Importing different formats into Unity
Dear Friends,
My name is Mark and I have a question from a customer. They are using a program called Autodesk Navisworks - https://www.autodesk.com/products/navisworks/overview
They have a pipe layout there and we need to be able to take those pipe models and use it in our application and also provide a text overlay on top of those based on the requirements.
Attaching some metadata information that is present in the application for example.
What we need to do is somehow import the native .nwd file or exported .dwg file (with less information) into Unity and my questions is how to do that?
Do we need to be able to export the model and the text information from Navisworks to some formats that are recognizable in Unity?
For now I have found an exporter plugin from Navisworks into .obj but it exports only the geometry and not the text and also the geometry is slightly modified or imperfect but will do.
Thank you,
Mark
Answer by unity_uNQJ20NQc2crNQ · Dec 12, 2019 at 10:12 AM
Well this information is wrong, I simply could not find a way to use my DWFX file in 3ds max nor Navisworks. They both does not recognise the file extension, simply not compatible with it. PERIOD. If you think that we can use DWFX files in these softwares, write a proper solution. Just dont speculate and dont waste peoples time...
Answer by NathanCHart · Nov 22, 2017 at 09:57 AM
At this time Unity is unable to import metadata from Navisworks. Your suggestion of importing data from a .nwd file is not possible as this file format is exclusively used for Navisworks products. However, there are a couple of workarounds you could try.
Firstly, you could export the data from Navisworks to 3dsMax using the XML Timeline Exporter plugin, from there you will be able to import the model and data through the FBX TimeLine importer. More information on importing FBX files into Unity can be found here.
Secondly, you could export your original designs from the modelling software (e.g. Revit, Sketchup) using a DWFx export plugin into 3dsMax, then through the same FBX timeline process import the format into Unity. However, if you are setting the BIM data for the text in Navisworks the first option will be more viable. I have attached an image below explaining the process for both of these solutions.