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

  1. Open Navisworks
  2. From the Application button, select Open. Browse to where the data set has been downloaded. The default setting is *.NWD.
  1. Change the Files of Type: to All Files (*.*) and then select the Arch.nwc file
  1. On the Home ribbon bar select the Append tool and select the other .nwc files.
  2. (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)
  3. Select Open.
  4. Double click on the TOPViewcube 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. The tools below are found on the Navigation bar.

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 isn’t 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 theTop of theView 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 zoom in close to ensure the alignment is very 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 key and you can drag the Gizmo to the area by the X’s so you can zoom in to align the models.

Roll the mouse button and you can zoom in and then align the X’s 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 .