Selection Tree Management

[pauljordan]

Able to copy the list of drawings from the selection tree to an Excel or Word document for drawing coordination and keeping track of drawing lists.

Also, the ability to sort the list by alphabetical or extension would be a big plus for when we have to manually check the list against the above mentioned list of drawings.

When working with several hundred process pipe drawings along with all the other files that go along with them, it can be quite a chore to make sure you have all the files necessary to create the model you need to create. Keeping an external list is the best way to make sure you can track the files, see the current dates and file sizes, and put ownership to the files themselves. That way if the cable tray clashes with the 160" HVAC duct, you can go to Ralph the Electrician and tell him he has to move his tray because now you know who the drawing belongs to.

In small shops this is a no brainer but, when you work on uber-huge fabrication plants with over 200 designers throwing drawings at you, it's a bit of a chore to keep them in order.

[JeffHUK]

Hi Paul,

Interesting ideas. I'm guessing from the description, you'll have various shared folders of files, or users emailing files around?

Just to play devil's advocate for a moment, have the various coordination tools like Autodesk Vault, Buzzsaw, or Constructware not helped with larger projects? If our integration with those tools was more seamless, would you be more inclined to use them? What data would you want to see in Navisworks?

I guess I'm taking the viewpoint that says 'if the user is talking about taking data out of Navisworks to Word, surely we can support a workflow better than just that' :)

Speaking purely as a user in a different but related arena of work (developer source control), the benefits of going from a bunch of shared files with no associated metadata to a coordinating project server are considerable (albeit with initial investment in infrastructure).

Jeff

[pauljordan]

Hey Jeff,

Offsite file servers are a definite no-no with our client. You definitely have to be in the "Circle of Trust" to even look at the files we're working with. They're all having to do with enormous processing facilities is about the best I can say about it.

We have to bring in files from multiple worldwide office locations which we save in secure folders and when our local folks get them, they'll copy them down to our working directories. I've basically got all of the 3D files I'm bringing into my model stored in one directory, even though there are multiple buildings.

I have to be able to grab the files and create my .nwf models and then save .nwd models for my designers to work with. When I append files to a model, it's easy the first time to have them all racked and stacked in alphabetical order but, as I add more files, they just get tacked on to the end of the list in the selection tree.

It seems like it would be so easy to just have the ability to click the column and have them list by name, type, date, etc. just like we do in pretty much all windows based programs that have a file handling capability.

There are quite a few other things about NW that don't work the way things work in Microsoft packages. Try resizing a dialogue box. I know Autocad was kind of slow on the uptake with that but, now that they know how, I'd hope they can make it work in NW and other programs they control.

Thanks for the ideas, hopefully by further explaining what it is I'm trying to do, you can understand my problem. When you initially have 40 drawings in a model and end up with over 250 drawings, you can imagine the complexity of trying to track which files are in your model and which ones you need to add or delete.

[zook_one]

Also, the ability to sort the list by alphabetical or extension would be a big plus for when we have to manually check the list against the above mentioned list of drawings.



See my other post for you about have the complete list of loaded models that you needed

You'll want to use Scene Statistics to Generate the List you need.

You're going to love this...

Right click any model in the Selection Tree> Select Scene > Sort > & Yes

All models are now sorted alphibetically in the selection tree. I found this out after 2 years of frustration myself...

enjoy - Z

[pauljordan]

I..... I...... I love you man..