Using Navisworks with Aconex

Required User Role Permissions

• Access Models - General access to the plugin is enabled by this permission
• Create Design Issues 
  • Create New issue
  • Create Issue from clashes
  • Create issue from viewpoint
•  Create Issue sets - Controls Create Issue set tool
• Model Coordination Administrator - Allows editing of design issues owned by other users

Your Organization Administrator may need to grant these permissions to your user role.

Connecting to Aconex from Navisworks

1. Download and install the latest version of the Model Coordination plugin.
2. Click on the Oracle Aconex tab in the program’s menu ribbon.
3. If an update is available for the plugin, you’ll see Update Available in the top ribbon bar. Click it to download the latest version.
4. Click Connect to begin the login process in your project location.

5. In the ribbon menu, select a project by clicking the ellipsis menu icon.

6. The ribbon menu buttons will become available once you are successfully connected to a project.

Upload a model revision to the Document Register

1. Click Publish models to upload to the Document Register.

2. You'll be taken to the upload screen in Aconex. The upload process is similar to uploading documents to Aconex.
3. After you click Register in Aconex, you'll see a success message. You can close the window to go back to the plugin.
4. Navisworks will keep uploading to Aconex. You'll see a confirmation message once it's done.

Models auto-association

Speed up issue creation by mapping models in Navisworks to models that have been added to Model Explore. This option is enabled when at least one model is added to Navisworks.

Models with confirmed mapping save you time and increase accuracy for:

• Ad-hoc design issues to all unhidden models at the moment of issue creation
• Issues from viewpoints to all unhidden models at the moment of issue creation
• Issues from clashes to all models used in the clash test.

1. Click Models Mapping. A dialog will open, showing:

• Models added to Navisworks
• Models added to Model Explore in Aconex
• The current mapping status between Navisworks and Aconex.

2. Review all the suggested mappings and make any necessary changes. Select additional mappings manually as required. The plugin checks for exact matches on Document No. or Title, depending on the selection made in Setup > Project Settings > Models for Field 1.
3. Click Save. The mappings will now have the status Confirmed.
4. When creating an issue, confirmed models are now automatically selected as the associated models and appear at the top of the list.

Import a model from Aconex to Navisworks

1. Click Import models from the ribbon menu.

2. Choose a folder to download the model file to.
3. Select a model from the Document Register and click Download.

4. A notification will show once the model has opened.

Create Design Issues

1. Prepare the model to display your design issue in the most effective way and click Add Issue. 

2. In the pop-up, enter information about your design issue, including mandatory fields such as Title.
3. Select the associated model(s) to display the model viewpoint in Aconex. Otherwise, the model viewpoint will not be loaded automatically in Aconex.

4. If the 3D model contains sectioning, check the box Save sectioning information. This allows you to keep the same 3D view in Aconex. Alternatively uncheck the box to display the complete model for your design issue.
5. When all necessary information is entered, click Publish to add the issue to Aconex.

View issues

1. Click View and Edit Issues in the top ribbon bar

2. The Design Issues panel will open. You can narrow issues in the list using the keyword search field or creating a filter by clicking the filter button.

3. Click an issue in the list to open a model viewpoint.

4. Select a Viewpoint to load the model viewpoint to the scene.

5. Hover over the thumbnail and click the Preview text to open a viewpoint snapshot for the issue.
6. Clash in the Cloud: Issues created from Clash in the Cloud show detailed information under the Clash Metadata heading. A green tick will appear beside a clash when it has been resolved.

Edit an issue

1. Click on an issue in the list to open it.
2. Click Edit in the top right corner to enter editing mode (you will need editing permissions).
3. Then, click the Details or Related Models tab to make changes to the issue.
4. Click the Comments tab to leave a comment.
5. Click Update when you are done.

Create an Issue set

1. Click Create Issue Set.

2. Enter the set name (mandatory).
3. Define start and end dates for your set.
4. Add members to provide access to the issues within the set.
5. Click Save when you are done..

Create issues from Viewpoints

1. Click Issues from Viewpoints.

2. Select a viewpoint to be sent to Aconex with design issues.
3. Enter all required information for the design issue.
4. Click Publish to share the issue with Aconex.

Create issues from clashes

Publish clashes from Clash detective directly to Aconex using Navisworks Manage.

1. Run the clash test based on your requirements. 

2. Click Issues from Clashes.

3. Select clash test results you would like to share with Aconex, and click Next.

4. You will see all the clashes with the same parameters in Clash Detective.
5. The Publish Clashes table splits into two parts: Clash test results and Oracle Aconex Design Issues.

• The Clash test results provide information from the Clash Detective. You can manually change the clash status to update it in Clash detective when published.
• Oracle Aconex design issues provides information about:
  • Publish actions available for each specific clash, or group of clashes.
  • Aconex issue number (for published clashes only).
  • Aconex issue parameters: status, type, assignee etc.

6. Filter and sort clashes in the table as desired. To apply a filter to a column, click the filter button that appears when you hover over a column name. Click on a column name to sort clashes in ascending or descending order.
7. Click the right mouse button on any column name to add or remove columns or reset to the default columns view.

8. Edit clashes in bulk by holding the Shift key and selecting a range of cells. Continue holding the Shift key and single-click the last highlighted cell to show the editable details. Any changes made to one clash will apply to all highlighted clashes.

9. Select snapshot size for your design issues. Click the drop-down list at the bottom of the pop-up to select the required snapshot size. Select Reduced to publish issues faster.

10. To publish clashes as issues in Aconex, select the clashes or groups, then click Publish. The progress screen shows how many issues are being published.
11. Refresh the clash test to see the Aconex issue numbers of the published clashes
12. For any clashes that have been updated in Navisworks and can be published to Aconex, you will see Update in the Publish Action column.
13. Select a clash you would like to update in Aconex and click Publish.