Topic: NavisWorks, anyone?

[sinc]

Anyone use this product?

I hear it's supposed to be able to take C3D and Revit models and make coherent sense of them.  Does it really deliver?  Or rather, how much does it really deliver, and how many quirks, caveats, and "not-quite-there"s are there?

[mjfarrell]

all I can say: http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/item?siteID=123112&id=10574620

[MP]

the word that first comes to mind given Autodesk's history of buying products and regurgitating them to the masses is oxymoron

[Julie@Integra]

I used it once upon a time... it's been a couple years... to do a walk-through on a model created with some proprietary software (belonging to the company I worked for at the time). It was "fun" for about 5 minutes. But I don't use 3D/BIM software as a rule, so my interest was lost quickly.

[sinc]

all I can say: http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/item?siteID=123112&id=10574620

I basically don't trust anything I see from Autodesk.  I'm a Civil 3D user, after all.   

[CADaver]

We use (for about two years) some thirty seats here for everything from client model reviews to Clash detection to Construction/Fabrication support, using fly-bys, walk-throughs, saved review sessions, saved comments and red-lining.  We've also developed a method for exporting intelligent DGN's from Tekla, combine them with intelligent DRIs SmartPlant Review of PDS models and underlay C3D files for a complete view of an entire facility. Using the publish feature of NW, when then export NWDs of that entire model that can be reviewed by the free "FREEDOM" version of NavisWorks.  I haven't yet used it with Revit.

It comes with an ARX function that allows it to run "inside" autocad delivering a fully rendered window of the current working model that can be updated for any active viewport.

A seat of NW Manage is a little expensive, but we think its well worth the investment.

[mjfarrell]

all I can say: http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/item?siteID=123112&id=10574620

I basically don't trust anything I see from Autodesk.  I'm a Civil 3D user, after all.   

Yes, I know.  And I somehow feel responsible....

[sinc]

A seat of NW Manage is a little expensive, but we think its well worth the investment.

So have you been using it since Autodesk acquired it?  Did they mangle it, the way they've done with some other things they've acquired?  Or was it a smooth transition?

[CADaver]

A seat of NW Manage is a little expensive, but we think its well worth the investment.

So have you been using it since Autodesk acquired it?  Did they mangle it, the way they've done with some other things they've acquired?  Or was it a smooth transition?

They meddled with it a little but not too bad.  I don't like the "ribbon", but then I don't like most GUI interfaces.  They combined featured from 6 different modules into just three, so now the basic Review module contains Publisher as well, so thats an improvement.  The only issue we really had was the four month dead space during the acquisition.  We were attempting to buy ten new seats just as the Autodesk made the purchase and everything screetched to a halt as they got all the books right.

[pmvliet]

I am not sure about the 2010 release, but 2009.1 would not read a native Revit file. You have to export
the Revit file, for Navis to read it correctly.

It took me some doing to get things to read correctly and who up as solids in Navis.
It's not as plug-n-play as I would have thought it would. My situation was a little
unique as I was working with 2004 file format.

I use navis Review for everything I did. I could not afford Navis manage which includes the Clash Detection.
They conveniently put the most desired option in the most expensive variation of the software.
Honestly, Navis Review is worth it's weight for what I need it for.  If you are trying to avoid things,
you can visually see if you are hitting something or not. I was only running conduit. HVAC would be a lot
harder to do w/o clash detection to automatically check.

The other issue that you will/may have is point of origin. In my opinion, it is much easier to make the
origin the same between all files. With Civil, this is probably not an option. Internal to Navis, you do have
the ability to move things around to make them have a point of origin. You also have to watch scaling.
If one file is in decimal and another in architectural, they will come in at different sizes...

Pieter