Assemble › documents › Evaluation_Guide.pdfYou can view selected model components in Navisworks by creating search sets in Assemble and importing them into Navisworks. Search sets

Assemble

Evaluation Guide

Assemble 1.1

Copyright © 2011-2012 Assemble Systems. All rights reserved.

THIS DOCUMENT AND THE SOFTWARE DESCRIBED IN THIS DOCUMENT ARE FURNISHED UNDER AND ARE SUBJECT TO THE TERMS OF A LICENSE AGREEMENT OR A NON-DISCLOSURE AGREEMENT. EXCEPT AS EXPRESSLY SET FORTH IN SUCH LICENSE AGREEMENT OR NON-DISCLOSURE AGREEMENT, ASSEMBLE SYSTEMS PROVIDES THIS DOCUMENT AND THE SOFTWARE DESCRIBED IN THIS DOCUMENT “AS IS” WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. SOME STATES DO NOT ALLOW DISCLAIMERS OF EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES IN CERTAIN TRANSACTIONS; THEREFORE, THIS STATEMENT MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU.

This document and the software described in this document may not be lent, sold, or given away without the prior written permission of Assemble Systems, except as otherwise permitted by law. Except as expressly set forth in such license agreement or non-disclosure agreement, no part of this document or the software described in this document may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, or otherwise, without the prior written consent of Assemble Systems. Some companies, names, and data in this document are used for illustration purposes and may not represent real companies, individuals, or data.

This document could include technical inaccuracies or typographical errors. Changes are periodically made to the information herein. These changes may be incorporated in new editions of this document. Changes or improvements may be made to the software described in this document at any time.

U.S. Government Restricted Rights: If the software and documentation are being acquired by or on behalf of the U.S. Government or by a U.S. Government prime contractor or subcontractor (at any tier), in accordance with 48 C.F.R. 227.7202-4 (for Department of Defense (DOD) acquisitions) and 48 C.F.R. 2.101 and 12.212 (for non-DOD acquisitions), the government's rights in the software and documentation, including its rights to use, modify, reproduce, release, perform, display or disclose the software or documentation, will be subject in all respects to the commercial license rights and restrictions provided in the license agreement.

Assemble is a trademark of Assemble Systems or its subsidiaries in the United States and other jurisdictions. All other company and product names mentioned are used only for identification purposes and may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.

Contents

Assemble Documentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .vContacting Assemble Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .vConventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vi

Chapter 1: Introduction to Assemble 1What is Assemble? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1How Assemble Helps You . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Publish . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1Takeoff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2Compare. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

How Assemble Helps Your Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2Assemble and Autodesk Revit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3Assemble and Autodesk Navisworks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Chapter 2: Exploring Assemble 5Publishing Your Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5Opening Your Published Project in Assemble . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6Working with Your Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Reviewing Model Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8Organizing Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9Editing Model Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11Filtering Model Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12Comparing Versions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13Exporting Data to Microsoft Excel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13Creating a Search Set for Navisworks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Evaluation Guide Contents iii

iv Contents Evaluation Guide

Assemble DocumentationAssemble documentation provides many resources to help you use the product:

Evaluation GuideProvides general information about the product and guides you through the trial and evaluation process.

Getting Started GuideProvides best practice and usage information for Assemble and Assemble Add-in for Autodesk Revit. This guide defines terminology and provides the concepts and procedures you need to achieve the results you want.

HelpProvides context-sensitive information and step-by-step guidance for common tasks, as well as descriptions of each field on each window. The Help provides a comprehensive, integrated system that includes all the information from the guides, as well as additional information to help you get the most from this product. To display the Help, click Contents on the Help menu in the console.

Web SupportProvides additional solutions and information, such as tutorials, demos, and Knowledge Base articles. You can access these resources at www.assemblesystems.com/support.

Contacting Assemble SystemsPlease contact us with your questions and comments. We look forward to hearing from you. If you need assistance with an issue, please contact Technical Support. The Support Web site allows you to review the support policy and create a case to track an issue.

Telephone: 855-646-4868 (only in the United States and Canada)Email: [email protected] www.assemblesystems.com/supportWeb Site: www.assemblesystems.com

Getting Started Guide Assemble Documentation v

http://www.assemblesystems.com/supportmailto:[email protected]://www.assemblesystems.com/supporthttp://www.assemblesystems.com

ConventionsAssemble documentation uses consistent conventions to help you identify items. The following table summarizes these conventions.

Convention Use

Bold • Window and menu items• Technical terms, when introduced

Italics • Book titles• Variable names• Emphasized words

Fixed Font • File and folder names• Commands and code examples• Text you must type• Text (output) displayed in the command-line interface

Blue • Links

> • Submenu selections, such as Generate Reports > All

Brackets, such as [value] • Optional parameters of a commandBraces, such as {value} • Required parameters of a commandLogical OR, such asvalue1 | value2

• Exclusive parameters. Choose one parameter.

vi Conventions Getting Started Guide

Evaluation Guide Chapter 1: Intr

1
Introduction to Assemble
Design and construction projects vary in size, scope, and complexity, and can last weeks, months, and even years. As projects grow in complexity and over time, it becomes increasingly difficult to manage the risk associated with schedules, materials, and information loss. Design and construction teams need the ability to coordinate project information among project team members, easily share and retrieve data with other applications, and feel confident in their projects’ progress.

What is Assemble?Assemble is a Building Information Modeling (BIM) software integration platform that brings together best-of-class BIM products to enable interoperability, visualization, and change management.

How Assemble Helps YouAssemble gives you the data that you need, in the form you need it. With Assemble, you can easily review project information and share information with other applications and individuals, thus reducing waste and rework.

PublishPublish embedded data from models of any size into a user-friendly format on your company’s secure web server in minutes, providing:

• Interoperability between AEC applications

• User-friendly access to building information

• Enhanced design control

• Better project management

oduction to Assemble 1

How Assemble Helps Your Project

TakeoffProduce construction-caliber takeoffs in a matter of minutes, not days or weeks.

• Eliminate manual takeoffs

• Eliminate digitizing from drawings

• Allow design teams to create estimates directly from the model

• Allow contractors to produce more estimates

CompareReal-time variance reporting allows you to quantify, analyze, and visualize differences between model iterations.

• Track changes between model iterations

• Reduce errors and re-work

• Track work-in-place

• Enhance design team collaboration

• Facilitate construction team subcontractor oversight

ReviewQuick-filtering functions let you view selections in the model and in tabular inventories, and data export capabilities enable visualization through Navisworks Search Sets.

• Enhanced visualization in all phases

• Quick visual review of model variance

How Assemble Helps Your ProjectAssemble integrates your design and construction project by connecting essential data and streamlining workflow processes with Autodesk Revit, Autodesk Navisworks, and Microsoft Excel.

2 Chapter 1: Introduction to Assemble Evaluation Guide


Assemble and Autodesk RevitWorking with Assemble begins with creating a project, which is the highest level of organization in Assemble. A project can contain one or more models, and each model can have multiple versions. This ability to publish multiple models and versions gives you greater visibility into your project as it evolves and progresses through the design and construction phases.

Evaluation Guide Chapter 1: Introduction to Assemble 3


As the workflow diagram demonstrates, you begin by creating a project in Assemble. Then, in Autodesk Revit, use the Assemble Add-in to send the extracted model data to Assemble, where you can use various tools to analyze, manage, and condition the data:

• Views

Views provide a way to configure, save, and reuse a specific arrangement of Groupings, Columns, Sorts and Filters on a model set.

• Group, Sort, and Filter

Group, sort, and filter functions let you arrange model data according to your own needs for analysis and review.

• Compare

Assemble provides the ability to compare two versions of a model and highlight the differences so you can quickly identify the changes over time.

• Export

With the export function you can save model data to Microsoft Excel for use with its analysis and reporting tools and for sharing with those who do not have access to Assemble.

Assemble and Autodesk NavisworksYou can view selected model components in Navisworks by creating search sets in Assemble and importing them into Navisworks. Search sets help you review types and instances, UniFormat structure, variances, scheduled tasks, system types, and the work breakdown.

4 Chapter 1: Introduction to Assemble Evaluation Guide

Evaluation Guide Chapter 2

2
Exploring Assemble
This section helps you understand the Assemble workflow by walking through an overview of the publishing and reviewing processes in the Assemble user interface. Exploring the workflow and Assemble features will help you understand how quickly and easily Assemble gives you control over the data you need, in the form that you need it.

Publishing Your Model Publishing model information is easy with the Assemble Add-in for Autodesk Revit. The plug-in extracts data such as geometry, built-in parameters, and custom parameters in Autodesk Revit and publishes that information to Assemble for analysis and management.

When you are ready to publish your model data, Assemble Add-in sends all of your model information directly to Assemble. A project can contain multiple models, and models can have multiple versions. The publishing process gives you the choice of creating a new model or publishing a new version to an existing model.

: Exploring Assemble 5

Opening Your Published Project in Assemble

As you add versions to a model, use the compare function in Assemble to look at version data side-by-side and perform variance reporting.

Opening Your Published Project in AssembleAssemble is a web-based application, which means you can use your browser to access it anywhere you have an Internet connection. Open Assemble to view your project dashboard.

6 Chapter 2: Exploring Assemble Evaluation Guide

Working with Your Model

Locate your project, and click on the project card to open the project window. The project window view displays a list of models that have been published to the project, as well as a list of activities that you can perform.

Working with Your ModelSelect a model from the list. Assemble displays the available views (default and custom), as well as the versions that have been published for that model.

Evaluation Guide Chapter 2: Exploring Assemble 7


Reviewing Model DataWhen you select a version to review, Assemble displays the latest version of the model using the default Quantity Takeoff view. Assemble uses an intelligent algorithm to determine which unit will be useful as an instance type, but all model data will be available to you.

When working in the view, click to expand the row and view the detailed information.



Organizing DataAssemble gives you the ability to group and sort information. In addition to default groups you have the option of creating your own. For example, you may want to group data by project phase, activity codes, or materials.

The following example creates a group named Material.



When the new group is applied, Assemble displays the information organized by materials:

Adding columns gives you more visibility into the model’s information. The following example adds columns for Unit Cost and Total Cost.

When the columns are applied, Assemble displays the additional columns in the view:



Editing Model DataAssemble lets you edit any parametric property, such as unit, cost, description, comments, and material. You can also use the edit window to change items and perform estimating tasks. Click on the instance name to open the editing panel.

If the unit cost is changed to 20, the Unit Cost and Total Cost columns automatically update to reflect the new values:



Filtering Model DataFilters are a useful way of searching for and displaying information according to specific criteria. For example, you might want to filter for walls that are greater than a particular height and width or exclude floors that are less than a specified area. Assemble applies filters at the instance level.

Applying the filter of Material is Concrete - Precast Concrete 35 MPa displays the item immediately, thus eliminating the need to expand every item and search for it manually.



Comparing VersionsA powerful feature of Assemble is its ability to compare two versions of model data and provide for variance reporting.

You can use filter, group, and sort data in model comparisons, and you can also export compared data to Microsoft Excel.

Exporting Data to Microsoft ExcelUse the export feature when you want to use Microsoft Excel to analyze the model data. You can also use this feature to share the model data with a colleague who does not have Assemble installed.



Assemble exports the model data to Microsoft Excel in a format similar to the data view.

Creating a Search Set for NavisworksIf you want to view selected model components in Autodesk Navisworks, create a search set based on a view and import it into Navisworks.



Save the search set, and then open it in Navisworks to review types and instances, UniFormat structure, variances, scheduled tasks, system types, and the work breakdown.




Assemble DocumentationContacting Assemble SystemsConventionsIntroduction to AssembleWhat is Assemble?How Assemble Helps YouPublishTakeoffCompareReview

How Assemble Helps Your ProjectAssemble and Autodesk RevitAssemble and Autodesk Navisworks

Exploring AssemblePublishing Your ModelOpening Your Published Project in AssembleWorking with Your ModelReviewing Model DataOrganizing DataEditing Model DataFiltering Model DataComparing VersionsExporting Data to Microsoft ExcelCreating a Search Set for Navisworks

Documents

Assemble › documents › Evaluation_Guide.pdfYou can view selected model components in Navisworks by creating search sets in Assemble and importing them into Navisworks. Search sets