Combining the Power of ITO with a Model Comparison Check

From the Solibri blog.

In addition to using the Model Comparison Ruleset to compare model versions, this article defines the steps to create an Information Takeoff (ITO) that displays the changes in Quantities in the ITO table format. This allows for easy review of any changes in the model quantities, in real-time.

A model recreating the screenshots and model conditions in this article is available here: SMC Building – ITO Model Comparision.smc

For tutorial information about using the ITO tool, please see our previous article on the topic:  Understanding Information Takeoff (ITO)

In Solibri Model Checker, with two different IFC versions of the same model loaded, create an ITO sorting the model by Components. ITO sorts elements within the model by the values of their properties of the left most columns.

Now, create an ITO column for the “Model” property of the “Identification” column type and ensure that “Grouping” is checked.  By doing this, ITO will create an individual row for each type of component in each model.  In other words, one type of component will be listed twice: one row representing the component(s) in Model A, and a second row representing the component(s) in Model B.

ISSUE_15_TT_04_01

Next, decide which quantities are relevant for the comparison.  In this example, we have added columns for length, width, height, area, volume, and count.  For each column, ensure that “Grouping” is turned OFF, and the function is set to “SUM”.  This means that ITO will not use these columns as a sorted grouping mechanism and that the quantity displayed in the column will be a sum for the components.

ISSUE_15_TT_04_02

The resulting ITO will resemble the results below.  Each Component type is listed on two rows, representing the components and their quantities from each of the respective two model versions.

ISSUE_15_TT_04_03

Please use the example model to explore the screenshots from this article, and to experiment with the settings in ITO.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Navisworks 2018 Database Link w/ Excel - Primer

Image
For this demo, I am going to use the Gatehouse sample file that ships with Navisworks 2018. You can find the files C:\Program Files\Autodesk\Navisworks Manage 2018\Samples\Gatehouse\. If you have a newer or older version of Navisworks, the process basically works the same. The Process In order to connect an external data source such as an Excel spreadsheet or an Access database to a Navisworks model, we need to configure a DataTools within Navisworks. We will then be configuring the database connection. When working with the DataTools in Navisworks, there are a few very important rules to keep in mind. If you are using a 32-bit workstation, then you need to utilize the 32-bit ODBC drivers. 64-bit workstations need to utilize 64-bit ODBC drivers. It is also important to note, that the link to Navisworks is one way. Data can be linked and viewed inside of Navisworks, but the data can’t be updated within Navisworks. My workstations are all Windows 10 64-bit workstations. My PC’s are using
Read more

Navisworks - Multiple Iterations and Locked Files

Image
While working in Navisworks and you find that you are updating your models frequently, you have probably ran into the issue of having to close your Navisworks model in order to update your appended model. There is a quick way to get around this. In the Options Editor >  Model   > Performance , make sure “Close NWC/NWD Files on Load” is checked. This will now allow you to overwrite NWC files without unloading them in your NWF file. So when you have an updated NWC that has overwritten the existing file, you just need to refresh Navisworks for the new model(s) to load.
Read more