Get Started with BIM Collaborate and BIM Collaborate Pro
This section is intended to help you get up and running with BIM Collaborate and BIM Collaborate Pro. It includes information on purchase, account setup, and project setup and activation.
Note: These help topics focus on projects on the Autodesk Construction Cloud platform. For projects on the BIM 360 platform, the details are very similar. BIM 360-specific getting started topics can be found here.
Note: Customers who previously subscribed to BIM 360 Design will see the name change to BIM Collaborate Pro in Autodesk Account, which additionally includes access to Model Coordination, Insight, Glue, and the Autodesk Construction Cloud platform. BIM Collaborate includes many of the same entitlements as BIM Collaborate Pro, but does not include the Revit Cloud Worksharing, Collaboration for Civil 3D, or Collaboration for Plant 3D entitlements.
BIM Collaborate and BIM Collaborate Pro provide access to functionality from various products including Autodesk Construction Cloud, BIM 360, Revit, Civil 3D, and Plant 3D.
In Revit, this includes access to Revit Cloud Worksharing. This requires Revit 2018.3 and later for both Autodesk Construction Cloud and BIM 360 projects. Included in BIM Collaborate Pro only.
In Civil 3D, this includes access to the Autodesk Collaboration for Civil 3D entitlement. This requires Civil 3D 2020.5.1 and later for Autodesk Construction Cloud projects, and Civil 3D 2020.2 and later for BIM 360 projects. Included in BIM Collaborate Pro only.
In Plant 3D, this includes access to the Autodesk Collaboration for AutoCAD Plant 3D entitlement. This requires Plant 3D 2021 and later for both Autodesk Construction Cloud and BIM 360 projects. Included in BIM Collaborate Pro only.
Assign Access to BIM Collaborate and BIM Collaborate Pro
Access, including access to the Revit Cloud Worksharing, Collaboration for Civil 3D, and Collaboration for AutoCAD Plant 3D entitlements for BIM Collaborate Pro customers, is provided to individual users by a Contract Manager or Software Coordinator from the Autodesk Account.
Important:
The Revit Cloud Worksharing, Collaboration for Civil 3D, and Collaboration for AutoCAD Plant 3D entitlements must be assigned separately in the Autodesk Account. See the Provide Access to Revit Cloud Worksharing topic to learn more about managing entitlements in the classic view. The same procedure applies for Collaboration for Civil 3D and Collaboration for AutoCAD Plant 3D.
Administration
The Autodesk Construction Cloud platform has two levels of administration: account and project.
Account administrators:
Create and manage projects
Manage account members
Create project templates
Edit account settings
In addition, some account-level administration tasks are available in the BIM 360 Account Admin module, including access to analytics and third-party app integrations.
When an account administrator has created a project, they are added as the first project administrator. Project administrators can add project members and control their product access to Design Collaboration and Model Coordination. Access to Docs is provided by default.
Invited members receive a link to join the project. After clicking this link, members simply sign in using an Autodesk ID and password.
For Revit workflows, it is worth noting that there are two layers of team setup required. First, an administrator must provide members with access to Docs, where the files in the collaborative workflows are stored. Next, an administrator must provide members with access to Design Collaboration, and add them to a team so they can access the shared team folder.
Organize Folders for the Project
Every project starts with preconfigured, top-level folders to support a specific process or data type:
For the Field folder (only in projects created before 22 March 2022, or projects created from a template including the For the Field folder.)
When project administrators set up teams for Design Collaboration (applicable to Revit workflows), new shared and consumed folders are created automatically in Docs in the Project Files folder (named Shared and Consumed by default). This automated method of folder creation is recommended as all the required subfolders and permissions are created when a team is added.
Important:
Design Collaboration only supports files inside the Project Files folder.
Manage Teams and Team Members
Note: This section is only applicable for Revit workflows that utilize Design Collaboration. This section is not applicable to Collaboration for Civil 3D. Refer to the Collaboration for Civil 3D help to complete the setup for Civil 3D workflows.
In Design Collaboration, a project administrator can manage teams and team members. After a team is created, a dedicated Team Space is added. The required folders for sharing and consuming packages are also created, as discussed above. The teams must be created before using Design Collaboration.
As an alternative, you can create your own folders in Docs for the shared and consumed spaces, and assign teams to these folders during team setup.
Important:
The shared and consumed folders are required for the data exchange workflows using packages, the project timeline, and the change visualization interface in Design Collaboration.
Design Collaboration
Note: This section is only applicable for Revit workflows that utilize Design Collaboration. This section is not applicable to Collaboration for Civil 3D. Refer to the Collaboration for Civil 3D help to complete the setup for Civil 3D workflows.
Design Collaboration improves multi-firm project teams’ ability to meet the demands of a modern construction project. Enhanced permissions allow individual teams to work in their own space, and collaborate with complete control of how other project teams see the state of their work. Design Collaboration provides an experience catered to the way teams think about their project data.
A project timeline visually communicates the exchange of deliverables between teams.
An automated and always up-to-date viewing experience allows everybody on the project team, even those not working in Revit, to understand the current state of the design and see how it has changed over time.
A managed process of data exchange allows sharing teams to curate the information most relevant to their latest efforts. It also allows teams accepting incoming information to understand those updates in a visual and actionable way.
As you explore the data that has been exchanged between teams, you can compare the latest and previous versions to understand what was changed in the design.
Collaboration services only available with BIM Collaborate Pro
Revit Cloud Worksharing helps teams to collaborate in real-time on Revit models in the cloud, while storing and managing project data in a single location. Refer to the Revit Cloud Worksharing help for more information.
Collaboration for Civil 3D allows project teams to collaborate on Civil 3D data shortcut projects in Docs. Refer to the Collaboration for Civil 3D help for more information.
Collaboration for Plant 3D allows project teams to collaborate on Plant 3D projects in Docs. Refer to the Collaboration for AutoCAD Plant 3D help for more information.
Note: This video covers the process for uploading Revit models to BIM 360 as part of the BIM Design subscription. BIM Collaborate Pro has replaced BIM Design but, as the processes are the same, this video can still be used as a reference.