Delve into the Navisworks interface and gain a comprehensive understanding of how to open files and navigate the program. This article introduces you to the process of opening files, basic navigation tools, and advanced navigation techniques for more detailed viewing of your model.
Key Insights
- Navisworks is a non-modeling program capable of opening up numerous file types which may originate from different sources, such as Revit, AutoCAD, and SketchUp. This allows for a diversity of files to be appended together in one workspace.
- Understanding and utilizing the viewcube is integral to basic navigation in Navisworks. The viewcube offers preset view directions and enables users to change view orientation conveniently. It also allows for rotation of the model and acts as a high-level navigation tool.
- Advanced navigation tools provide a more in-depth view of the model. These tools include the pan tool, zoom window tool, and a variety of orbit tools. Each tool has a unique function and secondary function, optimizing their usage can significantly enhance navigation and viewing experience within Navisworks.
Note: These materials offer prospective students a preview of how our classes are structured. Students enrolled in this course will receive access to the full set of materials, including video lectures, project-based assignments, and instructor feedback.
Welcome back to the Navisworks video series. In this video I'll be covering how to open files and also delve further into the Navisworks interface, and we'll be starting with a little bit of navigation in the program. So the first thing I'd like you to do is, if you haven't already, open up Navisworks Manager and then go to the View tab and load workspace navisworks-minimal.
You'll see the splash screen flash and then Navisworks will come back and you will have fewer panels and fewer tools open. This way we'll have fewer distractions when we go to open up our files initially. So it's first important to understand that Navisworks is not a modeling program.
So likely the models that we open or that you'll be getting come from different sources. It's for this reason that Navisworks can open up many different file types. So for example we can get a file from Revit and append that with another file that's actually from AutoCAD and then another file that was exported to FBX from say SketchUp.
But of course we will have to know how to open a file. So you can do this one of two ways. You can hit the open folder in your quick launch bar or you can select the application button and then select open.
And the file that I'd like to start out with is in our Lesson 1 folder of the Navisworks class file folder. And Navisworks will always look for the files of type that you previously opened. So currently it's set to Navisworks nwd for mine.
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It could be different for yours. If you don't see what you're looking for, which is actually the metalgate.nwd file, then make sure you drop the files of type dialogue and select Navisworks nwd. Click on metalgate.nwd and hit open.
And depending on the speed of your computer you may have to wait a few seconds. Once your files open, I'd like to go over some basic navigation tools. Navigation is one thing that makes Navisworks both unique and a little bit more difficult to learn than other Autodesk programs.
So let's first start with some basic navigation. On the top right hand side of your scene, which used to be the large black area, now it's a large area with a model in it, you'll see the viewcube. And the viewcube is a series of different points, selectable points, that have preset view directions.
So for example, if you drag your cursor over any of the edges or corners of this viewcube and say click on one, then you'll see that your view will change to the orientation represented by the viewcube. Hit the corner, you will see a 45 degree view. And if you select say top, then we'll see a top down view.
If you're on top, then you'll see these two rotation arrows. If you select one of the rotation arrows, then your rotation will be moved 90 degrees, either counterclockwise or clockwise, depending on which rotation button you've selected. You can rotate to any intermediate degree by selecting the ring that has the compass on it, and drag your cursor left and right.
It won't tell you what degree you're moving it, but it's freehand. And if you select any of the arrows pointing at the left, right, bottom, or sorry, front or back, then your orientation will change accordingly. The viewcube acts as more of a high-level navigation tool that's quick to access.
I typically use the corners to rotate the model, and I can rotate it much faster than I can with all the other more intricate view tools. But if we really want to get a good look at our model, then we have to use these other tools that are provided on the right-hand side. So let's start going through those.
Starting with the second from the top, there is the hand, which is a pan tool. The way that this one works, it's sort of like if you have a piece of paper on top of a desk, and you want to move that paper, then I would just swipe right or left to move that paper, and up and down in a one-to-one motion. I'm sure we've all used something similar to this.
Each of these view tools has a secondary function. The pan tool's secondary function is actually pan, and the way that you'd use that is if you press the center mouse button or the wheel, then you'll see that it'll actually change to the pan tool, but it will give you a little tooltip that tells you that you're using a pan tool. The other view options have different secondary tools.
Next, we can go to the zoom window tool, and this one works by zooming to the extents of a box that we draw. So with the tool selected, I'm going to hold my left mouse button and then move the cursor to the right and down, and then I'll let go of the left mouse button, and we'll see that the extents of that box are now the extents of my seat, and if you use the center mouse button, the mouse wheel, and then you'll see that that turns into the pan tool as its secondary tool. With the zoom box selected, you can use the mouse wheel to zoom in by pushing forward on the wheel or pulling back on the wheel zooms out, and keep in mind we will discuss this a little bit later, but see where I'm zooming there it creates a pivot point on the nearest surface, and that pivot point changes wherever I start to zoom in and out from.
The other zoom tools are underneath the zoom window, and there is simply the zoom tool, and by holding down the left mouse button and pushing the mouse forward or back, then I can easily zoom scale, and that's what it's called in other programs, but it's a much more fluid and one-to-one motion. You'll also notice that the pivot appears wherever I, or actually it's repositioned wherever I start to zoom. These zoom selected zooms to the extents of whatever I have selected.
I just had nothing selected, so it zoomed to the extents of the entire project, but if I were to, for example, select one of the buildings and then select the zoom selected tool, then it will zoom to the extents of that one thing that I have selected. We'll be covering selection more in the future, and then of course zoom all is the same as if I didn't have anything selected with zoom selected. It zooms to the entire extents of the project, and then the last few navigation tools we'll be covering in this video are of the orbit tools.
If you select the orbit button underneath the zoom buttons and press the left mouse button, then you will see that a pivot point appears on the plan, and you can move your mouse left and right, up and down, and the model follows that in a one-to-one motion. The secondary tool is zoom. I'm using my mouse wheel, and here's what I was talking about before.
If I were to orbit now, my pivot point would have changed. If I were to zoom over here and change my pivot point and start to orbit, then my pivot point will determine where my model orbits from or around. So to change your pivot position, simply zoom into the region where you'd want to center your orbit.
There's a way to focus your pivot, but because it's already a secondary tool within the orbit, then this is actually the easiest way to get the pivot point to change. Free orbit, which is the tool that's underneath the orbit tool, will allow you to orbit your model without keeping your model vertical. If you need to get underneath something and you don't care that your model's going to look wonky, then that's the tool for you.
I typically don't have any use for free orbit. And then constrained orbit, you'll see that the model will reverticalize, and this spins your model as if your model is on some kind of pole. You cannot orbit up or down like you could with the other orbit tool, but it allows you to move your model around in a turntable fashion.
This concludes part one of the navigation tools and opening files. We'll be getting into the more complex navigation tools and more complex opening or independent models in the future. Thank you.