Beyond Design: the Construction and BIM blog

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

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!

Photogrammetry for Construction?

I occasionally moonlight on another Autodesk Blog, BIM Toolbox, an interesting blog covering a range of AEC disciplines from our Northern European Technical team, there are some fascinating workflows and tips and tricks up there covering everything from computational design with Dynamo, civil design workflows, to data management tips and tricks, it's well worth a read, wherever you are in the world. Anyway a few weeks ago I posted an article there about a proof of concept I'd been working on, that I wanted to share further, how photogrammetry can be used in construction.

For those not aware of photogrammetry, it's basically where you take a number of photos and create a 3D model from them. Avid Autodesk fans may be aware of 123D Catch, a consumer application released a few years ago to allow anyone to do this on their smartphones, we also have Recap 360, part of which is the professional version of this service which allows you to do the same thing and bring it into various design applications. The workflow in the link below shows how you can use it to capture plant on site and run it in simulations against your 3D model. Let me know what you think!

Site Logistics with BIM and Photos

BIM 360 and Navisworks underlay in AutoCAD 2016!

The new releases of AutoCAD take a big step forward in improving design quality and speeding up coordination. For many years the standard way of working with multiple stakeholders has been the humble xref, bringing someone else's file into your environment and designing around it. This allows you to avoid clashes by designing with the other trades and other user's files in context. This process tends to involve others providing their released working files via data management solutions on an occasional basis, normally at project milestones.

With the AutoCAD 2016 release (including AutoCAD based products such as Civil 3D, CADmep, Advanced Steel and AutoCAD MEP), you'll be able to load a Navisworks NWD or NWC file as an xref, or alternatively a live BIM 360 Glue project! But what does that mean for you?

Working with Navisworks and BIM 360 Glue allows you to work in a more organized process. We often see people working with xref's that can be weeks or even months out of date. This can lead to design work taking place in the same space where another trade has already done their work but only since the last released file. This leads to clashes further down the line where two trades have designed objects in the same place. When this needs to be rectified, perhaps weeks later, the designer will have to spend time familiarising themselves with the area again and why they made the decisions they did. By loading the weekly coordination model you minimize the risk of designing objects in the same physical location as someone else and therefore speed up the design process and the need to make changes, which saves the entire design team time and money.

In AutoCAD 2016, you will also see improved performance, the Navisworks viewing engine, that was built from the ground up to optimize performance on large models. Now integrated into AutoCAD, you'll be able to view the referenced Navisworks/BIM 360 file as a separate process to the design files, speeding up performance of navigation and allowing AutoCAD to get on with what the product does best, design!

So in a Navisworks environment, your VDC, BIM, design manager or coordinator can collect all the files together in a single place, save them as an NWD, and load as an xref to get on with designing. My personal favourite feature is the ability to set transparency on the file which means you can see where you are in relation to the surrounding design without it getting in the way.

To see how the new functionality with AutoCAD 2016 works with BIM 360, watch the video below:

If you're using BIM 360 Glue, this can speed this work up even further. If your design teams are "gluing" their models on a daily basis or more frequently, then what are the chances of you accidentally designing and creating a clash? You also have the benefit of loading the pinpoint locations of any clashes speeding your resolution up even further.

This is not Clash Detection, this is Clash Avoidance!

Note: This is only supported on 64 bit systems

Collaborative clash resolution with BIM 360 Glue

Last week there was a big new update to BIM 360 Glue, Joan Allen, Senior Product Manager for BIM 360 Glue talks to us about it in more detail.

 

One of the many advantages of using cloud-based products and services is the immediate, automatic access to product updates. The Autodesk BIM 360 product team thrives on providing regular, timely updates, often based on direct feedback from customers. The latest BIM 360 Glue update - designed and developed in response to customer feedback - provides powerful new clash resolution capabilities, so that you and your team can more efficiently and effectively manage the collaborative project coordination process.

Introducing Clash Status

With anywhere, anytime access to the most recent project models and data, BIM 360 Glue empowers project teams to quickly identify coordination issues. The latest BIM 360 Glue update enhances this ability by providing tools for tracking and managing active and resolved clashes. There are four new status levels for clashes (Open, Ignored, Closed, and Resolved) so teams can to track progress and focus on resolving the most critical and current coordination issues. Clash Status Clash ID's and comments are maintained across model versions, ensuring that everyone is working with the most up-to-date information.

Clash Status and Workflow

Here is a breakdown of the new clash status settings, to help you determine how to best apply them to your project coordination workflows:

Ignored – The "ignored" status can be set by model contributors (designers and detailers, typically users with "full" permission) as well as VDC/BIM managers (project admins). This supports a collaborative coordination approach, where model contributors can suggest which clashes should be ignored to the VDC/BIM manager.

Closed – The "closed" status can also be used to mark issues that won't be resolved during preconstruction coordination. The difference between "closed" and "ignored" is that "closed" provides a more formal level of control for VDC/BIM managers. While other team members can mark a clash as "ignored," only admins can actually "close" a clash.

Resolved – This is a system-generated status to identify clashes from previous that have been fixed.

Open – This is a system-generated status to identify clashes that are either new or haven't been ignored, closed, or resolved. If an "open" clash has a notification, markup, or comment, its clash ID will be maintained across subsequent model versions, even if it remains open.

Focus on resolving current coordination issues

In addition to clash status, there are new filtering options that make it easy to focus in on specific clash issues and accelerate clash review. You can filter by clash status to see only Open, Ignored, Closed, or Resolved issues (or any combination, such as Closed and Resolved). You can further refine the display by filtering on notification status, to see only Open clashes you have been notified about, for example.

Status overview at a glance

Filter by status and notification type

Communicate with your project team

The new clash markup tool provides an efficient method for adding a markup directly to a clash result to better communicate the issue and suggested solution.Clash markups are not only available in the clash module, but also in the markups module across the BIM 360 Glue solution (desktop, web, and mobile).

Clash markup view in the clash module

Clash markup view in BIM 360 Glue mobile

Measurement improvements

We have also updated the measurement tools to automatically calculate the XYZ differences between objects, to make it easier to determine clearances and when reviewing clashes.

Try the new BIM 360 Glue clash resolution features for collaborative, team-based coordination workflows, and let us know if you have any feedback!

 

Joan E. Allen, P.E., is a Senior Product Manager at Autodesk and manages BIM 360 Glue. A graduate of the University of California, Berkeley with a degree in Civil Engineering, Joan is a registered Civil Engineer with over 25 years of experience in construction management and technology for the construction industry.

Follow Joan at @joanallen

Connecting the dots – 2015 Product Launch and BIM 360

It's the time of year where we head to the hills and start shouting about our new releases, except this year we have something different to shout about. Normally you'll see us reeling of a list of features for each product we release, which is great, and useful, but we understand not many of you work in isolation on one product all year. Which is why I'm so excited about this year. Yes there's new product features, yes there's enhancements and improvements to your favourite products (Revit, Navisworks and AutoCAD), but the difference this year is how connected they all become!

With BIM 360 Glue we've noticed a huge difference in how design teams are working, they're collaborating more frequently in the design process rather than in a high pressure review meeting. This is helping improve the quality of designs that get to the construction site and reduce the number of RFI's as the 3D model is being refined and provides an additional level of information that a 2D drawing doesn't always convey. In the 2015 releases of Revit, Navisworks and all of the AutoCAD verticals (MEP, Architecture, Civil 3D etc) you'll find a lovely shiny new BIM 360 toolbar!

AutoCAD (and verticals)

Revit

Navisworks

In your design applications this allows you to easily 'Glue' the latest version of the model to the cloud from this toolbar, no messy plugins, and also pull down Clash pinpoints, clashes in the model found by yourself or others, allowing you to really quickly find the issue and resolve it there and then. In Navisworks you can Glue a previously coordinated model from within the application, but more importantly, you can open a live BIM 360 Glue model straight into Navisworks, no problems with versioning, or working out if your file is out of date!

This brings me to what you can do with that model when you open the live coordinated model in Navisworks! As well as advanced workflows that have been possible for years like construction simulation, walkthroughs, advanced clashing (time based, animated objects, advanced rules) and rendering (which has been moved up a notch with Rendering in the Cloud!), you'll now also be able to do much much more with Quantification.

Quantification is vital for a range of roles, from estimators to planners to site managers to members of the design team. Improvements for 2015 include 2D quantification to add additional detail to your model based take off, take-off mapping allowing you to easilyu set up different property mappings for standard measurements, and the ability to take off multiple items on the same node, meaning should you wish to, you can take off the entire model in a single drag and drop.

More details about all of these features in the coming weeks, and we didn't even mention additional integration between BIM 360 Glue and Field……

Getting more out of your data rich construction model with BIM 360 Glue

You've probably seen videos and demos showing how to explore the model in BIM 360 Glue (BIM 360 Glue Workflow – Reviewing the design). You've probably also seen how BIM 360 Glue can help you avoid costly clashes (also read this post on The cost of clashing) and communicating changes uses markups on both desktop and mobile.

Can you dig deeper than that? Let's say you wanted to understand how the design has changed over several iterations, or to quickly find all the components of a mechanical system, or to prepare views that highlight certain aspects of the model so everyone on the project can look at the same information. Read on, and I'll show you how this can be done in BIM 360 Glue.

 

Reviewing changes and old model versions

BIM 360 Glue keeps a record of all model versions ever uploaded. Typically you're interested in the latest and greatest. However sometimes there is a need to review older versions. Maybe because you are considering reverting to a previous option or because you need to understand why a change has been made. Because BIM 360 Glue has a record of these versions it is very easy for you to open and explore these versions.

Simply go to the Models module and right click on the top node. This will give you the "View versions" option. This works for both individual and merged models. Merged models will use the individual model versions from that date.

Then you can select any of the previous versions from the resulting Versions dialog and double-click to view that particular version. Hovering over a version reveals more details such as who uploaded it and when.

BIM 360 Glue lets you know through visual indicators that you're looking at an older version. In this case the merged model references older versions of the Architectural and Structural models. The Mechanical is already the latest.

When you're done with looking at the old version you can quickly jump back to the present state of the model by hitting the Refresh button

 

Identifying objects with same characteristics

There are several ways how you can do this. Which one is best depends on how well you know the model and some personal preferences. Let's use an example where we want to quickly see all the ductwork for the supply air system. You can use the following options to find such objects:

• navigate the object tree in the Models module
  
• search for it in the Models module by clicking on the magnifying glass
  
  
  
  and using a relevant search term. In this example I want to find components for the Supply Air system.
  
  
• or identify and select it in the model itself.

Once you've identified a single component of the group you want to see, view the properties (through the context menu 'View Properties' and apply the "Select similar" command where appropriate. In this example I want to see the complete Supply Air system, so I right click on the System Type = Supply Air property value to select similar objects, i.e. the ones that have the same property and property value.

Now that you've selected all these objects you want to show them. Right click in the canvas and use the "Isolate" or "Hide unselected" options.

See below for the result of 'Isolate'. You may need to adjust your Transparency setting in the Options.

 

Setting up colored views to highlight model areas

Now this is very useful to identify objects, by using hide or isolate you can better understand how these components fit in with the rest of the model. But you do not always want to go through the same process, and you also need to share this view with other users so they can quickly access this information. Colored views are the right tool for the job.

Click on Views in the BIM 360 toolbar and use the "Add color" option. Make sure you still have the objects selected.

Pick a color you want to apply to the selected objects (in this case it's green so it visually stands out), give it a name and click on Save. Now everyone on the project can access this view.

Also while this example uses the mechanical system for air supply you can apply this for many other areas. Whether you want to understand the types of doors or windows installed, or quickly highlight all drywalls of a certain size. These tools help you go beyond analyzing the model visually-- access and utilize the rich property data that comes with the model!

-Thomas

 

The cost of clashing

What does a clash cost you as a company, whether you are the contractor, architect, engineer or specialist sub-contractor? You need to consider the materials wasted, the new materials, the cost of labour on site and in the office resolving the issue, the cost of machinery, the possible delays to the schedule and any penalties that may involve and a list that could keep going on to through to the possible legal costs. There have been various studies and quotes to talk about how much a clash on site can cost with figures ranging from $1500 up to $8000, dependent on the trades involved, when it's detected, and stage of the building process. The one thing that people do agree is that detecting a clash in a virtual building environment before you get to site will cost significantly less, for example In a demo a few weeks ago I showed a customer a problem using their data they estimated would have cost £15000 to resolve had they not spotted it before the steelwork was put in.

In the latest McGraw Hill report into the value of BIM in Construction, it again showed that the main benefits for contractors using BIM was the reduced errors in construction. So it's no surprise that clash detection is cited as the low hanging fruit of BIM, where outlay in products like Navisworks and robust clash detection processes can significantly reduce the chance of needing to fix a problem on site, or going back to the drawing board and halting works whilst an error is resolved. For those slightly older readers, you may remember it wasn't that long ago that clash detection was done manually on a light box, with drawings of the various disciplines lined up over each other and clashes detected by eye. Part of the reasons 3D coordination became popular was the ability to visualise problems in the 3^rd dimension rather than cross checking section views and heights, and ensuring that overlaps of complex system worked with each other, and more importantly, the reduction of human error by allowing automated checking of different systems.

Detecting 20 or 30 clashes before reaching site easily paid for the investment of training, software and hardware, on more complex jobs, the number of clashes can easily reach their thousands, explaining why they see Navisworks as an essential for its return on investment. Generally this process is run through a central VDC or BIM coordinator, and most of their time is spent liaising with members of the various team disciplines to resolve those clashes. We're now seeing the next evolution of clash detection with designers and engineers being empowered to use the same powerful technology from Navisworks to clash detect without the same entry level needed, ensuring that the files that they submit at the end of the week has been checked against the latest files from other disciplines, improving the quality of design and ensuring that clash meetings just deal with the big issues, not those that can be resolved by simply working together. BIM 360 Glue is intended to make that low hanging fruit easier to access to a larger number of people without the same level of training and process that has sometimes limited the amount of clashes a VDC or BIM coordinator can resolve on their own.

Efficiency of clash detection has to be one of the key areas for improvement for those familiar with the concept, I've visited many customers who use our tools a lot, but previously didn't spend a small amount of time doing preparation of things like Search Sets and rules, leaving them with a lot of manual work time and time again. I've spoken to many more who don't have a good dialog with their supply chain and have a 'we get what we're given' attitude towards the files they receive, again causing headaches trying to make things work that only fulfill a contractual deliverable but don't really help build a building, or infrastructure project. More and more contractors are learning to use the power of the models to get as many benefits as possible from a single model, and work with their extended team to get what they need.

I've spoken to other teams who don't invest in tools and run very manual processes, leaving highly paid and well trained engineers copying and pasting into spreadsheets for several hours a day. Again bringing me back to the cost of a clash. If you can save 30 times $1500 on a single discipline, that's great and will impact positively on the project, however if you have someone spending 10/15 minutes per clash, per discipline, per project, this will add its own overhead. If you can find 60 times $1500 clashes, that take a minute or two to resolve, not only have you paid for your tools and training but you also free up resources to work on something else.

Clash detection no longer needs to be an unaffordable practice for the big contractors or farmed out to consultants, rental models of the Building and Infrastructure Design Suites allows you to run Revit, Civil 3D and Navisworks per project that needs it without the same initial overhead. BIM 360 Glue allows you to work between multiple disciplines in a more real time environment, no more waiting a week or a month for a new model version that then needs to be audited. The various teams can upload them on a more frequent basis allowing teams to reduce their own review cycles and produce better models and drawings.

This is before talking about the intangible benefits gained by being that company that reduced RFI's by 40% between projects, that company that proactively got problems resolved within hours, not weeks, that company that ensured the Friday review meetings with heads of each department were spent dealing on tough issues that mattered, not the small problems that could have been resolved in minutes during the week, and that company that shows off their latest projects by passing an iPad with 3D models to an interested client.

So to you, what is the real cost of a clash?

How to resolve coordination issues with BIM 360 Glue

Some people working with or implementing BIM 360 Glue ask us about best practice for managing clashes with BIM 360 Glue. Ultimately the goal is not to manage clashes but to resolve the issues causing these. Have this in mind when working through the process outline below, as it focuses not on individual objects clashing but about issues. For example, a single duct in the wrong location can cause 100 or more clashes. 100 clashes, but really just a single issue. And issues are what your design teams need to focus on for resolution. So here's how you do that with BIM 360 Glue.

1. Start by running your clash analysis. Use the visual heatmap to identify problematic areas in your model (here's a quick video of how this works). Did you know you can get a quick metric using the 'Overview' link of all clashes? It also lets you drill down further using the automatic grouping of clashes based on the originating models, e.g. mechanical model vs. structural. This is crucial as you cannot handle 3008 clashes this week and the grouping is the divide & conquer tool that helps you tackle it.
   

   Now you don't see single items clashing, but rather groups, e.g. a duct clashing with 3 other objects. The number in brackets tells how many objects the one you have selected is clashing with. And this also gives you the single issue to resolve.
   

2. Create a markup for this issue. To keep track of issues, setup folders (Open, Pending and Closed). Move this markup to the open folder. As you move through the process ultimately all markups should end up in the Resolved folder.
   
3. Notify the relevant design team of at least the clash, so they can resolve the issue. If you have some particular instruction which you didn't add in your comments it will be useful to also notify of the markup. It is crucial to notify them of the clashes as they can then use the Clash Pinpoint feature inside their design application to locate and resolve the problem.
   
4. After the design teams upload new versions of the model verify if the issue has been resolved. If true move the markup to the Closed folder, if not move to the Pending folder. You can use the Pending folder to bring up all unresolved issue for review during the next coordination meeting.

   

5. Rinse and repeat.

I hope you found this useful to resolve design coordination issues more rapidly and retaining an auditable trail of actions to create accountability along the way!

-Thomas

What’s new in our September release of BIM 360 Glue?

I'm really excited about our latest update to BIM 360 Glue which includes improved administration across projects, coordination enhancements, and quality and usability improvements. Let's look at these in more detail.

Project-Level Administration: We have added a new Project Admin user role, so that companies with multiple projects can delegate responsibility for securely managing users and access on a project-by-project basis.

Admin Reporting: Admins can now export a user report to view users and projects, so that they can more easily monitor access and usage across multiple projects. The report is exported in CSV format that can be opened in Excel for advanced pivot table analysis.

Clash at a Glance Improvements: Back in July we have added the ability to view all clashes for a project at once. Since we have further enhanced this feature and added the ability to turn on and off the highlighted clash points when viewing the coordinated model, so that you can control your clash viewing experience. Also, when viewing clashes in groups, you can select any clash marker to see more detailed information about the clashing objects.

Improved Hyperlink Support: Glue now supports direct hyperlink access for any link associated with any model object property, ensuring team access to the latest project data. This allows your users to quickly reference information like up to date product specifications or internal project pages on Sharepoint directly from the context of your building information model inside BIM 360 Glue.

Wondering how you can get these updates? Just start up BIM 360 Glue today and these improvements are available to you without any further action from your side. Just one of the benefits of cloud computing!

-Thomas