topic Re: Wblock not working in Navis in Fabrication CADmep Forum

Wblock not working in Navis

bjwardlow — Sun, 05 Nov 2017 14:06:39 GMT

When I create a Wblock and refresh my Navis model to load that Wblock's content, I get this message in Navis. If I copy with base point and paste the same content from my model into the Wblock drawing and save it, then I can open it just fine in Navis. Am I doing something wrong with my Wblock? I have not changed any settings from 2016 to 2018, and it worked fine up until about a month ago. I am using 2018 Fabrication CADmep, and 2017 Navisworks Manage.

Re: Wblock not working in Navis

martinTstewart_Adsk — Mon, 13 Nov 2017 21:31:47 GMT

Hi BJ

It’s not clear to me what the Wblock workflow is for. Can you give a more detailed description of your workflow and what the objective of using Wblocking is? Maybe include an image from CADmep of what you are wblocking?

I also see you're trying to pull it from a dropbox directory. What happens if you put the wblock / dwg on your desktop?

Re: Wblock not working in Navis

bjwardlow — Wed, 15 Nov 2017 13:58:05 GMT

This is just 1 example of what I would be using the Wblock for. I create a model drawing with xrefs for the background, and contract drawing sheets to follow their intended layout, as well as anything else I would like to have in my drawing while coordinating. I then create a wblock of just the content, in this case chilled water piping. I had never had an issue with the wblock not working until recently. When I create the wblock from this job, I can open it in AutoCAD just fine, but it will not load into Navis. If I were to select all of the content, copy it to my clipboard, then paste it into the wblock drawing it will open in Navis just fine. It is an acceptable work-around, but it is a little more time consuming because I have to have the model drawing open and the wblock drawing open, delete the content currently in the wblock drawing, then copy and paste from the model back into the wblock drawing versus simply just wblocking out of my model drawing. I hope this helps you understand what I am trying to do. Any help/guidance would be appreciated.

Re: Wblock not working in Navis

bjwardlow — Wed, 15 Nov 2017 14:00:09 GMT

Also, as for your question about placing the drawing on my desktop. I have not yet tried this, but I can give it a shot. However, I have always been able to do this exact process using Dropbox in the past, it is just become a problem recently. And going forward, I cannot place all drawings on my desktop to be able to do this, there should be no reason it wont work with Dropbox.

Re: Wblock not working in Navis

martinTstewart_Adsk — Wed, 15 Nov 2017 21:50:19 GMT

So it would be worth testing the local drive versus dropbox just to be sure. Especially since error says it may be "unavailable".

If may be an issue with using a newer version of CADmep than your Navisworks. Do you have access to Manage 2018 to use with CADmep 2018?

If could be the the wblock process is not getting the CADmep specific components correctly. It may be stripping this out because it can't read it(?)

Or there is some sort of file corruption going on.

This could also have something to do with your AutoCAD/CADmep coordinates. In AutoCAD/CADmep, in the World Coordinate System, how far is the model from 0,0,0? Maybe try moving everything much closer to 0,0,0. Pick a point in the model, such as a corner of the building and put it right at 0,0,0. Then save and try your Wblock workflow again.

Another thing to check in Navisworks is the Scene Statistics. Does it indicate that an object enabler is missing?

You may need to install the Autodesk Fabrication CADmep 2017 Object Enabler

However, I'm not sure if that will handle the CADmep 2018 piping. That's why matching release version may be needed.

Autodesk Fabrication CADmep 2018 Object Enabler