- So I'm back at my architects desk
and we've gotten word from the civil design team
that they have updated the site plan
and it's time for us to reload.
So we could go right into Revit
and just simply reload the file
and see what they've provided to us.
But I wanted to show it to you in the
BIM 360 portal first,
because like many of the files that we are using in BIM 360,
you have the option of reviewing them here in a web portal
before you bring them into your design software.
Now I'm in the design collaboration module
and it's taken me to the architecture team
because Dashi is a member of the architecture team,
of course.
And if I expand the timelines, the swim lanes,
unfortunately we won't see the civil 3D files
in this location.
So this is showing us exclusively the Revit files
that are part of our project.
So even if you use this icon here
to expand all of the timelines,
you can see that the only other team
that I'm showing is MEP right now.
So we won't be able to review the civil files
directly in design collaboration,
but we can do it in document management.
So switch modules over to the document management module,
and then here instead of reviewing them on a timeline,
we're just simply going to review them
through folder structure.
So of course, this is the architecture folder.
That's the team that Dashi is a member of,
but we also have access to the shared folder right here.
And then you can see the sub folder
for each of the disciplines.
So if I click into the civil folder,
you'll see that site plan file right here.
And you'll notice that it is currently version four.
And you may recall when we were working in that file,
that we incremented it from version three to four.
Now, if you just want to quickly jump in and take a look,
you can click right on the name
and it will open it up in the inline viewer.
And you can take a look around.
And since the changes here were pretty simple,
you might be able to spot right away what's different.
But what I'm going to do is actually close this
and show you my favorite feature of the viewer
in document management.
If you click on the version number instead,
that will display a version history window,
and then down here there's a compare versions button.
And by default that'll highlight
the most recent two versions for comparison.
And of course you could choose other ones instead,
if you wish.
So I'll click compare there.
And then it opens up a quick preview window,
which kind of shows me the two files,
and this way you can decide whether or not you in fact
have the correct two versions that you want to compare.
And assuming that you're satisfied,
you can click the compare button to open up comparison mode.
So by default it will go to an overlay mode here
and you will see the compare documents palette right here,
and two colors.
So version four is colored red,
version three is colored blue.
And then right here we can see very clearly in that area,
the overlay of the two files.
And if you look next to each file,
you'll see a small eyeball icon,
and you can use these eyeball icons to toggle on and off
each of the files and look at them independently.
Now that's all very useful,
but what I really like is this mode here.
So if we click on the overlay button,
it's a small pop-up menu and we can switch to side-by-side.
Now that will create this line down the middle here.
The version four file is here on the left,
version three is here on the right
and now using this little blue bar in the middle,
I can actually start to scrub between the two
and change it to show me more or less of each version
and kind of see where the changes are as they come together.
So I find that really interesting
and a very useful way to study the changes
between these two files.
So feel free to explore the file to your satisfaction.
And then when you're satisfied,
you can close the compare and we're now ready
to go back into Revit and reload this file.
Okay so I'm back here in Revit,
I've got the BIM 360 link selected here,
and I mean my Nadia's Garden project.
I'll click in the architecture folder
and then select my architecture model to open it.
So when the model loads,
the most noticeable thing that you'll see is that we now see
the latest version of the site plan.
So you can see the revised parking lot design right here.
Now I have seen cases where the linked DWG files will not
automatically reload with desktop connector.
So normally it does, and that's a nice feature,
but sometimes it does not.
So in cases where it doesn't,
all you need to do is go to the insert tab,
click manage links,
go to the CAD formats tab,
select the CAD file that you want to reload
and then click the reload button.
And that will usually do the trick.
So sometimes it's just a matter of desktop connector,
not queuing in when it's supposed to,
and it's pretty easily remedied.
So whether you go right to Revit and reload
to see the latest changes from your civil engineer,
or you go first into BIM 360
and use that really handy comparison feature in the viewer,
the choice is yours,
but either way you can easily get the latest updates
from your consulting engineers.