NAVISWORKS - NOT SHOWING ANY CAD-DUCT PIPEWORK

[keith987897]

Hey,

I have drawn all my pipework in Autocad 2011 with CAD-Duct, works perfectly inc. small viewer in AutoCAD picks up pipework without fail.

Load the DWG into Navisworks....

Now all I an see is objects that i've extruded myself and that's not in the CAD-Duct library.
Is this just a Object Enabler that is missing? I thought to myself though if I can see the pipework in AutoCAD then it must be a different problem.

Some advise would be greatly appreciated :lol:
Thanks,
Keith.

[keith987897]

I have also typed the command "NWNAVIGATOR" into autoCAD and pipework shows up fine.

Im a bit confused as to what is the problem, lol...

[pauljordan]

Make sure you have your object enablers installed in NavisWorks first.

Next, make sure in Autocad, Style Manager, Piping Objects, Pipe System Definitions, (insert your system name here), Single Line Graphics, The Display pipe and inline/anchorage components as graphical 1-line is NOT checked.

Navisworks is more like Adobe Reader than anything else. It sees what you would see if you printed the view from Autocad MEP, not just what you saved it as.

Make sense?? OK, I'm sure it doesn't but, I'm pretty sure this is where your problem lies.

One quick way to tell if that box is checked... Centerlines visible on your piping objects.

[dennis howell]

I have also found that I need the Object Enablers for Civil 3D as well as the CAD DUCT OEs to get piping to look right.

[keith987897]

Thanks for the helpful responses.
You wouldn't happen to have the website for the Object Enabler for Navisworks/ Civil 3D? I just assumed that only AutoCAD was the one that used the OE.

The centrelines of my pipework are showing up, and all visual styles/ style manager seem to be correctly configured.
85500

Thanks again, Keith

[pauljordan]

If you're using Autocad MEP, the OE for Civil 3D won't be of any help. You need to OE for Autocad MEP FROM the Cad Duct website. Take a look at this website, about halfway down the page..

Here's another source for the Navisworks OE's for Cad-Duct: http://forums.autodesk.com/t5/Autodesk-Navisworks/Object-Enablers-CAD-Ducts-and-pipes-Navisworks-2012/td-p/3057250

Let us know if that fixes the problems.

[dennis howell]

I disagree, you could very well need the Civil 3D OE, based on my past experience as well as clients'. Doesn't hurt to have them all.
http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/index?siteID=123112&id=2753223&linkID=9240618

[ajw273]

I have attached our Object Enabler instructions that I have modified from the MAP website. We draw with CAD-Duct and CAD-Mech and I get this question EVERY time I send files to other companies. They are always only able to see extruded objects until they follow the instructions and then it fixes the issue.

After following the directions, restart your applications and make sure you delete ALL .NWC FILES ASSOCIATED WITH YOUR DRAWINGS PRIOR TO REOPENING NAVISWORKS!

[pauljordan]

Nice tutorial ajw... exept for the part about deleting all the .nwc files. When you have upwards of 1700 files for a model, you might as well go to lunch and take an nap afterwards for NavisWorks to recreate all the .nwc's.. But, that's part of being a BIM Coordinator I reckon.

When we ran into this issue at a prior company I worked with, we ran the OE in Autocad MEP, saved the files, then opened the .nwf and it reloaded the files we hanged. No real need to delete all the files for this to work.. By all files, I mean Arch, Struct, Electrical, Telecom, Process... etc..

YMMV

[ajw273]

I'm sure there are other alternatives to deleting the .nwc files but that one worked for me and I stuck with it. For me it isn't a huge deal as I'm usually only working with about 20 files at most for one of my models and only a few of those are actually the ones associated with CAD-Duct, CAD-Mech, or CAD-MEP. Only the ones that are actually drawn with those programs need to have the .nwc files deleted, not ALL of the files.

Not sure if that is what you are getting at or if you thought I meant every file. If you do have that many files that would have to be deleted and then regenerated in Navisworks then I completely agree that it would be a bad idea (might as well open the model on Friday afternoon and it might be ready by Monday morning haha).

If you are only working with a few drawings then I would still recommend deleting the .nwc files as that has always seemed to work for me.

[keith987897]

Thanks for all the input towards this Navisworks problem.

I have come to a conclusion that it wasn't the Object Enabler as such but more so the "File Reader" in the "Options Editor" in Navisworks -> Under DWG/DXF.
Please see attached JPEG, wha't ive done was originally it was set on 2011 as I thought that would be right because that's the version of AutoCAD i was running, but when I changed it to 2010 and rebooted Navisworks and opened up the DWG file it worked fine. :lol:

85602

[pauljordan]

OK, I can see why you would delete the related files but, yeah, deleting the whole model would be cockoo for Cocoa Puffs.

I have found issues when working with the export nwc command in Revit where the .nwc files won't refresh when my Revit users give me updated files. Those I tend to just delete and re-append to the models, just to make sure they're taking hold. It's for that very reason I don't have my team using the nwcout command in Autocad MEP.

Like you, I've found what works and plan to stick with it until I have some track record of comparisons to change my process.

I'm currently working on a project where one of my models has 1,174 drawings in it, all converted and cleaned up from scanned images. This number will rise a good bit as we haven't started the actual 3D design for all the new goodies as of yet.

Find what works and stick with it.. Nobody will be with you at 2am while you're rebuilding your models..

[jspartz]

I found it's better to use the NWC exporter in AutoCAD MEP for CAD-Duct if you are sharing any original Navisworks files with the team. That way you don't have to worry about others not having the OE installed. Only the original program that exports the NWC needs the OE installed, after that the objects are set.