AS125109 | How to Use Dynamo to Visibly Show Navisworks Clashes into Revit

AS125109
How to Use Dynamo to Visibly Show Navisworks
Clashes into Revit
Felix Tan
Stantec

Ryan Wells
Stantec

Learning Objectives
• Learn how to simplify a coordination workflow between Navisworks and Revit
• Learn how to easily locate Navisworks clashes in Revit using a Dynamo script
• Learn how to use a Revit Schedule to highlight clashes
• Learn how to add comments to the clash schedule for coordination

Description
The combination of Revit and Navisworks software is a great Building Information Modeling
(BIM) environment for model authoring and clash coordination. The workflow of using these
software systems is straightforward. Once the clash results are out, we can use the Switchback
tool from Navisworks Manage to locate those clashes back to Revit. However, having to
simultaneously highlight the exact location of those clashes in the Revit file is challenging. In
this class, we will show how we can use a Dynamo script to locate those clashes in Revit by
using a sphere family that can be scheduled and highlighted in the model for quick viewing.
Finally, we’ll add comments in the sphere family schedule to communicate these updates back
to the rest of the team.

Speakers
Felix Tan is the BIM Manager of Stantec, a multi-disciplinary firm based in Vancouver, British
Columbia, Canada. His professional involvement is in the architectural field that spans over 20
years. Half of his experience focuses more in design and construction in the Philippines where
he got his architectural license. While the other half is in Canada as a BIM specialist. He is a
seasoned technical specialist who provides project teams with strong leadership that will enable
them to start and maintain high quality BIM projects. He has worked extensively with multi-
disciplinary teams in the recreational, commercial, health, and education projects. He’s an
effective trainer with excellent consulting skills. Organizer of a BIM users group in the
Vancouver office. His goal is to help develop a knowledge-sharing culture in their office.

Ryan is a BIM Manager at Stantec, a global multi-discipline consulting firm. His decade-plus of
professional experience has been in Architecture on a variety of building types, leveraging
building and design data to develop and improve workflow, productivity, and accuracy. A BIM
advocate and technology devotee, he strives to deliver innovative solutions.

1 | 16
AS125109 | How to Use Dynamo to Visibly Show Navisworks Clashes into Revit

Identify the issue

In one of our BIM projects we hired a company who are experts in Navisworks clash detection
to run clash tests to all our models. They came back with a 4-inch-thick binder report! Who
would want to go page by page and check each of those clashes and try to confirm them back
in the model one at a time? It’s a waste of time doing this manually; there should be a quicker
way, digitally, where we can locate each of those clashes all at once. We are graphic person
and seeing where those clashes are in my model would be helpful. We don’t want to look at
Clash reports. We want to see the clashes themselves.

Solution

Good thing a passionate BIM Wizard named Cesare Caoduro (who happens to be an AU
speaker himself) created a simple Dynamo script to accurately locate Navisworks clashes back
to Revit, using a sphere shaped generic model, as a marker or a pointer.

As we all know Navisworks has the power to detect multiple clashes, including their exact x, y,
and z coordinates in the model, and export them as a report (using an XML file format). We will
use that information and leverage it by using Cesare’s Dynamo script, an Excel file, and the
sphere family to locate them back to our Revit model.

We didn’t stop at just locating those clashes but we will also use Revit’s power to create
Schedules to organize and eventually add more metadata to our Clash spheres. We can do this
by adding Revit Parameters specifically for Generic Models like the date of clash, the person to
assign this clash to, priority or urgency of the clash, and many others. We want to put enough
information on them to make it as collaborative a tool as possible. Our goal here is to make the
Clash Sphere and the Revit Schedule our coordination tool for the project team to use.

Prepare NWC file from Revit

1. In Revit, open a new 3D view of your model and make sure all appropriate object
categories are shown. Save this 3D View as “Navisworks Export.”

2 | 16
AS125109 | How to Use Dynamo to Visibly Show Navisworks Clashes into Revit

Important notes:
• Check your Visibility/Graphic Overrides and verify model categories are selected
accordingly.
• If your model is Work-share enabled, make sure all the appropriate Workset
Visibility Settings are all set to “Use Global Setting (Visible)”. Unless otherwise
you require a different setting.

2. In Revit, click Add-Ins → External Tools → Autodesk Navisworks.

Use the free NWC Export Utility to export your Revit model to an NWC file version.
Download the free utility here
https://www.autodesk.ca/en/products/navisworks/autodesk-navisworks-nwc-export-utility

Note: This option is not available in Demo/Viewer mode. If you are not in demo mode,
but do not have access to the Autodesk Navisworks menu, check if editing view is set to
normal, and the modify tool is selected ( Modify).

3 | 16
AS125109 | How to Use Dynamo to Visibly Show Navisworks Clashes into Revit

3. In the Export scene as… dialog box, enter the name for the Navisworks file, and browse
to the desired save location.

4. Click Save to export the file, or Cancel to return to the application without exporting it.
• Note: Linked files are not included when exporting to NWC file format
• Learn more about Revit to Navisworks workflow and best practices.1
• Best Practices in Autodesk Navisworks.2

Run clash test. Use Navisworks Manage to run clash test. Get results. Then
export report as xml

1. In Navisworks Manage, open the NWC files created earlier in Revit.

1
Autodesk Knowledge Network - Workflow: Using Revit and Navisworks
2
Autodesk University - CM6974-L - A Navisworks Template to Clash Them All by Andrew Brahney

4 | 16
AS125109 | How to Use Dynamo to Visibly Show Navisworks Clashes into Revit

2. Run your clash test using the Clash Detective tool.

a) If the Clash Detective window is not already open, click Home tab → Tools panel →
Clash Detective .3

3
Autodesk Knowledge Network - To Run Clash Tests

5 | 16
AS125109 | How to Use Dynamo to Visibly Show Navisworks Clashes into Revit

b) To add a new clash test: From the Clash Detective window click Add Test button

c) Click the Test 1 panel expansion button and rename accordingly. For this example,
we are naming it L2_STRUCT vs HVAC based on a clash test for Structural
components against Mechanical components (such as Ducts, etc.) on Level 2. Make
sure to select all the appropriate Revit Model name and its Model Categories.

6 | 16
AS125109 | How to Use Dynamo to Visibly Show Navisworks Clashes into Revit

• To run all the tests in Tests panel, click the Update All button.
• To run a single test, select it in the Tests area, right-click and select Run, or click the
Select Tab, and click the Run button.
• Review the clashes. From the Clash Detective window → go to Results Tab and confirm
clash results.

7 | 16
AS125109 | How to Use Dynamo to Visibly Show Navisworks Clashes into Revit

Export Clash Report to XML

From Report tab → under Contents
panel select the following items by
clicking on their checkboxes:
Summary, Clash Point, Date Found,
Item ID, Grid Location
From the Report tab again → under
Output Settings, the Report Type
should be the “Current test” and the
Report Format should be “XML”.

Click the Write Report button and save the XML Report file to your project folder.

• Repeat these steps as needed for any additional tests.

• When you perform clash tests in Navisworks Manage, it comes up with all the
individual clashes. However, in most cases, there are items that are involved in
more than one clash. In that case, you can group them logically based on the

8 | 16
AS125109 | How to Use Dynamo to Visibly Show Navisworks Clashes into Revit

items that you will edit. This reduces the total number of clashes that are
displayed and helps the users editing the model back in Revit.4
• Best Practices in Autodesk Navisworks Clash Detective 5

Export report as xml

Open the XML-base.xlsx (will be

provided in the class file) and import
your XML file.
Go to cell A:2 and click to highlight.

Right-click your mouse to open the Excel

content menu. Hover to XML > and click Import.
From the Import XML window select your XML
file that you created from Navisworks and click
Import. (Note: only one XML is allowed at a
time)

Confirm the data transfer and Save As your

Excel file with an appropriate name (e.g.
L2_STRUCT vs HVAC _<date>)

Create a Revit Clash Coordination Model

We recommend creating a new Revit model to link all disciplines’ models accordingly. Note:
Link only models that were used in the Navisworks Clash Detective earlier. This new Revit file
will be used as the Clash Coordination Model. We have provided a Revit template for you to use
(ClashSpheresTemplate_R17.rte) complete with the Clash Sphere Generic Models Family and
the Clash Coordination Revit Schedule. Otherwise you can use your own company-provided

4
Autodesk Knowledge Network - Grouping Clashes in Navisworks Manage
5
Autodesk University - CR3226-L - When Models Clash by Michael N. Smith and C.W. Driver

9 | 16
AS125109 | How to Use Dynamo to Visibly Show Navisworks Clashes into Revit

template. You just need to import the Clash Sphere family and our Clash Coordination Revit
Schedule.
1. From Revit, click the Application Menu , go to New → and select New Project using
the ClashSpheresTemplate_R17.rte template.
2. Start linking all the models. If you plan to workshare-enable this model make sure that
each linked model is placed on its own Workset (e.g. Link_Arch, Link_Struc, Link_Mech,
Link_Elec)
3. Note: Assign appropriate Worksets for the Clash Spheres (e.g. Clash_Level01,
Structural_vs_Mechanical)

Use Dynamo Player to locate the clashes using the Clash Spheres Family

To use Dynamo Player,

Click Manage tab → Visual Programming panel
→ select Dynamo Player .

Specify the default script directory of

the Dynamo Player by browsing to a location on
your local network or hard drive. On first launch,
Dynamo Player opens a default list of Dynamo
scripts.

On the Dynamo Player dialog, click .

In the Browse to Folder dialog, navigate to a

directory containing the Dynamo script - Clash
Detection Workspace.dyn.

Click OK to specify the currently

viewed directory as the source for
the Dynamo Player. To view the
windows directory of the Dynamo
Player, click . Note: If changes are
made to the files in Windows,
the Dynamo Player window must be
refreshed. Click to see the most
recent files and their status.

10 | 16
AS125109 | How to Use Dynamo to Visibly Show Navisworks Clashes into Revit

Make sure to link Excel Spreadsheet file. From Revit, go to Manage tab > and select Dynamo

From Dynamo, open the Clash Detection Workspace.dyn script and click the “File Path” node
and browse to the Excel file we created from the XML. Click save.

How to use Dynamo Player6

Click Run and confirm the Clash Spheres are

placed in the Revit model. Review Clash Sphere
locations.

6
Autodesk Knowledge Network – Dynamo Player (video)

11 | 16
AS125109 | How to Use Dynamo to Visibly Show Navisworks Clashes into Revit

Open a 3D view (or a Plan view, Section view) to view the Clash Spheres.

Use Revit Schedules to display the clashes and communicate with your team

We’re not going to get into schedule creation7 or how to create and manage Shared
Parameters; again, we need to assume a basic level of ability here. Using the template as a
starting point will give you all the pieces you need.

Once the Dynamo script is run and the clash spheres are created in your model, the sphere
schedule will populate. From there, the Model Manager needs to do the following:
• Assign a priority to each clash
• Assign each clash to a modeler
• Provide a comment to guide the modelers toward a resolution
• Follow up and ensure each completed clash resolution is satisfactory

7
Autodesk Knowledge Network – Creating a Schedule or Quantity

12 | 16
AS125109 | How to Use Dynamo to Visibly Show Navisworks Clashes into Revit

The clash sphere family is a basic sphere with specific shared parameters. The ones we’ve
found to work simply and effectively are as follows:

Active: yes/no – checked means this clash

has yet to be addressed; controlled by
Completed: =not(Completed)

Clash comments: Text – notes from Model

Manager to responsible modeler describing
remedy

Clash name: Text – as listed in Navisworks;

defaults to “Clash1”, “Clash2”, etc. Can be
overridden to be more specific

Clash recipient: Text – name of modeler

responsible for addressing clash

Completed: yes/no – checked by modeler

responsible for addressing clash once
complete; toggles Active: =not(Completed)

CoordinationPriority: Integer – priority

identified by Model Manager; 1 = highest, 3
= lowest

Date found: Text – date of clash from

Navisworks

Element ID: Text – clash sphere’s element

ID

Status: Text – clash status from Navisworks

Additional parameters8 can be added to the family to host manually controlled metadata, or
additional parameters can be mapped via Dynamo to other Navisworks data points.

8
Autodesk Knowledge Network – Create Family Parameters

13 | 16
AS125109 | How to Use Dynamo to Visibly Show Navisworks Clashes into Revit

The Sync with Central or Landing Page contains some basic model and team information along
with the clash schedules. This is a clear location for the info, making the status of the clashes
obvious for everyone:

The ‘Master’ clash sphere schedule lists all clash objects, sorted and quantified by priority. A
few of the parameters have been conditionally formatted to apply colour, which helps to draw
the team’s attention:

14 | 16
AS125109 | How to Use Dynamo to Visibly Show Navisworks Clashes into Revit

The conditional formatting9 is basic; you can change the cell fill colour, based on a single
condition for each parameter.

Specific user-filtered schedules can be created to highlight clashes for individual team members
to address:

`These can be customized to the users’ preference, using any parameter and colour.

9
Autodesk Knowledge Network – Specify Conditional Formatting for a Schedule

15 | 16
AS125109 | How to Use Dynamo to Visibly Show Navisworks Clashes into Revit

Jump to clashes from schedules

From the schedule, using Highlight in Model the user can jump to each clash
location, update the model, then check the “Completed” parameter to close the loop
on their clashes. This will be reflected in each schedule, depending on how the
filters and formatting are applied.

It’s up to you whether you keep the ‘completed’ clashes, or purge them all out ready for the next
round.

If you keep them, you can use View Filters10 to only show the Active clashes:

Helpful References:

Shoutout to Cesare Caoduro the mastermind behind all this. He created the
dynamo script, the sphere family, the base Excel spreadsheet template. We just
enhanced it. I salute him for doing a great job.

10
Autodesk Knowledge Network – Apply a Filter

16 | 16