Beyond Design

Draping Aerial Photos on a Civil 3D Surface in Navisworks

Those using Navisworks will find that your render materials applied to a surface in Civil 3D are not displaying in Navisworks.

via fromthegroundup.typepad.com

A great blog from Jack Strongitharm, our Civil 3D expert about aeriel photo's on ground planes, let us know if it comes in handy!

Creating a Navisworks Log File

Sometimes in Support we'll ask you to create and send us a log file. This will contain more detailed information about what is happening so we can identify the problem and potential workaround sooner.

If you do get asked to create a Log file, this is what you need to do.

Start > Run and type

"C:\Program Files\Autodesk\Navisworks Manage 2012\OptionsEditor.exe –a"

Or the equivalent depending on where you have Navisworks installed or if this is Simulate or Freedom.

Go to General> Logging

Enable 'Enable File' and set 'Logging Directory' to a temporary directory (e.g. C:\Temp - THIS MUST BE A VALID DIRECTORY THAT YOU HAVE WRITE PERMISSIONS TO)

Start Autodesk Navisworks and repeat the operation required to cause Navisworks to recreate the problem or crash 

A file named *.log will have been created in the temporary directory you selected, please send us this file

Note: These are advanced options and you should only go into them if you are asked by support, or you are an advanced user who knows what you are doing.

Creating your own Link Categories

So you want to add your own custom link types? If the standard 'Hyperlink' and 'Label' categories aren't enough for your workflow then you can create your own.

Firstly you will need to Add a Link to the model which will fall under that category by Right Clicking the object it will be attached to > Links > Add Link.

Then create your link, but where it has a drop down of Hyperlink or Label, just click in this box and type your new category.

This will now be available for all future links on that model.

You can also change whether your new link type is shown as an icon or a text in Options > Interface > Links > User Defined Categories

There are two views, Grid view and

And List View

They both allow you to change the type of Icon to a text label, and the visibility.

The padlock means no changes can be made to add more categories on this screen, they must be made in the model view.

When used to its full potential, your model can be the springboard for other users to access building regulations, schematics, various reports and images of the site in progress, they simply need to go back to the options to change the visibility of the links they need.

Let us know if this is something you are using and if you have any tips you would like to share using the links on the left.