Comparing Changes between *different* models?

[bsk.h.skinner]

Hi everyone,

We're currently in the process of exploring BIM360 for a large project of ours (structural engineers).

Is there any way we can compare changes between DIFFERENT models?

Our structural model is based on the architectural model ie. it was simply renamed and adjusted, the elements have the same ID's etc.

(I am expecting it not to be possible....)

Cheers

[martyn_messerli]

@bsk.h.skinner Thanks for the question.

The short answer is NO, you cannot compare different models (or maybe there are ways I don't know yet):

From your question I assume want to copy a file somewhere and then applied your changes.

Due the problems which we can face when you compare different models, this is currently not possible/enabled. Technically it can be done and we are doing this already in Design Collaboration, where we compare the files shared by different teams with the "local" copy of that file.

Not sure what your use case would be, maybe Design Collaboration is already what you need. Maybe you can ellaborate on the use case/workflow you try to accomplish.

I hope this helps

Regards

Martyn

[bsk.h.skinner]

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@martyn_messerli wrote:
@....

Technically it can be done and we are doing this already in Design Collaboration, where we compare the files shared by different teams with the "local" copy of that file.

Not sure what your use case would be, maybe Design Collaboration is already what you need. Maybe you can ellaborate on the use case/workflow you try to accomplish.

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That actually sounds like what we need? As far as I saw you can 'only' compare and visualise changes between versions of the same model.
I'm new to BIM 360 and just familiarising myself with the functionalities.

To elaborate further I will explain where we are at. Work was begun on this project a while back and the models by the Architect is still in 2018. We're trying to persuade them to upgrade to 2021 and adopt BIM360, when we eventually all adopt it, it would be nice to visualise any discrepancies between the models and changes that have happened hitherto.

Hope this helps?

[martyn_messerli]

@bsk.h.skinner I'm sure we can come up with some fancy workarounds to address this issue. Of course the best would be if the architect would update to the latest Revit version.

BIM360 Docs has a feature which does upgrade uploaded models to a given Revit version, which might get handy for your workflow: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQiPiZtkens

I'm not that familiar with that service.

Basically the Architect can upload the model he has in the version he uses to BIM360 docs in to his folder. The service will upgrade the model to a newer version of Revit for all other collaborators. Now the thing where I'm not sure whether this would work. He can also upload newer version of the model (changes to the model) to revit to the same file in BIM360 Docs and create a new version. I would assume this would also be upgraded by the service. If this is the case, you can compare between the different versions uploaded.

Using Design Collaboration I can imagine, this should work even better (Controlled Sharing).

Maybe something you want to give a try.

Regards

Martyn

[bsk.h.skinner]

Thanks, you've been a great help.

And this is great to know, this knowledge is sure to come in handy in the future.

Unfortunately for this project, it's not really the version of Revit that the Architects are being difficult about, but the adoption of BIM360 in the first place. Scrimping on the tools that help simplify workflows... on a €700M project.

big sigh.