Beyond the Paper

Navisworks and AutoCAD Civil 3D Transportation Demo

The enclosed video takes you through a transportation scheme in Civil 3D and shows how to use Navisworks for review, clash detection of objects and construction sequencing.

The video was posted on YouTube by our European FromTheGroundUp blog team.

 

Enjoy!

NavisWorks Performance Issues and Settings

You are using NavisWorks Manage 2009 and notice that navigation around your model is not quite what you were expecting - with slow performance and choppy cursor movements.

The performance of NavisWorks can be affected by large models, hardware configurations and constraints as well as system settings. Good news is that there are some basic adjustments that you can make to optimize performance.

Most modeling computers operate with 4GB of RAM. However, you can enable the /3GB switch in order to free resources and use more memory for various system processes. Enabling the /3GB switch is not complex and information is widely available on its use and how it can be set.

Try turning off Hardware Acceleration to see whether performance improves, by using the following steps:

• Open NavisWorks.
• Click Tools menu > Global Options > Interface > Display.
• Clear the Hardware Acceleration check box.
• Exit NavisWorks.
• Restart NavisWorks.

If performance improves, the issue is probably due to the graphics board drivers. Graphics board drivers are often overlooked as an upgrade area. Some card manufacturers update their drivers every few months, improving performance and maximizing the capabilities of the card. Sometimes, drivers may become corrupted, causing performance issues. This can occur even on new computers or computers with newly installed drivers.

Please check with the manufacturer of your graphics board to see if new drivers are available. If they are, we recommend for you to install them and then to turn Hardware Acceleration back on (click Tools menu > Global Options > Interface > Display). If no new drivers are available, or newer drivers do not resolve the issue, leave Hardware Acceleration turned off.

If you access files from a central server location, bandwidth may cause performance issues. This is not common. However, if you experience slow performance, try copying the files from the server to your computer to see if this improves performance.

Please let us know whether you have any feedback, comments or suggestions.

Thank you.

Navisworks NWD or Navisworks NWF file format?

So what exactly is the difference between the two Navisworks file formats?

NWD File Format

When you save to a Navisworks (NWD) file, all loaded models, the scene's environment, the current view, and favorite viewpoints (including redlines and comments) are all saved to a single file. This is known as publishing a Navisworks file and creates a "snapshot" of the project. An NWD file is considered a complete file and can be opened in any Navisworks product and the Navisworks Freedom viewer.

NWF File Format

When you save to the Navisworks file format (NWF), only a list with pointers to the files currently loaded is saved, along with the scene's environment, the current view, clash results, if available, and favorite viewpoints (including redlines and comments).

To open an NWF file, a Navisworks product is required, such as Review, Simulate, or Manage (not Freedom), as well as access to the original CAD files. (Note: Copies of the original CAD files may be used. However, they must have the same file names as the original files).

When you open a CAD file in Navisworks, by default, a corresponding cache file (NWC) is created, which contains all of the conversion details required by Navisworks. When you subsequently open that CAD file in Navisworks, it will check to see whether a cache file is available. If it is, then Navisworks will check to see whether the CAD file has been modified since it was last opened in Navisworks. If the file has not been modified, Navisworks will read the cache file, speeding up the loading process and utilizing less memory. If the CAD file has been modified, Navisworks will read the CAD file in again and re-create the cache.

It is strongly recommended that you use an NWF file when referencing several CAD files. This will prevent you from having to republish the Navisworks file whenever one of the CAD files is amended because the NWF file will open the most recent files available. The NWF file will read in the cache files of CAD files that have not been modified, which can significantly reduce the time to load the files and the amount of memory used.

For this reason, it is also strongly recommended that you use an NWF file when conducting clash tests. The original clash results will be saved in the NWF file. You can then modify the CAD files as necessary. When the NWF file is opened again, the revised CAD files will be opened, and the Clash Detective, having retained the original clash data, will determine that those clashes have already been resolved.