& Construction
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Integrated BIM tools, including Revit, AutoCAD, and Civil 3D
& Manufacturing
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Professional CAD/CAM tools built on Inventor and AutoCAD
Integrated BIM tools, including Revit, AutoCAD, and Civil 3D
Professional CAD/CAM tools built on Inventor and AutoCAD
Transcript
00:00
[MUSIC PLAYING]
00:11
Good morning, good afternoon, good evening
00:13
wherever you guys are.
00:14
Thanks for joining me on this path
00:16
to learn about BIM Collaborate Pro.
00:19
My name is Deepak Maini.
00:21
I must say Revit Cloud Worksharing and design
00:24
collaboration using Cloud have totally changed
00:26
the way the AEC industry works.
00:28
The way we deliver the BIM or digital engineering projects
00:32
have totally changed using these features.
00:35
In this three-part series of accelerators,
00:37
we are going to talk about all these things in detail
00:40
using BIM Collaborate Pro.
00:42
So let's get started with the first part, which
00:45
is implementing Revit collaboration in BIM
00:47
Collaborate Pro.
00:49
Just a quick introduction about myself.
00:51
I'm the National Technical Manager
00:53
at a company called Cadgroup Australia.
00:55
I'm a qualified mechanical engineer with around 22 years
00:58
of experience in the industry.
01:00
I'm an Autodesk expert elite and also
01:03
a BIM 360 certified consultant.
01:05
I've also been really privileged that I
01:07
get to travel around the world and do talks
01:09
at various conferences.
01:11
I've won several top speaker awards at various conferences
01:14
as well.
01:15
Written a few books on programs such as Navisworks, Advance
01:18
Steel, and Bluebeam Revu.
01:21
Outside my full time job, I also do
01:23
a bit of teaching at some local universities
01:25
in Australia and also some universities overseas.
01:31
Now, talking about Autodesk Accelerators,
01:33
these are designed to help you and your team
01:36
stay ahead of the curve with the latest workflows.
01:40
There are several on-demand courses, pre-recorded coaching,
01:44
and also live coaching that you can request
01:47
using the Customer Success Hub.
01:51
This is the safe harbor statement.
01:53
I'm going to leave it on the screen for a few seconds
01:56
for you to read through.
02:06
Let's talk about the learning objectives of this accelerator.
02:10
Now, remember, I mentioned that this is the first accelerator
02:13
in the three-part series.
02:16
In this accelerator, we are going
02:17
to start with a quick BIM Collaborate Pro overview.
02:22
We'll then look at how to get Revit models
02:24
and data to the Cloud-based projects on the BIM 360
02:28
platform.
02:30
We'll then understand the linking methods
02:32
for the Cloud-initiated Revit models.
02:36
We'll then understand linking methods for the other files.
02:39
And finally, we'll learn how to make
02:41
the data available for the design collaboration module,
02:44
which is via publishing.
02:48
We will start with a quick BIM Collaborate Pro review.
02:53
BIM Collaborate Pro gives you access
02:55
to all these offerings that were part
02:58
of the previous avatar of this product, which
03:00
was BIM 360 design.
03:02
So you still have access to Revit Cloud Worksharing,
03:06
collaboration for Civil 3D, and collaboration for Plant 3D.
03:10
In addition to this, you get access
03:12
to the BIM 360 Document Management module, BIM 360
03:16
Design Collaboration module, and the various admin modules.
03:20
In addition to these offerings, BIM Collaborate Pro
03:23
also provides you new offerings--
03:26
which is BIM 360 Model Coordination module, and BIM
03:32
On top of it, you also get access
03:35
to all these functionalities on the Autodesk Construction Cloud
03:38
platform.
03:39
So Revit Cloud Worksharing, Collaboration for Civil 3D
03:42
and Plant 3D, Docs module, Design Collaboration,
03:45
and Model Coordination module on the Autodesk Construction Cloud
03:49
platform as well.
03:50
The focus for today is going to be BIM 360 Design Collaboration
03:55
module.
03:55
So please note that we are going to concentrate on the BIM 360
03:59
platform.
04:02
Let's now talk about the key modules of BIM Collaborate Pro.
04:07
The first one is the Document Management module.
04:10
Document Management module is required
04:11
for all BIM Collaborate Pro projects on the BIM 360
04:15
Platform.
04:17
It is the data storage layer of the platform,
04:20
and it provides you several permissions
04:22
to control the security of your data.
04:25
You can create issues, add markups,
04:27
and even control versions of the files
04:30
hosted in the Document Management module.
04:33
The second module is the Design Collaboration module.
04:36
This is where the controlled information
04:39
is exchanged between the teams.
04:42
It provides you team timelines and tracking of the data,
04:47
it provides you change visualizations of models.
04:50
So this is a really powerful module
04:53
that allows you to coordinate all project deliverables.
04:58
The next key module is the Model Coordination module.
05:02
This is the module that allows automated clash
05:04
detection of the data hosted in your coordination spaces.
05:09
You can group clashes by elements levels
05:12
or other parameters.
05:15
It allows coordination issue management.
05:18
And those issues can be downloaded inside Revit
05:21
using the Issues Add-on are done for Revit.
05:24
Please note that this add-on is only available for Revit 2020
05:28
and above.
05:29
So basically, it provides you a closed loop issue management
05:33
system for detecting and resolving clashes.
05:38
Let's now talk about the important services that
05:41
work with BIM Collaborate Pro.
05:43
Now remember, BIM Collaborate Pro
05:45
provides you access to your data anywhere, any time.
05:49
It also provides you access to controlled sharing of data
05:52
with the extended teams.
05:55
The first important service is Revit Cloud Worksharing.
05:58
It allows you to synchronize your local data
06:01
with a Cloud-hosted central model.
06:05
It allows element borrowing and central file
06:08
storage on the Cloud, as I mentioned earlier.
06:10
But most importantly, it provides you access
06:13
to a feature called Revit accelerator that
06:16
sits in the background and delta exchanges
06:19
the information between your local model
06:21
and the Cloud central model, which
06:23
means that when you're synchronizing
06:25
the data between local and Cloud central,
06:27
it takes lot lesser time because it's already
06:30
done most of the heavy lifting in the background.
06:33
The next one is collaboration for Civil 3D,
06:36
which provides you access to automatic file locking hosted
06:39
on the Cloud project.
06:41
It also allows you to create and consume data shortcuts.
06:46
And then, there's collaboration for Plant 3D.
06:50
Now, this accelerator focuses on Revit Cloud Worksharing.
06:56
Before we proceed any further in this accelerator,
06:59
it is important for us to understand some Autodesk
07:01
terminology that will be used.
07:03
The first one is Cloud.
07:05
In this context, the Cloud is either Cloud servers,
07:09
in general, or Autodesk Construction Cloud or BIM 360
07:12
platform specifically.
07:15
The next one is Revit Cloud Worksharing or RCW.
07:18
It's a Revit multi-user model co-authoring
07:21
utilizing BIM Collaborate Pro and the Document Management
07:24
module.
07:26
Then we've got Revit Cloud Workshared model.
07:29
This is the workshared, multi-user Revit
07:32
model initiated or collaborated to the Cloud.
07:36
The next one is Revit Cloud model.
07:38
Now, please, please, please note that this
07:41
is not a workshared model.
07:43
This is for a single user access.
07:46
The model is saved on the Cloud so a single user
07:49
can access that model.
07:52
The next one is sync or synchronize.
07:54
This is the function in Revit that
07:56
allows you to synchronize local work in Revit
07:59
with the central model hosted on the cloud.
08:02
In this context, it would always be
08:04
syncing with the Cloud central.
08:07
Please do not confuse this with publishing.
08:12
Publish or publishing is what makes the Revit model,
08:15
with its sets, sheets, and 3D views
08:19
available for viewing on the Document Management
08:21
module and the Design Collaboration module.
08:26
Revit Home is a screen that was introduced in Revit 2019.1.
08:31
This is the main Revit interface for accessing Revit cloud
08:35
models in the cloud projects and for publishing.
08:39
And lastly, Project Home.
08:41
This is the landing page and dashboard
08:43
on the BIM 360 platform which displays
08:46
a single view of your project.
08:50
In this section, we are going to learn how to get Revit models
08:53
and data to the cloud project.
08:57
There are four ways to get Revit models and data
09:00
to the cloud-based project.
09:03
In this section, we're going to understand what those four
09:06
methods are, we're then going to learn when to use which method,
09:11
and then finally, we are going to understand
09:13
the do's and don'ts of each of these methods.
09:18
Let's start with method 1.
09:20
This is where we initiate a Revit model in the cloud using
09:24
Revit Cloud Worksharing.
09:27
Method 2 is saving a non-workshared single-user
09:33
model to the Cloud.
09:35
Method 3 is uploading via web browser
09:39
using the Upload Files button or simply dragging
09:42
and dropping files into the Document Management module.
09:46
Now, this method is best used for non-Revit files.
09:51
Any file uploaded via this method
09:52
needs Desktop Connector to link into Revit.
09:56
We are going to learn about all these things like Desktop
09:58
Connectors and so on later on in this accelerator.
10:02
You can also use this method to upload detached Revit files.
10:07
So maybe one of the disciplines in your project
10:09
decides not to use BIM 360 Cloud Collaboration, in that case,
10:14
you can drag and drop the Revit files
10:16
into a folder using this method.
10:19
Now, please note that if you're using this method for detached
10:23
Revit files, there's a functionality limitation
10:26
on the BIM 360 platform.
10:28
It should only be used if there is a particular need
10:32
for this kind of workflow.
10:34
Method 4 is uploading via connected drive
10:38
using Desktop Connector.
10:39
And this method has the same limitations as method 3.
10:45
Let's now talk about method 1 in detail,
10:48
which is the whole concept of Revit Cloud Worksharing.
10:53
In this method, we initiate a Revit model
10:57
as a workshared model to the cloud.
11:00
And to do that, we select this option
11:02
in the Collaborate dialog box that says, "in the cloud."
11:06
Now, please note that if you need Revit Cloud Worksharing,
11:10
this is the only method that you can initiate that.
11:14
This is also the only method that
11:17
can take full advantage of the design collaboration features.
11:22
Revit Cloud Worksharing also takes the advantage
11:25
of edge caching locations and personal accelerator.
11:28
We are going to talk about edge caching locations
11:30
later on in this accelerator.
11:34
So once you have selected "in the cloud"
11:36
in the collaborate dialog box, next you
11:39
need to navigate to your account,
11:41
then you have to navigate to the project,
11:43
then under project files, pick the folder.
11:47
Please do not initiate anything under the "Plans" folder
11:50
because it does not take advantage
11:52
of design collaboration module.
11:55
Once you're in the project files area,
11:57
you can then pick the team folder
11:59
where you want to initiate your cloud worksharing.
12:03
And then, finally click Save.
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It then starts the process of initiating cloud worksharing.
12:10
Once the process is completed, it'll save a local cached file
12:15
as well.
12:16
Once that is done, this Save As Cloud
12:19
model dialog box will be displayed
12:20
where you can say, close.
12:24
Now, this is the really cool thing.
12:26
Once the model has been initiated as a Cloud Workshared
12:29
model, when you go into your Revit Home screen,
12:32
and under Autodesk Docs, when you go to your cloud project,
12:36
it actually shows you there that it's a Workshared Cloud model.
12:41
Now again, to get to this screen,
12:43
make sure you go to Autodesk Docs then you go to the account
12:46
side, project, project files, and then
12:48
you click on your Team folder as shown in this image here.
12:53
In some cases, you might have to click on this Refresh button
12:56
on the top right to show this model on the screen.
13:00
Now, it's also really important for you
13:02
to know that this is the area that you would normally
13:06
open a Revit Cloud Workshared model from.
13:09
Alternatively, you can also open this model
13:12
from the Recent Files area.
13:14
Please note that when you hover the cursor
13:16
over the Recent Files area onto this model,
13:19
it'll show you that it's a Workshared Cloud model.
13:24
Also, notice the icon on the bottom left.
13:27
That icon represents a Cloud Workshared Revit model.
13:33
Once the process is completed, the model
13:36
also appears in the Document Management
13:38
module in your Team folder.
13:41
Please note that the published version here will be version 2.
13:45
So the first published version is version 2.
13:49
And once the model is ready for viewing,
13:51
you can simply click on the name of this model
13:53
to open it and review the content of this model.
13:57
And next time when you published a revised version of the model,
14:00
it'll automatically bump the version of the model here.
14:04
And this is where you can use the powerful change
14:07
visualization method where you can
14:09
compare the different versions of the model.
14:13
Now, it's really, really important
14:15
for you to know that you should never
14:17
open a Revit Cloud Workshared model to Desktop Connector.
14:21
So do not go to the Open dialog box, and using
14:23
desktop connected try opening that model.
14:26
Because if you do so, it will come up
14:27
with this dialog box here telling you
14:30
that you're trying to open a published version of the Revit
14:32
Cloud model.
14:34
As I mentioned earlier, you should always
14:36
open it from Revit home screen or from recent files.
14:40
I still prefer home screen.
14:43
Let's now take a look at the demonstration of this workflow.
14:47
All right.
14:48
So I've got this architectural model open which
14:51
is currently a local model.
14:54
Now, before I start initiating cloud worksharing,
14:57
I want to show you something called publish sets.
15:00
I'll go to the Collaborate tab here,
15:03
and if I go under publish settings,
15:06
I got these publish sets here.
15:09
These are the two sets that I've selected already--
15:12
Architecture Share and A 100 Series.
15:16
These sets have got some views and some sheets here.
15:21
Now, the reason I've created these sets
15:23
is because these are the only views and sheets
15:26
I want to be available for viewing in the Document
15:29
Management environment.
15:30
I don't want any other views and sheets
15:33
from this model to be available for viewing in the Document
15:36
Management environment.
15:38
Now that I've done this, I'm ready to initiate
15:41
cloud worksharing.
15:42
For that again, on the Collaborate tab,
15:45
I'm going to click on Collaborate here.
15:48
When I do this, it'll display the Collaborate dialog box.
15:51
As I mentioned earlier, I'm going to click on in the cloud,
15:55
OK?
15:56
It now initiates the process.
15:58
And now I'll have to go and select
15:60
the account and the project.
16:03
Let me go in here.
16:04
I'm going to change the account and pick the account here.
16:08
And then I'm going to go into the project.
16:14
Go into project files as we discussed earlier.
16:17
And because this is the architecture model,
16:19
I'll go into the Architecture folder.
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And now in here, I'm going to go and say Save.
16:25
It's by default using the same name as the original file name.
16:29
Now, notice that the original file
16:30
name had a spelling mistake.
16:32
I can actually fix this here.
16:35
So this will be the name of the Cloud Workshared model.
16:39
It now starts the process of worksharing and creating
16:42
default work sets.
16:45
And next, it starts the process of saving the model
16:48
to the cloud.
16:50
I just want to mention this here.
16:52
That depending on the size of the model you're working with,
16:55
this process may take a few minutes.
16:58
So please be mindful of that.
17:03
And that's it.
17:04
Now it has initiated the cloud worksharing
17:06
and saved the model to the cloud.
17:07
Now, please note that for this demonstration,
17:10
I sped up the process.
17:12
I'm going to click Close here now.
17:15
And now I don't need this local model,
17:17
so I'm going to close this.
17:20
As you can see in the Recent Files,
17:23
I've got this Revit Cloud Workshared model available
17:26
here.
17:26
And this is the icon I was talking about.
17:29
This is the icon that represents a Cloud Workshared model.
17:33
Now, I can open this model from here.
17:36
Alternatively, if I go to Autodesk Docs,
17:40
I can now navigate to My Project.
17:43
Go into Project Files, and under the 01 Architecture folder,
17:49
I can see that this is now saved as a Workshared Cloud Model.
17:54
How cool is that?
17:56
Also, when you first initiate the cloud worksharing,
17:60
the model is also published for viewing on the Document
18:03
Management interface.
18:06
Just a reminder here, in some cases,
18:08
if you do not see the file here, all you do
18:11
is click on this Refresh button here.
18:14
The next thing that I want to show you
18:15
here is not to open this Cloud Workshared
18:19
model using Desktop Connector.
18:22
I've actually noticed a lot of people trying to do that.
18:25
What they do is they go to the Open button here,
18:29
and then they go into This PC, then
18:33
using the Desktop Connector, they try to open this file.
18:37
So going into the Desktop Connector,
18:39
they'll go into the Account Project,
18:43
and then from Project Files, they'll go into the Team folder
18:46
here, and then they'll try opening the file.
18:50
And when you do that, this is where Revit says,
18:53
OK, you know what?
18:53
This is actually a Cloud Workshared Revit model
18:57
and you are trying to open a published version of it.
19:02
That's where we need to be really careful
19:05
and cancel this option here.
19:09
And always open the file--
19:10
either from Recent Files or from the Home screen.
19:16
Now once this file has been published,
19:19
I can also view this using a web browser.
19:22
To do that, I can open the web browser
19:25
or I can simply click on this option here that says,
19:27
View Online.
19:29
It now opens a web browser and takes me to my BIM 360 project.
19:35
You might be asked to sign in.
19:38
And once you have signed in, it'll take you to your project.
19:42
Now, if I go into the 01 Architecture folder here,
19:46
I can see that this architecture file is already published
19:49
as version 2.
19:51
And if I click on this file here,
19:53
I'm able to open this file in the BIM 360 Document Management
19:57
environment.
19:59
Here's the 3D view that we included
20:01
in one of our published sets, and here are
20:04
the 2D sheets that we included.
20:06
How cool is this?
20:11
All right.
20:11
So now that we have understood the first method of saving
20:15
the model to the cloud, let's jump back to the slide deck
20:18
and look at the next method.
20:21
The next method is saving a non-workshared cloud model.
20:27
This is done by saving a file as a cloud model.
20:32
For that, we're going to Save As, and save as Cloud Model.
20:37
And similar to the previous method,
20:39
make sure you go to the Account, the Project,
20:42
and from Project Files, you go and pick the desired folder.
20:47
Once the upload process is completed,
20:49
it'll show you this dialog box here where you can go and say,
20:52
Close.
20:54
The model saved on the cloud using this method
20:57
will be shown as a cloud model in the Home screen
21:01
as well as in Recent Files.
21:03
So this is where Revit makes it a lot easier
21:06
for you to understand whether a model is a Workshared cloud
21:10
model or just a cloud model for a single user access.
21:17
And in this case, as you can see, even in the recent files,
21:20
it'll tell you that it's a cloud model, not a Workshared Cloud
21:24
model.
21:25
And again, even this type of model
21:27
is not recommended to be opened to Desktop Connector.
21:31
You need to open it either using the Home screen
21:34
or using Recent Files.
21:38
The cloud model will also be available in the Document
21:41
Management environment where you can click on this model as well
21:44
and you can open it and review the content of this model.
21:49
Now, this is a question that I get
21:51
asked a lot where someone, by mistake,
21:55
saved it as a cloud model instead of initiating
21:58
cloud worksharing.
21:59
So what do we do?
22:00
Do we then delete the model and restart
22:03
the process of initiating cloud worksharing?
22:06
The answer is, no.
22:07
What you can do is you can open the cloud model,
22:10
and then you can go to the Collaborate tab,
22:13
and you can enable work sets.
22:15
Once you do, that cloud model then becomes a Cloud Workshared
22:20
model.
22:23
Let's take a look at the demonstration of this.
22:27
I'm in Revit now.
22:29
And from the Recent Files area, I'll open a local model.
22:34
So this is a local model as you can see.
22:36
And again, if I go to the Collaborate tab,
22:39
I'll click on Publish Settings.
22:41
And notice that I've got a set created here, which has got
22:45
a 3D view and also a 2D sheet.
22:48
And again, this is the only 3D view
22:50
and this is the only sheet that I
22:52
want to be available for viewing in the Document Management
22:55
environment.
22:57
And now, I'm going to go into File, Save As,
23:02
and I'm going to save it as a Cloud Model.
23:08
And in this Save As Cloud Model window,
23:10
I'm going to go and pick my account, pick the project,
23:15
go into Project Files, pick the folder where
23:18
I want to save this, and I'm going to go and say, Save.
23:22
The program now starts the process
23:24
of saving this model onto the cloud.
23:29
And once the process is completed,
23:31
it'll give us a message that the model is saved to the cloud.
23:35
I can now close out of this dialog box,
23:38
and also because I don't need this local model now,
23:40
I can close this as well.
23:44
And now, under Recent Files, I can
23:46
see that this is saved as a cloud model.
23:50
Notice the difference between the icon of the cloud model
23:54
and the icon of a Workshared Cloud model.
23:59
Similarly, if I go under Autodesk Docs,
24:03
I just hit the Refresh button here.
24:07
And this model is listed as a cloud model in my project.
24:12
Notice that this is a Workshared Cloud model
24:16
whereas this is a cloud model.
24:19
And again, if you want to open this model,
24:22
please never go to the Open dialog box
24:24
and open using Desktop Connector,
24:26
always open it from the Home screen under Autodesk Docs
24:30
or from the Recent Files.
24:33
So if I go and click on this model now,
24:35
it opens the cloud model.
24:38
And if this model was saved as a cloud model by mistake,
24:42
I can go to the Collaborate tab, and I
24:45
can create default work sets.
24:48
When I click on this, it allows me to confirm this.
24:52
I can select these check boxes here
24:55
and then I can go and say, enable this
24:56
as a Cloud Workshared model.
24:60
In this case, I'm going to click Cancel.
25:04
And just like last time, I can also view this model online.
25:09
In my case, I already have the project
25:11
open in the web browser.
25:13
So let me go to my web browser.
25:16
Let me close out of this workshared model.
25:19
And now I can see this model served here as version 2.
25:25
And if I click on this model to open,
25:28
it'll show us the 3D view as well as the 2D sheet
25:32
that we included in our publish sets.
25:35
How cool is this?
25:42
All right.
25:42
Let's now talk about the third method,
25:45
which is uploading via the web browser.
25:48
So when you access your project using the web browser
25:50
like Chrome, you can use the Upload Files button
25:54
to upload files in any of these folders.
25:57
Alternatively, you can drag and drop the files
25:60
into any of these folders as well.
26:02
This method can be used for detached Revit models.
26:06
So for example, as I mentioned earlier,
26:08
one of the disciplines in your project
26:09
decides not to use BIM Collaborate Pro.
26:12
In that case, their Revit models can be dragged and dropped
26:16
into their folder.
26:19
Now, remember, to interact with any of these files,
26:22
you need Desktop Connector.
26:26
This method is really handy for bulk uploading
26:29
files like multiple PDF files or multiple image files and so on.
26:35
Now, on similar line, we have got method number 4,
26:39
which is uploading via the Desktop Connector.
26:42
In this case, you can open two File Explorer windows side
26:46
by side.
26:47
In one of the windows, you can use the Desktop Connector
26:50
to access your BIM 360 project.
26:52
In the other window, you can have your local files
26:55
sitting that you can drag and drop.
26:59
Let's now take a look at the demonstration
27:01
of both these methods.
27:03
Let me close out of this file.
27:07
So now, I am in my project using my Chrome window.
27:10
Let's say I want to upload some files
27:12
in the 07-Site-Photos folder.
27:16
For this, I can go into this folder here,
27:18
and then I can click on the Upload Files button, which
27:21
is available here.
27:23
It would prompt me to select the files.
27:25
In this case, I can go and select these two image files
27:28
and I can go and say, Open.
27:30
It starts the process of uploading these two files.
27:35
Similarly, if I go to this QR codes folder--
27:38
in my case, I've got several files
27:40
to upload in this QR code folder.
27:43
For that, I'll open the File Explorer window.
27:46
And now, I can go and select all these files here, and then
27:52
drag and drop.
27:54
In the Process window here, it shows us the processing
27:57
of all these files.
28:01
We can see the two image files are already uploaded
28:03
in the Site-Photos folder.
28:08
I can click on any of these images to open them.
28:13
So that was the third method.
28:15
Let's not talk about the fourth method which
28:18
is using Desktop Connector.
28:20
Let me go and open another File Explorer window.
28:25
In this window, I'm going to use a Desktop Connector to access
28:29
my BIM 360 project.
28:31
For that, I'll go to Autodesk Docs,
28:34
go into my account and the project, go into the folder
28:39
where I want to upload the files.
28:43
So in this File Explorer window, I've
28:46
accessed my BIM
28:48
using the Desktop Connector.
28:50
Let me go and open the other File Explorer window.
28:55
And go into the folder where the PDF files are located,
28:59
I'm going to select all these PDF files,
29:01
and I'm going to drag and drop these files into my BIM 360
29:06
project folder using Desktop Connector.
29:09
As soon as I do that, the process
29:11
of transferring the files start, and there we go.
29:16
So these files are transferred.
29:17
The status is saying, New.
29:21
And now, it has changed the status to Synched.
29:25
If I go into the web browser, and go into 00 PDF files
29:30
folder, I can see that it's now uploading the files here.
29:35
How cool is this?
29:38
So this is the fourth method of uploading the files
29:41
where we have uploaded the files using the Desktop Connector.
29:46
OK.
29:46
So now that we understand all the file upload methods,
29:50
let's understand the linking methods for cloud
29:54
initiated Revit models.
29:58
The first method to link into a cloud
30:01
initiated Revit model is direct linking.
30:05
The second method is controlled linking.
30:09
In this live linking method, we live link another discipline
30:13
model straight into our Revit model.
30:16
Now, this only works in a high trust environment
30:20
where the other disciplines would give us access
30:23
to their live model.
30:25
You need to be given permission into their team folder
30:28
for you to live link their model.
30:32
The main thing to remember is the active changes
30:35
will appear on their model obviously, but also
30:38
on your model.
30:40
So that's the direct linking method.
30:43
In control linking method, there are two different methods
30:47
you can use.
30:48
The first one is the shared linking
30:50
where you are linking to the released models.
30:53
Meaning the models that are shared
30:55
by the other disciplines.
30:57
And then the next controlled linking method
30:60
is consumed linking.
31:02
This is the method where you go and accept the released model.
31:07
So you consume a released model.
31:09
The active changes will not appear in your model
31:12
because it is a controlled linking,
31:15
meaning you are linking to a model that you have accepted.
31:19
And personally, I'm a big fan of this method.
31:22
This way, I'm in control of what is
31:25
getting linked into my model.
31:28
Because this consumed linking method
31:30
gives me the option to actually review their model
31:34
before I consume it.
31:36
So I'm in control of what data is
31:39
getting linked into my model.
31:41
Let's now talk about the live linking method
31:44
and how to set it up.
31:45
To do that, open your Cloud Workshared Revit model,
31:50
then open Manage Links, and then go
31:53
to your BIM 360 project, browse to the Other Disciplines team
31:57
folder.
31:58
And provided you have the right set of permissions defined
32:01
in design collaboration, you can then go and live link
32:04
to the model sitting in their folder.
32:09
Now, as I mentioned earlier, the current status of the model
32:12
is shown in the host at open.
32:15
It can be updated by reloading latest at any time.
32:19
Now, it does not update at sync and you need at least View
32:23
plus download permissions to the other team folder.
32:26
Which when setting up using design collaboration,
32:29
is minimum create permission.
32:32
Also as I mentioned earlier, I'm not a big fan of this
32:35
and the reason is because you have
32:37
got no control over the data.
32:39
If the linked team decides to delete half of the model,
32:42
it'll then be reflected in your model as well.
32:45
So you need to be really mindful of this.
32:48
And the path in the Manage Link dialog box
32:51
will actually show you the path to, obviously, their team
32:54
folder.
32:55
Let's now take a look at the demonstration of this.
32:60
I'm currently in my Firefox window,
33:02
logged in as the architecture team lead.
33:05
Architecture is obviously my team folder,
33:08
but I also have Create Permission
33:10
into the Structure folder.
33:12
The Create Permission was defined using the design
33:15
collaboration team permissions.
33:17
Now, if I look at the Architecture model,
33:19
currently it is version 2-- which
33:21
is the first published version.
33:23
And if I open this model here, there is only one 3D view
33:28
called Architecture Share.
33:30
Because my publisher said only included one 3D view.
33:35
Let me close out of it now.
33:37
I'll now jump into Revit.
33:41
And again, from my team folder for this project,
33:44
I'm going to open this architecture model.
33:51
All right.
33:51
So now if I go under Manage and click on Manage Links,
33:57
I'm going to link the Revit file.
33:58
For that, I'm going to go and say, Add.
34:02
And because this is a Cloud Workshared Revit
34:05
model, the program, by default, automatically
34:08
takes me into external reference here into my BIM 360 project.
34:15
Now, if I go to the Structure team folder here,
34:18
I can go and live link the Structure model.
34:24
And if you look at the saved part,
34:29
we can see that it's coming directly from the 02 Structure
34:33
Team folder.
34:34
I'll go, OK.
34:37
So that's the structure model linked.
34:39
I'm going to create a copy of this 3D view.
34:45
I'm going to rename this to With Links.
34:50
In my architecture share 3D view,
34:52
I'm going to turn off Revit links.
34:57
In the architecture share With Links,
34:59
I've got the links as well.
35:01
Let me now go into my collaborate tab,
35:04
and under Publish Settings, for the Architecture Share,
35:08
I'll also go and include the Architecture Share
35:10
With Links 3D view.
35:13
So now I've got the 3D view with the structure link
35:16
as well as the 3D view without the structure link.
35:21
Once I've made this change, I'm going to sync it
35:23
with the Cloud Central model.
35:27
Now, I'm a big fan of adding comments here.
35:30
That way, we can keep a track of what
35:32
were the major changes made in different sync versions.
35:37
I'll go, OK.
35:39
It now starts the process of syncing the Local model
35:43
with the Cloud Central model.
35:47
Now, if there were some changes made in the Structure model,
35:50
I could simply click on Reload Latest
35:52
to download those changes.
35:54
Now, remember, this syncing is not
35:58
uploading the files on Docs.
36:00
To update the version of the file sitting on Docs,
36:04
I would just go and refresh the team space in Revit.
36:10
It'll then tell me that this model has update available.
36:14
I can now go and select this model and say, Publish.
36:18
I'll now confirm to publish this model.
36:21
And this is where it starts the process
36:24
of publishing the latest version of the model
36:26
into Document Management.
36:28
This means that when we go into Document Management
36:31
after this process is completed, it
36:33
would have bumped the version of the model to version 3.
36:37
And in that version, we'll be able to see the updated
36:40
model with the second 3D view with structure link.
36:45
So we can see here it's telling us that the latest
36:47
model has been published.
36:51
Let me go into the Firefox window.
36:54
We can now see that the version is bumped to version 3
36:58
and it's getting the model ready for viewing on the Document
37:01
Management environment.
37:03
Now, again, just a reminder.
37:05
Depending on how many views and sheets you've got available
37:08
in your published sets, this process
37:10
might take a bit of time.
37:12
So please be mindful of this.
37:16
All right.
37:17
We can see that the architecture model is ready for viewing now.
37:20
And we can also see that this is showing version 3.
37:23
Let me click on this model to open in the Firefox window.
37:29
And we can now see that there are two 3D views--
37:32
the original Architecture Share view,
37:34
and also this view here, which is the share
37:37
view with the structure link.
37:42
Let me now orbit the model, and we
37:44
can see all these structural elements added to this model
37:48
here.
37:49
So this is the first method where
37:51
we live link a model from another team space.
37:55
Again, please, please, please be mindful
37:58
that this is only possible in a high trust environment,
38:01
and please also be mindful that you need minimum create
38:05
permission from the design collaboration team
38:08
permissions for you to live link from another team's folder.
38:18
Let's now look at the controlled linking methods.
38:21
We are going to start with this method here, which
38:23
is the shared linking method.
38:26
Now, what is shared linking?
38:28
Shared linking is where a team publishes the Revit model
38:32
into the Document Management environment
38:35
and then they use the design collaboration environment
38:38
to create and share a package.
38:41
Now, in the second part of this series of accelerators,
38:44
I'm going to discuss, in detail, how
38:46
to create and share packages.
38:49
Right now, we are just assuming that a team goes and creates
38:52
a package and shares it.
38:55
Now, as soon as a team shares a package,
38:58
a snapshot of their Revit model is automatically
39:02
copied from their team folder into the shared folder.
39:07
And it is also reflected in the recipient's team's model
39:10
if it's already been linked.
39:12
But if that model has not been linked yet,
39:14
this is where we link it from.
39:16
We link the model from the Shared Folder of our BIM 360
39:21
project.
39:23
Now, in this case, the active changes
39:25
do not appear in my model.
39:29
And obviously, the link path now shows
39:31
linking from the shared folder, not from a teams
39:36
live Work in Progress folder.
39:39
So how do we set it up?
39:41
The process is pretty similar to what we saw earlier
39:44
where we open a Cloud Workshared Revit model, we then
39:48
go to Manage Links, and this time, we
39:51
link it from the Shared Folder, not
39:53
from another team's Work in Progress folder.
39:57
Let's now take a look at the demonstration of this.
40:00
This is my Firefox window.
40:02
And currently, I'm logged in as the mechanical team lead.
40:07
Notice that I've only got access to My Team folder.
40:11
I don't have access to any other disciplines'
40:13
Work in Progress folder.
40:15
However, I've got access to the Shared folder.
40:19
Now, if I quickly look at the mechanical model right now,
40:22
this mechanical model already has
40:24
got two 3D views-- mechanical share
40:27
and mechanical share with links.
40:30
But notice that the With Links model
40:33
does not have any links yet.
40:36
Now, looking at the Shared folder,
40:38
we can see that some of the teams
40:40
have already shared their packages.
40:42
For example, if I go to the 02 structure folder,
40:45
I can see that the structure team has shared their packages
40:49
three times.
40:50
Hence, version 3 here.
40:53
And this is the model that I'm going to link
40:55
into my model inside Revit.
40:58
For that, I'll jump over to Revit.
41:02
And from the 03 Mechanical Team folder,
41:05
I'm going to open the mechanical model.
41:09
And again, just like what I did last time,
41:12
I'm going to go and say, Manage, Manage Links, and this time,
41:16
when I'm adding the Revit link, I'll go into the Shared folder.
41:23
Inside this, I'm going to go into 02 structure folder,
41:28
and that's where I'm going to link this file from.
41:34
And if you look at the path here,
41:36
it tells us that it's coming from the Shared folder.
41:40
I'll go, OK.
41:42
It now adds the Structure model as a link.
41:45
Again, for the Mechanical Share View,
41:47
I'm going to turn off the visibility of the links.
41:53
But for the Mechanical Share With Links View,
41:55
I'll make sure that the visibility of the links
41:58
is turned on, which we can see is the case here.
42:03
I'm not going to synchronize with the cloud central,
42:06
and I'll make sure that I add the comment here
42:08
that I've added the shared structure model as a link.
42:13
It's now syncing with the cloud central model
42:16
and saving a local cache model as well.
42:18
So next time when I'm opening, it opens it a lot faster.
42:23
Once I'm happy with this, I'm going
42:24
to go ahead and close this file.
42:28
I'll refresh My Team space inside Revit.
42:33
It now shows me that there's update available.
42:36
And that's when I'm going to publish this model.
42:40
Yes, I do want to publish.
42:42
It now starts the process of publishing the model--
42:45
meaning bumping the version of this model in the Document
42:49
Management environment.
42:50
And just like last time, when we look at that model there,
42:53
we will be able to see the structure link,
42:56
but that link this time is coming from the Shared folder.
43:00
Now, again, having shown you this method,
43:02
I'm personally not a big fan of this
43:05
because as soon as the structure team shares a new package,
43:09
it'll be reflected in My Model then I download those changes.
43:14
The problem with that is, what if I have placed
43:17
some ducks using some structural elements as references,
43:20
and the structure team goes and deletes those elements.
43:24
In that case, it is going to cause problems
43:27
with the elements that I place using those structural elements
43:30
that are deleted now.
43:31
So that's why, personally, I'm not a big fan of this.
43:35
Here we go.
43:36
The mechanical model is now published.
43:39
I will now jump over to the Firefox window.
43:42
And if I go to My Mechanical Work in Progress folder,
43:47
I can now see that it's getting the mechanical model
43:49
ready for viewing.
43:50
Also, I can see that the version is
43:53
bumped to the latest version.
43:56
All right.
43:56
So the mechanical model is ready for viewing now.
43:59
I'm going to click on it, and now when
44:02
I go to the Mechanical Share With Links View,
44:05
I'll be able to see the structure model also here.
44:12
So this is the second type of linking,
44:15
which is shared linking.
44:21
Let's now look at the third linking method
44:23
which is my favorite.
44:25
This is the consumed linking method.
44:28
So what's it consumed linking method?
44:31
It is a method where a Revit model from another team
44:34
is published.
44:36
That team then goes and creates a package
44:39
and shares that package, and then my team
44:43
consumes that package.
44:46
Now, in consuming that package, I
44:48
have an option of comparing that package
44:51
with the previous version of the package
44:53
to see what the changes have been made.
44:56
So that way, if I'm not happy with the changes,
44:59
I can decide not to consume that package.
45:02
I can even go to an extent of creating issues and notifying
45:06
the other team why I didn't consume that package.
45:09
This way, I've got full control over the data
45:13
and when I'm linking that consumed model,
45:16
I know that I won't have any surprises.
45:20
In this method, the link part is shown from your team's Consumed
45:25
folder.
45:28
So how do we set it up?
45:30
It's exactly similar to the previous methods,
45:33
except for this time, once you consume a package from a team,
45:39
that package is automatically copied into your team's
45:42
Consumed folder.
45:44
So when you go and open your Cloud Workshared Revit model,
45:48
you are then linking it from your team's Consumed folder.
45:52
And as I mentioned earlier in this accelerator,
45:54
this is the method that I strongly recommend.
45:57
Again, we are going to talk about creating, sharing,
46:01
and consuming the package in the second part
46:04
of this series of accelerators.
46:07
And because you are linking the model from your team's Consumed
46:11
folder, that's why this type of linking
46:14
is called consumed linking.
46:17
Let's take a look at the demonstration of this now.
46:20
I'm currently in the Firefox window, logged
46:23
in as the plumbing team lead.
46:26
And again, as you can see, I only
46:27
have access to my team's Work in Progress folder.
46:31
I don't have access to any other team's
46:33
who Work in Progress folder.
46:34
Let me now go and open this plumbing model.
46:39
So this plumbing model also has only one 3D view
46:43
called Plumbing Share.
46:46
If I expand my team's Work in Progress folder,
46:51
I can see that there's a folder called Consumed folder.
46:54
This folder is automatically created as part of the process.
46:58
And I can see that my team has also consumed a model
47:02
from the structure team.
47:04
Hence, this model is sitting in my team's Consumed folder.
47:09
And this is the model that I will be
47:11
linking inside my Revit model.
47:15
Let me jump over to Revit to do that now.
47:18
All right, so inside Revit from 04 Plumbing folder,
47:23
I'm going to open this plumbing file.
47:27
Now, if I go to the Manage Ribbon Tab, Manage Links.
47:31
This time then I go and say, Add Link.
47:34
I'm going to go into the plumbing team's
47:37
Work in Progress folder.
47:38
And inside that, I'll have the Consumed folder.
47:43
And inside the Consumed folder, I'll
47:45
have the folder for each team whose package I have consumed.
47:50
In this case, the plumbing team has only consumed a package
47:54
from the structure team, hence, I
47:56
can only see the Structure folder.
47:59
I'll double click on it, and now, I'm
48:01
going to link to this model here.
48:05
Looking at the path, I can see that it
48:08
shows me this model coming from the Consumed folder
48:12
from my team's Work in Progress folder.
48:16
I'll go, OK.
48:18
I'll turn off the visibility of Revit links in this 3D view.
48:24
I'll make sure that in the With Links 3D view,
48:26
I've got the link turned on, which is right here.
48:33
Let's go and include this view in our publish set
48:40
so that we have got the 3D view with links and the 3D view
48:44
without links.
48:48
I'll now, sync with the Cloud Central model.
48:55
Added Consumed Structure Link.
48:60
It now syncs it with the cloud central
49:02
and also saves a local cached copy.
49:09
I'll close out of this file now, refresh,
49:18
and then publish this model.
49:23
All right.
49:24
So the publishing from Revit's side is completed.
49:27
Let me switch over to the Firefox window now.
49:30
And if I go to my Work in Progress Plumbing folder,
49:34
I can see that this plumbing file is now
49:37
getting ready for viewing.
49:39
Now, as it's getting the model ready for viewing on Document
49:43
Management, let me switch over to Revit
49:45
and show you a really cool part of this technology.
49:50
All right.
49:50
So I'm back into Revit now.
49:52
In my 04 Plumbing folder--
49:55
which is my Work in Progress folder,
49:57
if I go with the Consumed folder,
49:60
I can see the 02 structure folder here.
50:02
And if I click on this
50:05
I will not see the structure file.
50:08
Meaning, the structure file that I've consumed,
50:11
I cannot actually open it inside Revit and make changes to it.
50:16
That file is only for linking.
50:19
So that's a really cool part of this technology.
50:22
I cannot open any of the consumer models and make
50:25
changes to them.
50:26
How cool is this?
50:29
Let's now switch over to the Firefox window,
50:31
and hopefully, we'll have the model ready for viewing now.
50:34
There we go.
50:35
So the model is ready for viewing.
50:37
I'll click on this, and I straight going
50:41
to the plumbing share with links view,
50:43
and I can see that there is a structure model linked here.
50:50
So this is the third method of linking,
50:52
which is my favorite method.
50:55
Let me close out of it now.
50:60
Let's now quickly go over sharing and consuming packages.
51:03
As I mentioned earlier, we are going to discuss this in detail
51:06
in the second part of this series of accelerators.
51:10
What we saw in our case was, when the structure team shared
51:14
a package, their model was automatically
51:17
copied from their Work in Progress folder
51:20
into the Shared folder.
51:22
And that was one of the methods that we
51:24
saw where we linked the model from the Shared folder.
51:28
However, in case of the plumbing team,
51:30
the plumbing team then went and consumed that package.
51:34
Which means that the structure model
51:36
was copied from the Shared folder
51:39
into the plumbing team's Work in Progress Consumed folder.
51:43
This way, plumbing team will always
51:46
be in control of what they are consuming.
51:49
And when the structure team shares their package next time,
51:53
the changes in that model will not be automatically reflected
51:56
in the plumbing model because they haven't
51:58
consumed that package yet.
52:01
Let's now understand the pros and cons of these methods.
52:07
For the live linking method, the pros
52:10
are that you can be confident that the teams are
52:13
working on the current content.
52:15
And the pace of changes is a lot faster.
52:18
However, the cons are that it requires an increased
52:22
bandwidth as the model changes are downloaded continuously.
52:26
Also, changes by other teams' design can hinder your work.
52:32
In case of shared linking, the pros
52:35
are, that you can rest assured you are not
52:37
working on the content which isn't ready yet.
52:41
The cons are slower pace of updates from other teams,
52:45
but still the changes by other design teams
52:48
can hinder your work because as soon as they share a package,
52:52
the changes could be reflected in your model.
52:56
Lastly, consumed linking.
52:58
The pros are that it allows the teams
53:00
to finish their work before being
53:03
interrupted by the new content.
53:05
Also, the team that is consuming the package
53:08
is in full control of the timing of when the new background
53:12
links appear.
53:14
The cons are, slower pace of updates from other teams.
53:21
In this section, we'll understand linking methods
53:24
for other files.
53:28
The first method in this case is local or network hosting.
53:33
In this case, all Revit users need access to the folder.
53:37
It requires VPN if accessing remotely.
53:41
But the worst part of it is it's really difficult
53:43
to set up with external users.
53:47
Option 2 is using Desktop Connector.
53:51
In this case, the files are still
53:54
hosted in the Document Management environment.
53:56
Meaning on the BIM 360 project, all we need to do
53:60
is to ensure that the Revit users have got access
54:03
to the folder in which we are saving the files.
54:07
Now, we've been talking about Desktop Connector for a while.
54:10
What is Desktop Connector?
54:13
Desktop Connector is an application
54:15
that integrates the data sources with your local folder and file
54:18
structure for easy file management.
54:22
So basically, it's displaying your BIM 360 project in a File
54:28
Explorer window like we saw earlier
54:30
when we were dragging and dropping the files.
54:33
It works in the background and make sure
54:36
that the necessary files are ready for Autodesk software
54:39
to be used.
54:41
It also updates the changes to the data source
54:44
made from Autodesk software to the cloud.
54:47
So it's not just one-way download only,
54:50
it's download plus upload of data.
54:53
It also creates integration that exchanges
54:56
files for use with other Autodesk products or platforms.
55:01
Now, Desktop Connector works together
55:04
with altering desktop products to cache the necessary files
55:07
as you work on your project.
55:09
So all this happens in the background,
55:11
meaning the files are ready for you to use when you need them.
55:16
Let's now look at the demonstration of linking
55:18
a non-work shared Revit file.
55:23
I'm currently looking at my project in BIM 360
55:26
using the Chrome window.
55:29
I'm logged in as the project admin
55:32
and because I'm the project admin,
55:34
I've got access to all the teams Work in Progress folders.
55:39
Now, on this project, the electrical discipline
55:43
decides not to use BIM Collaborate Pro.
55:46
Meaning they are not using Revit Cloud Worksharing,
55:48
and they are not using design collaboration for sharing
55:51
and consuming packages.
55:53
In this case, because I've got access
55:55
to the electrical folder, I can drag and drop
55:58
the electrical files straight into this folder here.
56:02
So if I go to the File Explorer window,
56:05
I've got this electrical file that
56:07
was send to me by the electrical team lead.
56:09
I can simply select this file and drag and drop it
56:13
into the electrical folder, just like what I showed you
56:16
earlier in this accelerator.
56:20
As you can see, it's now processing the electrical file
56:23
for viewing in the Document Management interface.
56:27
All right.
56:28
So the electrical file is ready for viewing here
56:30
in the Document Management interface.
56:33
Now, if I quickly look at the permission
56:35
to the Electrical folder, as the project admin,
56:40
I've given the plumbing team lead
56:42
View plus download permissions to the Electrical folder.
56:47
Let me not jump over to Revit.
56:50
Now inside Revit, I'm logged in as plumbing team lead.
56:54
So from the 04 Plumbing folder, I'm going to open my Plumbing
56:58
model because this is the model in which I want to link
57:01
the Electrical model.
57:05
Now, if I go in to Manage and click on Manage links,
57:09
as you can see, I've already got the structure link,
57:12
and the structure link is coming from my Consumed folder.
57:17
I'm going to click on Add to add another link.
57:22
So now, if I go to the
57:26
I don't see the Electrical model here.
57:29
The reason I don't see the electrical model here is
57:31
because it is not a Cloud Workshared model,
57:35
which means that I cannot link using this method.
57:39
To link a non-Cloud Workshared model,
57:42
I'll have to go to the Desktop Connector.
57:44
For that, I'll click on the Look and Dropdown list.
57:47
I'll go this PC, and then I'm going
57:50
to go into Autodesk Docs, which is the Desktop Connector.
57:55
I'll go into the Account, the Project.
58:01
And now when I go to the Electrical folder,
58:03
I can see the electrical Revit file here.
58:07
I'll double click on this file to link.
58:10
Notice that it's actually downloading the latest
58:13
version of the file, and that's what
58:14
the Desktop Connector is doing.
58:16
It's downloading the file from the BIM 360 project
58:19
into my local drive.
58:22
Now, most important thing to remember is that if you have
58:25
linked a non-Workshared model using Desktop Connector,
58:30
it actually shows you the full path--
58:32
including your account, your project, and so on.
58:36
Whereas if it is a Cloud Workshared model,
58:39
it actually does not show you your account name here.
58:43
I'm going to go in and say, OK.
58:45
I can see the electrical link here.
58:47
Again, I'll make sure I turn off the visibility
58:49
of the links in this 3D view.
58:55
If I go to the Shared With Links 3D view,
59:00
I can see the electrical elements here.
59:05
Let me now go and sync with the cloud central,
59:09
added electrical link via the Desktop Connector.
59:18
Let's now refresh this and publish
59:22
the latest Plumbing model.
59:28
OK.
59:29
So the latest model is published now.
59:31
Let me now switch over to the Firefox window
59:34
where I'm logged in as the plumbing team lead.
59:38
I can now see here that the plumbing model
59:41
is getting ready for viewing in the Document Management
59:43
interface.
59:45
All right.
59:46
So the plumbing model is ready for viewing now.
59:49
Let me click on this model here.
59:51
Now, this is where I want to remind you
59:53
about one of the limitations we talked
59:55
about at the start of this accelerator.
59:58
And that is, when you link a non-Cloud Workshared Revit
60:03
model using the Desktop Connector,
60:05
that Desktop Connector linked model will not
60:09
be included when you viewed the models in the Document
60:12
Management interface.
60:14
So as you can see here, the Electrical model
60:16
is not included in this display.
60:20
So that's one of the limitations that you need to be mindful of.
60:23
Let me repeat this one more time.
60:25
If you link a non-Revit Cloud Workshared
60:29
model using the Desktop Connector inside Revit,
60:32
that model will not be visible in the parent model
60:36
when viewing in the Document Management interface.
60:41
Let me close out of this now.
60:45
So if we quickly go over the Revit workflows
60:48
for Desktop Connector, using the Desktop Connector,
60:51
you can directly open any of these file types from Revit.
60:56
To do that, all you do is you go to the File Open dialog box,
60:59
and then in the Looking Dropdown List, you go to This PC,
61:03
and then you go to Autodesk Docs,
61:05
and then access these file types.
61:06
Now, remember that only non-Cloud Workshared Revit
61:11
models should be opened using this method.
61:13
As discussed earlier in this accelerator,
61:15
if it is a Cloud Workshared model or just a Cloud model,
61:20
then this method will not work.
61:24
Similarly, when linking files, these
61:26
are all the different file types that
61:28
can be linked using Desktop Connector.
61:31
Now, this is a question that you need
61:34
to ask at the start of any project.
61:37
How will the entire project team do Revit collaboration
61:40
on this given project?
61:43
So you need to plan for this.
61:45
And the planning starts with assessing your project team's
61:49
intended workflow.
61:52
The first thing you need to understand is, will all teams,
61:56
or disciplines, or partners, will be using BIM Collaborate
61:59
Pro--
61:60
which, by the way, is recommended,
62:02
or which teams will not?
62:04
Will there be some teams that will only have access
62:06
to Document Management?
62:08
Or are there going to be some teams that will not even have
62:12
access to Document Management?
62:13
So pretty much no access to the BIM 360 environment.
62:17
Now, for the teams that are using BIM Collaborate Pro,
62:20
is it going to be a high trust environment-- meaning
62:23
the teams would be live linking to the other team's models?
62:27
Or would they be using shared and consumed linking?
62:32
A quick definition of a package is
62:34
that it's a container that allows
62:36
you to bundle your team's models, views, sheet sets,
62:41
and supporting documents to share with other teams.
62:44
The teams can preview a package before they consume it,
62:48
and then decide whether or not they're
62:50
happy with them and they're happy to consume it or not.
62:54
Again, a reminder, in the second part
62:57
of this series of accelerators, we
62:59
are going to discuss this in detail.
63:03
Now, here are some recommendations.
63:05
You need to set up folders with teams in mind.
63:10
Set up the Teams folder in any case via the Admin module
63:13
and design collaboration service.
63:17
You can start with live linking and introduce
63:20
packages, shared and consumed linking later
63:23
on in the project.
63:26
You need to sit with the other stakeholders
63:28
and determine the best hybrid approach for your project.
63:33
And remember to install the Desktop Connector
63:36
and make sure it is updated on every computer.
63:39
And lastly, put all these decisions
63:42
in your project's BIM execution plan.
63:44
That's really important.
63:48
Now, if we quickly go over the publishing process
63:51
that we discuss in this accelerator, the first time
63:55
any user initiates Cloud Worksharing inside Revit,
63:59
that file is automatically published
64:01
and it's made available in the Document Management interface
64:04
as version 2.
64:07
Now, if any of their users of that team
64:10
continues working with that Revit Cloud Workshared
64:13
file and Sync with Central, that Sync with Central
64:17
does not mean that the file is getting published.
64:20
All it means is that the Revit users can see those changes
64:24
when they open the model.
64:26
The version of the file in the Document Management environment
64:29
will only be bumped when a user manually publishes a file
64:34
or uses a scheduled publish to publish a file.
64:38
Otherwise, the version in the Document Management interface
64:42
will not be revised to the latest version.
64:46
And again, just a reminder, how do you publish a file?
64:49
The best option is via the Revit Home screen.
64:53
You select the checkbox on the left of the file name,
64:56
and you click Publish.
64:57
Now, in some cases, the file may not show you update available,
65:01
and that's where we saw, we got to click on the Refresh button
65:04
on the top right and then we can publish it.
65:08
The second method is via the Managed Cloud models dialog
65:12
box.
65:12
For that, you can go to the Collaborate tab
65:15
and click on Manage Cloud models, go to the project,
65:20
and then select the file to publish.
65:22
Personally, I'm not a big fan of this.
65:24
I would just rather do it from the home screen.
65:28
Now, you can also publish via the design collaboration web
65:32
UI.
65:33
That's where you can click on Update to Latest.
65:36
We are going to discuss this in detail in the next accelerator.
65:40
We can also schedule publishing via the project admin design
65:44
collaboration web UI.
65:46
So we can go into Project Admin, Design Collaboration Service,
65:50
pick a team, and Schedule Publish.
65:53
We can then pick the day and time
65:55
when we want the scheduled publish to happen.
65:59
Talking about the views for publishing,
66:01
that's what we saw we go to the Collaborate tab
66:04
and we click on Publish Settings.
66:06
We then select the views and sheets
66:08
to be included in our publish sets.
66:12
Now, I just want to quickly remind you
66:14
that all Revit data is published regardless
66:17
of what you select here.
66:19
Selecting views and sheets here will only
66:22
ensure that those views and sheets
66:24
are available for viewing in the Document Management interface.
66:29
These views and sheets will also be available
66:31
for you to include in your package share.
66:35
The 3D views that you include in your publish sets
66:38
can also be used for automated clash detection in the Model
66:42
Coordination module.
66:45
And at the end, I just quickly want
66:47
to talk about some useful links that
66:48
are available that you can access and learn more
66:51
about all these products and also go to the Ideas Forum
66:55
and request your own ideas.
66:59
And this again, is the link to the Customer Success Hub
67:02
where there are several courses and learning paths available.
67:05
There's recorded coaching sessions available,
67:08
and you can also request live coaching topics.
67:13
And that's the end of the first accelerator.
67:16
I hope you enjoyed it.
67:17
In the second part of this series,
67:19
we are going to learn how to utilize advanced collaboration
67:22
in BIM Collaborate Pro.
67:24
I'm going to see you there, cheers.
Video transcript
00:00
[MUSIC PLAYING]
00:11
Good morning, good afternoon, good evening
00:13
wherever you guys are.
00:14
Thanks for joining me on this path
00:16
to learn about BIM Collaborate Pro.
00:19
My name is Deepak Maini.
00:21
I must say Revit Cloud Worksharing and design
00:24
collaboration using Cloud have totally changed
00:26
the way the AEC industry works.
00:28
The way we deliver the BIM or digital engineering projects
00:32
have totally changed using these features.
00:35
In this three-part series of accelerators,
00:37
we are going to talk about all these things in detail
00:40
using BIM Collaborate Pro.
00:42
So let's get started with the first part, which
00:45
is implementing Revit collaboration in BIM
00:47
Collaborate Pro.
00:49
Just a quick introduction about myself.
00:51
I'm the National Technical Manager
00:53
at a company called Cadgroup Australia.
00:55
I'm a qualified mechanical engineer with around 22 years
00:58
of experience in the industry.
01:00
I'm an Autodesk expert elite and also
01:03
a BIM 360 certified consultant.
01:05
I've also been really privileged that I
01:07
get to travel around the world and do talks
01:09
at various conferences.
01:11
I've won several top speaker awards at various conferences
01:14
as well.
01:15
Written a few books on programs such as Navisworks, Advance
01:18
Steel, and Bluebeam Revu.
01:21
Outside my full time job, I also do
01:23
a bit of teaching at some local universities
01:25
in Australia and also some universities overseas.
01:31
Now, talking about Autodesk Accelerators,
01:33
these are designed to help you and your team
01:36
stay ahead of the curve with the latest workflows.
01:40
There are several on-demand courses, pre-recorded coaching,
01:44
and also live coaching that you can request
01:47
using the Customer Success Hub.
01:51
This is the safe harbor statement.
01:53
I'm going to leave it on the screen for a few seconds
01:56
for you to read through.
02:06
Let's talk about the learning objectives of this accelerator.
02:10
Now, remember, I mentioned that this is the first accelerator
02:13
in the three-part series.
02:16
In this accelerator, we are going
02:17
to start with a quick BIM Collaborate Pro overview.
02:22
We'll then look at how to get Revit models
02:24
and data to the Cloud-based projects on the BIM 360
02:28
platform.
02:30
We'll then understand the linking methods
02:32
for the Cloud-initiated Revit models.
02:36
We'll then understand linking methods for the other files.
02:39
And finally, we'll learn how to make
02:41
the data available for the design collaboration module,
02:44
which is via publishing.
02:48
We will start with a quick BIM Collaborate Pro review.
02:53
BIM Collaborate Pro gives you access
02:55
to all these offerings that were part
02:58
of the previous avatar of this product, which
03:00
was BIM 360 design.
03:02
So you still have access to Revit Cloud Worksharing,
03:06
collaboration for Civil 3D, and collaboration for Plant 3D.
03:10
In addition to this, you get access
03:12
to the BIM 360 Document Management module, BIM 360
03:16
Design Collaboration module, and the various admin modules.
03:20
In addition to these offerings, BIM Collaborate Pro
03:23
also provides you new offerings--
03:26
which is BIM 360 Model Coordination module, and BIM
03:32
On top of it, you also get access
03:35
to all these functionalities on the Autodesk Construction Cloud
03:38
platform.
03:39
So Revit Cloud Worksharing, Collaboration for Civil 3D
03:42
and Plant 3D, Docs module, Design Collaboration,
03:45
and Model Coordination module on the Autodesk Construction Cloud
03:49
platform as well.
03:50
The focus for today is going to be BIM 360 Design Collaboration
03:55
module.
03:55
So please note that we are going to concentrate on the BIM 360
03:59
platform.
04:02
Let's now talk about the key modules of BIM Collaborate Pro.
04:07
The first one is the Document Management module.
04:10
Document Management module is required
04:11
for all BIM Collaborate Pro projects on the BIM 360
04:15
Platform.
04:17
It is the data storage layer of the platform,
04:20
and it provides you several permissions
04:22
to control the security of your data.
04:25
You can create issues, add markups,
04:27
and even control versions of the files
04:30
hosted in the Document Management module.
04:33
The second module is the Design Collaboration module.
04:36
This is where the controlled information
04:39
is exchanged between the teams.
04:42
It provides you team timelines and tracking of the data,
04:47
it provides you change visualizations of models.
04:50
So this is a really powerful module
04:53
that allows you to coordinate all project deliverables.
04:58
The next key module is the Model Coordination module.
05:02
This is the module that allows automated clash
05:04
detection of the data hosted in your coordination spaces.
05:09
You can group clashes by elements levels
05:12
or other parameters.
05:15
It allows coordination issue management.
05:18
And those issues can be downloaded inside Revit
05:21
using the Issues Add-on are done for Revit.
05:24
Please note that this add-on is only available for Revit 2020
05:28
and above.
05:29
So basically, it provides you a closed loop issue management
05:33
system for detecting and resolving clashes.
05:38
Let's now talk about the important services that
05:41
work with BIM Collaborate Pro.
05:43
Now remember, BIM Collaborate Pro
05:45
provides you access to your data anywhere, any time.
05:49
It also provides you access to controlled sharing of data
05:52
with the extended teams.
05:55
The first important service is Revit Cloud Worksharing.
05:58
It allows you to synchronize your local data
06:01
with a Cloud-hosted central model.
06:05
It allows element borrowing and central file
06:08
storage on the Cloud, as I mentioned earlier.
06:10
But most importantly, it provides you access
06:13
to a feature called Revit accelerator that
06:16
sits in the background and delta exchanges
06:19
the information between your local model
06:21
and the Cloud central model, which
06:23
means that when you're synchronizing
06:25
the data between local and Cloud central,
06:27
it takes lot lesser time because it's already
06:30
done most of the heavy lifting in the background.
06:33
The next one is collaboration for Civil 3D,
06:36
which provides you access to automatic file locking hosted
06:39
on the Cloud project.
06:41
It also allows you to create and consume data shortcuts.
06:46
And then, there's collaboration for Plant 3D.
06:50
Now, this accelerator focuses on Revit Cloud Worksharing.
06:56
Before we proceed any further in this accelerator,
06:59
it is important for us to understand some Autodesk
07:01
terminology that will be used.
07:03
The first one is Cloud.
07:05
In this context, the Cloud is either Cloud servers,
07:09
in general, or Autodesk Construction Cloud or BIM 360
07:12
platform specifically.
07:15
The next one is Revit Cloud Worksharing or RCW.
07:18
It's a Revit multi-user model co-authoring
07:21
utilizing BIM Collaborate Pro and the Document Management
07:24
module.
07:26
Then we've got Revit Cloud Workshared model.
07:29
This is the workshared, multi-user Revit
07:32
model initiated or collaborated to the Cloud.
07:36
The next one is Revit Cloud model.
07:38
Now, please, please, please note that this
07:41
is not a workshared model.
07:43
This is for a single user access.
07:46
The model is saved on the Cloud so a single user
07:49
can access that model.
07:52
The next one is sync or synchronize.
07:54
This is the function in Revit that
07:56
allows you to synchronize local work in Revit
07:59
with the central model hosted on the cloud.
08:02
In this context, it would always be
08:04
syncing with the Cloud central.
08:07
Please do not confuse this with publishing.
08:12
Publish or publishing is what makes the Revit model,
08:15
with its sets, sheets, and 3D views
08:19
available for viewing on the Document Management
08:21
module and the Design Collaboration module.
08:26
Revit Home is a screen that was introduced in Revit 2019.1.
08:31
This is the main Revit interface for accessing Revit cloud
08:35
models in the cloud projects and for publishing.
08:39
And lastly, Project Home.
08:41
This is the landing page and dashboard
08:43
on the BIM 360 platform which displays
08:46
a single view of your project.
08:50
In this section, we are going to learn how to get Revit models
08:53
and data to the cloud project.
08:57
There are four ways to get Revit models and data
09:00
to the cloud-based project.
09:03
In this section, we're going to understand what those four
09:06
methods are, we're then going to learn when to use which method,
09:11
and then finally, we are going to understand
09:13
the do's and don'ts of each of these methods.
09:18
Let's start with method 1.
09:20
This is where we initiate a Revit model in the cloud using
09:24
Revit Cloud Worksharing.
09:27
Method 2 is saving a non-workshared single-user
09:33
model to the Cloud.
09:35
Method 3 is uploading via web browser
09:39
using the Upload Files button or simply dragging
09:42
and dropping files into the Document Management module.
09:46
Now, this method is best used for non-Revit files.
09:51
Any file uploaded via this method
09:52
needs Desktop Connector to link into Revit.
09:56
We are going to learn about all these things like Desktop
09:58
Connectors and so on later on in this accelerator.
10:02
You can also use this method to upload detached Revit files.
10:07
So maybe one of the disciplines in your project
10:09
decides not to use BIM 360 Cloud Collaboration, in that case,
10:14
you can drag and drop the Revit files
10:16
into a folder using this method.
10:19
Now, please note that if you're using this method for detached
10:23
Revit files, there's a functionality limitation
10:26
on the BIM 360 platform.
10:28
It should only be used if there is a particular need
10:32
for this kind of workflow.
10:34
Method 4 is uploading via connected drive
10:38
using Desktop Connector.
10:39
And this method has the same limitations as method 3.
10:45
Let's now talk about method 1 in detail,
10:48
which is the whole concept of Revit Cloud Worksharing.
10:53
In this method, we initiate a Revit model
10:57
as a workshared model to the cloud.
11:00
And to do that, we select this option
11:02
in the Collaborate dialog box that says, "in the cloud."
11:06
Now, please note that if you need Revit Cloud Worksharing,
11:10
this is the only method that you can initiate that.
11:14
This is also the only method that
11:17
can take full advantage of the design collaboration features.
11:22
Revit Cloud Worksharing also takes the advantage
11:25
of edge caching locations and personal accelerator.
11:28
We are going to talk about edge caching locations
11:30
later on in this accelerator.
11:34
So once you have selected "in the cloud"
11:36
in the collaborate dialog box, next you
11:39
need to navigate to your account,
11:41
then you have to navigate to the project,
11:43
then under project files, pick the folder.
11:47
Please do not initiate anything under the "Plans" folder
11:50
because it does not take advantage
11:52
of design collaboration module.
11:55
Once you're in the project files area,
11:57
you can then pick the team folder
11:59
where you want to initiate your cloud worksharing.
12:03
And then, finally click Save.
12:06
It then starts the process of initiating cloud worksharing.
12:10
Once the process is completed, it'll save a local cached file
12:15
as well.
12:16
Once that is done, this Save As Cloud
12:19
model dialog box will be displayed
12:20
where you can say, close.
12:24
Now, this is the really cool thing.
12:26
Once the model has been initiated as a Cloud Workshared
12:29
model, when you go into your Revit Home screen,
12:32
and under Autodesk Docs, when you go to your cloud project,
12:36
it actually shows you there that it's a Workshared Cloud model.
12:41
Now again, to get to this screen,
12:43
make sure you go to Autodesk Docs then you go to the account
12:46
side, project, project files, and then
12:48
you click on your Team folder as shown in this image here.
12:53
In some cases, you might have to click on this Refresh button
12:56
on the top right to show this model on the screen.
13:00
Now, it's also really important for you
13:02
to know that this is the area that you would normally
13:06
open a Revit Cloud Workshared model from.
13:09
Alternatively, you can also open this model
13:12
from the Recent Files area.
13:14
Please note that when you hover the cursor
13:16
over the Recent Files area onto this model,
13:19
it'll show you that it's a Workshared Cloud model.
13:24
Also, notice the icon on the bottom left.
13:27
That icon represents a Cloud Workshared Revit model.
13:33
Once the process is completed, the model
13:36
also appears in the Document Management
13:38
module in your Team folder.
13:41
Please note that the published version here will be version 2.
13:45
So the first published version is version 2.
13:49
And once the model is ready for viewing,
13:51
you can simply click on the name of this model
13:53
to open it and review the content of this model.
13:57
And next time when you published a revised version of the model,
14:00
it'll automatically bump the version of the model here.
14:04
And this is where you can use the powerful change
14:07
visualization method where you can
14:09
compare the different versions of the model.
14:13
Now, it's really, really important
14:15
for you to know that you should never
14:17
open a Revit Cloud Workshared model to Desktop Connector.
14:21
So do not go to the Open dialog box, and using
14:23
desktop connected try opening that model.
14:26
Because if you do so, it will come up
14:27
with this dialog box here telling you
14:30
that you're trying to open a published version of the Revit
14:32
Cloud model.
14:34
As I mentioned earlier, you should always
14:36
open it from Revit home screen or from recent files.
14:40
I still prefer home screen.
14:43
Let's now take a look at the demonstration of this workflow.
14:47
All right.
14:48
So I've got this architectural model open which
14:51
is currently a local model.
14:54
Now, before I start initiating cloud worksharing,
14:57
I want to show you something called publish sets.
15:00
I'll go to the Collaborate tab here,
15:03
and if I go under publish settings,
15:06
I got these publish sets here.
15:09
These are the two sets that I've selected already--
15:12
Architecture Share and A 100 Series.
15:16
These sets have got some views and some sheets here.
15:21
Now, the reason I've created these sets
15:23
is because these are the only views and sheets
15:26
I want to be available for viewing in the Document
15:29
Management environment.
15:30
I don't want any other views and sheets
15:33
from this model to be available for viewing in the Document
15:36
Management environment.
15:38
Now that I've done this, I'm ready to initiate
15:41
cloud worksharing.
15:42
For that again, on the Collaborate tab,
15:45
I'm going to click on Collaborate here.
15:48
When I do this, it'll display the Collaborate dialog box.
15:51
As I mentioned earlier, I'm going to click on in the cloud,
15:55
OK?
15:56
It now initiates the process.
15:58
And now I'll have to go and select
15:60
the account and the project.
16:03
Let me go in here.
16:04
I'm going to change the account and pick the account here.
16:08
And then I'm going to go into the project.
16:14
Go into project files as we discussed earlier.
16:17
And because this is the architecture model,
16:19
I'll go into the Architecture folder.
16:22
And now in here, I'm going to go and say Save.
16:25
It's by default using the same name as the original file name.
16:29
Now, notice that the original file
16:30
name had a spelling mistake.
16:32
I can actually fix this here.
16:35
So this will be the name of the Cloud Workshared model.
16:39
It now starts the process of worksharing and creating
16:42
default work sets.
16:45
And next, it starts the process of saving the model
16:48
to the cloud.
16:50
I just want to mention this here.
16:52
That depending on the size of the model you're working with,
16:55
this process may take a few minutes.
16:58
So please be mindful of that.
17:03
And that's it.
17:04
Now it has initiated the cloud worksharing
17:06
and saved the model to the cloud.
17:07
Now, please note that for this demonstration,
17:10
I sped up the process.
17:12
I'm going to click Close here now.
17:15
And now I don't need this local model,
17:17
so I'm going to close this.
17:20
As you can see in the Recent Files,
17:23
I've got this Revit Cloud Workshared model available
17:26
here.
17:26
And this is the icon I was talking about.
17:29
This is the icon that represents a Cloud Workshared model.
17:33
Now, I can open this model from here.
17:36
Alternatively, if I go to Autodesk Docs,
17:40
I can now navigate to My Project.
17:43
Go into Project Files, and under the 01 Architecture folder,
17:49
I can see that this is now saved as a Workshared Cloud Model.
17:54
How cool is that?
17:56
Also, when you first initiate the cloud worksharing,
17:60
the model is also published for viewing on the Document
18:03
Management interface.
18:06
Just a reminder here, in some cases,
18:08
if you do not see the file here, all you do
18:11
is click on this Refresh button here.
18:14
The next thing that I want to show you
18:15
here is not to open this Cloud Workshared
18:19
model using Desktop Connector.
18:22
I've actually noticed a lot of people trying to do that.
18:25
What they do is they go to the Open button here,
18:29
and then they go into This PC, then
18:33
using the Desktop Connector, they try to open this file.
18:37
So going into the Desktop Connector,
18:39
they'll go into the Account Project,
18:43
and then from Project Files, they'll go into the Team folder
18:46
here, and then they'll try opening the file.
18:50
And when you do that, this is where Revit says,
18:53
OK, you know what?
18:53
This is actually a Cloud Workshared Revit model
18:57
and you are trying to open a published version of it.
19:02
That's where we need to be really careful
19:05
and cancel this option here.
19:09
And always open the file--
19:10
either from Recent Files or from the Home screen.
19:16
Now once this file has been published,
19:19
I can also view this using a web browser.
19:22
To do that, I can open the web browser
19:25
or I can simply click on this option here that says,
19:27
View Online.
19:29
It now opens a web browser and takes me to my BIM 360 project.
19:35
You might be asked to sign in.
19:38
And once you have signed in, it'll take you to your project.
19:42
Now, if I go into the 01 Architecture folder here,
19:46
I can see that this architecture file is already published
19:49
as version 2.
19:51
And if I click on this file here,
19:53
I'm able to open this file in the BIM 360 Document Management
19:57
environment.
19:59
Here's the 3D view that we included
20:01
in one of our published sets, and here are
20:04
the 2D sheets that we included.
20:06
How cool is this?
20:11
All right.
20:11
So now that we have understood the first method of saving
20:15
the model to the cloud, let's jump back to the slide deck
20:18
and look at the next method.
20:21
The next method is saving a non-workshared cloud model.
20:27
This is done by saving a file as a cloud model.
20:32
For that, we're going to Save As, and save as Cloud Model.
20:37
And similar to the previous method,
20:39
make sure you go to the Account, the Project,
20:42
and from Project Files, you go and pick the desired folder.
20:47
Once the upload process is completed,
20:49
it'll show you this dialog box here where you can go and say,
20:52
Close.
20:54
The model saved on the cloud using this method
20:57
will be shown as a cloud model in the Home screen
21:01
as well as in Recent Files.
21:03
So this is where Revit makes it a lot easier
21:06
for you to understand whether a model is a Workshared cloud
21:10
model or just a cloud model for a single user access.
21:17
And in this case, as you can see, even in the recent files,
21:20
it'll tell you that it's a cloud model, not a Workshared Cloud
21:24
model.
21:25
And again, even this type of model
21:27
is not recommended to be opened to Desktop Connector.
21:31
You need to open it either using the Home screen
21:34
or using Recent Files.
21:38
The cloud model will also be available in the Document
21:41
Management environment where you can click on this model as well
21:44
and you can open it and review the content of this model.
21:49
Now, this is a question that I get
21:51
asked a lot where someone, by mistake,
21:55
saved it as a cloud model instead of initiating
21:58
cloud worksharing.
21:59
So what do we do?
22:00
Do we then delete the model and restart
22:03
the process of initiating cloud worksharing?
22:06
The answer is, no.
22:07
What you can do is you can open the cloud model,
22:10
and then you can go to the Collaborate tab,
22:13
and you can enable work sets.
22:15
Once you do, that cloud model then becomes a Cloud Workshared
22:20
model.
22:23
Let's take a look at the demonstration of this.
22:27
I'm in Revit now.
22:29
And from the Recent Files area, I'll open a local model.
22:34
So this is a local model as you can see.
22:36
And again, if I go to the Collaborate tab,
22:39
I'll click on Publish Settings.
22:41
And notice that I've got a set created here, which has got
22:45
a 3D view and also a 2D sheet.
22:48
And again, this is the only 3D view
22:50
and this is the only sheet that I
22:52
want to be available for viewing in the Document Management
22:55
environment.
22:57
And now, I'm going to go into File, Save As,
23:02
and I'm going to save it as a Cloud Model.
23:08
And in this Save As Cloud Model window,
23:10
I'm going to go and pick my account, pick the project,
23:15
go into Project Files, pick the folder where
23:18
I want to save this, and I'm going to go and say, Save.
23:22
The program now starts the process
23:24
of saving this model onto the cloud.
23:29
And once the process is completed,
23:31
it'll give us a message that the model is saved to the cloud.
23:35
I can now close out of this dialog box,
23:38
and also because I don't need this local model now,
23:40
I can close this as well.
23:44
And now, under Recent Files, I can
23:46
see that this is saved as a cloud model.
23:50
Notice the difference between the icon of the cloud model
23:54
and the icon of a Workshared Cloud model.
23:59
Similarly, if I go under Autodesk Docs,
24:03
I just hit the Refresh button here.
24:07
And this model is listed as a cloud model in my project.
24:12
Notice that this is a Workshared Cloud model
24:16
whereas this is a cloud model.
24:19
And again, if you want to open this model,
24:22
please never go to the Open dialog box
24:24
and open using Desktop Connector,
24:26
always open it from the Home screen under Autodesk Docs
24:30
or from the Recent Files.
24:33
So if I go and click on this model now,
24:35
it opens the cloud model.
24:38
And if this model was saved as a cloud model by mistake,
24:42
I can go to the Collaborate tab, and I
24:45
can create default work sets.
24:48
When I click on this, it allows me to confirm this.
24:52
I can select these check boxes here
24:55
and then I can go and say, enable this
24:56
as a Cloud Workshared model.
24:60
In this case, I'm going to click Cancel.
25:04
And just like last time, I can also view this model online.
25:09
In my case, I already have the project
25:11
open in the web browser.
25:13
So let me go to my web browser.
25:16
Let me close out of this workshared model.
25:19
And now I can see this model served here as version 2.
25:25
And if I click on this model to open,
25:28
it'll show us the 3D view as well as the 2D sheet
25:32
that we included in our publish sets.
25:35
How cool is this?
25:42
All right.
25:42
Let's now talk about the third method,
25:45
which is uploading via the web browser.
25:48
So when you access your project using the web browser
25:50
like Chrome, you can use the Upload Files button
25:54
to upload files in any of these folders.
25:57
Alternatively, you can drag and drop the files
25:60
into any of these folders as well.
26:02
This method can be used for detached Revit models.
26:06
So for example, as I mentioned earlier,
26:08
one of the disciplines in your project
26:09
decides not to use BIM Collaborate Pro.
26:12
In that case, their Revit models can be dragged and dropped
26:16
into their folder.
26:19
Now, remember, to interact with any of these files,
26:22
you need Desktop Connector.
26:26
This method is really handy for bulk uploading
26:29
files like multiple PDF files or multiple image files and so on.
26:35
Now, on similar line, we have got method number 4,
26:39
which is uploading via the Desktop Connector.
26:42
In this case, you can open two File Explorer windows side
26:46
by side.
26:47
In one of the windows, you can use the Desktop Connector
26:50
to access your BIM 360 project.
26:52
In the other window, you can have your local files
26:55
sitting that you can drag and drop.
26:59
Let's now take a look at the demonstration
27:01
of both these methods.
27:03
Let me close out of this file.
27:07
So now, I am in my project using my Chrome window.
27:10
Let's say I want to upload some files
27:12
in the 07-Site-Photos folder.
27:16
For this, I can go into this folder here,
27:18
and then I can click on the Upload Files button, which
27:21
is available here.
27:23
It would prompt me to select the files.
27:25
In this case, I can go and select these two image files
27:28
and I can go and say, Open.
27:30
It starts the process of uploading these two files.
27:35
Similarly, if I go to this QR codes folder--
27:38
in my case, I've got several files
27:40
to upload in this QR code folder.
27:43
For that, I'll open the File Explorer window.
27:46
And now, I can go and select all these files here, and then
27:52
drag and drop.
27:54
In the Process window here, it shows us the processing
27:57
of all these files.
28:01
We can see the two image files are already uploaded
28:03
in the Site-Photos folder.
28:08
I can click on any of these images to open them.
28:13
So that was the third method.
28:15
Let's not talk about the fourth method which
28:18
is using Desktop Connector.
28:20
Let me go and open another File Explorer window.
28:25
In this window, I'm going to use a Desktop Connector to access
28:29
my BIM 360 project.
28:31
For that, I'll go to Autodesk Docs,
28:34
go into my account and the project, go into the folder
28:39
where I want to upload the files.
28:43
So in this File Explorer window, I've
28:46
accessed my BIM
28:48
using the Desktop Connector.
28:50
Let me go and open the other File Explorer window.
28:55
And go into the folder where the PDF files are located,
28:59
I'm going to select all these PDF files,
29:01
and I'm going to drag and drop these files into my BIM 360
29:06
project folder using Desktop Connector.
29:09
As soon as I do that, the process
29:11
of transferring the files start, and there we go.
29:16
So these files are transferred.
29:17
The status is saying, New.
29:21
And now, it has changed the status to Synched.
29:25
If I go into the web browser, and go into 00 PDF files
29:30
folder, I can see that it's now uploading the files here.
29:35
How cool is this?
29:38
So this is the fourth method of uploading the files
29:41
where we have uploaded the files using the Desktop Connector.
29:46
OK.
29:46
So now that we understand all the file upload methods,
29:50
let's understand the linking methods for cloud
29:54
initiated Revit models.
29:58
The first method to link into a cloud
30:01
initiated Revit model is direct linking.
30:05
The second method is controlled linking.
30:09
In this live linking method, we live link another discipline
30:13
model straight into our Revit model.
30:16
Now, this only works in a high trust environment
30:20
where the other disciplines would give us access
30:23
to their live model.
30:25
You need to be given permission into their team folder
30:28
for you to live link their model.
30:32
The main thing to remember is the active changes
30:35
will appear on their model obviously, but also
30:38
on your model.
30:40
So that's the direct linking method.
30:43
In control linking method, there are two different methods
30:47
you can use.
30:48
The first one is the shared linking
30:50
where you are linking to the released models.
30:53
Meaning the models that are shared
30:55
by the other disciplines.
30:57
And then the next controlled linking method
30:60
is consumed linking.
31:02
This is the method where you go and accept the released model.
31:07
So you consume a released model.
31:09
The active changes will not appear in your model
31:12
because it is a controlled linking,
31:15
meaning you are linking to a model that you have accepted.
31:19
And personally, I'm a big fan of this method.
31:22
This way, I'm in control of what is
31:25
getting linked into my model.
31:28
Because this consumed linking method
31:30
gives me the option to actually review their model
31:34
before I consume it.
31:36
So I'm in control of what data is
31:39
getting linked into my model.
31:41
Let's now talk about the live linking method
31:44
and how to set it up.
31:45
To do that, open your Cloud Workshared Revit model,
31:50
then open Manage Links, and then go
31:53
to your BIM 360 project, browse to the Other Disciplines team
31:57
folder.
31:58
And provided you have the right set of permissions defined
32:01
in design collaboration, you can then go and live link
32:04
to the model sitting in their folder.
32:09
Now, as I mentioned earlier, the current status of the model
32:12
is shown in the host at open.
32:15
It can be updated by reloading latest at any time.
32:19
Now, it does not update at sync and you need at least View
32:23
plus download permissions to the other team folder.
32:26
Which when setting up using design collaboration,
32:29
is minimum create permission.
32:32
Also as I mentioned earlier, I'm not a big fan of this
32:35
and the reason is because you have
32:37
got no control over the data.
32:39
If the linked team decides to delete half of the model,
32:42
it'll then be reflected in your model as well.
32:45
So you need to be really mindful of this.
32:48
And the path in the Manage Link dialog box
32:51
will actually show you the path to, obviously, their team
32:54
folder.
32:55
Let's now take a look at the demonstration of this.
32:60
I'm currently in my Firefox window,
33:02
logged in as the architecture team lead.
33:05
Architecture is obviously my team folder,
33:08
but I also have Create Permission
33:10
into the Structure folder.
33:12
The Create Permission was defined using the design
33:15
collaboration team permissions.
33:17
Now, if I look at the Architecture model,
33:19
currently it is version 2-- which
33:21
is the first published version.
33:23
And if I open this model here, there is only one 3D view
33:28
called Architecture Share.
33:30
Because my publisher said only included one 3D view.
33:35
Let me close out of it now.
33:37
I'll now jump into Revit.
33:41
And again, from my team folder for this project,
33:44
I'm going to open this architecture model.
33:51
All right.
33:51
So now if I go under Manage and click on Manage Links,
33:57
I'm going to link the Revit file.
33:58
For that, I'm going to go and say, Add.
34:02
And because this is a Cloud Workshared Revit
34:05
model, the program, by default, automatically
34:08
takes me into external reference here into my BIM 360 project.
34:15
Now, if I go to the Structure team folder here,
34:18
I can go and live link the Structure model.
34:24
And if you look at the saved part,
34:29
we can see that it's coming directly from the 02 Structure
34:33
Team folder.
34:34
I'll go, OK.
34:37
So that's the structure model linked.
34:39
I'm going to create a copy of this 3D view.
34:45
I'm going to rename this to With Links.
34:50
In my architecture share 3D view,
34:52
I'm going to turn off Revit links.
34:57
In the architecture share With Links,
34:59
I've got the links as well.
35:01
Let me now go into my collaborate tab,
35:04
and under Publish Settings, for the Architecture Share,
35:08
I'll also go and include the Architecture Share
35:10
With Links 3D view.
35:13
So now I've got the 3D view with the structure link
35:16
as well as the 3D view without the structure link.
35:21
Once I've made this change, I'm going to sync it
35:23
with the Cloud Central model.
35:27
Now, I'm a big fan of adding comments here.
35:30
That way, we can keep a track of what
35:32
were the major changes made in different sync versions.
35:37
I'll go, OK.
35:39
It now starts the process of syncing the Local model
35:43
with the Cloud Central model.
35:47
Now, if there were some changes made in the Structure model,
35:50
I could simply click on Reload Latest
35:52
to download those changes.
35:54
Now, remember, this syncing is not
35:58
uploading the files on Docs.
36:00
To update the version of the file sitting on Docs,
36:04
I would just go and refresh the team space in Revit.
36:10
It'll then tell me that this model has update available.
36:14
I can now go and select this model and say, Publish.
36:18
I'll now confirm to publish this model.
36:21
And this is where it starts the process
36:24
of publishing the latest version of the model
36:26
into Document Management.
36:28
This means that when we go into Document Management
36:31
after this process is completed, it
36:33
would have bumped the version of the model to version 3.
36:37
And in that version, we'll be able to see the updated
36:40
model with the second 3D view with structure link.
36:45
So we can see here it's telling us that the latest
36:47
model has been published.
36:51
Let me go into the Firefox window.
36:54
We can now see that the version is bumped to version 3
36:58
and it's getting the model ready for viewing on the Document
37:01
Management environment.
37:03
Now, again, just a reminder.
37:05
Depending on how many views and sheets you've got available
37:08
in your published sets, this process
37:10
might take a bit of time.
37:12
So please be mindful of this.
37:16
All right.
37:17
We can see that the architecture model is ready for viewing now.
37:20
And we can also see that this is showing version 3.
37:23
Let me click on this model to open in the Firefox window.
37:29
And we can now see that there are two 3D views--
37:32
the original Architecture Share view,
37:34
and also this view here, which is the share
37:37
view with the structure link.
37:42
Let me now orbit the model, and we
37:44
can see all these structural elements added to this model
37:48
here.
37:49
So this is the first method where
37:51
we live link a model from another team space.
37:55
Again, please, please, please be mindful
37:58
that this is only possible in a high trust environment,
38:01
and please also be mindful that you need minimum create
38:05
permission from the design collaboration team
38:08
permissions for you to live link from another team's folder.
38:18
Let's now look at the controlled linking methods.
38:21
We are going to start with this method here, which
38:23
is the shared linking method.
38:26
Now, what is shared linking?
38:28
Shared linking is where a team publishes the Revit model
38:32
into the Document Management environment
38:35
and then they use the design collaboration environment
38:38
to create and share a package.
38:41
Now, in the second part of this series of accelerators,
38:44
I'm going to discuss, in detail, how
38:46
to create and share packages.
38:49
Right now, we are just assuming that a team goes and creates
38:52
a package and shares it.
38:55
Now, as soon as a team shares a package,
38:58
a snapshot of their Revit model is automatically
39:02
copied from their team folder into the shared folder.
39:07
And it is also reflected in the recipient's team's model
39:10
if it's already been linked.
39:12
But if that model has not been linked yet,
39:14
this is where we link it from.
39:16
We link the model from the Shared Folder of our BIM 360
39:21
project.
39:23
Now, in this case, the active changes
39:25
do not appear in my model.
39:29
And obviously, the link path now shows
39:31
linking from the shared folder, not from a teams
39:36
live Work in Progress folder.
39:39
So how do we set it up?
39:41
The process is pretty similar to what we saw earlier
39:44
where we open a Cloud Workshared Revit model, we then
39:48
go to Manage Links, and this time, we
39:51
link it from the Shared Folder, not
39:53
from another team's Work in Progress folder.
39:57
Let's now take a look at the demonstration of this.
40:00
This is my Firefox window.
40:02
And currently, I'm logged in as the mechanical team lead.
40:07
Notice that I've only got access to My Team folder.
40:11
I don't have access to any other disciplines'
40:13
Work in Progress folder.
40:15
However, I've got access to the Shared folder.
40:19
Now, if I quickly look at the mechanical model right now,
40:22
this mechanical model already has
40:24
got two 3D views-- mechanical share
40:27
and mechanical share with links.
40:30
But notice that the With Links model
40:33
does not have any links yet.
40:36
Now, looking at the Shared folder,
40:38
we can see that some of the teams
40:40
have already shared their packages.
40:42
For example, if I go to the 02 structure folder,
40:45
I can see that the structure team has shared their packages
40:49
three times.
40:50
Hence, version 3 here.
40:53
And this is the model that I'm going to link
40:55
into my model inside Revit.
40:58
For that, I'll jump over to Revit.
41:02
And from the 03 Mechanical Team folder,
41:05
I'm going to open the mechanical model.
41:09
And again, just like what I did last time,
41:12
I'm going to go and say, Manage, Manage Links, and this time,
41:16
when I'm adding the Revit link, I'll go into the Shared folder.
41:23
Inside this, I'm going to go into 02 structure folder,
41:28
and that's where I'm going to link this file from.
41:34
And if you look at the path here,
41:36
it tells us that it's coming from the Shared folder.
41:40
I'll go, OK.
41:42
It now adds the Structure model as a link.
41:45
Again, for the Mechanical Share View,
41:47
I'm going to turn off the visibility of the links.
41:53
But for the Mechanical Share With Links View,
41:55
I'll make sure that the visibility of the links
41:58
is turned on, which we can see is the case here.
42:03
I'm not going to synchronize with the cloud central,
42:06
and I'll make sure that I add the comment here
42:08
that I've added the shared structure model as a link.
42:13
It's now syncing with the cloud central model
42:16
and saving a local cache model as well.
42:18
So next time when I'm opening, it opens it a lot faster.
42:23
Once I'm happy with this, I'm going
42:24
to go ahead and close this file.
42:28
I'll refresh My Team space inside Revit.
42:33
It now shows me that there's update available.
42:36
And that's when I'm going to publish this model.
42:40
Yes, I do want to publish.
42:42
It now starts the process of publishing the model--
42:45
meaning bumping the version of this model in the Document
42:49
Management environment.
42:50
And just like last time, when we look at that model there,
42:53
we will be able to see the structure link,
42:56
but that link this time is coming from the Shared folder.
43:00
Now, again, having shown you this method,
43:02
I'm personally not a big fan of this
43:05
because as soon as the structure team shares a new package,
43:09
it'll be reflected in My Model then I download those changes.
43:14
The problem with that is, what if I have placed
43:17
some ducks using some structural elements as references,
43:20
and the structure team goes and deletes those elements.
43:24
In that case, it is going to cause problems
43:27
with the elements that I place using those structural elements
43:30
that are deleted now.
43:31
So that's why, personally, I'm not a big fan of this.
43:35
Here we go.
43:36
The mechanical model is now published.
43:39
I will now jump over to the Firefox window.
43:42
And if I go to My Mechanical Work in Progress folder,
43:47
I can now see that it's getting the mechanical model
43:49
ready for viewing.
43:50
Also, I can see that the version is
43:53
bumped to the latest version.
43:56
All right.
43:56
So the mechanical model is ready for viewing now.
43:59
I'm going to click on it, and now when
44:02
I go to the Mechanical Share With Links View,
44:05
I'll be able to see the structure model also here.
44:12
So this is the second type of linking,
44:15
which is shared linking.
44:21
Let's now look at the third linking method
44:23
which is my favorite.
44:25
This is the consumed linking method.
44:28
So what's it consumed linking method?
44:31
It is a method where a Revit model from another team
44:34
is published.
44:36
That team then goes and creates a package
44:39
and shares that package, and then my team
44:43
consumes that package.
44:46
Now, in consuming that package, I
44:48
have an option of comparing that package
44:51
with the previous version of the package
44:53
to see what the changes have been made.
44:56
So that way, if I'm not happy with the changes,
44:59
I can decide not to consume that package.
45:02
I can even go to an extent of creating issues and notifying
45:06
the other team why I didn't consume that package.
45:09
This way, I've got full control over the data
45:13
and when I'm linking that consumed model,
45:16
I know that I won't have any surprises.
45:20
In this method, the link part is shown from your team's Consumed
45:25
folder.
45:28
So how do we set it up?
45:30
It's exactly similar to the previous methods,
45:33
except for this time, once you consume a package from a team,
45:39
that package is automatically copied into your team's
45:42
Consumed folder.
45:44
So when you go and open your Cloud Workshared Revit model,
45:48
you are then linking it from your team's Consumed folder.
45:52
And as I mentioned earlier in this accelerator,
45:54
this is the method that I strongly recommend.
45:57
Again, we are going to talk about creating, sharing,
46:01
and consuming the package in the second part
46:04
of this series of accelerators.
46:07
And because you are linking the model from your team's Consumed
46:11
folder, that's why this type of linking
46:14
is called consumed linking.
46:17
Let's take a look at the demonstration of this now.
46:20
I'm currently in the Firefox window, logged
46:23
in as the plumbing team lead.
46:26
And again, as you can see, I only
46:27
have access to my team's Work in Progress folder.
46:31
I don't have access to any other team's
46:33
who Work in Progress folder.
46:34
Let me now go and open this plumbing model.
46:39
So this plumbing model also has only one 3D view
46:43
called Plumbing Share.
46:46
If I expand my team's Work in Progress folder,
46:51
I can see that there's a folder called Consumed folder.
46:54
This folder is automatically created as part of the process.
46:58
And I can see that my team has also consumed a model
47:02
from the structure team.
47:04
Hence, this model is sitting in my team's Consumed folder.
47:09
And this is the model that I will be
47:11
linking inside my Revit model.
47:15
Let me jump over to Revit to do that now.
47:18
All right, so inside Revit from 04 Plumbing folder,
47:23
I'm going to open this plumbing file.
47:27
Now, if I go to the Manage Ribbon Tab, Manage Links.
47:31
This time then I go and say, Add Link.
47:34
I'm going to go into the plumbing team's
47:37
Work in Progress folder.
47:38
And inside that, I'll have the Consumed folder.
47:43
And inside the Consumed folder, I'll
47:45
have the folder for each team whose package I have consumed.
47:50
In this case, the plumbing team has only consumed a package
47:54
from the structure team, hence, I
47:56
can only see the Structure folder.
47:59
I'll double click on it, and now, I'm
48:01
going to link to this model here.
48:05
Looking at the path, I can see that it
48:08
shows me this model coming from the Consumed folder
48:12
from my team's Work in Progress folder.
48:16
I'll go, OK.
48:18
I'll turn off the visibility of Revit links in this 3D view.
48:24
I'll make sure that in the With Links 3D view,
48:26
I've got the link turned on, which is right here.
48:33
Let's go and include this view in our publish set
48:40
so that we have got the 3D view with links and the 3D view
48:44
without links.
48:48
I'll now, sync with the Cloud Central model.
48:55
Added Consumed Structure Link.
48:60
It now syncs it with the cloud central
49:02
and also saves a local cached copy.
49:09
I'll close out of this file now, refresh,
49:18
and then publish this model.
49:23
All right.
49:24
So the publishing from Revit's side is completed.
49:27
Let me switch over to the Firefox window now.
49:30
And if I go to my Work in Progress Plumbing folder,
49:34
I can see that this plumbing file is now
49:37
getting ready for viewing.
49:39
Now, as it's getting the model ready for viewing on Document
49:43
Management, let me switch over to Revit
49:45
and show you a really cool part of this technology.
49:50
All right.
49:50
So I'm back into Revit now.
49:52
In my 04 Plumbing folder--
49:55
which is my Work in Progress folder,
49:57
if I go with the Consumed folder,
49:60
I can see the 02 structure folder here.
50:02
And if I click on this
50:05
I will not see the structure file.
50:08
Meaning, the structure file that I've consumed,
50:11
I cannot actually open it inside Revit and make changes to it.
50:16
That file is only for linking.
50:19
So that's a really cool part of this technology.
50:22
I cannot open any of the consumer models and make
50:25
changes to them.
50:26
How cool is this?
50:29
Let's now switch over to the Firefox window,
50:31
and hopefully, we'll have the model ready for viewing now.
50:34
There we go.
50:35
So the model is ready for viewing.
50:37
I'll click on this, and I straight going
50:41
to the plumbing share with links view,
50:43
and I can see that there is a structure model linked here.
50:50
So this is the third method of linking,
50:52
which is my favorite method.
50:55
Let me close out of it now.
50:60
Let's now quickly go over sharing and consuming packages.
51:03
As I mentioned earlier, we are going to discuss this in detail
51:06
in the second part of this series of accelerators.
51:10
What we saw in our case was, when the structure team shared
51:14
a package, their model was automatically
51:17
copied from their Work in Progress folder
51:20
into the Shared folder.
51:22
And that was one of the methods that we
51:24
saw where we linked the model from the Shared folder.
51:28
However, in case of the plumbing team,
51:30
the plumbing team then went and consumed that package.
51:34
Which means that the structure model
51:36
was copied from the Shared folder
51:39
into the plumbing team's Work in Progress Consumed folder.
51:43
This way, plumbing team will always
51:46
be in control of what they are consuming.
51:49
And when the structure team shares their package next time,
51:53
the changes in that model will not be automatically reflected
51:56
in the plumbing model because they haven't
51:58
consumed that package yet.
52:01
Let's now understand the pros and cons of these methods.
52:07
For the live linking method, the pros
52:10
are that you can be confident that the teams are
52:13
working on the current content.
52:15
And the pace of changes is a lot faster.
52:18
However, the cons are that it requires an increased
52:22
bandwidth as the model changes are downloaded continuously.
52:26
Also, changes by other teams' design can hinder your work.
52:32
In case of shared linking, the pros
52:35
are, that you can rest assured you are not
52:37
working on the content which isn't ready yet.
52:41
The cons are slower pace of updates from other teams,
52:45
but still the changes by other design teams
52:48
can hinder your work because as soon as they share a package,
52:52
the changes could be reflected in your model.
52:56
Lastly, consumed linking.
52:58
The pros are that it allows the teams
53:00
to finish their work before being
53:03
interrupted by the new content.
53:05
Also, the team that is consuming the package
53:08
is in full control of the timing of when the new background
53:12
links appear.
53:14
The cons are, slower pace of updates from other teams.
53:21
In this section, we'll understand linking methods
53:24
for other files.
53:28
The first method in this case is local or network hosting.
53:33
In this case, all Revit users need access to the folder.
53:37
It requires VPN if accessing remotely.
53:41
But the worst part of it is it's really difficult
53:43
to set up with external users.
53:47
Option 2 is using Desktop Connector.
53:51
In this case, the files are still
53:54
hosted in the Document Management environment.
53:56
Meaning on the BIM 360 project, all we need to do
53:60
is to ensure that the Revit users have got access
54:03
to the folder in which we are saving the files.
54:07
Now, we've been talking about Desktop Connector for a while.
54:10
What is Desktop Connector?
54:13
Desktop Connector is an application
54:15
that integrates the data sources with your local folder and file
54:18
structure for easy file management.
54:22
So basically, it's displaying your BIM 360 project in a File
54:28
Explorer window like we saw earlier
54:30
when we were dragging and dropping the files.
54:33
It works in the background and make sure
54:36
that the necessary files are ready for Autodesk software
54:39
to be used.
54:41
It also updates the changes to the data source
54:44
made from Autodesk software to the cloud.
54:47
So it's not just one-way download only,
54:50
it's download plus upload of data.
54:53
It also creates integration that exchanges
54:56
files for use with other Autodesk products or platforms.
55:01
Now, Desktop Connector works together
55:04
with altering desktop products to cache the necessary files
55:07
as you work on your project.
55:09
So all this happens in the background,
55:11
meaning the files are ready for you to use when you need them.
55:16
Let's now look at the demonstration of linking
55:18
a non-work shared Revit file.
55:23
I'm currently looking at my project in BIM 360
55:26
using the Chrome window.
55:29
I'm logged in as the project admin
55:32
and because I'm the project admin,
55:34
I've got access to all the teams Work in Progress folders.
55:39
Now, on this project, the electrical discipline
55:43
decides not to use BIM Collaborate Pro.
55:46
Meaning they are not using Revit Cloud Worksharing,
55:48
and they are not using design collaboration for sharing
55:51
and consuming packages.
55:53
In this case, because I've got access
55:55
to the electrical folder, I can drag and drop
55:58
the electrical files straight into this folder here.
56:02
So if I go to the File Explorer window,
56:05
I've got this electrical file that
56:07
was send to me by the electrical team lead.
56:09
I can simply select this file and drag and drop it
56:13
into the electrical folder, just like what I showed you
56:16
earlier in this accelerator.
56:20
As you can see, it's now processing the electrical file
56:23
for viewing in the Document Management interface.
56:27
All right.
56:28
So the electrical file is ready for viewing here
56:30
in the Document Management interface.
56:33
Now, if I quickly look at the permission
56:35
to the Electrical folder, as the project admin,
56:40
I've given the plumbing team lead
56:42
View plus download permissions to the Electrical folder.
56:47
Let me not jump over to Revit.
56:50
Now inside Revit, I'm logged in as plumbing team lead.
56:54
So from the 04 Plumbing folder, I'm going to open my Plumbing
56:58
model because this is the model in which I want to link
57:01
the Electrical model.
57:05
Now, if I go in to Manage and click on Manage links,
57:09
as you can see, I've already got the structure link,
57:12
and the structure link is coming from my Consumed folder.
57:17
I'm going to click on Add to add another link.
57:22
So now, if I go to the
57:26
I don't see the Electrical model here.
57:29
The reason I don't see the electrical model here is
57:31
because it is not a Cloud Workshared model,
57:35
which means that I cannot link using this method.
57:39
To link a non-Cloud Workshared model,
57:42
I'll have to go to the Desktop Connector.
57:44
For that, I'll click on the Look and Dropdown list.
57:47
I'll go this PC, and then I'm going
57:50
to go into Autodesk Docs, which is the Desktop Connector.
57:55
I'll go into the Account, the Project.
58:01
And now when I go to the Electrical folder,
58:03
I can see the electrical Revit file here.
58:07
I'll double click on this file to link.
58:10
Notice that it's actually downloading the latest
58:13
version of the file, and that's what
58:14
the Desktop Connector is doing.
58:16
It's downloading the file from the BIM 360 project
58:19
into my local drive.
58:22
Now, most important thing to remember is that if you have
58:25
linked a non-Workshared model using Desktop Connector,
58:30
it actually shows you the full path--
58:32
including your account, your project, and so on.
58:36
Whereas if it is a Cloud Workshared model,
58:39
it actually does not show you your account name here.
58:43
I'm going to go in and say, OK.
58:45
I can see the electrical link here.
58:47
Again, I'll make sure I turn off the visibility
58:49
of the links in this 3D view.
58:55
If I go to the Shared With Links 3D view,
59:00
I can see the electrical elements here.
59:05
Let me now go and sync with the cloud central,
59:09
added electrical link via the Desktop Connector.
59:18
Let's now refresh this and publish
59:22
the latest Plumbing model.
59:28
OK.
59:29
So the latest model is published now.
59:31
Let me now switch over to the Firefox window
59:34
where I'm logged in as the plumbing team lead.
59:38
I can now see here that the plumbing model
59:41
is getting ready for viewing in the Document Management
59:43
interface.
59:45
All right.
59:46
So the plumbing model is ready for viewing now.
59:49
Let me click on this model here.
59:51
Now, this is where I want to remind you
59:53
about one of the limitations we talked
59:55
about at the start of this accelerator.
59:58
And that is, when you link a non-Cloud Workshared Revit
60:03
model using the Desktop Connector,
60:05
that Desktop Connector linked model will not
60:09
be included when you viewed the models in the Document
60:12
Management interface.
60:14
So as you can see here, the Electrical model
60:16
is not included in this display.
60:20
So that's one of the limitations that you need to be mindful of.
60:23
Let me repeat this one more time.
60:25
If you link a non-Revit Cloud Workshared
60:29
model using the Desktop Connector inside Revit,
60:32
that model will not be visible in the parent model
60:36
when viewing in the Document Management interface.
60:41
Let me close out of this now.
60:45
So if we quickly go over the Revit workflows
60:48
for Desktop Connector, using the Desktop Connector,
60:51
you can directly open any of these file types from Revit.
60:56
To do that, all you do is you go to the File Open dialog box,
60:59
and then in the Looking Dropdown List, you go to This PC,
61:03
and then you go to Autodesk Docs,
61:05
and then access these file types.
61:06
Now, remember that only non-Cloud Workshared Revit
61:11
models should be opened using this method.
61:13
As discussed earlier in this accelerator,
61:15
if it is a Cloud Workshared model or just a Cloud model,
61:20
then this method will not work.
61:24
Similarly, when linking files, these
61:26
are all the different file types that
61:28
can be linked using Desktop Connector.
61:31
Now, this is a question that you need
61:34
to ask at the start of any project.
61:37
How will the entire project team do Revit collaboration
61:40
on this given project?
61:43
So you need to plan for this.
61:45
And the planning starts with assessing your project team's
61:49
intended workflow.
61:52
The first thing you need to understand is, will all teams,
61:56
or disciplines, or partners, will be using BIM Collaborate
61:59
Pro--
61:60
which, by the way, is recommended,
62:02
or which teams will not?
62:04
Will there be some teams that will only have access
62:06
to Document Management?
62:08
Or are there going to be some teams that will not even have
62:12
access to Document Management?
62:13
So pretty much no access to the BIM 360 environment.
62:17
Now, for the teams that are using BIM Collaborate Pro,
62:20
is it going to be a high trust environment-- meaning
62:23
the teams would be live linking to the other team's models?
62:27
Or would they be using shared and consumed linking?
62:32
A quick definition of a package is
62:34
that it's a container that allows
62:36
you to bundle your team's models, views, sheet sets,
62:41
and supporting documents to share with other teams.
62:44
The teams can preview a package before they consume it,
62:48
and then decide whether or not they're
62:50
happy with them and they're happy to consume it or not.
62:54
Again, a reminder, in the second part
62:57
of this series of accelerators, we
62:59
are going to discuss this in detail.
63:03
Now, here are some recommendations.
63:05
You need to set up folders with teams in mind.
63:10
Set up the Teams folder in any case via the Admin module
63:13
and design collaboration service.
63:17
You can start with live linking and introduce
63:20
packages, shared and consumed linking later
63:23
on in the project.
63:26
You need to sit with the other stakeholders
63:28
and determine the best hybrid approach for your project.
63:33
And remember to install the Desktop Connector
63:36
and make sure it is updated on every computer.
63:39
And lastly, put all these decisions
63:42
in your project's BIM execution plan.
63:44
That's really important.
63:48
Now, if we quickly go over the publishing process
63:51
that we discuss in this accelerator, the first time
63:55
any user initiates Cloud Worksharing inside Revit,
63:59
that file is automatically published
64:01
and it's made available in the Document Management interface
64:04
as version 2.
64:07
Now, if any of their users of that team
64:10
continues working with that Revit Cloud Workshared
64:13
file and Sync with Central, that Sync with Central
64:17
does not mean that the file is getting published.
64:20
All it means is that the Revit users can see those changes
64:24
when they open the model.
64:26
The version of the file in the Document Management environment
64:29
will only be bumped when a user manually publishes a file
64:34
or uses a scheduled publish to publish a file.
64:38
Otherwise, the version in the Document Management interface
64:42
will not be revised to the latest version.
64:46
And again, just a reminder, how do you publish a file?
64:49
The best option is via the Revit Home screen.
64:53
You select the checkbox on the left of the file name,
64:56
and you click Publish.
64:57
Now, in some cases, the file may not show you update available,
65:01
and that's where we saw, we got to click on the Refresh button
65:04
on the top right and then we can publish it.
65:08
The second method is via the Managed Cloud models dialog
65:12
box.
65:12
For that, you can go to the Collaborate tab
65:15
and click on Manage Cloud models, go to the project,
65:20
and then select the file to publish.
65:22
Personally, I'm not a big fan of this.
65:24
I would just rather do it from the home screen.
65:28
Now, you can also publish via the design collaboration web
65:32
UI.
65:33
That's where you can click on Update to Latest.
65:36
We are going to discuss this in detail in the next accelerator.
65:40
We can also schedule publishing via the project admin design
65:44
collaboration web UI.
65:46
So we can go into Project Admin, Design Collaboration Service,
65:50
pick a team, and Schedule Publish.
65:53
We can then pick the day and time
65:55
when we want the scheduled publish to happen.
65:59
Talking about the views for publishing,
66:01
that's what we saw we go to the Collaborate tab
66:04
and we click on Publish Settings.
66:06
We then select the views and sheets
66:08
to be included in our publish sets.
66:12
Now, I just want to quickly remind you
66:14
that all Revit data is published regardless
66:17
of what you select here.
66:19
Selecting views and sheets here will only
66:22
ensure that those views and sheets
66:24
are available for viewing in the Document Management interface.
66:29
These views and sheets will also be available
66:31
for you to include in your package share.
66:35
The 3D views that you include in your publish sets
66:38
can also be used for automated clash detection in the Model
66:42
Coordination module.
66:45
And at the end, I just quickly want
66:47
to talk about some useful links that
66:48
are available that you can access and learn more
66:51
about all these products and also go to the Ideas Forum
66:55
and request your own ideas.
66:59
And this again, is the link to the Customer Success Hub
67:02
where there are several courses and learning paths available.
67:05
There's recorded coaching sessions available,
67:08
and you can also request live coaching topics.
67:13
And that's the end of the first accelerator.
67:16
I hope you enjoyed it.
67:17
In the second part of this series,
67:19
we are going to learn how to utilize advanced collaboration
67:22
in BIM Collaborate Pro.
67:24
I'm going to see you there, cheers.
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