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

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.

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!

What if you could layout against reality?

I've just returned from the Capturing Reality Forum in Salzburg (the newly combined SPAR Europe and European LIDAR Mapping Forum) where myself and Andy Evans from Topcon presented a live workflow showing point clouds and design data together within BIM 360 Layout, a proof of concept workflow where we posed the question 'What if you could layout from reality?'.

We had many interesting discussions after the presentation with people thinking of possible uses. My favourite was the idea of MEP layout based on a scan from earlier that day, you can run clashes against the point cloud to identify issues before going to site using Navisworks, then use the current information to help visualise and layout your work.

With three scans we were able to quickly register them, export to a TXT format with RGB data, import in Navisworks, add control and layout points using Point Layout then upload to BIM 360 Glue for use in BIM 360 Layout.

You can also then use the measurement tools to identify distances between the design and the point cloud out on site.

Andy Evans and Autodesk's Michael Moran will be demonstrating this workflow at Autodesk University next week https://events.au.autodesk.com/connect/sessionDetail.ww?SESSION_ID=10127&tclass=popup

Chewie, We’re Home! #empireBIMcrew Videos and presentation from AU and BSL

There's only one topic of conversation in the office this morning, how many times have you seen it?

If you have no idea what I'm on about, you need to stop what you are doing for 2 minutes and watch this.

Back now? How many people just clicked on it to watch it again? Thought so!

Anyway, as a massive Star Wars fan (geek), I've been far too giddy about this for too long as anyone who follows me on Twitter will realise. So last night I was ready to publish a blog about the cool new features in AutoCAD using Navisworks and BIM 360 technology, but immediately realised that will have to wait till next week… Priorities!

I've been lucky enough to present a couple of Star Wars themed classes at Autodesk University in Vegas and more recently BIM Show Live in the UK about workflows between products, using Star Wars themed datasets. I wanted to share some of the videos created for these presentations. The last presentation was about how Han and Chewie (I can't believe Chewie got the best line in the trailer!), had to renovate the Millennium Falcon after winning it from Lando. So first up, design review in BIM 360 Glue: -

Then quickly setting up Search Sets for advanced Navisworks use, with help from a familiar friend…

Setting up custom properties to collect in BIM 360 Field…

Point Cloud Analysis in Autodesk Revit using the Point Layout add in, guess who ran into this wall…

And finally we found the Millennium Falcon at Pinewood studios using Infraworks 360

There's lots more videos in the full Autodesk University Star Wars Youtube playlist and the AU presentations with lots of tips and tricks are below: -

The #empireBIMcrew Strikes Back

Building the Death Star the Autodesk Way (includes video of presentation)

Thanks to everyone who helped me pull together datasets, from Dace Campbell and his USB charing GNK to David Light and his amazing Revit RFA of the Falcon and many more!

BIM 360 Layout v1.2: Usability Updates & So Much More…

Last October we challenged the current conventions tied to how modern construction layout is performed. In the past, the layout process was relegated to individuals brought-up with a survey background or field engineers with hundreds of man hour’s onsite understanding the technologies at hand. By releasing Autodesk BIM 360 Layout in partnership with Topcon and their LN-100, we provided the industry with a simple and intuitive method to tie the up-to-date coordinated project model (with layout points) from the cloud to their iPad for layout on the jobsite. We did away with today’s cumbersome, proprietary data controller hardware featuring antiquated 2D tabular workflows--- with a gesture-based iPad where all interactions are contained within a 3D model.

This model-driven layout process has allowed our customers to more easily manage the verification and location of points in the model for staking out in the field without much experience, extensive training or even layout pedigrees.

And since the launch date, we have been across the country and Europe out on jobsites with our users understanding how they are deploying and using BIM 360 Layout. These meetings have provided valuable insights, and usability cues that helped guide our workflows and user interface improvements.

We are happy to report that a majority of these improvements and enhancements have made it into the 1.2 version now available in the Apple App Store.

Here is a brief list of the new enhancements/updates within BIM 360 Layout:

1. Layout Distance / Robot Measure tool: Measure between two model points, prism to prism locations, or model to prism locations including Horizontal, Vertical and Slope Distance, as well as visual display 
2. Optimized views to see instrument, selected point and prism as well as auto-zoom 2D & 3D viewing modes when nearing a point
3. Project Grids and Map Navigation tool integration 
4. Collect Mode: Collect locations without point list or 'Move Prism' information
5. Improvements to Point List filter, edit/create point fields, and delete point option added

 

A missing feature in BIM 360 Layout was the ability to measure distances for quick verification or “on-the-fly” staking in the field.  Version 1.2 now includes the following measurement options:  Between two model points; Prism to prism locations, or model to prism locations including Horizontal, Vertical and Slope Distance.

 

As with BIM 360 Glue, the new BIM 360 Layout utilizes the 2D navigation option to quickly jump between floors and locations in your model.  Oh, and we also added in the ability to view gridlines in your model!

 

One topic rang loud and clear during our onsite customer interactions with BIM 360 Layout:  We needed to better guide our users through the interface utilizing the various application workflows.  BIM 360 Layout now features a comprehensive library of in-application coach marks (graphical guidance over the app interface) to help our users with the numerous actions and interactions.  To see the complete library, click here.

 If you are interested in learning more about BIM 360 Layout, be sure to check out the following resources:

1. Visit our Autodesk Knowledge Center for loads of articles and helpful information
2. See how to create point sets using Autodesk BIM 360 Layout in Glue here
3. Interact and correspond with other BIM 360 Layout users and our support team here
4. To view our Autodesk Construction Layout Guide, click here

The new version of BIM 360 Layout is currently available for download on the Apple App Store. Click here to download today.

 

Keeping Up With BIM 360 Is Easy As…

 

 

If you have 20 minutes to spare and want to take-in all of the recent feature updates for BIM 360 Field, BIM 360 Glue, and BIM 360 Layout—we have your “easy button”.

That’s right, we’ve taken the last 5 months of feature releases and compressed them into an on-demand screencast that you can watch at your leisure. The screencast will feature Autodesk product managers within the BIM 360 platform who will walk you through the specific features for each BIM 360 product and the workflow connections that span pre-construction through commissioning and handover activities.

Here are just a few of the BIM 360 features we will cover:

• BIM 360 Field Web Daily Updates
• BIM 360 Glue App 2D to 3D Navigation
• BIM 360 Layout App Workflows and Best Practices

Click here to watch the screencast now

(If you have a question and need to talk to someone about BIM 360 while watching the webcast, utilize the online chat functionality available on the screencast landing page.)

Create True As-Built Models from Points Collected in the Field

How do you currently create as-built models? How do you convert potentially inaccurate 2D drawings to accurate 3D models? Often this is a slow, expensive or imperfect process that is contracted to a specialist firm.

Autodesk Point Layout has convenient features to help create as-built files from survey data collected in the field. Combined with reduced hardware costs and a lower barrier to entry of skills needed to collect as-built points, applications like BIM 360 Layout quickly and easily allow you to create more predictable models.

Here are two videos demonstrating two different workflows.  First, you can easily create pipes, walls or model lines in Revit using a numbered sequence of points collected out on site.

The second workflow, highlighted in the video below, shows any item where you have a single point (typically a column, or a pipe fitting, or something that may not need to be oriented) can be placed wherever the as-built point is collected. Firstly, add a point to the family in Revit.  Next, load that family into the project you are working with.  Lastly, import the points as a nested family, and like magic, an as-built model of, in this case Marvin the Paranoid Android from Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy (thanks to BIMstore) appears.

It's also possible to perform these functions in AutoCAD which allows you to get model lines through to base further modelling from.

Let us know what you think of this feature and how you would use it. Or how you would like to see it develop!