Tricks & Tips: How To Do Overlay Model Compare in 360 Glue  This is an effective way to do a quick overview/compare of the same model from two different versions. STEP 1: First begin by viewing the single Model from BIM 360 Glue. Client version only STEP 2: You should now see the single model in BIM 360 Glue. Keep in mind you are now viewing the latest version. STEP 3: To compare this latest version to another, simply right click on the file and click “View Versions”. STEP 4: To Compare, simply right click on any older version and choose STEP 5: Quickly both models will load in 1 viewing window. For best results click on the latest copy to highlight the changes  from the previous version. Objects that flicker between highlighted and color usually means they are in the same location, thus no change. Items that are easily highlighted means something is new.  

Shared Coordinates Process: Overview   Steps 1.         Examine Revit models from design team                                                                              2.         Examine site/survey file from civil designer                                                                           3.         Prepare site plan in Revit                                                                                                           4.         Import and position survey file                                                                                                                5.         Acquire and publish shared coordinates                                                                 6.         Verify shared coordinates positioning              Introduction  Each stand-alone Revit project file created has a set of internal coordinates which is only used by that project.  In order to overlay different discipline’s project files and to position buildings relative to a site, a new set of coordinates must be establish for Revit to correctly reference across all projects. This is the shared coordinate system.  This document is a step by step instruction of Swinerton Builders’ workflow to applying a single origin and true north orientation to 2D plans and 3D models, which will be utilized in BIM 360 Glue for subcontractors and SB Project team to coordinate during shop drawing development.   Below define common terms used in this guide: Project Internal Coordinate System The project internal coordinate system cannot be changed.  Revit objects such as levels and spot coordinates reference to this system.  The true origin in Revit is the project base point.  Project North is the view orientation of plans on a typical construction document sheet.  Shared Coordinates This is common work point for subcontractors and SB project team to use when merging different subcontractors’ models in BIM 360 Glue.  Shared coordinates for all Revit files will be acquired from civil survey file.  After following the steps outlined in this guide, SB will distribute to subcontractors a gridline reference file which contains gridlines matched to those shown on architectural plans and positioned in the shared coordinate system.  Models in BIM 360 Glue will be automatically and properly aligned in BIM 360 Glue when they are produced in reference to gridlines that have shared coordinate positions. This shared coordinates guide is intended to provide users who are processing design team-authored Revit files separated by buildings and disciplines for a multi-building project.   DEFINITIONS OF ACQUIRE AND PUBLISH COORDINATES FROM REVIT HELP   http://help.autodesk.com/view/RVT/2014/ENU/?contextId=HID_GEO_PUBLISH_COORDINATES   Acquire Coordinates When you acquire coordinates from a linked project, the shared coordinates of the linked project become the shared coordinates of the host project, based on the position of the linked project instance in the host project. There is no change to the host project's internal coordinates. The host project also acquires True North from the linked project. The origin of the linked project's shared coordinates becomes the origin of the host project's shared coordinates. When a Revit project acquires coordinates from a linked DWG file, the World Coordinate System (WCS) of the selected linked DWG file becomes the shared coordinate system of the host Revit project, based on the position of the linked DWG instance. The Y axis of the DWG becomes True North, and the origin of the DWG becomes the origin of the shared coordinate system of the Revit project. To acquire coordinates: Click Manage tab  Project Location panel Coordinates drop-down (Acquire Coordinates). Place the cursor on a linked model instance, and click. The host model file now has the same shared coordinates as the linked model file. If other loaded linked models share coordinates with the host model, they also acquire the new coordinates. Publish Coordinates When you publish shared coordinates from a host project to a linked project, this changes the linked project. The host project's True North and shared origin are recorded in the linked project, based on the current position of the linked instance. This location is now named in both the host project and the linked project. More than one position of the link can be recorded. When you publish shared coordinates from a host Revit project to a linked DWG, this changes the linked DWG. The origin of the host Revit project’s shared coordinate system becomes the origin of a new User Coordinate System (UCS) in the DWG file. The Y axis of the new UCS corresponds to the host project's True North. You can name the UCS when you publish coordinates. It is not recommended that you change this name after publishing coordinates. To publish coordinates: Click Manage tab Project Location panel Coordinates drop-down (Publish Coordinates). Place the cursor on a linked model instance and click. Select a named position from the linked model, and click OK. See Defining Named Positions. The linked model file now has the same shared coordinates as the host model file.

Shared Coordinates Process: Examine Revit Models from Design Team  Steps involved:  STEP 1: Open  A set of Revit files from design team should be archived for reference and should be separated from the set which changes would be performed.  If needed, re-establish sources of referenced files, the linked CAD and Revit files, using “Reload From” under Manage Links (for shortcut, type Alt + G and ML) Do: Check each building in a multi-building project is separated as a Revit project file Check Discipline project files are linked to architectural (host) file In elevation view, check the elevations used in Revit models; datum point of each model can either reference to the level 1 finish floor of each building or reference to true elevation per civil drawings. 

Shared Coordinates Process: Examine the Site/Survey File from Civil Designer Steps involved:  STEP 1: Typically, a site file (normally 2D, but can be in 3D) in dwg format from civil designer will contain the true real world coordinates for the project site. Surveyors and civil engineers use these global coordinate system in x, y, z. STEP 2:  Review the CAD file of the 2D site plan in AutoCAD and confirm units used and the coordinates are real world coordinates. Typically real world coordinate numbers are quite large. As an example:  In AutoCAD, this is shown on bottom left of the screen (x,y,z) with units in feet. STEP 3: Identify the survey marker or station in the civil site file. If there is one, this will be reference point used to position the linked civil site file in Revit.    STEP 4: If there is no existing survey marker or station in civil site file, select a convenient reference point that will not be moved in reference to real world coordinates when there are updates to the construction drawings and confirm with the civil consultant that this reference is acceptable. Otherwise, request civil consultant to provide us a reference point to use.

Shared Coordinates Process: Prepare Site Plan in Revit Steps involved: STEP 1: Open/create floor plan view of the site plan of Revit site model.  STEP 2: Site file usually contains prior linked building models from the design team. If needed, link each discipline’s model directly to the site model.  Position the models correctly relative to each other in plan view.  Close all models to be linked to the site model prior to linking. STEP 3: Ensure under Manage Links, the linked files’ reference type is “overlay” and not “attachment”.  The site file, with a linked architectural file, will show the nested discipline files if the reference type of the linked files in the architectural file is “attachment.” STEP 4: Select and pin each model so it cannot be moved from its position by accident. Open View Properties and set orientation under Graphics from Project North to True North. STEP 5: Edit View Range so the cut plane will not intersect the buildings model(s) when there is considerable elevation above sea level, such as in a mountainous area. \ Do: Ensure all architectural and discipline models are linked directly to the site model so there is only one file—the site model—where coordinates are acquired from the civil survey file and published for all Revit models of the project. Don’ts: Don’t create a project site plan in a building project model for a multi-building project. It is easier to move and rotate when models are linked to a site project file. Do not open linked project files when the site file with these models is open.  Revit will automatically unlink the opened project from the site model. 

Shared Coordinates Process: Import and Position the Survey File Steps: STEP 1: Under site plan, click Insert<Link CAD and select the survey file STEP 2: Leave Current View Only unchecked and note Revit always reset to Auto – Center to Center for Positioning each time. Since the survey file will be moved and adjusted after, initial positioning of the survey file will not matter. Click open. STEP 3: Confirm the survey file shown is scaled properly by Revit’s auto detection of units. If necessary, adjust in the type property of the survey file in Revit.  STEP 4: Under Visibility/Graphic Overrides (or for shortcut, type “vg”), check the boxes for project based point and survey point under Site. Note Project Based Point and Survey Point only appears in floor (site) plan view in Revit.   STEP 5: Within Revit site plan view, move the survey file to properly align with the linked building models on the site plan by matching the locations of an element (gridlines, corner of building, for example) present in both the civil survey file and the Revit site file. It is absolutely crucial to position the survey file correctly the first time as the process to fix and undo the position once coordinates are acquired in Revit is cumbersome.  Pin the file so its location cannot be moved.  STEP 6:  In elevation or section views, move the linked building models to the true elevations per civil survey file. Create new levels as necessary.  STEP 7: Save the Revit file to have a file to go back to if survey file needed repositioning after coordinates have been acquired in the next step.  Don’t Move the linked models to match where civil survey has been placed. Moving the civil survey file to match to the location of the linked models will be easier than moving the linked models to match where the civil survey file is.

Shared Coordinates Process: Acquire and Publish Shared Coordinates  Steps involved: STEP 1: Once the survey file and linked Revit files have been positioned correctly in plane and elevation view, go to site plan view and select Manage Ribbon>Coordinates>Acquire Coordinates to provide shared coordinates data from civil survey file to Revit. STEP 2: Select the survey file.  This records the shared coordinate system of the Revit site model to match with that of the survey file (PBP).  Note the survey point moves away from the stationary Project Based Point.  By default, survey point relocates to the origin the survey file where it was placed after coordinates are acquired.  If the survey file is now moved and “Acquire Coordinates” is selected again, the shared coordinate system does not change.  Once coordinates is acquired, moving the survey file nor reacquiring the coordinates from the civil survey file does not affect anything.  The civil survey file, the master file, should be the only file to acquire coordinates from.  Note Revit retains the internal project coordinates system even though it is not displayed.      Before Acquiring Coordinates After Acquiring Coordinates STEP 3: Select the survey point icon and unclip the paper clip icon.  Move/drag the survey point to the intersection of the reference point of the survey file as defined in Step 2. Clip back the paper clip icon.  When an unclipped survey point is moved, the shared coordinates do not change except for the survey point itself.  Moving the survey point to a reference point is for ease of reference when verifying shared coordinates in Revit with the civil survey file.    STEP 4: Verify shared coordinate system of the Revit file has been properly assigned by ensuring the coordinates at the moved survey point in Revit matches the coordinates of the reference point location in the civil survey file inside AutoCAD. STEP 5: If coordinate system is not properly assigned or realignment is needed, manually adjust the linked survey file in Revit to position correctly and reposition the survey as necessary to match new reference location select “Specify Coordinates at Point” to manually input the reference location coordinates from AutoCAD. STEP 6: Select “Publish Coordinates” and select each of the linked building models in the site file one at a time.  Click “OK” when the Site dialog box appears.  Continue to click all linked models to push them the shared coordinate system of the site file.  The location of the shared coordinate origin within each of the building model will match to that in the site file. The site model, now inheriting the coordinates of the survey file, should be the only file to publish site shared coordinates to the linked building models from.   STEP 7: Save the site file.  Prompts will indicate the current positions of the linked building models have changed.  Click the first option, “save” to record the location of the building models relative to the survey point.  The location of the building in reference to shared coordinates will be recorded back in the linked file.  Building files must not be opened when the new locations are to be saved.    Do: Prior to moving survey point with the intention of keeping the shared coordinate system unchanged, always unclip, move to the desired location and clip back to avoid changing the shared coordinate system. Don’ts: Do not publish site shared coordinates only to the architectural building files and in the architectural model publish its shared coordinates to other discipline models linked to the architectural model. The site file should be the master file in which all files directly acquire the shared coordinates from.  

Shared Coordinates Process: Verify Shared Coordinates Positioning  Steps: STEP 1: Open the building models. Open the floor plan view to verify the PBP and survey point are not on top of each other.  STEP 2: Change the orientation parameter to True North. Revit defaults to Project North in plan views. Verify that the PBP and survey points change their orientation if survey file’s North orientation is not also Project North. Project North True North STEP 3: Open elevation view. Verify true elevations. STEP 4: Verify shared coordinates locations in Revit site file and in civil survey file in AutoCAD. Manage<Report Shared Coordinates Click on several reference points, such as survey point in Revit, to verify its shared coordinates against those in the civil survey file shown within AutoCAD. REFERENCES Autodesk Revit Collaboration: Shared Coordinates for Projects Big and Small by Steve Stafford Understanding Shared Positioning in Revit by James Vanderzande

Standard Deliverables: 3D Grid Lines Since Revit 2D gridlines are not recognized by BIM 360 Glue, the past practice to display them is to convert the Revit 2D gridlines into an AutoCAD file and upload them.  However when orientating the merged 3D model in BIM 360 Glue, it becomes difficult to see the in-plane gridlines.  The best practice is to create 3D gridlines from General Model Family Category.  You can download the 3D Gridline rfa file here:  http://bimmanager.blogspot.com/2009/03/revit-grids-in-navisworks-part-deux.html STEP 1: Load 3D Gridline.rfa file into project  STEP 2: Drag 3D Gridline from Project Browser to Floor Plan View STEP 3: Create 3D Gridline by tracing over existing Revit Gridlines—elevation of the 3D gridlines will align with the level’s referenced elevation. STEP 4: Change gridline number or number under “Properties” and row “Grid” STEP 5: Select and group the gridlines and name by level. STEP 6: Create gridlines for other levels and group accordingly STEP 7: Create new 3D view displaying only the gridlines by level—adhere model naming convention for BIM 360 Glue. STEP 8: Glue each 3D view to BIM 360 Glue  

Standard Deliverables: Placing Room Name/Number on Floor of Each Room  As with gridlines and other annotations, BIM 360 Glue will not be able to show the room tag shown on floor plan in Revit. To enable viewers of BIM 360 Glue model to easily orient themselves when walking through the interior spaces virtually and as a reference for coordination purposes, one can use model text in Revit to show room number and labels in 3D, as indicated on contract drawings, to be visible in BIM 360 Glue. STEP 1: Go to floor plan view in Revit where room tags and interior walls are shown STEP 2: Click STEP 3: Type the text in all capital letters to be displayed in BIM 360 Glue, typically “Room No.” – “Room Name” (for example, A119 – DATA). STEP 4: Duplicate a 3D view and under “Visibilities and Graphics” check only “Generic Models.” Hide all other generic model elements that are not the 3D room label texts. STEP 5: Rename 3D view for each level according to model naming structure for BIM 360 Glue STEP 6: Glue to BIM 360 Glue