Autodesk Revit Model Review

[Skye Severy]

ModelReview automates the process of reviewing and auditing building information modeling (BIM) projects in Autodesk Revit. It allows you to check the accuracy and consistency of a Project or Family against standards set by your firm, your clients, or industry best practices. Also, you can correct inconsistencies with a single click or with instructions provided when manual fixes are required.

We worked with Autodesk recently to develop and post a new checkset XML to the Model Checker for Revit Public Library. Well, four new checksets really, but they are pretty much the same one for different years of Revit.

If you aren't familiar with the Autodesk Model Checker for Revit, it's a great free add-on for Revit that lets you review data, parameters, and other select items in your Revit model in a fast and reliable fashion.

The check itself is full of useful items to review. It's not a total catch-all, but it has many generally accepted things that model managers and general Revit users like to keep an eye on. Many are not "Pass/Fail" checks, but Counts and Lists of elements matching the check's criteria, giving you a single report to monitor the growth of a model through the design process.

You'll see four new checksets - Revit 2020 Best Practices, Revit 2019 Best Practices, Revit 2018 Best Practices, and Revit 2017 Best Practices. They are pretty much identical. The difference is in the categories because in each Revit release some categories are added and some removed from Revit. If the Model Checker tries to report on a category that doesn't exist, Revit gets really angry.

The checkset itself might be a little too much for your needs. No problem! It's a great starter checkset for you to download and edit with the Model Checker Configurator. Many of the checks highlight some of the new built-in checks in the Model Checker, and most are great common sense things to watch in your Revit model.

With the March release of the Revit Issues Add-in we are excited to bring you the new Overview panel. This panel provides a summary of issues and an overview of automatic clash results from Model Coordination. This feature is available for Revit 2020, 2021 and 2022.

Publishing a Revit file will trigger clash automatically, against other models in a coordination space. For those unfamiliar, creating a coordination space is as simple as choosing a folder and clicking create in the Project Admin area of Model Coordination, or as part of your Design Collaboration Team and Shared folder setup.

The model issues card displays the number of issues of each status for the selected model. Use the option menu to choose which issue statuses you want to display. Use the link at the bottom of the card to link out to a full list of project issues in Docs.

The clash table card displays the clash results for the model selected within the relevant coordination space. Use the arrow in the tree to show the number of clashes between the different models included in the coordination space and use the link at the bottom of the card to take you directly to the clash matrix in model coordination to review individual clashes.

Paul is a Sr. Product Manager in Autodesk Construction Solutions leading the group building model coordination workflows across Autodesk Construction Cloud. Paul was part of the Navisworks acquisition in 2007 and has been in software development for 20 years.

Autodesk Navisworks is project review software for 3D coordination, 4D planning, photorealistic visualization, dynamic simulation, and accurate analysis. It allows you to combine models created by software such as AutoCAD, Revit, Inventor, and more. Use Navisworks and its API as a platform to integrate and speed up your project review and management processes, and extend Navisworks capabilities to your specific needs.

The SDK will be installed by default under the \api\ folder for Autodesk Navisworks Manage and Simulate. The .NET API includes a Developer's Guide in PDF format and a Reference Guide as a CHM file. The Developer's Guide takes you through the classes and tools provided with the .NET API, and then introduces you to writing your own plug-ins and applications using the various classes and methods available.

Navisworks offers a .NET programming interface. Using the Navisworks .NET API, you can write custom plug-ins to Navisworks products, drive Navisworks from outside the GUI and automate certain tasks. You can also utilize the new .NET controls by embedding them in your own applications, for example, by creating a Navisworks document viewer.

Assemblies necessary to build your application are included in every Navisworks product. Documentation and samples are available in the product install folder for Autodesk Navisworks Manage and Simulate.

NWCreate is for making Navisworks models. You can use it to write exporters from third-party applications that create NWC files, or use it to write a loader for your own file format that integrates seamlessly into Navisworks. It provides both C and C++ APIs, which means you can use it with any language that supports calling standard C functions. Tried and tested, this is the same API the Navisworks team uses to write all the file loaders and exporters that ship with the product.

It supports creation of geometry, properties, text, viewpoints, selection sets, materials and textures, and lights. Geometry support ranges from basic faceted triangle meshes all the way through to support for B-rep entities including basic modeling operations such as union, subtract, intersect, extrude, and revolve.

Navisworks is a powerful tool for piping design engineers, transforming how they work with 3D models. This software allows users to easily open, view, and combine 3D design models, offering a realistic look at plant layouts during the design phase. It enables engineers to navigate through virtual environments in real time, making it simple to coordinate, detect clashes, schedule projects, render images, and simulate construction.

Our team conducts 3D model reviews using Navisworks. It helps enhance project efficiency and accuracy across various engineering disciplines. Using Navisworks, we can combine complex 3D models while providing a comprehensive visual representation of plant designs. This allows our engineers to navigate through designs in real time, facilitating better understanding and communication among team members and clients.

Navisworks is a versatile software that compresses REVIT 3D model files to smaller, more manageable sizes, allowing various team members to access and interact on the platform. It excels at resolving disparities between different consultant models and functions as a powerful desktop tool for filtering and separating specialized model data. It is primarily utilized for project evaluation but can also open and integrate diverse 3D models to discover incompatibilities. Further, this software was originally developed by Lightwork Design and acquired by Autodesk in 2007, with the first stable release coming in 2016.

Objective: Our client requested assistance with laser scan to 3D Modeling of the topside FPSO module. The project included various services, including FPSO topside process module design, laser scan verification, and 3D modeling. Rishabh Engineering embarked on a transformative mission that included site assessments, data collection, and building a dynamic 3D model of the FPSO topside modules. Their extensive approach also included structural analysis, equipment position planning, and the creation of MTOs and reports for piping, mechanical, civil, structural, electrical, and instrument disciplines, resulting in a smooth and integrated project execution.

Objective: The Rishabh Engineering team performed a comprehensive piping stress analysis for the glycol processing system, incorporating support node number marking as required by the client. Rishabh Engineering successfully delivered the piping stress analysis within a span of three months. The project was executed by a dedicated team of three members, including one team leader, adhering to the ASME B31.3 codes and standards to ensure high-quality results.

Virtual Reality (VR) is one of the most exciting technologies to hit the AEC market in years. Architects, engineers and clients alike can experience a realistic virtual prototype of a building long before it is built.

This presents a huge opportunity for software developers to create push-button workflows to move quickly from CAD/BIM to VR. Such tools not only bring in the model geometry but also materials and lighting, so nothing needs to be done post-import.

Many of the current developments centre on Autodesk Revit, with a number of applications now supporting both the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive Head Mounted Displays (HMDs). It is these two HMDs that currently give the most immersive VR experience. The Samsung Gear VR and Google Cardboard deliver a more basic VR experience without positional head tracking.

Enscape is a real-time rendering plugin, providing a live link from Revit to a desktop 3D game engine that can also be used for VR. It can take minutes (even under a minute) to go from Revit to VR and, uniquely, any change made in Revit, automatically updates in Enscape. The software places a big emphasis on visual fidelity. Prices start at $449 per year.

Autodesk Live is a cloud service and application that turns Revit models into a fully navigable desktop game engine experience where users can also enter VR at the click of a button. Files are uploaded to the cloud using the Autodesk LIVE Revit plug-in. Once processed, the game engine experience is downloaded to the desktop. This process takes around 10 to 15 mins with small to medium-sized models. Autodesk LIVE experiences can also be enhanced with Autodesk Stingray. Prices start at $30 per month, although this is an introductory offer.

Entry-level smartphone VR headsets such as Google Cardboard can deliver impressive results, but for a fully immersive, navigable room-scale VR experience, you will need an Oculus Rift or HTC Vive. Both HMDs are tethered to a powerful 3D workstation via a long cable.

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