How to export P3D model to Naviswork ??

[Morpheus87]

hello guys,

how can I export my P3D *.dwg model to a *.nwd Navisworks file?

I can't find *.nwd extension in the extensions list in export window

[Anonymous]

in Plant3D type NWCOUT open the .nwc file in Navisworks and re-save as .nwd if required.

[Morpheus87]

Thanks for your reply,

but, this only export *.nwc which can't be opened to converted in Navisworkd Freedom

is there any way to export a *.nwd file directly from Plant 3D ?

[dgorsman]

No there isn't.  You need Navisworks Simulate or Manage in order to "publish" the NWD file.  Normal practice would be to use those programs to create an NWF file with all the associated models, then publish from that file.

If you are using a Suite or Collection license then you should already have access to at least Simulate.  Manage was included in the top-tier Suite products.

[Anonymous]

Has anyone been successful in doing this via accoreconsole? I try to load a piping model into acoreconsole via:

accoreconsole /product PLNT3D /language "en-us" /i "path\to\my\file.dwg" /p "path\to\a\profile.arg"

and almost immediately I get an error dialog saying: 

"The program can't start because AcDrawBridge.dll is missing from your computer. Try reinstalling the program to fix this problem", and then the AutoCAD Error Report dialog appears. In the cmd window itself, I get:

************************MessageBox****************************
Exception in pnp3dpipeui.dll ARX Command
Unhandled Exception e0434352 (e0434352h) at address fd03a06dh
>>>Responding: OK.
**************************************************************

and then

************************MessageBox****************************
AutoCAD Error Aborting

FATAL ERROR: Unhandled Access Violation Reading 0xffffffff Exception at c7a608d3h

>>>Responding: OK.
**************************************************************

Any ideas? 

[jabowabo]

If your goal is to create an NWC file from an AutoCAD file, you might consider using the Navisworks API (Autodesk.Navisworks.Automation). We use a standalone app here that I developed and it works nicely 🙂

Note: You will need a paid version of Navisworks (not Freedom) to use the API.

[Anonymous]

Yes, I am familiar with the API, but sometimes the generated NWC/D doesn't contain all of the information, (i.e.: structural) if another package is used. It seems that running nwcout from within AutoCAD captures the required data. 

[jabowabo]

No problems with structural (Plant 3D or Advance Steel) here. You will need all applicable object enablers and the Navisworks Exporters installed.

[dgorsman]

Yup.  I've had Navisworks models with CADWorx Plant, AutoPLANT, and ProSteel; others with CADWorx Plant, Plant3D, and ProStructures.  It comes down to having the right gravy of DWG reader version, third-party application version, and object enabler.

[Anonymous]

Well currently no luck in generating an nwd from an Advanced Steel DWG. I have the proper object enabler installed: 

But when a corresponding DWG is loaded in Simulate, I get an empty display and nothing in the selection tree. However, with a DWG exported to DWF via "3ddwf" within Plant3D and that dwf is opened in Simulate, I see all kinds of data.

What am I missing on the Navisworks side? I just want to rely on Roamer and the API to construct these.. 

[Anonymous]

---

@dgorsman wrote:

Yup.  I've had Navisworks models with CADWorx Plant, AutoPLANT, and ProSteel; others with CADWorx Plant, Plant3D, and ProStructures.  It comes down to having the right gravy of DWG reader version, third-party application version, and object enabler.

---

This post seems to suggest that the only way to get the AS properties is via export to dwf? What are you doing differently?

[dgorsman]

Ah, yes - now that we're actually talking about AS and not P3D. 

I don't think there's been any movement on that front.  With the OE it should be generating solids, just without any properties.  For what it's worth we used to deal with the same thing when using ProSteel.  As long as the shapes looked "right" there weren't any complaints about no properties.

[Anonymous]

---

@dgorsman wrote:

Ah, yes - now that we're actually talking about AS and not P3D. 

I don't think there's been any movement on that front.  With the OE it should be generating solids, just without any properties.  For what it's worth we used to deal with the same thing when using ProSteel.  As long as the shapes looked "right" there weren't any complaints about no properties.

---

Unfortunately that's not the case with my requirements 😕 - need the properties. At least with Prosteel we could see something in Simulate and just not have the properties, but in this case, we get a blank rendering in Simulate. 

Ok, so it sounds like I have to pump out DWFs via 3ddwf. So perhaps I'll go back with an accoreconsole approach for CSA models..

[Anonymous]

---

@dgorsman wrote:

Ah, yes - now that we're actually talking about AS and not P3D. 

I don't think there's been any movement on that front.  With the OE it should be generating solids, just without any properties.  For what it's worth we used to deal with the same thing when using ProSteel.  As long as the shapes looked "right" there weren't any complaints about no properties.

---

Any idea how to use accoreconsole for this then? When I try to issue a 3ddwf command, I get:

** 3DDWF publishing is allowed only in Model Tab. **

.. I've tried doing the MSPACE command before, but I get the same result?

..... sounds like my only fallback is to spin up ACAD and scr a batch of DWGs to process...?

[Anonymous]

I got past that by setting tilemode to 1 before issuing the 3ddwf command. But now there is no output.. seems that 3ddwf command from AccCoreConsole ins't working or supported?

[Morpheus87]

the best thing I could in the free version is to export the model as .nwc file

the conversion to .nwd file is available only on the paid versions of Navisworks

[Anonymous]

Well we have the paid version of Navisworks Simulate.. but still my problems remain..

This post, in the Advanced Steel forum, better explains my issues.

[Morpheus87]

you should be able to convert the exported .nwc file to .nwd format 

[Anonymous]

exported NWC files don't retain the AS properties. They seem to only be retained via a 3ddwf export. That has problems when trying to automate as it always throws open a dialog. Any other way to accomplish this?

[dgorsman]

You'd have to dig into that a bit.  Core console only supports CRX and no ARX; the former is specifically compiled to be independent of dialogs and other user interaction.  If the 3D DWF export module is only ARX then you might not be able to do it that way.

You might be able to Publish through a set of files as a stop-gap measure, there should be a 3D DWF option in there.  But yeah - the devs should really modify the OE to grant read-only access to the property data in DWG-reading applications.