Autodesk NavisWorks NavisWorks Simulate - 2011 Getting Started Guide

Autodesk Navisworks Simulate 2011

Getting Started Guide

March 2010

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This Getting Started Guide was last updated on 4 February 2010.

Chapter 1 Getting Started . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Exploring the User Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Application Button and Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Quick Access Toolbar and Ribbon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Scene Area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Navigation Bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Dockable Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Selection Tree . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Status Bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Workspaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Combine and Manage Your Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Effective Navigation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Create Intelligent Groups of Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Using Saved Viewpoints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Creating Animations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Rendered Images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Create Punch/Snag Lists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Merge and Manage your Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

4D Construction Simulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Object Animation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Animation Interaction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Contents | iii

iv | Contents

Getting Started

Welcome to Autodesk Navisworks Simulate 2011! We hope that you enjoy learning and using this industry changing solution for whole 3D project review. Autodesk Navisworks is designed to bring together geometry and data created by multi-disciplinary teams, on the largest projects, into a single model. This virtual building can then be visualized, simulated, and analyzed in real-time by all involved, to validate the design and provide insight and predictability for construction and operation.

In this short tutorial, you learn the essential knowledge required to use Autodesk Navisworks effectively.

You will learn how to create search sets based on the inherent property information, and see how these can be used in conjunction with various key features; create punch/snag lists from your review sessions; how to create photorealistic visualizations; techniques for quick 4D planning; and dynamic simulations.

To complete all exercises in this Getting Started guide, you will need to have at least the Autodesk Navisworks Simulate 2011 product.

Introduction

Installation

Before beginning the exercises, install the software and register it as either demo or subscription. Demo mode serves as a 30-day product trial.

By default, example files are installed to C:\Program

Files\Autodesk\Autodesk Navisworks Simulate 2011\Examples\Getting Started.

Exploring the User Interface

When the Autodesk Navisworks window is displayed, take a minute to view the different sections.

2 Quick Access toolbar 6 Navigation bar

4 Ribbon 8 Status bar

Application Button and Menu

Click the application button to display the application menu. The application menu provides you with access to common tools. Double-clicking the application button exits Autodesk Navisworks.

Quick Access Toolbar and Ribbon

At the top of the application window, the Quick Access toolbar provides access to frequently used tools.

The Quick Access toolbar

Below the Quick Access toolbar is the ribbon pallet. The ribbon is grouped in task-based tabs and panels.

5 Scene View1 Application button and menu

7 Dockable windows3 InfoCenter

The ribbon

Scene Area

The main scene area is used to interact with the 3D model. The scene area may be split into multiple views enabling you to simultaneously view different areas of the model, or objects from different angles, and so on. (Click View tab ➤ Scene View panel ➤ Split View drop-down ➤ Split Horizontal or Split Vertical.)

2 | Chapter 1 Getting Started

TIP You can also access full-screen mode by pressing F11.

Navigation Bar

The navigation bar provides access to various navigation tools which allow you to move around and experience your virtual project before it has been built. (Click View tab ➤ Navigation Aids panel ➤ Navigation Bar.)

Navigation is easiest controlled with a mouse - generally holding down the left-mouse button while moving the mouse. The Autodesk standard navigation SteeringWheels may also be accessed from here.

The navigation bar

Dockable Windows

Most Autodesk Navisworks features are accessible from the windows docked around the interface. An Auto Hide feature is enabled for many windows by default to maximize the scene area, though you may dock the windows with Auto Hide disabled should you prefer. (Click View tab ➤ Workspace panel ➤ Windows drop-down and select the desired window.)

Selection Tree

The Selection Tree window is where you will find the model hierarchy of the files you have opened and appended into the current Autodesk Navisworks scene. This hierarchy reflects the structure created in the original design application. (Click View tab ➤ Workspace panel ➤ Windows drop-down ➤ Selection Tree.)

Properties

When selecting an object in either the Selection Tree or directly within the scene area, the information associated with that object is displayed in the Properties window. This information is organized into relevant tabs dependant on the information brought through from the original design application, or extended data linked to with Autodesk Navisworks. (Click View tab ➤ Workspace panel ➤ Windows drop-down ➤ Properties.)

TIP You can also click Home tab ➤ Display panel ➤ Properties.

Status Bar

The status bar appears at the bottom of the Autodesk Navisworks window. In the right-hand corner, there are four performance indicators that give constant feedback as to how Autodesk Navisworks is performing on your computer.

The pencil progress bar indicates how much of the current scene is drawn. When the progress bar is closer to 0%, this indicates more of the scene is being dropped-out. 100% indicates there is no drop-out.

NOTE The Autodesk Navisworks engine intelligently prioritizes all objects in the scene. If your computer is unable to process (draw) all geometry while navigating, it elects to drop-out the finer detail, allowing you to continue navigating in real-time. Once navigation ceases all of the detail is filled in. Some degree of drop-out is normal; however, users of larger, complex models and lower spec computers are more likely to experience increased drop-out while navigating.

The disk progress bar indicates how much of the current model has been loaded into memory. The Autodesk Navisworks engine manages your memory usage, only loading in the required data. When the progress bar is at 100% this indicates that all of the models objects and property information has been loaded.

Navigation Bar | 3

The web server progress bar indicates how much of a model has been downloaded from a web server (when using the Open URL command). As the Autodesk Navisworks engine can identify which data is required (within an NWD file), it can prioritize this data and download it first (acting like a buffer) allowing you to commence navigation of the model while Autodesk Navisworks continues to stream the remaining data from the web server.

The memory bar indicates how much memory is being used currently Autodesk Navisworks. This is reported in megabytes (MB).

Workspaces

The Autodesk Navisworks user interface can be referred to as a workspace, and has been designed to be intuitive and easy to use. Workspaces retain information about which windows are open, their positions, and the size of the application window. Workspaces do not retain changes made to the ribbon or the Quick Access toolbar.

Autodesk Navisworks comes with a number of pre-defined workspaces which can be used as-is, or you can customize and save these as your own task-oriented working environments. (Click View tab ➤ Workspace panel ➤ Load Workspace drop-down and select the desired workspace.)

Combine and Manage Your Projects

Autodesk Navisworks has three main file extensions: NWD, NWF, and NWC.

NWC files are cache files containing conversion data only (that is, they contain the relevant data necessary to convert the CAD file into the Autodesk Navisworks format). NWC files can be exported directly out of supported CAD applications, including Autodesk AutoCAD, Revit and 3ds Max; Bentley MicroStation and Graphisoft ArchiCAD.

By default NWC files are also created automatically whenever you read a CAD file into Autodesk Navisworks this will actually speed up the process when next opening that CAD file (provided that it hasn’t been modified), as the cache file can be used. This is especially noticeable when you are opening a project containing tens or even hundreds of CAD files.

This brings us to NWF files, which are reference files and contain no geometry. They contain pointers back to the original files that you open and append together plus anything you do with the model in Autodesk Navisworks. It is recommended to save a master NWF file for your project once you’ve appended all of your CAD files. Subsequent opening of the NWF will then re-open each file. Actually, it's a little more intelligent than this. It will check to see if there is a corresponding NWC file and checks whether the CAD file has been modified since last converted. If it has, the CAD file will be re-read and re-cached. If it hasn’t, the cache file will be used, speeding up the loading process.

Finally we have the NWD file format. This is a complete data set, containing all of the geometry and anything you do with the model in Autodesk Navisworks. It is highly compressed, and can be secured with password protection. The NWD file is the recommended format for sharing the entire project with all stakeholders, enabling individual disciplines to see how their design fits within the overall project. NWD files can be reviewed in the free viewer, Autodesk Navisworks Freedom 2011, or if you need to add markup and carry out full analysis of the project, then a full Autodesk Navisworks product may be used.

So let’s take a look at these file formats in practice. We’re going to start with three NWC files exported from Revit Architecture, Revit Structure, and Revit MEP. These could, however, be any combination of supported file formats/applications.

NOTE For the latest list of supported formats and applications, see our website: http://www.autodesk.com/navisworks

1 Click the application button ➤ Open .

2 Browse to the C:\Program Files\Autodesk\Autodesk Navisworks Simulate 2011\Examples\Getting

Started directory, select Structure.nwc and click Open.

4 | Chapter 1 Getting Started

3 Append the MEP.nwc file. (Click Home tab ➤ Project panel ➤ Append . )

4 Append the file, Architecture.nwc.

Combine and Manage Your Projects | 5

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