When it comes to the field of CAD/BIM software, it is impossible to talk about it without mentioning Autodesk (News - Alert) in some way. Autodesk has been a prominent player in this field for a long period of time, and has a reputation of an ultimate BIM/CAD software provider. There are many products that Autodesk provides in this field, but we’re going to talk mostly about Navisworks here.

Navisworks is mainly a project review software – capable of opening all kinds of 3D models, as well as combining existing models for clash detection purposes. Navisworks was originally a subsidiary of Lightwork Design and went by the same name – NavisWorks. However, it was bought by Autodesk back in 2007, and the first official “stable release” version came out in 2016.

While Navisworks can still offer many benefits as a standalone software piece, it is at its most effective when used in combination with other BIM/CAD software, such as Revit, AutoCAD, etc. Navisworks’ specific functionality makes it an essential part of any CAD/BIM project in terms of collaboration, since it’s possible to use Navisworks for clash detection, measuring of various parameters, and for many other features.

It is also worth noting that the functionality of Navisworks can be expanded in many ways via a system of plugins, allowing for more unconventional features – such as time simulation, photorealistic rendering, interference detection, and so on.

As with most Autodesk products, Navisworks has several different versions that you can choose from. Of course, the biggest differences between those would be the price and the number of features available.

Navisworks Freedom is the first version of Navisworks, offering the most basic functionality of viewing .NWD files and barely anything else at all. While it does have a lot of limitations, there is one advantage here that acts as a compensation – Navisworks Freedom is a completely free product.

Navisworks Simulate is the basic version of the product, with a moderate feature set and a relatively low price. Unfortunately, some of the more useful features (native clash detection, for example) are not present in Navisworks Simulate.

Navisworks Manage is the “premium” version of Navisworks, offering all of the features that Navisworks has, including even the most unusual ones. Unfortunately, it also costs the most out of the three, but it is still considered a worthy purchase for larger enterprises with complex BIM projects.

Additionally, it is worth noting that Navisworks has its own file formats (in addition to being able to work with many third-party file formats) – NWF, NWD and NWC.

• .NWF is the most standard Navisworks file format you can imagine, it stores your current project and contains links to the models it is connected to.
• .NWD is a file format that is more standalone than .NWF, offering no links to the original models and mostly used for coordination with other trades.
• .NWC is a lesser known file type – a Navisworks cache file that contains the snapshot of the current project you’re working on; it is also created automatically each time you open a Navisworks project in any of the other two file formats.

As a software solution, Navisworks offers quite a lot of benefits for project review tasks, including:

• Construction process simulation is a great feature for all participants of the project in question, allowing for an extensive insight about what could potentially happen in the middle of the construction process.
• Clash detection has proven itself as a great feature for projects as a whole, highlighting clashes between different models as early as the design stage, reducing the potential costs of fixing these mistakes in the middle of an actual construction.
• Easier collaboration mostly because of how well Navisworks integrates with other Autodesk products – a good example of that is BIM 360 Glue, which makes it far easier to share different details and files about the project.
• Easy model navigation due to Navisworks user-friendly interface and several specific features, such as set search, customizable viewpoints, and more.
• Navisworks’ own distribution model that allows users to view .NWD files without paying extra for the software in question.
• Capability to use Navisworks-related parameters and settings in other projects via Navisworks’ own extensive export feature.