I think it’s plain to see that there are very few things being actually developed within Autodesk, right now. Revit needs a total rewrite (and it’s not happening), Navisworks is a zombie crawling from version to version and it hasn’t been updated in decades, and don’t get me started on “new promises” such as Fusion. Still, the cloud solutions are alive and kicking. Looking back at my early years as a BIM coordinator, I think life would have been so much simpler if the current version of the Construction Cloud solutions were around, and if you’re not using them, you’re really missing something.
Today, let’s take a look at one of the most recent features: the possibility of creating a schedule view from a federated model on the cloud, free of charge (well, sort of) and without bothering to care about shared parameters.
Ready?
1. Federating a model in the cloud
Note: if you already have a federated model created directly in the Model Coordination space of ACC, you can skip right to section 2.
1.1. Activate Model Coordination
In order to work the magic, you need to activate the Model Coordination service on your Autodesk Construction Cloud working space. In other words, you need to have this space on the drop-down menu on your left.
If you don’t see it, the service needs to be activated and associated with your user under the “Members” section of the Project Admin panel. If you’re not an admin of your space, you need to ask your mama to do it.
1.2. Federate the model
Do you remember when you had to export every single view of your models in a suitable format and then load them into a software solution, and then publish the federated model? Well, forget that.
In the Model Coordination space, the first thing you have to do is fetch your models from the Docs space. Now, in order for this to work, the models need to be:
- saved into the same folder within Docs or, at best, in subfolders of the same folder: that folder will have to be picked as your “Coordination Space”.
- Versioned, which means you need to have no duplicates: every time a new update of the model is shared or released, it needs to overwrite the previous version, otherwise you’ll have a ton of models in your folder, with no practical way of telling them apart, and you’ll have to repeat the model federation every time you have a new version. You don’t want that.
- Each model needs to have a published 3d view with exactly what you want to see in the federated model (no links, for instance, no placeholders, no superfluous stuff).
When you’ve checked this, you can go onto the Model Coordination space and the first time you’ll be met with a landing page, in mixed language, roughly saying:
To start using Model Coordination, create at least one coordination space configured with regard to selected folders in Docs. Add the files to these folders to review and link models in Model Coordination. Coordination spaces created with clash detection active will automatically detect interferences between the models.
You can create multiple coordination spaces for separate areas of a project such as buildings, levels and teams.
Hit on the blue button to get started. The new coordination space will need:
- a Name that makes sense;
- to point at the correct folder in Docs;
- and whether you want to detect interferences or not.
With the last choice active, the coordination process will be a little slower, so make sure you decide whether it’s worth it or not. Remember that you can always create another coordination space just for clashes.
If your folders are a little bit messy, the right portion will come to your rescue, as you get the chance to select if you want to filter something out of the whole bunch of things that will be dragged into your coordination space.
By hitting on the white button, after you selected a folder, you’ll be faced with different options for filtering out content.
You can delete whole subfolders, for instance if you decide nothing interesting will ever be present in a folder called 02_DWG (damn those folders with formats in their name), or you can do something even more interesting and select just relevant formats within a subfolder.
This is handy when you want to include just consolidated IFC models in your coordination space or, on the contrary, when you have decided that coordination will happen just on the native models. If you screw this up, there’s always a way to modify these settings even after the space is created.
When the space is set up, you’ll have a list of models and their published 3d views. Unfortunately, the current state of things is a bit messy and everything is displayed the same way: models and their views. For instance, this is how you’ll see a model with 2 published 3d views.
Amongst the list of models and views and cabbages and kings, you need to select the views of the models you want to federate. Remember that this is a selection of objects: only the objects visible in those views will be visible in the federated model you’re creating.
When the selection is done, click on the blue button that says “Open in the Viewer” (or something),
This will effectively create what this module of ACC calls a “View“, but I’m going to call it Aggregated View because I find it to be easier to understand. If you like the Aggregated View, you’ll be able to save it as a default, to perform clash detection for instance, but that’s a story for another time.
2. Create a Schedule
Now that you have your federated model created and visualised in the cloud, that’s where the fun starts. Let’s assume I have this model of the Ville Savoy, for instance, and I want to extract Walls and their properties. The only issue is that I don’t have Revit.
Now, I’ve got two options:
- I can call the Dude who did the model and go like “Dude, I need you to export me a spreadsheet of Walls with this and that” (and all the iterations that will follow);
- I can learn to oppose a new level of thumb.
In the Model Browser tab of my window, I can isolate the elements I want. For instance, I can isolate all Walls by category or, if I’m feeling fancy, filter them by Level and then isolate them by category.
Since the structure of data within Revit is a fucking mess, the only trick is to find the correct parameter that does what you want for the correct category and its Real Name.
Just remember that, as it happens within Revit, Filters and Advanced Filters (the upper part of the left sidebar in my picture) have precedence over the category selection in the Model Structure portion.
In my example, for instance, I’m filtering all elements on Level 4. Since there are no trees on the roof, the planting category doesn’t even show up after I’m done filtering, and I can easily isolate what I want amongst the relevant, filtered out elements.
Now, if you’re happy with what you’re seeing, you can create a schedule of the elements. It’s that simple. And you can do it by hitting the button in the lower-left corner.
The first result, as if often happens with Autodesk, will leave you a bit disappointed, as you’ll only have a few basic (and useless) information: Family and Type (which of course makes it even less useful, given that the Family of a Basic Wall is… Basic Wall), Count (wow! 39 walls! the contractor will be thrilled!), and the name of the file they came from.
If you stop and think about it for a minute, it’s normal: by default, you only see the parameters originally loaded as a possibility to set up a filter. Don’t you fret. You can add Parameters by clicking on the “Add Column” button.
Columns are, of course, parameters. They are grouped and they’re trying to show where they come from, they’re really trying, but it might take some trial and error to add the correct one. Make sure you know what you’re doing, at least from a “rule of thumb” point of view.
For instance, here I’m adding the Volume and Area fields for Walls. Beware to set up Sums as you want them, and this too works precisely like Revit. You can either:
- sum values;
- not sum them (and they will show up either individually or you’ll have a <various> showing up);
- show the average (arithmetic mean);
- show the minimum value within the range;
- show the maximum value within the range.
End of choices. In my case, of course, I want a sum.
Let’s assume I’m satisfied, and my job here is done.
Now, remember that you need to select what you want to export, which means that you can export everything you have in the schedule or just some of the elements / rows (something we’ve been dreaming in Revit for a long time now).
After you selected your stuff, you go to export, and you can either have your regular CSV or… drums rolling… an XLSX. It only took them 18 years.
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