When you install Navisworks, three versions are downloaded:

• Navisworks Freedom: is a free viewer that can be used to view models published in Navisworks. We can use this tool to analyze, question and communicate provisional designs at various stages of the design process.
• Navisworks Simulate: this version is more advanced than the previous one because it incorporates several different functionalities.
• Navisworks Manage: this is the versión that we will use. It is the highest level Navisworks product and includes all the functionalities of the two previous two, plus a module that has the greatest impact. This module is Clash Detective.

Its interface is similar to that of AutoCAD, therefore, you will feel familiar with it.

With Navisworks you can:

• Combine design and construction data into a single model.
• Identify and resolve clash and interference problems before construction.
• Aggregate data from multiple trades to better control outcomes.
• Animate and interact with model objects for simulation.
• Create schedules directly from project models.
• Import schedules and cost items from external project management applications.
• Measure lines, areas, and counts from 2D sheets or 3D models.
• Create synchronized project views that combine Revit and AutoCAD files, including geometry, images, and data.
• Export data to Excel for analysis.

Clash Detective

Clash Detective allows to effectively identify, inspect, and record clashes (conflicts) of a 3D project model, between two groups of elements (“A” vs “B”).

The Navisworks Clash Detective module is divided into four action tabs:

• Rules: allows you to define and customize the rules to be followed that will be applied to clash tests.

• Selection: this is where selection A and selection B are chosen to perform the A vs B test. The types of clash detections available are:
  • Static (hard): only objects that are physically inserted will be considered as clashes.
  • Static (conservative): two objects are treated as intersecting even though the geometry triangles do not.
  • Clearance: objects will be considered as clashes if they are within the specified distance of the other object. You might use this type of clash when pipes need to have space for insulation around them, for example.
  • Duplicates: this is done to make sure that there are no duplicate overlapping objects in the model. This type of clash testing may be used to clash the entire model against itself. This enables you to detect any items in the scene that may have been duplicated by mistake.

• Results: allows you to interactively review the conflicts found. It contains the list of conflicts and a series of controls to manage them. The options offered by this tab are:
  • Display options: allows you to modify the way of displaying the colliding objects of selection A and selection B.
  • Create groups: allows you to group different clashes that have some kind of relationship so that they appear together in the final report or simply, to make it easier to solve them.
  • Assignment of responsibilities and introduction of comments: allows you to assign a specific clash to a person, who will be responsible for solving it.
  • List of collisions: we can see the different parameters associated with each clash and associate a new status to it.

• Report: allows various types of reports to be generated with the results of Clash Detective.