Revit 2017.1 and Space Naming

While I was on a job site yesterday Autodesk released Revit 2017.1. In the past they've called this release R2. I think 2017.1 is better.

Finally the Space Naming Utility is just Space Naming and built-in. I've been complaining about the illogical segregation of this crucial collaboration tool for a long time. So many engineers I've met didn't even know the tool existed and that's silly. When they get to use 2017.1 it will just be waiting for them on the ribbon, no extra installation for EyeTee or Revit Managers to remember to deploy. Yay!!

As for what features are included with 2017.1 you can check out the Inside the Factory blog post. As usual Luke has shared some very useful links on his What Revit Wants blog.

My Ongoing Saga of Autodesk Desktop Application

This poor half blind, lame in one-leg, incontinent piece of software continues to amuse and aggravate me. Twice in the last two weeks it has let me know I'm missing some updates.

Amusingly and aggravatingly ... they've all been installed already.

So I indulge it and try to install them again thinking that will help it see better. Nope ... sure enough ...the application that needs the update figures out it is installed already.

Typical response for all four items...

What is New for Navisworks 2017

The answer is not a lot. Here's a list of the new features they've taken time to document. The list is so underwhelming I've just taken it off their site verbatim to underscore it's half-hearted attempt. Note the UI description - "we made some changes". I saw a tweet about reading through the list in two seconds and I thought they were kidding; they weren't.

European Region Support
Navisworks 2017 provides access to BIM 360 Glue projects hosted both in the United States and Europe. Just select your regional server after sign-in.

BIM 360 Shared Views
Navisworks 2017 continues to support synchronized Shared Views with BIM 360 Glue, providing real-time access across BIM 360 Glue connected clients . Shared Views assist review and analysis activity in your BIM360 Glue project team, for closer collaboration.

Shared Views created in any BIM 360 Glue connected client retain view fidelity, including:

• Object Visibilty (hidden state)
• Object Overrides - color and transparency (transparencies are fixed at 95%)
• Section Planes and Boxes

Shared Views can be renamed, moved into folders created in BIM 360 Glue and saved directly in Navisworks.

UI Improvements
We've made some changes to the Navisworks BIM 360 and Home tabs, making access easier and offering a more intuitive user experience.

CLIC Licensing
The introduction of CLIC brings cohesive access via single license, that supports both desktop and cloud services.

Faster Model Display (faster is always better, my words)
Improved speed of synchronizing data and display of model list, and faster streaming of BIM 360 models.

Autodesk 2017 Product Integration
Providing support for the latest Autodesk applications is fundamental to Navisworks, ensuring that the latest version of design models and data can be reviewed and analyzed. Updated file readers, exporters and integrations include:

1. AutoCAD 2017 file reader and exporter
2. Civil 3D 2017 file reader and exporter
3. Revit 2017 file reader and exporter
4. Inventor 2017 file reader
5. 3DS Max 2017 file exporter
6. Recap 2017 integration
7. Vault 2017 integration
8. Intergraph CADWorx Plant file reader updated to include support for additional properties including User data and Insulation.

I can't help but reading through that imagining, "Awe...we were so tired from the last two releases, cut us some slack dude...". Maybe they are working on some killer stuff that couldn't be wrapped up in the yearly release cycle? Optimistically, at least getting up to speed with Navisworks 2017 this year won't take long.

Revit 2017 - Reference Plane Subcategories

As I shared in the What's New post the other day, we can create our own Reference Plane subcategories; in both projects AND Families.

It is my opinion that Families should NOT bring Object Style subcategories for Reference Planes into Projects when they are loaded.

I realize that this is carry on baggage because Object Styles are loaded from a family into a project, that's how it works. However, it would be much better if something we can't even see or actually use in the context of the project doesn't get added to its database.

If people really like this enhancement and start using in all of their content then it could get really messy. The only people that won't incur the wrath of this are those that manage their content library aggressively. I really hope we don't end up with this...

I sure hope this is something the folks at the Building Content Summit will consider discussing to get out in front of it some.