Friday, March 27, 2009

NavisWorks and LMtools

Yes, we installed NavisWorks on a new workstation.
On this PC we installed the LMTools and used the Network License Activy Utility to receive our new network license. That all works fine.

So NavisWorks runs nice on that PC (actually 64 bits, Windows XP!). Because it runs the service and NavisWorks. Anyhow, now the other pc's have to connect to this new server.

Finally we found it. Still at the workstation with the LMTools running, the Microsoft Windows Firewall had been turned on. When turning this off, everyone can use the NavisWorks licenses again!

Now, I have to find out what ports have to be set for the firewall.

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

How to link Excel using DataTools within NavisWorks

This is not in the NavisWorks tutorial, but very handy.

  1. Start MS Excel and open:
    C:\Program Files\Autodesk\NavisWorks Manage 2009\Examples\gatehouse\gatehouse.xls

  2. Insert a Row on the top of the file and add column names (eg Layer, Date and Remark)

  3. Save the Excel file
  4. Start NavisWorks and open: gatehouse.nwd
  5. Activate DataTools via Tools\File Options
  6. Select the Tab DataTools
  7. Press on New to create a new DataTool set
  8. Type a Name eg: Excel link

  9. Choose for ODBC driver: Driver Microsoft Excel (*.xls)

  10. Press the Setup button and select the Worksheet

  11. In the SQL String type:
    SELECT * FROM [GateHouse_LayerInfo$] WHERE "Layer"= %prop("Item", "Layer");

  12. Whatch out! The $-sign is very important here!
  13. Double click in the Fields section and Enter the Field names according to the Column names you entered in Excel earlier

  14. Press OK
  15. The new Excel link is activated
  16. Press OK again
  17. Now, select an object and show the property in NavisWorks
  18. An extra tab "Excel link" is shown with the linked data to it.

Monday, March 2, 2009

?Not able to change parameters when in Family Editor

This happenend to us when changing parameters in the Family Types dialogue.

  • not able to change a Revit parameter from Type to Instance (or otherwise)
  • not able to change a value of a Revit parameter eg width = 600 to width = 400

History

We changed the "UniformatClassifications.txt" to our own classification.
We developed our own Revit library and added directly the Assembly code in it for all objects.

Problem occurs when

  • Re-install of Revit and forgot to change the "UniformatClassifications.txt" file, OR
  • Use of other Revit objects referencing the wrong assembly code, OR
  • Use of another Revit project specific "UniformatClassifications.txt" file

Solution


Select the Assembly Code in the Family Types dialogue and
- delete the value
- change the value by pressing on the ... button to a good Assembly code

Your own avatar in Revit

At http://www.andekan.com/our-revit-family-meet-andy.html you can download an avatar family called Anders Kan. It is fully parametric and works in all Revit flavours (Architecture, Structure and MEP).