Beyond Design: the Construction and BIM blog

Navisworks 2018 is here…

Annual product launch is always a busy time of year for the Navisworks team and this year has been no different. We've completed some interesting projects this year, so here we would like to introduce them to you in some detail. You've asked us to improve our connectivity and our interoperability and we heard you!  Navisworks 2018 continues to improve our BIM workflow integration, with a particular focus on Revit, Recap 360 and IFC. Underpinning this are three key themes that describe our approach to developing Navisworks:

Current

Making sure that Navisworks stays up to date with the latest file formats and data types (e.g. we recently added extensive IFC improvements; and added support for .vue format)

Integrated

Integrating Navisworks with Autodesk cloud solutions (e.g. Navsiworks integration with BIM 360 Glue), plus integration with other Autodesk desktop solutions and complementary suites products (e.g. we invested in Navisworks integration with Revit via the underlay feature for Revit 2018; integration with Recap 360 Pro).

Quality

Fixing blocking bugs and significant regressions.

Revit 2018 & Navisworks 2018 – together at last!

Two years ago, with the release of AutoCAD 2016, we introduced the ability to bring your Navisworks model directly into the design app. Ever since, we have been working closely with our friends in the Revit team to offer the same capability with the release of Revit 2018. Using the 'Coordination Model' feature you will now be able to open NWC & NWD files and import them using model origin or shared coordinates. Once in Revit you can visualise the coordination model in plan, elevation, section or 3D view.

This was a major project that required us to fold Navisworks components (aka Navisworks Core Engine) directly into the Revit codebase.. We think it was worth the effort - now you can bring all the 60+ supported Navisworks formats directly into your Revit projects, with the ability to work with the same huge datasets that you can in Navisworks. Best of all, this performs the same as Navisworks and wont cripple your working environment in Revit.

This workflow could fundamentally change how your project teams collaborate. Rather than the design team or supply chain working independently and then coordinating with other team members after they have produced their designs, the Revit user will now be able to design within the context of the whole project view. This is a big step towards the holy grail of 'clash avoidance' – project team members creating coordinated, clash free data as a seamless part of the design and detailing process.

Further to this, the Revit folks are very excited that this unlocks the "direct context" workflow, where huge models, such as the city of Berlin shown below, can now be used as context for your projects at a scale that was previously impossible!

Fabrication parts in Navisworks

Autodesk continues to invest in building out our fabrication and detailing capability on the Revit platform to extend design development through fabrication level of detail and coordination to installation on site. Navisworks is a key part of this workflow, and we introduced support for the new Revit Fabrication parts properties as part of the 2018 release.

IFC Interoperability Enhancements

IFC is an increasingly important format and there are some significant improvements wrapped into the 2018 release. A completely new IFC file reader is integrated within Navisworks, which leverages the work that the Revit team have done in support of IFC.

This doesn't mean that we now only support IFC from Revit (as some of you have asked). Now, Navisworks has the benefit of parity with Revit because we are using the same open source code to handle IFC files.  This translates to greater consistency for your workflows and illustrates our investment into the support of the open source format.

You still have the option of using the older Navisworks IFC reader, but from 2018, the Revit IFC reader is now the default. Direct benefits of this include support for additional IFC property and object types, such as IFCSpace and IFCZone, plus PSets and improved IFC hierarchy handling. In addition, more than 80% of our backlog of IFC bugs were addressed.

Some of you will know that we introduced this as in its first release as an update last year. Since then, we have worked directly with our customers and made improvements to the handling of property data and organisation. We continue to listen out for more, so keep the feedback coming!

Recap 360 and Reality Capture workflows

Bring your Navisworks model directly into the ReCap 360 Pro desktop product (see the reality capture team's blog here). This lets you visualize your as-designed data from Navisworks directly alongside your as built data in Recap 360 Pro 'Real Views', enabling a set of quality and progress-checking workflows by comparing planned and actual datasets. Alternatively, if you want to bring your ReCap models into Navisworks, the current integration will now support filtered ReCap points. This lets you work with a subset of the point cloud data, so speeding up review and verification workflows by importing just what you need for your process.

This video highlights the possibilities for construction workflows where progress scanning is blended with the as-designed data for immediate review and coordination purposes that will benefit the entire team.

General fixes, product stability and performance enhancements

We continue to invest in the stability, performance and quality of Navisworks – the new 'optimize on load' function has a dramatic impact on file size when working with previous versions of Navisworks as many of you still are. One customer reported that a Navisworks 2016 file of 4.7gb was reduced to just 200mb using this function– saving them several minutes every time the model was opened. We always encourage you to work with the latest versions, hopefully this is another reason why that's such a good idea!

Navisworks and BIM 360

Using Navisworks together with Glue, Field and Layout opens up real value for construction teams. By leveraging the power of 'connected BIM' – where the desktop and the cloud work in unison, project teams can realise great savings in time and cost through greater collaboration and anytime, anywhere access to the as-designed data you create in Navisworks. This year we further simplified that workflow, by integrating the Field connection directly into the ribbon interface for Navsiworks. Now its even easier to pull field data through your project by connecting to BIM 360, and bring in progress or commissioning data into your Navisworks model for your analysis workflows.

Final thoughts…

So, that's the Navisworks 2018 release. We hope you find the additions and improvements useful.

This year Amar spoke at Autodesk University about the Autodesk Desktop App, and showcased a new experience for updating our products, integrated into the desktop and providing a smoother way to access updates releases and the like. Navisworks 2018 is part of that, and as the business as a whole transitions into a subscription model as well, we're looking into delivering more frequent updates and less 'big bang' annual releases that we have traditionally done. Whilst this changes the way we deliver updates, hopefully you can see from above that we're continuing to work on the themes we've set out.

And of course in addition to our own work we continue to maintain our API.  Navisworks alongside BIM 360 has an extensive API and we have many customers and partners that are building on the core product. We've seen many partners realise many workflows this way, and the Navisworks app store has several examples of some great functionality that leverage the API for specific workflows.

As always, we look forward to your feedback. Thanks and enjoy this release.

For more information on Navisworks:

Visit the Product Center: www.autodesk.com/Navisworks

Visit Autodesk Knowledge Network:  https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/navisworks-products

Announcing the AEC Excellence Awards 2017

Want to showcase that amazing project you've been working on for weeks/months/years/as long as you can remember (*delete as appropriate). The AEC Excellence awards have come around again and we're looking for you to submit the amazing work we know you do! Introduced back in 2012 to recognize BIM in Infrastructure projects, this world-renowned competition now includes Infrastructure, Building, Construction, and Sustainability categories that showcase innovations using connected BIM workflows and Autodesk software.

Awards include 1^st, 2^nd, and 3^rd place prizes in each category, which makes this your chance to show off your truly inspirational projects. You know, the ones you're most excited about, like projects that use augmented reality, virtual reality, drones, generative design, computational design, and more—in short, your best design efforts using BIM workflows and Autodesk technology!

As well as all the free publicity across AEC publications and through us, HP and Construction Dive, you could win a brand-new HP workstation, a trip to Autodesk University Las Vegas 2017, and recognition at the Autodesk University Awards Ceremony. And, of course, you'll receive a beautiful trophy you can show off to colleagues and clients once you return.

Take for example, 2016 winners, this amazing project, the Vamma 12 Hydropower dam in Norway, it not only was a feat in physical engineering, it also used only 3D models, not a 2D sheet in sight. It also used mobile technologies like BIM 360 on site to reduce potential communication errors and ensure everyone was working from the latest versions, and used extensive reality capture and 4D to reduce risk in complex operations.

The deadline for entry is June 23, 2017. Finalists for each category will be announced in August, and then winners will be announced at the AEC Excellence Awards Ceremony at Autodesk University Las Vegas 2017 in November.

Enter now! aecexcellence.autodesk.com

HFB and BIM 360: A Construction Technology Success Story

Construction Technology for A Successful Future

Netherland’s ‘Best BIM Office Award’ winner HFB is a full-service virtual construction agency in Rotterdam where human relations and construction technology go hand-in-hand. After the 2008 crisis, embracing the latest technologies became essential to continue towards a successful future. HFB realised virtual construction as the future of construction, they quickly adopted cloud-based construction collaboration software for their business.

After exploring many technology solutions, HFB decided that BIM 360 would be the dynamic set of tools to help them in their projects and win new business. By utilising BIM 360 the company demolished the limitations of design. Now, houses and office buildings are not the only things HFB builds - they have an extensive portfolio including labs, hospitals, museums, royal palaces, city centres and more.

HFB’s adaptation of construction technology turned out to be so successful, they even took on a consultative role. The company is now providing extensive guidance to employees company-wide during the implementation of new technology methods.

Project Summertime is a great example of an HFB project taking advantage of BIM 360 to drive successful results. A design by Search Architecture and Urban Planning constructed by BAM Woningbouw Amsterdam, this unique apartment complex was designed and constructed with no two corners the same. BIM 360 was the backbone of this project as a whole, and has brought many benefits to HFB throughout the construction process.

To know more about how adopting BIM 360 helped HFB to continue towards a successful future, check out how cloud-based construction collaboration software helps HFB build without limits.

Please leave comments below to let us know how you have used BIM 360 on your projects too!

Augmented Reality: The Next Interface for Design and Making

The AEC industry is ripe for disruption by Augmented Reality. I recently gave a "Pecha Kucha"-style presentation about Augmented Reality at the Autodesk XSummit, where I provided a brief overview and history of AR through the lens of AEC. (My co-presenter, Joel Pennington, looked to the future, where AR platforms will empower the next generation of designers and makers.) Below is a loose transcript of portions of that presentation… enjoy!

AR Overview

 

Inspiration for AR comes from a variety of sources, from heads-up displays in the military, to the great science fiction stories of the 20^th century; from the first industrial uses in manufacturing, to video-overlay AR in sports broadcasting. Augmented Reality has captured the imaginations of people seeking a better interface for designing and creating.

 

Let's be clear: AR is not VR. Unlike Virtual Reality, which fully immerses participants in an artificial environment, AR enhances the experience of the real world by incorporating contextual information when and where it is needed. By mixing the real and the virtual, AR will be more integrated into our everyday lives than VR, and a much larger market opportunity.

 

A key characteristic of AR is the spatial overlay of digital information on the physical world. AR is ideal for making comparison. Remember these puzzles? They challenged us with: "Spot the eight differences," but in the real world, we're asked harder questions, like: "Are there any differences, and if so, how many?" AR can help.

 

There are two kinds of AR hardware interfaces: displays for the head and displays for the hand. In the last decade, both form factors have evolved, from customized to commoditized. The broad availability of head-mounted displays, mobile phones, and AR-ready tablets, allows companies like Autodesk to focus on making software tools for AR.

 

For professionals in manufacturing and AEC, AR fits well into a lean story. Lean is about providing the right "stuff" to the right people, in the right place and time. AR is a technology that supports this approach, providing the right information in the right place.

 

History of AR in Construction

 

Let's look at the development of AR since the turn of the century, as applied to construction. The "Magic Book" was a landmark project that introduced and popularized the use of black square, optical markers for tracking virtual objects. It featured the first published AR construction documents, complete with pictures, text, and mixed reality experiences to guide the assembly of a chair.

 

Since that humble beginning, the construction industry has become enamored by AR. We've had prototype projects, demonstrating accurate wall framing without a tape measure, with a mobile projector as an "AR flashlight." That led to AR on active construction sites, with large-scale markers and ruggedized tablets to visualize building components like a staircase in context and at full scale.

 

AR in AEC Today

 

Today, each party in the AEC industry uses AR in different, but complementary, ways in the lifecycle of a building. AR enables owners, architects, and contractors to compare the as-is, the as-intended, and the as-built conditions, and they're doing so with a variety of software. We must extend our every-day BIM tools to include AR, in order to support this cycle, and remain competitive in the AEC market.

 

For example: architects use AR to visualize their designs in context, whether displayed full scale on a project site, or scaled-down onto physical study models. Designers are also using AR to support in-person, collaborative design reviews.

 

AR gives anyone on a project team easy access to data-rich models regardless of their experience with BIM tools. Contractors are now using AR for rapid, intuitive layout and installation without paper drawings or survey equipment. They also use it for quality control, to understand where work may be installed incorrectly.

 

Finally, for building owners, a promising use case for AR is the "ultimate stud finder," to reveal hidden construction conditions. They also use AR for facilities maintenance, overlaying meta-data on building equipment and systems to get status updates in real-time. There is no shortage of software tools we should enhance with AR, to provide AEC professionals a complete 21^st-century software ecosystem.

 

AR for AEC Tomorrow

 

The next generation of designers and makers – and, make no mistake: they are coming to replace us – will have much higher expectations, and lower tolerance, for human-computer interfaces that behave and respond intuitively. In the near future, it will not be sufficient to "bolt on" an AR module or functionality to our software tools, but rather reinvent them entirely as AR platforms that support design and making at its core.

 

Even as Augmented Reality becomes a household name, the current state of AR leaves much to be desired. There is a time and a place for everything, and AR is a vital piece of delivering the right information in the right place. The AEC industry is begging for AR solutions, the hardware to support AR is within reach. Autodesk and its customers must collectively demand and invest in augmented reality. If you don't, someone else will!

Industry Collections, what do they mean to you in construction?

Today we launch Industry Collections, it's a new way of thinking about how to access software and is a perfect fit for construction. Based on a term license they allow you to easily scale up and down during the course of a construction project and include contingent employees in software planning.

So what does the new AEC Collection include? And what advantages do each of these offerings bring to my construction project?

• AutoCAD, verticals, and AutoCAD 360 Pro – As a common platform used throughout the industry, this suite of AutoCAD products allows you to access and create documentation and share detailing with all partners on the project team
• Revit – The leading BIM tool to create construction parts, access schedules and convert designs to fabrication parts for coordination
• AutoCAD Civil 3D – The best tool for road, rail and earthworks detailing, cut and fills, landscaping and getting to machine control
• Navisworks Manage – Create federated models from over 50 file formats and run Clash Detection, Construction Simulation, Quantification, Design Review and Rendering
• Vehicle Tracking – For analysing site movements in advance and ensuring trucks, cranes and large vehicles can move around site
• 3DS Max – For those high end visualisations to help with winning planning, buy in from stakeholders, or winning tender bids
• Formit 360 Pro – A conceptual design tool for buildings that links to Revit that allows you to create site layouts on the PC or mobile device
• Infraworks 360 – A conceptual design tool for infrastructure that links to Civil 3D that allows you to create construction site layouts, traffic simulations and visualisations
• Insight 360 – Run sustainability analysis and verify that any significant changes in materials you make won't affect the end result
• Recap 360 Pro – Use reality capture laser scanning and photogrammetry to better understand existing conditions and verify as built conditions
• Rendering in A360 – Create quick and easy high quality renders and panoramas from Revit and Navisworks
• Structural Analysis – Do easy structural analysis to help with foundation design decisions
• Online Storage – As we work in an 'always connected' world, being able to access models, drawings from office or site

So with an AEC Collection, does my team have everything we need?

Not included in the package but worth considering for construction needs are:

• BIM 360 – A full suite of products built around the needs of a contractor, covering cloud enabled coordination, 3D layout, quality checks, safety programs, commissioning and production planning
• Point Layout – To get coordinate information to total stations seamlessly from the design and review packages and bring back for as built analysis to speed up and reduce rework
• Stingray – To 'gamify' 3D construction project data to improve understanding and health and safety on site

Want to know more? Read this FAQ and contact your reseller for more information about Industry Collections, how to get hold of them, and introduce new workflows to your firm.

Autodesk opens up about interoperability for design and construction software

Interoperability in the software used for project design and construction is vital to the collaborative process required by the AEC industry. More than that, interoperability is good business for AEC firms and asset owners. Our recent agreement with Trimble to increase interoperability by exchanging APIs and developer tools is one more demonstration of Autodesk's commitment to offering our customers the best workflows possible and to improving the way buildings and infrastructure are designed, built and managed.

Nearly half (49%) of contractors surveyed in a 2014 McGraw Hill Construction Smart Market Report rank collaborative BIM processes high on their list for BIM investments, citing standardized deliverables and repeatable workflows as "vital to improving the effectiveness of the broader ecosystem."

We heard that! Expanding software interoperability and supporting leading industry standards, such as IFC and COBie, helps AEC professionals deliver higher quality work more safely, on time, and on budget. Sure, its good business for software vendors too, but with an open approach such as ours, project teams choose the best tools for the job, ensuring a more accurate flow of information crucial to meeting today's complex project requirements.

Autodesk has long been focused on furthering interoperability across vendors and platforms. Our interest in open ways of working started in the 1980's—long before anyone had ever heard of BIM and (frighteningly) maybe years before many of our current software users were even born! Let's review:

• Autodesk was founded on an open platform: the PC. In the earliest days of CAD, most vendors offered tightly coupled hardware/software systems that were proprietary. But Autodesk customers could run AutoCAD® on any PC.
• The DXF file format is still one of the most efficient and popular ways of sharing CAD graphic and attribute data and the DXF schema is available for all to use.
• In 2008, Computerworld predicted that "reading on screen" and "social everything" would take off. (Imagine!) It's also the year, Autodesk signed an interoperability agreement with Bentley Systems to expand interoperability between our portfolios -- exchanging software libraries, including Autodesk RealDWG, to improve the ability to read and write DWG and DGN formats in mixed environments with greater, fidelity and supporting the reciprocal use of available Application Programming Interfaces (APIs).
• No one beats Autodesk for export and import certifications. See for yourself by looking at our list of certifications that support the IFC (Industry Foundation Classes) standard. You'll find the IFC standard used in many Autodesk products, including Revit, AutoCAD Civil3D, Autodesk Inventor, Autodesk Navisworks, and Autodesk BIM 360 Glue.
• COBie (Construction Operations Building Information Exchange) is critical to simplify the capture of project handover data. The Autodesk COBie Extension lets you pull COBie-compliant information directly from a Revit model. In the COBie for Design challenge organized by buildingSmart, Autodesk scored a perfect 100 percent by producing a complete COBie deliverable that required zero additional processing or edits.
• Pulling COBie-compliant information directly from Autodesk Navisworks is now available, which supports the export of non-Revit and infrastructure information to the COBie standard format.  
• In 2015, Autodesk introduced the Forge platform to help foster a cloud-connected developer community, making design and engineering information available in virtually any format and enabling build-on functionality with open APIs. Forge includes APIs to tools like Autodesk BIM 360 to bring more of the ecosystem into a construction project, expand their insight, and improve decision making capabilities.
• Now, with the Autodesk and Trimble agreement on interoperability, AEC professionals can look forward to more tightly integrated processes, further enhancing the ability for project teams to collaborate more seamlessly while using the products they choose.

Just like ComputerWorld understood the potential for the internet way back in 2008, we know that our customers don't want to feel that their data is "locked" in a specific application or with a specific vendor. The notion of a single tool for a single job is rapidly becoming antiquated -- data needs to flow across teams, projects, and applications. Interoperability helps to drive a tightly connected Building Information Modeling (BIM) process on projects. Our commitment to keeping the open in OpenBIM truly open is unwavering.

To learn more about how BIM 360 supports interoperability with support for over 50 different file formats, please look at the BIM 360 website.

Upcoming Webcast: Get Construction Document Management Under Control with BIM 360 Docs

Is your construction project documentation out of control?  Well now you can relax - Autodesk BIM 360 Docs is here! Join us for our debut of Autodesk BIM 360 Docs and hear from WebCor Builder’s Taylor Hamblett, on their experience dealing with document management challenges in today’s technology-driven construction project environments. Plus our Senior Product Manager, Joan Allen, will be online to show what BIM 360 Docs can do for you and your project team. Bring your questions – we’ll be online to answer them!

In this webcast you’ll discover how Autodesk BIM 360 Docs:

• Provides industry-specific capabilities for managing all 2D plans, 3D models and other project documents
• Is seamlessly integrated with authoring apps and existing cloud and local file systems
• Delivers anywhere, anytime collaborative access to the entire project team
• Ensures that all project teams are building from the correct document versions

Join us for this webcast on March 3, 2016 10 AM PT / 1 PM ET.  Reserve your spot here!

Revit parameter mapping ready for maintenance and FM

One of the big drivers for BIM at the moment in the UK, where myself, James and Paul live, is the UK BIM Level 2 mandate due to come into force next year. Many other countries, bodies and firms are looking at this mandate as a template around how BIM can be done.

A key part of this mandate is the deliverable of COBie data drops of information related to the project, COBie is a structured format that means you can find information about say, a windows warranty date, irrelevant of whether this comes from Revit, AutoCAD, ArchiCAD, or somewhere else. On BIM Toolbox, our Northern European AEC blog, we show how Dynamo can be used to map parameters to get them into a format ready for COBie export, the second blog explains more about how the script works so you can edit it to get it ready for your FM system, or just move parameters around in your Revit model.

Part 1: BIM 360 Field data to COBie mapping using Dynamo

Part 2: Revit Parameter Mapping using Dynamo, a breakdown of a script

Let us know if these come in useful and how else you're using Dynamo to solve construction problems.

Introducing Shared Views with Navisworks 2016 Service Pack 3

You may have recently noticed the release of Navisworks 2016 Service Pack 3, which we released at the end of September. We have been busy piecing together some materials to help explain the content of this service pack, to truly do it right. Why, you ask? Because Service Pack 3 represents an important update to the integration between Navisworks and BIM 360, and just so happens to be the most requested feature across the whole BIM 360 Idea Station! (Well not anymore, since we answered it..!)

Joining the BIM 360 toolbar, you will now find the "Shared Views" button. From here, you are able to launch the interface for managing views shared between your BIM 360 Glue projects and Navisworks 2016.

The video below shows how this can be used in the context of a collaborative project:

Shared Views created in any BIM 360 Glue connected client retain view fidelity, including:

• Object Visibility (hidden state)
• Object Overrides – color and transparency
• Section Planes and Boxes

Shared Views can be saved directly in Navisworks

Shared Views can be renamed, and moved into folders

Shared Views can be deleted (if the user has the appropriate BIM 360 Glue permissions)

What does this mean to me?

We have heard loud and clear from users since we integrated Navisworks and BIM 360 Glue that this feature would really enhance workflows between the two products. Most commonly we have heard that this will augment collaboration workflows especially around clash resolution – with the new shared views functionality, teams can use the familiar and powerful functionality of Navisworks within the collaborative environment of BIM 360 Glue to remove silos and embrace efficient project teaming.

We've worked closely with a few customers to test this in development, and now that it's arrived, we hope it can support your workflows and make the connection and collaboration of your projects even stronger.

We'd love to hear your feedback, so please give it a whirl and let us know how it works for you!

BIM 360 Glue and Navisworks 2016: Real-time Collaboration is Here

Introducing… Navisworks 2016 AND BIM 360 Glue!

Navisworks 2016 has taken a major step forward with BIM collaboration in the cloud.  Now with BIM 360 Glue model and data interoperability, Navisworks 2016 provides project teams with a more complete, connected solution to BIM project coordination and collaboration.  This connected solution combines the familiar, powerful features of Navisworks with the easy, accessible, and collaborative capabilities of BIM 360 Glue. 

All About the Workflow…

Several years ago, we heard your requests to connect to the cloud to better support project workflows, and to connect with the entire project team to access the most recent project models and data. BIM Workflows Connected with Glue and How to use BIM 360 and Navisworks on your projects, outlined how BIM 360 Glue and Navisworks integrated to support your project and team workflows, including:  1) How Navisworks users share coordinated NWD models with the team using BIM 360 Glue; and 2) How BIM/VDC specialists access the latest models from the team in BIM 360 Glue to perform advanced analysis with Navisworks.  

With the 2016 release, we are introducing the next phase and a completely new approach to Navisworks-BIM 360 Glue interoperability.  BIM 360 Glue users with Navisworks 2016 can connect to the BIM 360 cloud, work directly with BIM 360 Glue models and merged models, and share data with other project users. 

Here is how it works.  Within Navisworks, you can open, append, and align BIM 360 Glue project models and then save as a merged model in BIM 360 Glue.  This is not an “upload” or “publish” action.  Instead, as soon as the merged model is saved in Navisworks, it is available immediately in the cloud for project team review, collaboration, and coordination workflows using BIM 360 Glue desktop, BIM 360 Glue web, and BIM 360 Glue mobile.

You can also open models from BIM 360 Glue and use advanced analysis tools, such as the enhanced quantification features, in Navisworks 2016.  Once you save your work, data will be available for other Navisworks 2016--connected BIM 360 Glue users.

Think of the new process akin to using Evernote:  Working on a document in the Evernote desktop client syncs saved changes automatically to the Evernote.com web version of the document---and vice-versa.  As a user, the process happens seamlessly, and the distinction between the cloud and the desktop is really a non-issue.

Just as with the Evernote example, Navisworks Manage 2016 and BIM 360 Glue model interoperability happens seamlessly with just a click of the mouse. 

Navisworks and BIM 360 Glue - Complementary Strengths

Navisworks 2016 and BIM 360 Glue now both connect to the same project data as part of an integrated desktop, cloud and mobile solution. However the two products have distinct strengths that satisfy the needs of different participants on your projects.

 For clarity sake, think of the comparison of the two products as such:

• BIM 360 Glue = Cloud-based coordination and collaboration solution that connects the entire project team – internal and external – and streamlines project review and coordination workflows.
• Navisworks = A feature rich BIM project review toolset for the power user to help perform advanced clash detection, quantification, 4D/5D analysis and construction simulation.

As a BIM/VDC manager working within a collaborative project environment, Navisworks Manage is likely still your go-to product for advanced analysis, such as performing advanced clash detection, integrating 2D and 3D takeoff data for bills of quantity, and simulation of construction activity. BIM 360 Glue transforms your traditional coordination workflows by providing easy-to-use features that empower the extended team: designers, subcontractors and fabricators coordinate and collaborate on a continual basis. This leads to accelerated coordination cycles and more productive weekly/bi-weekly coordination meetings.

BIM 360 Glue subscriptions include access to Autodesk® Navisworks® Manage 2016 (as well as Autodesk Point Layout). 

This new functionality in both Navisworks and BIM 360 Glue is available now, so visit the resources below to get started.

1. How do I access the new Navisworks client as part of my BIM 360 Glue subscription?  Get it here.
2. Interact and correspond with other BIM 360 Glue users and our support team here.
3. Visit our Autodesk Help Center for loads of articles and helpful information.
4. New to BIM 360 Glue and interested in a customized, self-paced demo?  Click here.