Model Coordination FAQ

Supported files

Question 1: Which file types are supported in Model Coordination?

Answer 1: The following 3D file types are currently supported for coordination and clash detection:

• 3D RVT files
• 3D DWG files
• Tracked 3D NWC files exported from Revit and AutoCAD verticals
• Tracked 3D IFC files exported from AutoCAD (architecture, MEP, and Civil 3D 2018 and onwards), ARCHICAD, Revit, MagiCAD for Revit, Tekla Structures, Siemens NX, Strakon, and Vectorworks

Other 3D NWC files, IFC files, and RVM, SKP, and VUE files are supported for aggregation and can be viewed in combination with other supported file formats, but aren't supported for clash detection. Learn more.

Question 2: Why can't I see all of my files that are displayed in Document Management?

Answer 2: Any file types that are supported for upload to Document Management but which are not listed in Answer 1 are not displayed in Model Coordination.

Coordination spaces

Question: Why has my coordination space been deactivated?

Answer: Any coordination spaces that are inactive for 60 days or more are automatically deactivated. This reduces resource usage on projects with limited activity. As soon as a new model or version is uploaded to the folder associated with the coordination space, it is automatically reactivated.

Permissions

Question: How are administrator, member, and folder permissions controlled in Model Coordination?

Answer: See the Administration publication for general information about administration in BIM 360.

The Add Project Administrators topic describes how to add a member as an administrator for your project. You can make a member an administrator for all modules they have access to, or just for a specific module such as Model Coordination.

Project administrators can then control project member access.

In addition to module access, project administrators can also control access to individual folders. Project members need at least View permissions for the coordination space folder or any of its parent folders to be able to work in Model Coordination:

1. In the Project Admin module, click the Services tab.
2. Select Model Coordination in the left panel to open the Model Coordination administration page.
3. Here you can find the relevant folder for each coordination space, and also check that the coordination space is active.
   
   

Clash errors and getting support

Question 1: What should I do if my clashes won't load on the Clashes tab, or if my clash tests fail?

Answer 1: There are several reasons why clash detection may not be working correctly on your project. You may have lots of models in your coordination space, models of large sizes, or models with complex geometry resulting in a high number of clashes. There are a few troubleshooting steps you can try:

• Remove any duplicate models or geometry from your coordination space to reduce excessive clash data:

  • If you have models representing each area or level of a project, and also a federated model containing all of those individual models again, try removing the federated model. This will avoid the duplicate content being clashed again.
  • If you've uploaded models containing linked models, try recreating 3D views without any linked models included to reduce the amount of duplicated geometry.
  • If you have duplicate geometry in multiple models or views, try removing any unneeded models or views.

• Create multiple coordination spaces and have fewer models in each. For example, create a coordination space for each building in a project, or for each level of a building, or phase of a project.

• Reduce the size of your models. For example, publish fewer views from your Revit models.

There are also various causes that can't be solved by reducing model numbers or size, or changing your coordination space setup. If these troubleshooting steps don't work, or you experience a spinner on the Clashes tab that doesn't resolve, the development team can investigate and help to resolve the error.

Follow the steps below to provide the team with useful information:

1. On the Clashes tab, open the Developer Tools window for your browser.
2. Find the option to clear the console, and then refresh the page.
3. On the Network tab, look for the second instance of a 'Breakdowns' endpoint. Select it and then copy the contents of the Response sub-tab.
4. Below the 'Breakdowns' endpoint, locate the GUID entries. Select the second of the GUID entries and copy the contents of the Response sub-tab.
5. Send the copied contents with a brief description of what happened using the online Contact Support form.
   
   

Question 2: How do I find my project and model-set IDs?

Answer 2: When you open the Model Coordination module and select a coordination space, your project and model-set IDs are shown in the page URL:

Providing the whole URL when reporting problems using the online Contact Support form gives our team a starting point for investigation.

Misaligned models

Question: Why do my exported IFC or DWG models from Revit appear misaligned in Model Coordination, even though they looked correct when linked in Revit?

Answer: This issue may be caused by shared coordinates either not being published to the linked files, or not being saved into the exported file.

• For example, take an architectural Revit model (Arch.RVT) that has a linked structural model (Struct.RVT) and MEP model (MEP.RVT). The architectural model has shared coordinates including a rotation to True North. The linked models all appear aligned in Revit. The structural model is exported to DWG (Struct.DWG) and the MEP model is exported to IFC (MEP.IFC).

• When viewing Arch.RVT, Struct.DWG, and MEP.IFC in Model Coordination, both the structural and MEP models are rotated in relation to the architectural model. This is due to the shared coordinates being respected in the architectural model but not existing in the DWG and IFC. In this example, the misalignment can be resolved by publishing the shared coordinates in Revit from Arch.RVT into the linked files Struct.RVT and MEP.RVT.
  
  

Limitations and known issues

Question 1: What are the limitations of Model Coordination?

Answer 1: The following are technical and system limitations in Model Coordination:

• Maximum models that can be displayed in the clash grid: 100
• Maximum active coordination spaces at one time: 20
  
  

Question 2: Are there any known issues in Model Coordination?

Answer 2: There are a few items that have been reported as issues by customers, which are either the expected behavior or for which there are no current plans to address:

• The program may freeze or crash when attempting to display views in a project where all of the models from the views have been deleted.
• When clashes or clash groups are selected in the viewer, there is no tooltip or other indication in the Clashes panel about whether there are any duplicates or, if so, how many.

If you notice any other issues, you can report them using the online Contact Support form.