Aligning Models in Navisworks

Modified 05/12/2014
This tutorial was produced by Kevin R. Miller. Michael N. Smith and Todd Baxter
contributed greatly to this tutorial.
Before going through the tutorial, you must have Navisworks 2015 installed on your
computer. The first section of this tutorial focuses on how to insert and align models
in Navisworks.
This tutorial also assumes that you have downloaded the zipped data set and that
you have extracted the Navis tutorial data set from the downloaded file.

Loading Files into Navisworks

a. Open Navisworks
b. From the Application button
, select Open. Browse to where the data set
has been downloaded. The default setting is *.NWD.
c. Change the Files of Type: to All Files (*.*) and then select the Arch.nwc file

d. On the Home ribbon bar select the Append tool

and select the other .nwc files.
a. (Hold down the CTRL key on the keyboard and then select the
following files: Conc.nwc, ELECTRICAL.nwc, Mechanical_1st.nwc,
Mechanical_2nd.nwc, Mechanical_Roof.nwc, Plumbing.nwc, Steel.nwc)
b. Select Open.

e. Double click on the TOP Viewcube

to see the files that are
now in the project. There are 3 different locations where models have placed
themselves in the project. This exercise will align the 3 locations into 1. The

reason they are in different locations it that the designers of the various
models had different origin points for each file. This could be avoided if all
the designers used the same origin points.
Before aligning the models, a couple of adjustments need to be made to
Navisworks.
From the Application button select Options expand Interface and select
Display Units. Set the Linear Units to Feet and change the Decimal Places to
2 as shown below.

Navigating Navisworks
A few tools that will help you navigate around the models are the following:

Select
is a tool that can be used to select objects in the model. If you hold
down the CTRL key several objects can be selected. The Select tool is found
on the Home ribbon.

Select Box
is a tool that allows several objects to be selected while
dragging a box around the objects. The Select Box tool is found on the Home
ribbon by pressing the down arrow under the Select tool. If the Select tool is
active, you can hold down the spacebar and drag a box around the objects
that you would like to select.
Once an object or set of objects has been selected, the option
becomes available allowing for turning off all the objects that are not
currently selected. Other useful navigation tools can be found on the
Navigation bar. (It should be visible) If it is not visible, go to the View ribbon
and select Navigation Bar
bar.

. The tools below are found on the Navigation

Orbit
allows the view to be rotated by left clicking the mouse.
Holding down the center roller button on the mouse allows up and
down movement.

Zoom Box
allows the view to be zoomed into the box created by
left clicking and dragging.
Walk
allows the view to walk to different areas of the model.
Pressing the left mouse button and moving the mouse up allows the
view to move forward. Moving the mouse left or right moves the view
left or right.
Press the roller button and move the mouse either up or down
moves the view up or down.
Rolling the roller button changes the angle of the view. People
that I have talked with tell me that using the walk tool is the
most common method used to move around the model.

Moving the model manually

As you select each model in the Selection
Tree palette (Home ribbon, Selection Tree),
it will show you which model you are
selecting by turning all the objects blue on
the model.
As the models are selected, notice that the
Arch.nwc and the Steel.nwc models are out of alignment with the other models.
In the Selection Tree palette, left click on the Arch.nwc model to select all the
objects in the Arch model. With the model selected a new Ribbon option call Item
Tools is available.
Select the Item Tools ribbon.

Since the Architectural model is so far out of alignment, we will manually bring the
Architectural model close to where it should be. To do this select the Move tool

Grab the Blue box shown on the right image and drag it to the proximity of the
other models. By grabbing the blue box, it keeps the model in the right plane so the
model isnt moved up or down. In the Z (green arrow) direction.

Zoom in to where you can see all three models better.

One way to do this is to click in the white space on the
Selection Tree and then double left click on the Top of
the View Cube.

Moving the model to a selected point

In the upper left hand corner of each
model (from the top view) you should
see an X. I placed the x as a reference
point for each model. On the steel
model, the grid intersection of A and 7 is
the same location as the x. The next
steps will fine tune the alignment of each
model.
Zoom into the Architectural and other
models except for Steel.
On the Selection Tree palette, select the
Arch.nwc model.
Now use the Gizmo to align the
models so that the small White X at the upper right hand of each project
aligns.
Once they are closely aligned, it may be beneficial to
to ensure the alignment is very close.

zoom in close

Place the cursor on top of the Blue circle on the Gizmo. (I have
circled with a yellow highlighter color). Hold down the CTRL
and you can drag the Gizmo to the area by the Xs so
you can zoom in to align the models.

key

Roll the mouse button and you can zoom in and then align the Xs the best
you can by moving the Arch model by dragging the Blue box on the Gizmo
tool.

Rotating the model

Zoom out to see the Steel and the rest of the models. The
easiest way to zoom out is to double left click on Top of the
View Cube. (If it only zooms out to the Architectural model, it
is because that model is still selected in the Selection Tree
palette. To view all the models, in the Selection Tree palette,
left click in the white space so no model is selected and then
double left click on Top of the View Cube.)
The steel model needs to be rotated prior to aligning the
models. To rotate the steel model do the following:
Select the Steel model on the Selection Tree palette.
Right click on the Steel model on the selection Tree
palette and select Units and Transform.
In the Rotation Degree box change the 0.00 to -13.95 and change the
rotation to be about the Z axis as shown in the graphic to the right.
Zoom out and align the Steel model with the rest of the models as was just done for
the architectural models.
Save the Navisworks file as My Aligned Models
This is the end of the aligning tutorial. If you would like to provide any feedback
regarding this tutorial, please email kmiller@byu.edu.