MicroStation RGB colours come out as black in Navisworks

[Grant_Tilley]

Hi,

I use the Navisworks Exporter NWCOUT command to generate my nwc's from MicroStation. The standard MicroStation 0 to 255 colours map across to Navisworks fine, but any objects set to RGB colours in MicroStation come out as black in Navisworks. Is there a way to map the MicroStation RGB colours to Navisworks RGB colours?

Thanks.

[Judy_S]

Hi, Grant.tilley,

I'm Judy from Technical Support. I'll be happy to see if I can help you with your question. Can you tell me which version of Navisworks you are using? Do you have all updates installed? 

I'm not familiar with Microstation as it's not an Autodesk product, so I don't know what export options you are presented with (though our help documentation for the DGN File Reader shows that RGB color models are supported; this page also lists what types of files are supported). 

However, since DGN is a supported file format in Navisworks, you might try opening the file directly in Navisworks to see if you get different results. 

Let me know if this helps!

Thanks,

Judy_S

[Grant_Tilley]

Thanks for replying, Judy. I'm using Navisworks Simulate 2019 but I've noticed this problem for at least 4 years (from NW2015).

Ideally I would like to add the MicroStation files directly to Navisworks but I have had to go with the "File Exporters" option to overcome another problem. When I attach DGN files I  will often find certain objects have moved or rescaled. These objects are cells (MicroStation's equivalent to AutoCAD blocks) and I believe is this may be caused by the working units in the cell being different to the working units of the DGN file they have been inserted into.

Attached are two example screen captures I've taken showing my 3D standard man.  Number 1 was exported from MicroStation using the NWEXPORT16 mdl application. The skin colour (RGB 255,205,148) has not exported to Navisworks at all. Number 2 is the same DGN file attached to Navisworks. You can see that the skin colour is fine but his helmet has disappeared because it is a cell. Usually these cells have either moved or rescaled by 10, 100, etc.

The RGB is a problem I can overcome (although it is cumbersome) but I can't overcome the disappearing cells problem. So I don't attach MicroStation models directly to Navisworks.

I'm hoping you might be able to offer a solution to either of these problems.

Regards,

Grant Tilley

[Judy_S]

Hi, Grant,

Thanks for sharing your files privately. After testing and researching this issue, I've sent the issue to development for further investigation. 

The Navisworks Dev team is currently focused on addressing bugs in the software, cloud functionality and interoperability with Autodesk products, so the Microstation issue will be a lower priority, and I don't expect to receive significant updates about this in the near future. I'm sorry for the frustration this is causing! Would you be willing to share how you worked around the RGB issue? This might be helpful to other users who are encountering this issue. 

Thanks, and let me know if you have any other questions. Have a good day!

Best,

Judy_S

[Grant_Tilley]

Hi Judy,

Unfortunately I have no real work around for this problem. When I create the NWF file I have to find all those objects that came out black and override their RGB colours. It is time consuming and sometimes I don't spot them until I'm doing a design review with the client.

Regards,

Grant.

[Judy_S]

Hi, Grant,

I'm sorry to hear it's such a tme-consuming problem and that there's really no good workaround. I'll keep an eye on the internal development ticket and update this post when I have any news to share with you and anyone else who's interested. Thanks for your patience while we look into the issue. 

Best regards,

Judy_S