Project navigator training

[Oilymo]

I've been using ACA for over 10 years now and have never really got into the project navigator.  My primary business is domestic extensions/loft conversions etc. in the UK and using Xrefs into a master file has worked very well.  I am now aware that some projects have become overly large and unwieldy and therefore wonder if the PN is the way forward.  Also we find we have to revisit projects a few years later with a minor change or when the original proposal needs to be further extended.

Can anyone point me in the direction of a good tutorial or a good reseller (in the UK) - most of them are more interested in selling me Revit!!

Kind regards

Ben

[David_W_Koch]

Project Navigator (and the Drawing Management feature), eases the creation and management of external references.  I am not certain it would make a large and unwieldy project and increase its "wieldiness," but perhaps if using it would make it easier to break the project up into more, smaller, separate files that are only combined as needed to create a particular view, it might help some.

If you have access to any of Paul Aubin's ACA books (last one was for the 2011 release), they cover the use of Project Navigator while working through two different project tutorials (one residential, one commercial).  Other authors may also cover it, but I am not familiar with their work.

[MarySeufert · Accepted solution]

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@Oilymo wrote:

... some projects have become overly large and unwieldy and therefore wonder if the PN is the way forward...

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I find the Project Navigator to be an excellent tool for project organization. If you are at all familiar with Sheet Set Manager, it would be a smooth integration. I think of the PN as SSM on steriods. Even if you don't use the PN workflow as intended, it will help with organization. It does force a folder structure on you, but if you have a well thought out system already, you can force the PN to place files under your own folder structure. I'm not sure if using PN on an existing project would make your workflow easier. I would probably recommend to just use plain Sheet Set Manager to keep track of your production drawings. I'll often make a sheet set on existing plan sets just to archive them, or plot them out quickly.

As for finding good tutorials, I'd start with a google search. Tried looking through the AU website, but for some inexplicable reason they have destroyed that site's usefulness. I learned the PN from going through the tutorials that came with ACA 2009 and 2010, but I have had no luck finding them again on Autodesk's new and unimproved (for learning) website.

[Oilymo]

David, Mary,

Thank you for your advice.  I'll spend the Easter weekend having a look for the tutorials etc..

Kind regards

Ben