Part #1 – The Clash Detective Window
To the average engineer or modeller, Navisworks and clash detection go hand in hand, some people think that they are one and the same. If you’re not familiar with the terminology, clash detection is a process that identifies interference between elements in your model where as Navisworks is an Autodesk product that facilitates automated detection of the interferences between modelled elements. These interferences, or clashes may be between different models or within the same model, they could be between disciplines or within the same discipline.
The concept behind clash detection during the design process is that you can identify and fix problems before construction begins, therefore saving time and money down the track. Provided that it is configured correctly, Navisworks can help to speed up the process and reduce human error during model inspection by running automated clash reports.
The problem with Navisworks however is not everyone knows how to use it effectively. Maybe you’ve been to training with a reseller in the past and you walked out the door still scratching your head. After spending a whole day working on 4D timelining, 3 hours showing you how to animate an automatic door in Simulate and less than an hour spent learning the very basics of clash detection in Manage or maybe you’ve had no training at all? Either way you’re only just barely making your way through your clash detection sessions.
Over my next few articles I will outline a few of the clash detection basics to get you more confident in your adventures into clash detection, I’m not going to claim to solve all your clash detection woes, but whatever your experience, it’s always good to have something to refer back to.
In this first installment, I’ll explain each of the parts of the Clash Detective interface.
The Selection A and Selection B areas display all the items in a hierarchical list that replicates the selection tree window. You can select objects from these areas that will be tested against each other during a clash test.
When Surfaces is selected, surface geometry is included in the clash test. Surfaces is selected by default when you create a new clash test. | |
When Lines is selected, line geometry is included in the clash test. | |
When Points is selected, point geometry is included in the clash test | |
Self Intersect is used to test the selected object against itself for clashes | |
The Use Current Selection button is used to select objects directly in the scene view for clash tests | |
The Select in Scene button is used to highlight the elements selected in the clash test. They will appear in blue when selected. |
The Results area displays a list of clash results in a tabbed format showing the name of the clash, the clash status, the date found and the description of the clash. If the clashes have a saved viewpoint, then the viewpoint icon will be displayed in the viewpoint column as well.
In the Contents section, you can select the contents of the report, such as the date found, item numbers, grid locations, coordinates of the clash among others.
The Include Clashes section allows you to filter by new, active, reviewed, approved or resolved clashes.
In the next installment, I’ll build on what I’ve shown today and explain how to create selection sets to get better results from your clash tests.
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