pyNavis tools guide

Every button on the pyNavis tab

What each tool does, how to use it, what it will not do, and the other jobs it turns out to be good for. One page per tool, grouped the way the ribbon is.

pyNavis#

The tool itself: settings, shortcuts, the console, Reload.

The first panel is pyNavis itself: the things you set once, and the two developer tools that stay useful long after setup. Nothing here touches a model.

SettingsOne window over the parts of pyNavis you are meant to change: theme, ribbon hints, where extensions load from, and the engine paths. ShortcutsThe keyboard shortcut editor: every tool that can carry a chord, the chord it has now, and a field to press a new one into. ConsoleAn interactive Python console running inside Navisworks, with the same API and helpers your scripts get. ReloadRescan every extension folder and rebuild the ribbon, without restarting Navisworks. Panel slotsMake more dock panel slots when the five that ship are all claimed.

Selection#

Undo for selections: remember a selection, get it back, build on it.

Navisworks has no undo for selections. Click the wrong thing and a selection you spent ten minutes building is gone. The Selection panel is one register of items per document, the way a calculator has a memory: put a selection in it, keep working, take it back out. It lives on disk under %APPDATA%\pyNavis\memory\, keyed to the document, so it survives closing the model and closing Navisworks, and nothing is written into the model file.

The usual run of it: Remember what you have selected, Add, Subtract and Intersect as you find more, Recall to select the whole thing again, Previous and Next to walk the items one at a time, and Save as Set when the result is worth keeping in the document. None of these buttons greys out; an empty memory or an empty selection is reported in a toast.

RememberStore the current selection in the document's memory, replacing whatever was there. RecallSelect whatever is in memory, replacing the current selection. AddAdd the current selection to memory, keeping what was already there. SubtractRemove the current selection from memory. IntersectKeep only the items that are both in memory and selected right now. Previous and NextSelect and zoom to one remembered item at a time, walking the list from the keyboard. ForgetEmpty the memory for this document. More menuShow what is in memory, promote it to a selection set, or delete the stored memory files.

Clash#

Report, group and resolve clashes, and measure the real gap.

The Clash panel is the coordination meeting's toolkit, in the order a meeting uses it: get the numbers, group the noise into issues, fix what can be fixed on the spot, and measure the real gap where the argument is about millimetres.

Clash ReportA one-screen count of every clash test by status, with a CSV export for the report. Smart Clash GrouperTurn a test's results into reviewable issues, grouping by root cause, element, level, grid or proximity, with a live preview. Resolve ClashPoint at two faces and slide the selected object until it clears, then read off exactly how far it moved. True DistanceThe real perpendicular distance between two measured faces, unaffected by project rotation or an off-square click.

Data#

Coordinates, Revit element IDs, selection sets and viewpoints, in and out.

The Data panel moves facts between Navisworks and everything around it: a point to the clipboard and back, Revit element IDs in both directions, selection sets through Excel, and saved viewpoints out to CSV.

Get CoordinatesClick a point in the view and its coordinates land on the clipboard, snapped the way a measurement snaps. Go to CoordinatesMove the view to a set of coordinates and mark the point with a cross. Select by IDsPaste a column of Revit element IDs and the elements are selected in the federated model, without opening Revit. IDs of SelectionCopy the Revit element IDs of the selected items to the clipboard. Sets from ExcelExport every selection set to a workbook, one row per condition, or import a workbook back as new sets. Export ViewpointsEvery saved viewpoint to a CSV: name, folder, type and camera position. Element ID SettingsHow Select by IDs and IDs of Selection find and copy element IDs. One store, shared by both.

Viewpoints#

Saved views, the section box, view state and navigation speeds.

The Viewpoints panel looks after saved views, the section box, view state and navigation speeds: the things that decide whether a review model is pleasant to walk or a chore.

RenameBatch rename saved viewpoints with find and replace, numbering, prefixes and case cleanup, with a live preview. DeleteBulk delete saved viewpoints, empty folders and animations, which the tree does one at a time. ManageSort, move, create folders and purge empty ones in the saved viewpoint tree. Section FitFit the six section planes to the selection, turned to the objects rather than the world. Section PlanSection Fit, then an orthographic plan view of the box, square on. Section ClearSwitch sectioning off without moving the camera. Copy StateCopy the section planes, the hidden items or the appearance overrides to disk, to put back later. Paste StatePut back a kind of state copied earlier with Copy State. Reset SpeedsPush your walk speed, turn speed and field of view at the current view, in one keystroke. Reset ViewpointsWrite the same speeds and field of view into saved viewpoints you pick, without loading any of them. Viewpoint TrackerA dock panel that always says which saved view you are looking through, and whether you are still on it. Section NudgeA remote for the section box: faces named the way you see them, moves that follow the screen, a known step per press. Tracker WindowThe viewpoint tracker as a floating window that stays on top of everything.