DWFx Exports from Revit 2018.3 not showing content in Navis Manage 2020

[Andrew.Frey]

Greetings,

I'm not sure if this is a Revit or a Navis issue so I'll just post here first. We have been having an issue recently that has baffled us. We've been using the same workflow for about 3years and are just noticing this issue. We're on Revit 2018.3 (it is required that we stick with this version for the duration of the project) and we are using Navisworks Manage 2020. We had been using Manage 2018 but we tried to update to 2020 to see if this issue would go away.

We use color filters on our model as an easy visual cue for our field crew. We'll color code conduit per trade diameter or unistrut per size/type. With the unistrut, we can apply a material to it, so it would show up with an NWC export. However, you can't apply a material to a conduit (still!) so we have to use color filters. These only show up if we export to a DWFx and then we can link them into our Navisworks model.

This workflow has worked great for years. 

Now, however, we are seeing missing content. If we work on some conduit/strut and then export them to DWFx as we have in the past, there are certain files (.nwf) that when you open them, that new content, or sometimes stuff has been there before and all we did was touch it before we re-export, will vanish. Refreshing the Navis model has that content disappear or not show up. Other content from that file will show up, just not what has been recently touched. 

If you open a blank Navis model and open the DWFx fresh, all of the content is there. We've tried remaking the .nwf's multiple times, even using ones that don't seem to be afflicted. But eventually, this keeps happening. 

Has anyone else seen this? Is this more likely a Navis issue? 

thanks

[gareth.spencer1]

Hi,

Have you tried opening the DWFx files in Autodesk Design Review to see how it displays in there? 

[Andrew.Frey]

Hi,

I haven't tried that, but if I open a DWFx by itself it will look okay. We have NWFs with all of our different models from us as well as the other subs all linked in. And over time these are the ones that will eventually stop reading the DWFx's correctly.

I'm attempting to install Design Review right now, we'll see how that goes. 

thanks

[mark.ryanV3F5A]

Hi @Andrew.Frey ,

Thanks for posting on the forums.  I would like to offer you some help with your question.  The best way for me to troubleshoot would be for you to share your file(s) along with a Screencast video which clearly shows which parts are missing in your refreshed Navisworks model.  If you are unable to do so, I will also send you a private message with a link to share. 

Also, please let me know if your Design Review experiment works!

Thank you,

Mark

[Andrew.Frey]

Hi Mark,

Thank you for your reply, and I saw your DM. Unfortunately, this job is under NDA so I can't share files or even screencast with you. If there is any other information I can give to try to help with the understanding of the issue, please let me know. 

As of this time I have been unable to get Design Review to install. 😕

[Andrew.Frey]

We just discovered something in our troubleshooting. If you open the file in the "Sheet Browser" all of the content is there. So, in our NWF we have a DWFx appended in that has content missing. If you open the sheet browser and add the same file to it, you can see all of the missing content. Then you can merge the file into the model and it will bring in the missing content. 

Obviously, this is not a great way to move forward as that is another step to an already long process, but maybe that could give some clues as to the issue?

[Andrew.Frey · Accepted solution]

We found the work around...

Since you can't export DWF to shared coordinates, we override their transform in Navis to our project base point so we align with the other trades. It turns out (and this is new) that after you do that and push out new content from that same file, the new content exports back to 0,0,0. 

Changing the origin of the file using "Units and Transform" instead of "Override Transform" seems to fix this issue. This never happened before though, so I'm not sure what changed.

Also, it would really be great if shared coordinates was an option for DWF export. It is available when you use Glue, I don't know why we can't use it with an export.