Timeliner

This tutorial was originally created by Michael Smith and updated by Kevin R. Miller.
Modified 07/31/2013

Timeliner is used to show building animation and checking for clashes that would occur as the project is constructed.

To start this tutorial, open the NavisAligned 2014.nwf file from the dataset.

Creating Search sets

Search sets allow you to search through the model whereas Selection sets only allow predefined objects to be found. The benefit of the Search set over the Selection set is that as different models are used, searching the new model for objects will be more inclusive than a selection set would be.

1. Select Find Items on the Homeribbon.
2. The first search set that will be made for this tutorial is the roof.

Select a component of the roof and look at its name in the Selection Tree.

If the Selection Tree is not open,on the Home ribbon, select the Selection Tree tool to open it.

If the selection tree is docked on the left side of Navisworks, select the docked Selection Tree and pin it open.

As different roof elements are selected, the naming systems varies quite a bit.

To locate all the roof objects in the model, on the Find Items palette, on the right portion of the palette, make the Category Item, the Property Name, the Condition Contains, and the Value Roof. (It may be beneficial to widen the Category, Property and Value columns in the Find Items palette.)

UncheckMatch Case.

Press Find All.

This selects every object that has Roof in it name. If you look carefully, you will notice that the roof drain are also selected as well as all the objects contained in the Mechanical_Roof.nwc file. So maybe too many things have been select.

On the Find Items palette, on the left column select the Arch.nwc file. By selecting the Arch file, it will only perform the search for the one model rather than all the models. This can be useful in some instances. Now press the Find All button again and notice the differences.

The Match Case box should be uncheck, then press Find All.

Go to Sets palette on the left of the screen (if not visible, go to the View Ribbon, Windows and checkmark Sets) and right click in the Sets palette and select Save Search. On the search set that is created, right click and name the search set Roof. Now any time the entire roof needed to be selected, left click on the Roof search set.

Search Set -- Below Grade Concrete

Move the View Cube so you can see the underground portion of the model and select a footing.
On the Find Items palette, in the Search in portion of the palette, select the Conc model and make the selections as shown in the graphic below.


The plus sign in the Category column is added by right clicking and selecting Or Condition as shown in the graphic below.


PressFind All.
On the Sets palette, save the search set as Footings.

To gain alittle more experience in creating search sets, create the following search sets.

Make search sets with the following names, make sure they are named exactly as seen:

Model / Category / Property / Condition / Value / Set Name
Arch.nwc / Item / Name / Contains / interior wall / Interior Walls
Steel.nwc / Item / File Name / Contains / Steel / Steel

Now export these search sets to an XML file. The benefit of exporting these search sets is that in future projects, you don't need to recreate them. Rather they can be imported into the project as you will see in the Timeliner tutorial.

To export the search sets do the following:
On the Search Set palette, select the Import/Exporttool .

Select Export Search Sets, The location of the file should be where the Navisworks dataset is located.
Name the file CustomSearchSet.xml and press Save.

Importing Search Sets

There are other search sets that have been created that you can import for this tutorial.

To import the Search Sets on the Search Set palette, select the Import/Export tool select Import Search Sets and select the search sets science building.xmlfile.

Timeliner

If the Timeliner palette is not shown, On the Home ribbon select Timeliner . If you need to close the Find Items palette to make more room on your monitor, feel free to do so.

Select the Data Sources tab.
Press the Add button, and select CSV importand select the science schedule.csv.

On the Field Selector window make the selections as shown in the graphic.

Select OK.

Click the Task tab and select Auto-Attach Using Rules tool.

Now select New.

1. In the Rules Editor window select Attach Items to Tasks.
2. In the bottom portion of the window, ensure that Name, Selection Sets and Ignoring are in blue text. Press OK

e. Press the checkbox for the rule just created.

Press the Apply Rules button and close the Timeliner Rules window.

f. Select the Data Source tab. Right click on the New Data Source file and select Rebuild Task Herarchy and then right click and select Synchronize.
g. On the Tasks tab, left click the first box under Task Type and select Construct. Now reselect the first task and all the tasks below and select Fill Down. The task window should look like the image below.

If the Attached column is blank, then the Rules didn't apply correctly. Go to the Rules and press the Apply Rules button again to see if will correct the Attachment on the Tasks tab. If that doesn't work, you can do either of the approaches below to fix the problem.

  1. If you see the Search Sets on the Search Set palette, but it isn't Attaching correctly, do the following:
  • Select the first Search Set that isn't attaching on the Sets palette.
  • On the Find Items palette, in the Search in: area, select/highlight the model that should be associated with the search, ie ELECTRICAL.nwc.
  • On the Sets palette, right click on Rough Electrical and select Update.
  • After this is done for the various search sets, reapply the Rules that were previously created.
  1. If task was not connected to the building and you want to force a connection to the search set, simply right click in the Attached column and select the set you wish to attach.

h. All tasks, if named as shown above in the selection sets, are now linked to the project. Click the Simulate tab.

Press the Settings button and change the view to the Planned radio button.

Press the Play button to build the building.
To create moving parts in this model during construction such as a crane, put the crane in and record an animation as in the Presenter/ Animator / Scripter tutorials. On the tasks tab link the animation to the object and clash it with time.