(1.4.0) Autodesk Navisworks and Revit

Autodesk Revit (https://www.autodesk.co.uk/products/revit/overview?term=1-YEAR&tab=subscription ) is a building information modelling software for architects, landscape architects, structural engineers, mechanical, electrical, and plumbing (MEP) engineers, designers and contractors (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autodesk_Revit ).

Autodesk Navisworks (https://www.autodesk.co.uk/products/navisworks/overview?term=1-YEAR&tab=subscription ) is a 3D design review package used primarily in the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industries to complement 3D design packages (such as Autodesk Revit, AutoCAD, and MicroStation) (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Navisworks ).

Integration

This integration is built by the Igloo software development team using the Navisworks and Revit API to create plugins to the native application. A menu appears in Navisworks/Revit to enable sharing of a 360 degree image of the current camera location with Igloo Core Engine. The image is received via NDI or Spout protocol.

Configuration

The configuration file for the plugin is located in the AppData folder of the current user in ‘\Igloo Vision\Navisworks\Navisworks.xml’ or ‘\Igloo Vision\Revit\Revit.xml’. The resolution of the image which is sent to Igloo Core Engine can be modified in this file (width and height are in pixels and must be the same value). Also the protocol can be specified here as either NDI or Spout.

<Revit>
  <ImageElementWidth Type="int" Default="2048" Description="The with of each image">2048</ImageElementWidth>
  <ImageElementHeight Type="int" Default="2048" Description="The height of each image">2048</ImageElementHeight>
  <TransmitterName Type="string" Default="Revit" Description="The sender name for the transmitter">Revit</TransmitterName>
  <TransmitterUseDirectX Type="bool" Default="False" Description="Enables the transmitter to use DirectX">False</TransmitterUseDirectX>
  <TransmitterUseOpenGLBuffering Type="bool" Default="False" Description="Enables the transmitter to use OpenGL buffering">False</TransmitterUseOpenGLBuffering>
  <TransmitterShareMode Type="string" Default="CPU" Description="Sets the shared mode for the transmitter - possible values: CPU, Texture or Memory">CPU</TransmitterShareMode>
  <TransmitterType Type="string" Default="NDI" Description="Sets the transmitter mode, default: NDI - possible values: Spout, NDI">NDI</TransmitterType>
</Revit>

Using the Igloo Plugin

A button called ‘Display in Igloo’ will appear in the Add-ins menu as shown below in Revit 2022.

Display in Igloo button.

Pressing the ‘Display in Igloo’ button starts the image generation process and this is displayed with a progress pop-up.

Progress popup for generating the 360 image.

When the process is completed the pop-up disappears and an NDI or Spout sender called Revit is now available. This can then be viewed in Igloo Core Engine using an NDI or Spout layer and applying the Cubemap to Equirectangular and True Perspective effects.

Save this as a Session to easily reload the layer with these settings applied - Sessions - Igloo Core Engine Documentation

Notes

Lighting - the lighting model used for the rendering the 360 image (cubemap) is inherited from the lighting model in the current view. Each cubemap face is rendered independently and this can produce some slight colour differences between adjacent faces.