Autodesk NavisWorks NavisWorks Simulate - 2011 User Guide
Autodesk Navisworks Simulate 2011
User Guide
March 2010
©
2010 Autodesk, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Except as otherwise permitted by Autodesk, Inc., this publication, or parts thereof, may not be
reproduced in any form, by any method, for any purpose.
Certain materials included in this publication are reprinted with the permission of the copyright holder.
Trademarks
The following are registered trademarks or trademarks of Autodesk, Inc., and/or its subsidiaries and/or affiliates in the USA and other countries:
3DEC (design/logo), 3December, 3December.com, 3ds Max, Algor, Alias, Alias (swirl design/logo), AliasStudio, Alias|Wavefront (design/logo),
ATC, AUGI, AutoCAD, AutoCAD Learning Assistance, AutoCAD LT, AutoCAD Simulator, AutoCAD SQL Extension, AutoCAD SQL Interface,
Autodesk, Autodesk Envision, Autodesk Intent, Autodesk Inventor, Autodesk Map, Autodesk MapGuide, Autodesk Streamline, AutoLISP, AutoSnap,
AutoSketch, AutoTrack, Backburner, Backdraft, Built with ObjectARX (logo), Burn, Buzzsaw, CAiCE, Civil 3D, Cleaner, Cleaner Central, ClearScale,
Colour Warper, Combustion, Communication Specification, Constructware, Content Explorer, Dancing Baby (image), DesignCenter, Design
Doctor, Designer's Toolkit, DesignKids, DesignProf, DesignServer, DesignStudio, Design Web Format, Discreet, DWF, DWG, DWG (logo), DWG
Extreme, DWG TrueConvert, DWG TrueView, DXF, Ecotect, Exposure, Extending the Design Team, Face Robot, FBX, Fempro, Fire, Flame, Flare,
Flint, FMDesktop, Freewheel, GDX Driver, Green Building Studio, Heads-up Design, Heidi, HumanIK, IDEA Server, i-drop, ImageModeler, iMOUT,
Incinerator, Inferno, Inventor, Inventor LT, Kaydara, Kaydara (design/logo), Kynapse, Kynogon, LandXplorer, Lustre, MatchMover, Maya,
Mechanical Desktop, Moldflow, Moonbox, MotionBuilder, Movimento, MPA, MPA (design/logo), Moldflow Plastics Advisers, MPI, Moldflow
Plastics Insight, MPX, MPX (design/logo), Moldflow Plastics Xpert, Mudbox, Multi-Master Editing, Navisworks, ObjectARX, ObjectDBX, Open
Reality, Opticore, Opticore Opus, Pipeplus, PolarSnap, PortfolioWall, Powered with Autodesk Technology, Productstream, ProjectPoint, ProMaterials,
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Visual LISP, Volo, Vtour, Wire, Wiretap, WiretapCentral, XSI, and XSI (design/logo).
LightWorks, the LightWorks logo, LWA and LWA-Enabled are registered trademarks of LightWork Design Ltd. The LWA-Enabled logo, Interactive
Image Regeneration, IIR, A-Cubed, Feature-Following Anti-Aliasing and FFAA are all trademarks of LightWork Design Ltd. All other trademarks,
images and logos remain the property of their respective owners. Copyright of LightWork Design Ltd. 1990-2007, 2008.
This software is based in part on the work of the Independent JPEG Group.
Contains a modified version of Open CASCADE libraries. See the license file "OpenCascadeLicense.txt" in the Navisworks installation directory.
Source code is available from download.autodesk.com/us/navisworks/OpenCascade.zip.
Disclaimer
THIS PUBLICATION AND THE INFORMATION CONTAINED HEREIN IS MADE AVAILABLE BY AUTODESK, INC. "AS IS." AUTODESK, INC. DISCLAIMS
ALL WARRANTIES, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR
FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE REGARDING THESE MATERIALS.
This User Guide was last updated on 12 February 2010.
Contents
Welcome to Autodesk Navisworks Simulate 2011 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Chapter 1 What Is New in This Release? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Chapter 2 How to Get Assistance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Finding Information Using the InfoCenter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Overview of InfoCenter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Search for Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Access Subscription Center . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Use Communication Center . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Save and Access Favorite Topics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Use the Help System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Specify InfoCenter Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Get More Help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Learn the Product . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
View the Product Readme . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Join the Customer Involvement Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Chapter 3 Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Quick Start to Stand-Alone Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Prepare for Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
System Requirements for Stand-Alone Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Understand Administrative Permission Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Locate Your Autodesk Navisworks Serial Number and Product Key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Avoid Data Loss During Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Choose a Language . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Configure Button . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Install Multiple or Bundled Products . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Install and Run Autodesk Navisworks Simulate 2011 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Install Autodesk Navisworks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Launch Autodesk Navisworks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
How to Launch Autodesk Navisworks in Another Language . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Add or Remove Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Repair Autodesk Navisworks Simulate 2011 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Uninstall Autodesk Autodesk Navisworks Simulate 2011 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Move to Autodesk Navisworks from a Previous Release . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Install Autodesk Navisworks for Multiple Users . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Quick Start to Network Administration and Deployment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Deployment Preparation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Set Up Network Tools and Your License Server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Contents | iii
Distribute the Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Distribute an Autodesk Navisworks Product . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Set Up a Deployment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Preliminary Tasks for a Network Deployment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Configure Button . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Your Deployment Choices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Choose a Language . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Create a Deployment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Final Review and Complete Setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Modify a Deployment (optional) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Point Users to the Administrative Image . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Uninstall an Autodesk Product . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Installation Troubleshooting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
General Installation Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
How can I check my graphics card driver to see if it needs to be updated? . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
When performing a Typical installation, what gets installed? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Why should I specify the Project Folder and Site Folder? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
How do I share the Autodesk Navisworks settings on a site and project basis? . . . . . . . . . . 54
Where are my product manuals? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
How do I register and activate Autodesk Navisworks? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Deployment Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
Is there a checklist I can refer to when performing a deployment? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
Where should deployments be located? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
Where can I check if service packs are available for my software? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
How do I choose between 32-bit and 64-bit deployments? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
What are information channels? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Licensing Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
What is the difference between a stand-alone license and a network license? . . . . . . . . . . 57
What is the benefit to using a network licensed version of the software? . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
What is Internet Explorer used for? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
Networking Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
Where do I find my server name? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
If I choose to create a log file, what kind of information does the log file contain? . . . . . . . 58
What is an administrative image (MSI) file? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
What is the impact of selecting all products to be included in the administrative image? . . . . 58
Uninstall and Maintenance Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
When adding or removing features, how can I tell what features get installed by default? . . . 59
Is it possible to change the installation folder when adding or removing features? . . . . . . . 59
When should I reinstall the product instead of a repair? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Do I need my original DVD to reinstall my software? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
When I uninstall my software, what files are left on my system? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Chapter 4 Quick Start . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Start and Quit Autodesk Navisworks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Automatically Save and Recover Navisworks Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Command Line Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
The User Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Parts of Autodesk Navisworks Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Application Button and Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Quick Access Toolbar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Ribbon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Tooltips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Keytips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Navigation Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
The Classic User Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Scene View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
Dockable Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Status Bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Undo/Redo Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Autodesk Navisworks Workspaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
Default Keyboard Shortcuts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Navigation with the Wheel Button . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Autodesk Navisworks Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
Location Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
iv | Contents
Display Units . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
Profiles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Search Directories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
Gizmos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
Get a Whole-Project View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
Chapter 5 Work with Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
Native File Formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
Compatible CAD Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
Supported CAD File Formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Supported Laser Scan File Formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
Use File Readers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
3DS File Reader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
ASCII Laser Scan File Reader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
Bentley AutoPLANT File Reader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
CIS/2 File Reader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
DWG/DXF File Reader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
DWF File Reader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
DGN File Reader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
Faro Scan File Reader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
FBX File Reader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
IFC File Reader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
IGES File Reader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
Inventor File Reader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
JTOpen File Reader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
Leica Scan File Reader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
MAN File Reader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
Parasolid File Reader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
PDS File Reader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
Riegl Scan File Reader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
RVM File Reader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
SAT File Reader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
SketchUp SKP File Reader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
STEP File Reader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
STL File Reader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
VRML File Reader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
Z+F Scan File Reader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
Use File Exporters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
AutoCAD File Exporter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
Revit File Exporter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
MicroStation File Exporter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
Viz and Max File Exporter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
ArchiCAD File Exporter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
Manage Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
Open Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
Create Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
Save and Rename Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
Complex Models . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
Refresh Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
Merge Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
Email Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
Receive 3D Mail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
Batch Utility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
View Scene Statistics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
Chapter 6 Explore Your Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
Navigate a Scene . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
Orientation in 3D Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
Product-Specific Navigation Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
ViewCube . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
Navigation Bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
SteeringWheels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
Contents | v
Camera . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194
Navigation Aids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
Focus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
Hold . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
Control the Realism of Your Navigation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
Gravity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
Crouching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
Collision . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202
Third Person View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202
Chapter 7 Control Model Appearance and Render Quality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
Control Model Appearance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
Select Render Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
Add Lighting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
Select Background Effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208
Adjust Displaying of Primitives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
Control Render Quality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212
Use Culling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212
Control Rendering of Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214
Adjust Presenter Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216
Stereo Rendering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216
Chapter 8 Review Your Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
Select Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
Interactive Geometry Selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
Set Selection Resolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222
Set Highlighting Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223
Hide Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224
Find Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225
Find Items Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225
Quick Find . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
Create and Use Sets of Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
Sets Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
Create and Manage Selection and Search Sets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
Compare Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233
Object Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234
Properties Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234
Custom Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235
External Database Links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237
Manipulate Object Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244
Transform Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244
Change Object Appearance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247
Snapping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248
Reset to Original Values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249
Measure Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249
Measure Tools Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249
Measuring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251
Comments, Redlines, and Tags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255
Use Comments, Redlines, and Tags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255
Find Comments and Tags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264
Manage Comment and Tag IDs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268
Links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269
Link Categories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269
Display Links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269
Customize Links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270
Add Links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272
Find and Follow Links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273
Manage Links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274
Quick Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276
SwitchBack to AutoCAD and MicroStation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277
Chapter 9 Use Viewpoints and Sectioning Modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279
Create and Modify Viewpoints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279
vi | Contents
Overview of Viewpoints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279
Saved Viewpoints Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280
Save Viewpoints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283
Recall Viewpoints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283
Organize Viewpoints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284
Edit Viewpoints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284
Default Viewpoint Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 286
Share Viewpoints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287
Sectioning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287
Enable and Use Section Planes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 288
Enable and Use Section Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295
Chapter 10 Record and Play Animations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299
Create and Edit Viewpoint Animations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299
Play Animations and Scripts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302
Share Animations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 303
Chapter 11 Work Within a Team . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305
Collaborate Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305
Collaboration Session . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305
Chapter 12 Share Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309
Print . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309
Print Preview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309
Print Setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309
Print Current Viewpoint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 310
Import Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 310
Search Criteria Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 310
Search Set Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 311
PDS Display Set Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 311
PDS Tag Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 312
Viewpoints Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 313
Export Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 313
3D DWF Format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 313
Google Earth KML Format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 314
Autodesk FBX Format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315
Export Images and Animations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 316
Current Search Criteria . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319
Search Set Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319
Viewpoints Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319
Viewpoints Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319
TimeLiner CSV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320
PDS Tag Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320
Chapter 13 Animate Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321
Overview of the Animator Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 322
Animator Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 322
The Animator Toolbar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 322
The Animator Tree View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 323
The Animator Timeline View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325
The Manual Entry Bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327
Scripter Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 328
The Scripter Tree View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 328
The Events View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 329
The Actions View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 330
The Properties View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 331
Create Object Animations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 335
Work with Animation Scenes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 336
Work with Animation Sets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 338
Add Animation Sets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 338
Update Animation Sets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 338
Manipulate Geometry Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 339
Contents | vii
Work with Cameras . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 341
Work with Section Plane Sets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 342
Work with Keyframes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343
Capture Keyframes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343
Edit Keyframes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343
Play Animation Scenes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 344
Add Interactivity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 344
Work with Animation Scripts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 345
Work with Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 346
Work with Actions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 347
Enable Scripting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 348
Chapter 14 Create Photorealistic Visualizations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 349
Overview of the Presenter Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 349
Presenter Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 349
Use the Presenter Archives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 350
Photo-Realistic Scene Rendering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 351
Use Presenter Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 353
Materials Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 353
Apply and Remove Presenter Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 353
Organize and Manage Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 355
Edit Presenter Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 357
Advanced Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 359
Use Presenter Lights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 360
Lighting Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 360
Add and Position Lights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 361
Organize and Manage Lights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 362
Edit Lights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 363
Shadow Casting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 365
Advanced Lighting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366
Soft Shadows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366
Physically Accurate Lights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366
Volumetric Lights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366
Image-based Lighting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 367
Use Presenter RPCs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 368
RPC Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 368
Use Presenter Rendering Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 371
Effects Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 371
Background Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 371
Foreground Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 374
Use Presenter Rendering Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 374
Rendering Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 374
Rendering Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 375
Predefined Rendering Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 375
Auto Exposure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 376
Use Presenter Texture Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 376
Use Presenter Rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 378
Rules Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 378
Predefined Rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 378
Custom Rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 379
The Presenter Rules Example . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 380
Chapter 15 Simulate Construction Scheduling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 383
Overview of TimeLiner Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 383
TimeLiner Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 383
Tasks Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 384
Links Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 387
Gantt View Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 388
Configure Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 390
Rules Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 391
Simulate Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 391
Select Link Dialog Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 393
Field Selector Dialog Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 393
viii | Contents
Simulation Settings Dialog Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 395
Overlay Text Dialog Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 399
Get Started . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 400
TimeLiner Tasks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 403
Create Tasks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 405
Edit Tasks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 406
Attach Tasks to Geometry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 407
Attach Tasks Manually . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 408
Use Rules to Attach Tasks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 409
Validate Project Schedule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 410
Use Gantt Charts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 411
Link to External Project Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 412
Supported Scheduling Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 412
CSV Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 414
Add and Manage Links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 414
Add Links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 414
Edit Links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 416
Delete Links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 417
Build Tasks from Links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 417
Synchronize Tasks with Project Changes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 417
4D Simulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 418
Play Simulations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 418
Configure Simulations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 418
Simulation Playback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 418
Simulation Appearance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 418
Export . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 420
Add Animation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 420
Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 420
Add Animation to an Entire Schedule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 420
Add Animation to Tasks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 422
Add Scripts to Tasks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 423
Chapter 16 Autodesk Navisworks Reference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 425
Animation Export Dialog Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 425
Background Settings Dialog Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 426
Collision Dialog Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 427
Convert Object Properties Dialog Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 427
Culling Options Dialog Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 428
Customize Dialog Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 428
Toolbars Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 428
Commands Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 429
Options Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 429
Default Collision Dialog Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 430
Edit Key Frame Dialog Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 430
Edit Link Dialog Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 432
Edit Viewpoint Dialog Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 432
Export Rendered Image Dialog Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 433
File Options Dialog Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 434
Culling Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 434
Orientation Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 435
Speed Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 435
Head Light Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 435
Scene Lights Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 436
DataTools Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 436
File Units and Transform Dialog Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 436
Image Export Dialog Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 437
InfoCenter Settings Dialog Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 437
General Node . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 437
Search Locations Node . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 438
Communication Center Node . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 438
Autodesk Channels Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 438
Balloon Notification Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 438
RSS Feeds Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 439
New Link Dialog Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 439
Contents | ix
Options Editor Dialog Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 439
General Node . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 440
Undo Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 440
Locations Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 440
Environment Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 440
Auto-Save Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 441
Interface Node . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 441
Display Units Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 441
Selection Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 441
Measure Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 442
Snapping Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 443
Viewpoint Defaults Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 443
Links Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 443
Quick Properties Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 446
Developer Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 446
Display Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 446
SpaceBall Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 447
Navigation Bar Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 448
ViewCube Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 448
SteeringWheels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 449
User Interface Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 451
Model Node . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 451
Performance Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 451
NWD Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 452
NWC Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 452
File Readers Node . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 453
3DS Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 453
ASCII Laser Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 454
CIS/2 Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 454
DGN Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 454
DWF Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 456
DWG/DXF Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 456
Faro Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 458
FBX Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 459
IFC Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 459
IGES Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 460
Inventor Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 460
Leica Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 460
JTOpen Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 461
MAN Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 461
Parasolid Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 462
PDS Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 462
Riegl Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 463
RVM Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 463
SAT Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 464
SKP Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 464
STEP Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 465
STL Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 465
VRML Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 465
Z+F Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 466
File Exporters Node . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 467
DWG Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 467
Revit Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 469
DGN Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 469
Viz/Max Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 471
Tools Node . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 471
TimeLiner Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 471
Presenter Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 472
Scripter Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 473
Animator Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 473
Publish Dialog Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 473
Piranesi EPix Dialog Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 475
QTVR Object Movie Settings Dialog Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 475
Section Plane Settings Dialog Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 475
x | Contents
Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 477
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 481
Contents | xi
xii | Contents
Welcome to Autodesk Navisworks Simulate 2011
Autodesk Navisworks Simulate 2011 software provides dynamic 4D schedules and
real -time visualization that enables design and construction professionals to share
and combine output for clear, descriptive content that helps demonstrate design
intent and validate decisions. Entire projects can be replicated with dynamic,
photorealistic views and 4D construction schedules to demonstrate options and
predict consequences. Project models can be published in NWD and 3D DWF
formats for free viewing.
™
1
2 | Part 1 Welcome to Autodesk Navisworks Simulate 2011
What Is New in This Release?
Autodesk Navisworks Simulate 2011 contains many new features and
enhancements.
Installation
The installation screen provides links to the installation options, deployment
options, installation tools and utilities, documentation and language settings.
When installing the product you can select to install either the 32-bit or 64-bit
version. You also have the option of selecting the DWG file readers that require
installation, plus the exporter plugins that you require.
NOTE If you are installing the product on a 32-bit operating system the 64-bit install
options are inaccessible.
User Interface
The new ribbon-based interface enables faster access to the tools and commands
you need, helping you to spend less time searching through menus and more
time focusing on your work.
1
NOTE Smart Tags are now called Quick Properties.
■ Application Button and Menu. The application menu provides access to many
common file actions, and also allows you to manage your files using more
advanced tools, such as Import, Export, and Publish. See Application Button
and Menu on page 66.
■ Quick Access Toolbar. The Quick Access toolbar displays frequently used
commands. You can customize it by adding more ribbon commands to it. See
Quick Access Toolbar on page 68.
■ Ribbon. The ribbon is the horizontal area of the Autodesk Navisworks
application window that displays task-based commands and controls. The
ribbon is divided into tabs, with each tab is supporting a specific activity. See
Ribbon on page 69.
3
TimeLiner
Changes to the TimeLiner tool support improved integration with third-party planning tools, and the introduction of Gantt
chart reporting for fuller-featured view on the TimeLiner schedule.
■ Access to the Primavera P6 (Web Services) for quicker Primavera schedule linking.
See Supported Scheduling Software on page 412.
■ Ability to view data as Gantt charts on a separate TimeLiner tab.
See “Gantt View Tab” on page 388.
Sectioning
Faster and easier sectioning. The sectioning tools are now more intuitive to use, providing a visual representation of the section
plane or box, and with direct manipulation you can position and adjust the section within the main view.
See “Sectioning” on page 287.
4 | Chapter 1 What Is New in This Release?
InfoCenter
You can use InfoCenter to search a variety of information sources with one query. You can also easily access product updates
and announcements.
See “Finding Information Using the InfoCenter” on page 9.
Batch Utility
You can now use the Batch Utility to automate common file importing/conversion processes. The Batch Utility is integrated
with Windows Task Scheduler to allow you to set up tasks to be run automatically at set times and intervals.
See Batch Utility on page 148.
Distributable Export Utility
The NWC file exporter pack enables project team members to generate the optimized NWC files directly from their design
applications without having to install Autodesk Navisworks software.
The NWC file enables transfer of both object geometry and associated metadata (such as object properties and materials) from
the design applications into Autodesk Navisworks Simulate 2011.
The NWC exporter pack works with a range of products including AutoCAD®-based software, Revit®-based software, 3DS
MAX® software, Bentley® Microstation software, and Graphisoft® ArchiCAD® software.
| 5
New Features Workshop
The New Features Workshop introduces you to what’s new in Autodesk Navisworks.
You can access the New Features Workshop from InfoCenter. On the InfoCenter toolbar, to the right of the Help button, click
the drop-down arrow.
You can also access the New Features workshop from the Start menu. Click Start ➤ All Programs ➤ Autodesk ➤ Navisworks
Simulate 2011 ➤ New Features Workshop.
API
In addition to COM Application Programming Interface (API), Autodesk Navisworks Simulate 2011 now provides a .NET API
that is intended to replace the COM API for most use cases. The API component is an optional feature in the installer, and is
installed by default into the API subfolder in the Autodesk Navisworks installation folder.
■ You can use the .NET API to:
■ Gain Access to application information.
■ Gain access to model/document information.
■ Perform simple operations on Navisworks documents (open, save, execute plug-in) without having to fully load the main
application.
NOTE The API gives you access to the same features available in the Autodesk Navisworks product you have installed. Using the API
for a feature that is not available will result in an exception due to licensing.
For more details, refer to the API documentation set.
New to Simulate?
If you are new to Autodesk Navisworks Simulate 2011 having upgraded from Autodesk Navisworks Review you now have
access to additional toolsets that will help you to simulate, analyze and review your project.
6 | Chapter 1 What Is New in This Release?
■ 4D Simulation. The TimeLiner tool helps to reduce delays and sequencing problems by enabling you to visualize project
activities.
Dynamic links to third party scheduling software provide accurate task data which can be mapped to your integrated
project model. With support for Planned, Actual, and Planned vs Actual dates you can analyze the viability of your
construction schedules. See Simulate Construction Scheduling on page 383.
■ Visualization. The Presenter tool provides advanced visualization features enabling you to develop compelling movies and
imagery to present projects to stakeholders.
You can customize and configure every render aspect, including materials, lights, backgrounds, and rendering styles; use
environment backgrounds and lighting to create real-world effects; and choose from more than 1,000 built-in materials
to create an accurate, photorealistic look. See Create Photorealistic Visualizations on page 349
■ Object Animation. The Animator features enable you to animate objects within your project model. Such animations can
be linked to tasks within TimeLiner so that you can simulate how various components are planned to be built. The Scripter
features further enable you to create interaction scripts that link animations to specific events and triggers to simulate
real-world behavior. See Animate Objects on page 321.
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8 | Chapter 1 What Is New in This Release?
How to Get Assistance
There are various ways to find information about how to use this program, and
multiple resources are available.
Finding Information Using the InfoCenter
You can use InfoCenter to search a variety of information sources
with one query. You can also easily access product updates and
announcements.
Overview of InfoCenter
You can use InfoCenter to search for information, display the
Subscription Center panel for subscription services, display the
Communication Center panel for product updates, and display
favorites panel to access saved topics.
You can use InfoCenter to:
■ Search for information through keywords (or by entering a
phrase)
■ Access subscription services through Subscription Center panel
■ Access to product-related updates and announcements through
Communication Center panel
2
■ Access saved topics through Favorites panel
■ Access topics in Help
To display the InfoCenter box in a collapsed state, click the arrow
to its left.
9
To browse search results
➤ On the panel for Search Results, Subscription Center, Communication Center, or Favorites, on the right
side of the category header, do one of the following:
■ Click the Next button.
■ Click the Previous button.
To rearrange the topics displayed on a panel
1 Display a panel by doing one of the following:
■ In the InfoCenter box, enter a keyword or phrase. Then press ENTER or click the Search button.
■ In the InfoCenter box, click the Communication Center button.
■ In the InfoCenter box, click the Favorites button.
2 Click and drag a category or group header to the desired position.
NOTE You can rearrange categories within a group, but you cannot move them into other groups.
Search for Information
You can enter keywords or a phrase in the InfoCenter box to search for information.
When you enter keywords or a phrase in the InfoCenter box, you search the contents of multiple Help resources.
NOTE You must have Internet access to display search results from the Autodesk Online category.
Keyword searches produce better results. In case of a misspelled word, spelling suggestions are displayed on the
panel.
The results are displayed as links on the InfoCenter Search Results panel. Click a link to display the topic, article,
or document.
To keep Search Results, Subscription Center, Communication Center, and the Favorites panel expanded, click
the push pin icon in the bottom-right corner of the panel.
When you use InfoCenter to search for information, you can use the following special symbols in your query
to refine or expand it. These symbols can be used alone or can be combined.
DescriptionSymbol
*
?
~
Replaces one or more characters when used at the beginning, middle, or end of a word. For example, “*lish”,
“p*lish”, and “pub*” will find “publish”. Also, “anno*” will
find “annotative”, “annotation”, “annoupdate”, “annoreset”,
and so on.
Replaces a single character. For example, “cop?” will find
“copy”, but not “copybase”.
Adds grammatical form variations to a keyword when added
at the beginning or end of a word. For example, “plotting~”
will find “plots”, “plotted”, and so on. Also, “~plot” will find
“preplot”, “replot”, and so on.
10 | Chapter 2 How to Get Assistance
When performing the exact phrase search, use double quotation marks (" ") to enclose words that must appear
next to each other in the specified text string. For example, enter "specify units of measurement" to find only
topics with all those words in that order. You can also use the previously mentioned symbols in a text string
that is enclosed in double quotation marks.
To search multiple sources for information
1 In the InfoCenter box, enter a keyword or phrase.
2 Click the Search button.
The search results display in the Search Results panel.
To search a single location for information
1 In the InfoCenter box, enter a keyword or phrase.
2 Click the down arrow next to the Search button.
3 Select a location from the list to search.
The search results from that location display in the Search Results panel.
To add a location to search
1 In the InfoCenter box, click the down arrow next to the Search button.
2 Click Add Search Location.
3 In the Add Search Location dialog box, specify a document or a file location to search.
4 Click Add.
Access Subscription Center
Subscription Center displays links to information about subscription services such as product enhancements,
personalized web support from Autodesk technical experts, and self-paced e-Learning.
If you are a subscription member, you can access subscription services by clicking the Communication Center
button in the InfoCenterbox, and then clicking a Subscription Center link. To learn more about Autodesk
subscription membership, visit http://www.autodesk.com/subscriptioncenter.
About Subscription Center
With Autodesk Subscription, you get the latest releases of Autodesk software, incremental product enhancements,
personalized web support from Autodesk technical experts, and self paced e-Learning. Subscription services are
available to subscription members only.
By clicking the Communication Center button in the InfoCenter box, members have access to the following
options (under Subscription Center):
■ Subscription status. Checks your subscription status.
■ Create support request. Provides direct one-to-one communication with Autodesk support technicians. You
receive fast, complete answers to your installation, configuration, and troubleshooting questions.
■ View support requests. Tracks and manage your questions and responses through Autodesk's state-of-the-art
support system.
■ Edit Subscription Center profile. Sets up and maintains your subscription account.
■ View e-Learning catalog. Features interactive lessons organized into product catalogs.
Access Subscription Center | 11
■ e-Learning Lessons. (For subscription members only.) Each lesson is 15-30 minutes and features hands-on
exercises, with an option to use a simulation instead of the software application. You can use an online
evaluation tool that identifies gaps in skills, determines what lessons will be most helpful, and gauges learning
progress.
Subscription Resources and Privacy
Subscription resources provide interactive product features over the Internet. Each time you access subscription
resources (such as e-Learning or Create Support Request) from Communication Center in an Autodesk product,
product information (such as the serial number, version, language, and the subscription contract ID) is sent to
Autodesk for verification that your product is on subscription.
Autodesk compiles statistics using the information sent to subscription resources to monitor how they are being
used and how they can be improved. Autodesk maintains the information provided by or collected from you in
accordance with Autodesk's published privacy policy, which is available at http://www.autodesk.com/privacy.
To open the Subscription Center
1 Click the Communication Center button in the InfoCenter box.
2 On the Communication Center panel, under Subscription Center, click the subscription resource you want
to access.
NOTE Subscription Center is not available to all product users. If subscription resources are not available in your
product, your product is not entitled to subscription benefits.
Manage Files with Autodesk Vault
If you are a subscription customer, you have access to Autodesk Vault, a file management tool that provides a
repository where documents and files are stored and managed.
Autodesk Vault gives you more power to manage files and track changes. Versioned copies of master files are
maintained, allowing you to easily revert to earlier versions of files. You can check files out for editing and later
check them back in. The master copy is never directly edited.
Autodesk Vault consists of two required components: the Autodesk Data Management Server and the Vault
Client. Optionally, you can also install the Vault Office Add-in.
For information about using the Vault, refer to the Vault Help system.
TIP The main components for the Autodesk Vault can be downloaded from the Autodesk Subscription site.
Use Communication Center
Communication Center provides up-to-date product information, software updates, product support
announcements, and other product-related announcements.
Overview of Communication Center
You can click the Communication Center button to display links to information about product updates and
announcements, and may include links to RSS feeds.
Whenever new information is available, Communication Center notifies you by displaying a balloon message
below the Communication Center button in the InfoCenter box.
Communication Center provides the following types of announcements:
■ Autodesk Channels: Receive support information, product updates, and other announcements (including
articles and tips).
12 | Chapter 2 How to Get Assistance
■ RSS Feeds. Receive information from RSS feeds to which you subscribe. RSS feeds generally notify you when
new content is posted. You are automatically subscribed to several default RSS feeds when you install the
program.
■ Product Support Information. Get breaking news from the Product Support team at Autodesk, including
when Live Update maintenance patches are released.
■ Subscription Announcements. Receive subscription announcements and subscription program news, as well
as links to e-Learning Lessons, if you are an Autodesk subscription member (available in countries/regions
where Autodesk subscriptions are offered).
For more information about Autodesk Subscription, see “Access Subscription Center” on page 11.
■ Articles and Tips. Be notified when new articles and tips are available on Autodesk websites.
■ Live Update Maintenance Patches. Receive automatic notifications whenever new maintenance patches are
released from Autodesk.
■ Featured Technologies and Content. Learn more about third-party developer applications and content.
You can customize the items that display on the Communication Center panel. For more information, see
“Specify InfoCenter Settings” on page 17.
Communication Center Online Policy
Communication Center is an interactive feature that must be connected to the Internet in order to deliver content
and information. Each time Communication Center is connected, it sends your information to Autodesk so that
you receive the correct information. All information is sent anonymously to Autodesk to maintain your privacy.
Communication Center sends the following information to Autodesk:
■ Product name (in which you are using Communication Center)
■ Product release number
■ Product language
■ Country/region (specified in the Communication Center settings)
■ Your unique Customer Involvement Program (CIP) ID if you are participating in the CIP program
Autodesk compiles statistics using the information sent from Communication Center to monitor how it is being
used and how it can be improved. Autodesk maintains information provided by or collected from you in
accordance with the company's published privacy policy, which is available at http://www.autodesk.com/privacy.
To open Communication Center
■ In the InfoCenter box, click the Communication Center button.
To receive new information notifications
■ Click the link in the balloon message to open the article or announcement.
Save and Access Favorite Topics
You can click the Favorites button to display saved links to topics or web locations.
Any link that displays on the Search Results panel, Subscription Center or Communication Center panel can be
marked as a favorite.
Save and Access Favorite Topics | 13
A link marked as a favorite displays a star icon on the Search Results panel, Subscription Center panel or the
Communication Center panel.
To display the InfoCenter Favorites panel
■ In the InfoCenter box, click the Favorites button.
NOTE The links displayed on the Favorites panel are organized into the same groups or categories from which they
were added.
To save a link in InfoCenter as a favorite
1 Display a panel by doing one of the following:
■ In the InfoCenter box, enter a keyword or phrase. Then press ENTER or click the Search button.
■ In the InfoCenter box, click the Subscription Center button.
■ In the InfoCenter box, click the Communication Center button.
2 Click the star icon that is displayed next to the link that you want to save as a favorite.
To remove a favorite link from the InfoCenter Favorites panel
1 In the InfoCenter box, click the Favorites button to display the Favorites panel.
2 Click the star icon that is displayed next to the link that you want to remove from the Favorites panel.
Use the Help System
You can click the Help button to display topics in Help.
You can get much more benefit from the Help system when you learn how to use it efficiently. You can quickly
find general descriptions, procedures, details about dialog boxes and palettes, or definitions of terms.
The Help system contains complete information about using this program. In the Help window, you use the left
pane to locate information. The tabs above the left pane give you several ways for finding the topics you want
to view. The right pane displays the topics you select.
To display topics in Help
■ In the InfoCenter box, click the Help button.
How Help Topics Are Organized
Most topics in this Help system have three tabs above the right pane of the Help window. The tabs display
different types of information.
■ Concept tab. Describes a feature or function. When you click the Concept tab, the Help Contents list in the
left pane of the Help window expands and highlights the current topic. The Contents tab displays the structure
of the Help on that topic. You can easily display nearby topics by clicking them in the list.
■ Procedure tab. Provides step-by-step instructions for common procedures related to the current topic. After
displaying a procedure, you can click the Procedure tab to redisplay the current list of procedures.
■ Quick Reference tab. Lists reference information related to the current topic.
When you click a different tab, the topic remains the same. Only the type of information displayed—concept,
procedures, or quick reference links—is different.
14 | Chapter 2 How to Get Assistance
Search in Help
Use the Help Search tab to find relevant topics based on keywords that you enter.
The basic search rules are as follows:
■ Type your keywords in uppercase or lowercase characters; searches are not case-sensitive.
■ Search for any combination of letters (a-z) and numbers (0-9).
■ Do not use punctuation marks such as a period, colon, semicolon, comma, hyphen, and single quotation
marks; they are ignored during a search.
■ Group the elements of your search using double quotation marks or parentheses to set each element apart.
Use Wild Card Characters
You can use the following wild card characters in any keyword:
DescriptionSymbol
*
?
~
Replaces one or more characters when
used at the beginning, middle, or end of
a word. For example, “*lish”, “p*lish”, and
“pub*” will all find “publish”. Also, “anno*” will find “annotative”, “annotation”,
“annoupdate”, “annoreset”, and so on.
Replaces a single character. For example,
“cop?” will find “copy”, but not “copybase”.
Expands the tense of the word at the beginning or end of a word. For example,
“plotting~” will find “plots”, “plotted”,
and so on. Also, “~plot” will find “preplot”,
“replot”, and so on.
Search for Phrases
When searching for a phrase, use double quotation marks (“ ”) to enclose words that must appear next to each
other in the specified sequence. For example, enter “specifying units of measurement” to find only topics with
all those words in that order. If you don’ t use the quotation marks around that text, Help finds all topics containing
any one of the listed words, that is, all topics containing “specifying”, all topics containing “units”, all topics
containing “of”, and all topics containing “measurement”.
TIP If you can’t find the information you need through a search, try using the Contents tab.
Use Boolean Operators
With the AND, OR, NOT, and NEAR operators, you can precisely define your search by creating a relationship
between search terms. The following table shows how you can use each of these operators. If no operator is
specified, AND is used. For example, the query spacing border printing is equivalent to spacing AND border AND
printing.
ResultsExampleSearch for
Both terms in the same
topic
“tree view” AND
“palette”
viewpoint OR animationEither term in a topic
Topics containing both the
words “tree view” and “palette”
Topics containing either the
word “viewpoint” or the word
“animation” or both
Use the Help System | 15
ResultsExampleSearch for
nwd NOT nwcThe first term without
the second term
user NEAR menuBoth terms in the same
topic, close together
Topics containing the word
“NWD”, but not the word
“NWC”
Topics containing the word
“user” within eight words of the
word “menu”
NOTE The |, &, and ! characters do not work as Boolean operators. You must use AND (also +), OR, and NOT (also
-).
Find Information in Help Topics
The tabs on the left side of the Help window provide different methods for finding information.
Contents Tab
■ Presents an overview of the available documentation in a list of topics and subtopics.
■ Allows you to browse by selecting and expanding topics.
■ Provides a structure so you can always see where you are in Help and quickly jump to other topics.
Index Tab
■ Displays an alphabetical list of keywords related to the topics listed on the Contents tab.
■ Accesses information quickly when you already know the name of a feature, command, or operation, or
when you know what action you want the program to perform.
Search Tab
■ Provides a keyword search of all the topics listed on the Contents tab.
■ Accepts the Boolean operators AND (+), OR, NOT (-), and NEAR.
■ Accepts the wild cards *, ?, and ~.
■ Allows you to perform a search for a phrase when the phrase is enclosed in double quotes.
■ Displays a ranked list of topics that contain the word or words entered in the keyword field.
■ Arranges the results alphabetically by title or by location if you click on the Title and Location column
headings.
To find a specific word or phrase in the currently displayed Help topic
1 Click in the topic text and press CTRL+F.
2 In the Find text box, enter a keyword or phrase.
3 Click Next. If the keyword or phrase is located, the topic scrolls to display the result.
Print Help Topics
The quickest way to print the current topic is to right-click within the topic and click Print.
The Print button on the Help toolbar provides these print options:
■ Print the selected topic (recommended)
■ Print the selected heading and all subtopics
16 | Chapter 2 How to Get Assistance
NOTE When you select the second option, you may get numerous printed pages, depending on how many subtopics
the currently selected topic contains.
To print a Help topic
1 Display the topic you want to print.
2 Right-click in the topic pane. Click Print.
3 In the Print dialog box, click Print.
To print a selected heading and all subtopics
1 Display the topic you want to print and make sure that the Contents tab is displayed.
2 On the Help toolbar, click Print.
3 In the Print Topics dialog box, click Print the Selected Heading and All Subtopics.
4 Click OK.
Show and Hide the Contents Pane
Use the Hide button on the Help toolbar to shrink the Help window to a compact size by hiding the pane that
contains the Contents, Index, and Search tabs.
The compact window size is best for displaying procedures while you work.
Use the Show button to expand the Help window to display the pane that contains Contents, Index, and Search
tabs. The expanded window size is best for locating and displaying conceptual and reference information.
Specify InfoCenter Settings
You can specify InfoCenter Search and Communication Center settings in the InfoCenter Settings dialog box.
In the InfoCenter Settings dialog box, you can specify the following settings:
■ General. Your current location, frequency for checking new online content and option to turn on or off
animated transition effects for the InfoCenter panels.
■ Search Locations. Locations (documents, web locations, and files) to search for information, as well as the
name that displays for each location and the number of results to display for each. Also, you can add or
remove search locations.
The Web Locations check box provides access to important information on the Autodesk website, including
the Knowledge Base and discussion groups. When you add document locations, you can specify files on your
local drive.
NOTE User-specified CHM (compiled help) files must be located on your local drive. InfoCenter cannot search
CHM files located on network drives.
■ Communication Center. Set the maximum age of the articles displayed on the Communication Center panel.
■ Autodesk Channels. Channels to display in the Communication Center panel as well as the number of articles
to display for each channel.
■ Balloon Notification. Notifications for new product information, software updates, and product support
announcements. Also, you can customize the transparency and the display time of the balloon.
Specify InfoCenter Settings | 17
■ RSS Feeds. RSS feed subscriptions. You can add or remove RSS feeds. RSS feeds generally notify you when
new content is posted.
To specify locations to search for information
1 In the InfoCenter box, click the down arrow next to the Search button.
2 Click Search Settings.
3 In the InfoCenter Settings dialog box, Search Locations panel, in the right pane, select or clear the search
locations you want to include or exclude when you search for information.
4 Click OK.
NOTE With the Search All Available Languages option, you can specify whether to search the default language or all
available languages, including English, Japanese, and French. Select the check box if you want to search all available
languages.
To add a new location to search for information
1 In the InfoCenter box, click the down arrow next to the Search button.
2 Click Search Settings.
3 In the InfoCenter Settings dialog box, do one of the following:
■ On the Search Locations panel, in the right pane, click Add.
■ On the Search Locations panel, in the right pane, right-click anywhere in the pane. Click Add.
4 In the Add Search Location dialog box, specify a file location to search.
5 Click Add.
NOTE A warning message is displayed when you add a search location with a file size larger than 5 MB. You
cannot continue to work in the application until indexing is complete.
6 Click OK.
To remove a search location
1 In the InfoCenter box, click the down arrow next to the Search button.
2 Click Search Settings.
3 In the InfoCenter Settings dialog box, do one of the following:
■ Select a location to remove, and then click Remove.
■ Right-click a search location. Click Remove.
4 In the InfoCenter - Remove Search Location dialog box, click Yes.
5 Click OK.
To specify the channels to display in the Communication Center panel
1 In the InfoCenter box, click the down arrow next to the Search button.
2 Click Search Settings.
3 In the InfoCenter Settings dialog box, in the left pane, click Autodesk Channels.
4 In the right pane, select or clear the channels you want to display in the Communication Center panel.
5 Click OK.
18 | Chapter 2 How to Get Assistance
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