Navisworks and ArchiCAD 11

[JaredBanks]

Is exporting to NavisWorks from ArchiCAD 11 possible? So far my searching on this forum and the internet has not given me any clear answers. I tried calling NavisWorks and got this recorded message "thank you for calling AutoDesk, the office is currently closed..." It's 10:40 am there right now?! Come On!

The point. We're going to be working on an 80,000 sq. ft. project and the contractor wants to coordinate everything through NavisWorks. Any thoughts?

Thanks.

[Anonymous]

Hey guys! Why not save as Navis files directly? DWG into Navis is OK but limited and IFC could be good but unfortunately sucks in its current state (due to Navis' import issues). NWC files retain materials (lost in IFC) and IDs (not in DWG) as well as layer information. Exports from AC10 even supported layer combinations into selection sets, though this feature seems to be lost in AC11.

Getting the add-on is only a little tricky. All you have to do is download and install the trial version of Navis from Autodesk. When you install it will automatically detect ArchiCAD and install the add-on. (Windows only of course )

A word of warning though. NavisWorks 2009 seems to have suffered a bit in the transition to Autodesk ownership. It is more buggy than version 5.5 that preceded the buy out and the AC11 add-on is crash prone (always save the PLN before the "Save as..." to Navis - besides protecting yourself this also seems to reduce the crashing).

I have heard on good authority (contrary to some reports) that Navis 2010 will include AC12 support. Now if GS would just enable us to "Publish" to any format that we can "Save as..."


BTW: Jared,

The Navis demo will run fully functional for 30 days (and stop completely after that). You can also use Boot Camp, Parallels or VMware Fusion to run Windows for the purpose. Autodesk full paid copies have registration/licensing problems with Boot Camp but that should have no effect on the trial version.

I don't recommend using VMs for this purpose on a dual core machine (especially a RAM limited one like my old MacBook Pro). The performance gets rather slow. On my 8-core MacPro I prefer the VM approach since I can switch back and forth instantly.

Remember not to remove the Navis installation after the trial period ends as this will also remove the ArchiCAD add-on. Alternatively you should be able to back up the add-on for manual reinstallation later, but I haven't tried this so I can't say for sure that it works.

[JaredBanks]

Cool. What are the odds that the add-on would work on a Mac (assuming installing Navisworks on a PC or through bootcamp, then copying the add-on)? Our firm is all Mac based now, except for 4 machines around for finishing up some autocad projects --quickly becoming paper weights.

I'm seeing three scenerios then. One, install Navisworks using Bootcamp and switch over to ArchiCAD to run through windows every time we need to save out. Two, hope that the add-on can be copied. Three, stick with a 3D dwg.

Right now the 3D dwg seems like the simplest solution. And at this junction I'm looking for simplest, since for a variety of reasons that would make my life the happiest. The loss of IDs in the DWG doesn't seem so bad, as I don't think this project will be using them that intensely. But great to know Navis trial on a PC will work. I'll have to install it on my home machine and do some of my research there. Seems like a great excuse to work from home.

[Anonymous]

JaredBanks wrote:
Cool. What are the odds that the add-on would work on a Mac?

0% AFAIK add-ons are all platform specific. So unless Autodesk gets a big Mac attack (I hear one of their top guys is a Mac user) and decides to spend the time on a Mac version I wouldn't waste any time on that hope.

I'm seeing three scenerios then. One, install Navisworks using Bootcamp and switch over to ArchiCAD to run through windows every time we need to save out. Two, hope that the add-on can be copied. Three, stick with a 3D dwg.

1. If you have a powerful enough machine (quad core or better with 4GB or more RAM) the best set up is to make a VM and run AC in Windows for publishing the NWCs. This way it can run concurrent with the Mac session. Note that you have to switch the WIBU key back and forth between the two operating systems. This is no big deal if you are not too troubled by the save/quit notice. If you are truly flush and have a spare key around Parallels can allow each OS to access its own key (VMware seems unable to do this).

2. Won't work.

3. If the DWG works for your needs it is by far the easiest way to go since you can set up a Publisher set for saving the models. It's still worth a trial run of the NWC so you can see the differences. One quirk of the AC to Navis DWG process is that Navis will invariably set the units of the imported files to mm usually making them 25.4 times smaller than they should be. I have found no way around this aside from resetting the units in Navis.

[JaredBanks]

Door #3 it is. Not flush with cash. No quad-core machines. Will be aware of the units to mm.

Thanks again for some great sagely advice. I'll make sure to repost later once I've actually tried the process out.

[JaredBanks]

Matthew,

So how do you fix the 25.4x scale issue? I was just at the engineer's today looking at an ifc and a 3d dwg in Navisworks. Both came in with screwing scales. But neither of us knew how to fix it.

We also imported a .3ds version of the AC11 file. That looked nice, but lost all the IDs. Which sucked. I'm going to look into installing Navisworks on a PC and just do the conversion through there. Seems like the best option.

Thanks for everyone's advice on this.

[Anonymous]

Couple things
1) NavisWorks 2010 will support AC 12
2) IFC and DWG are having different project origins. I had big problems on my projects and decided to go with DWG's
3) If you have a 64-bit OS you will notice that the DWG reader will not work! Yes, a Autodesk application is not supporting DWG's. There is a work around though! You may open the DWG in Autocad as save it as an NWD or you have a Autodesk subscription where you can download a fix. However I noticed this fix is still buggy!!!
I hope this might help.
Cheers,

[JaredBanks]

I ended up installing ArchiCAD 11 and a free trial of Navisworks on one of the office PCs. Exporting to Navisworks with the plug in works well so far.

[Djordje]

JaredBanks wrote:
So how do you fix the 25.4x scale issue?

Ah ... the old Imperial/Metric ...

1 inch is 25.4 mm.

[Anonymous]

Djordje wrote:

JaredBanks wrote:
So how do you fix the 25.4x scale issue?

Ah ... the old Imperial/Metric ...

1 inch is 25.4 mm.

You can also open up the 3d DWG in AutoCAD and change the units to Architectural/Inches; that's if you have AutoCAD installed on your machine.

[Anonymous]

Djordje wrote:

JaredBanks wrote:
So how do you fix the 25.4x scale issue?

Ah ... the old Imperial/Metric ...

1 inch is 25.4 mm.

I am struggling with this as well. A colleague of mine is trying to import an IFC file created from AutoCAD Architecture. Whenever it comes in to AC, the scale is off by 25.4 and we are unable to rescale it. The original IFC file has been created by a DWG both in Inches and mm. Either way the scale is off. Any ideas on how to get around this?