops when users are out of the office, which works incredibly well, no need for different ini files to change paths because the paths stay the same.

Last week I made the mistake of making an entire project folder available offline for one user (this folder contained the central file) there was no problems until today when the user was not connected to the network for some odd reason, but because the central file was made available offline it looked as though he was still connected, so he kept working away until another user noticed that his changes were not coming through when he saved to central....long story short, he could not save back to the actual central file when he was reconnected to the network...which of course led to some unhappy users. There was lots of Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V'ing going on to try and sync up what he had lost...I realized later I probably could have ran the journal files to redo the work, but that only works half the time anyway...

Just be careful with offline files!

Add one more BIM/Revit Blog to your feeds

Since I officially have the title of BIM Manager now I figured I would start a blog to document my efforts and hopefully help some folks along the way. I will be sharing our ups and downs (hopefully more ups) as we implement Revit and other BIM related softwares.