Learn the fundamentals to codifying 3D coordination with Revizto+ Clash Automation. Presented by Jason Howden, Principal, Warren and. Mahoney, NZ

1. Codifying Coordination
with Clash Automation
Jason Howden
Principal & Digital Innovation Lead

2. Jason Howden
Principal & Digital Innovation Lead
After 30 years of collaboration and innovation in the design
and construction industry in the UK, Australia and New
Zealand, I enjoy empowering fast-paced high-performance
project teams with collaborative digital frameworks to realise
individual and project goals and aspirations.
Outside my professional pursuits, I enjoy adventure and
relaxation outdoors, returning to nature and soaking up the
sunshine on a river bank with a fishing rod or hurtling down a
mountainside on my mountain bike.

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Agenda
● Laying the foundations
● Creating the framework
● Machines do the work
● Focus effort with coordination zones
● Seek and find with search sets
● Highlight issues with stamps
● Supercharge coordination with clash automation
● Hot tips

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Codifying coordination
with Revizto +
The devil is in the details

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Our Revizto Journey
300 Projects
1,500 Collaborators
5,000 Revizto reports
50,000 Sheets in Revizto
1,900,000 Issues detected and resolved
5,000,000,000,000 Bytes of data

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Before Revizto
1:1 ratio BIM coordinators to projects

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Laying the
foundations
Setting the structure for automated coordination

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Laying the foundations
● Project programme
● Model Structure
● Zones / Levels
● Elemental Priorities
● Clash Tolerances

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Creating the
framework
Scaling our coordination process

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The matrix

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Clash tolerances
● Traditionally, clash detection has been
carried out on overlapping geometry
● However, in NZ there is increasing
demand for clearance-based clash
detection to meet NZ seismic building
codes
● Primary structure and larger building
elements have the highest priority
● Smaller items and false positives are
tracked as issues for reporting purposes
● Clash tolerance typically range from -
25mm (1 inch) clearance to +10mm (½ an
inch) to mitigate false positives

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Simplifying complexity
● Importance rating
● Selection A
● Selection B
● Clash Tolerance
● Issue Priority
● Issue Responsibility
}Clash ID
}Issue
Metadata
Clash ID syntax
278 unique tests
Importance
Rating
Section
A
Section
B
1 A B

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Machines
do the work
Structured datasets for autonomous processes

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Model structure
● Structure your Common Data
Environment (CDE) for seamless model
sharing - BIM360
● Remove bottlenecks in information
sharing - Live Link
● Set a defined 3D view and use view
templates in Revit to control the
geometry
● Consistency is king, (KIS approach), view
naming, model naming (don’t use Revit
versions), common worksets
Autodesk BIM360 CDE
Arch WIP
Struct WIP
Mech WIP
Hydr WIP
Fire WIP
Elec WIP
Federated
Model

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Automation cycle
● Revizto exporting scheduling removes
mandate workflows and human-error
● Nightly exports keeps Revizto up to date
with work in progress design
development
● Weekly clash automation is coordinated
with BIM coordination meetings and
reporting
● Frees up the design team to focus on the
project

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Focus effort with
coordination zones
Targeted approach to 3D coordination

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Divide and conquer
● Create as closed (no voids) 3D extrusions
in Revit. Ideally in your federated
coordination model.
● Zones are defined using a search set
within Revizto.
● Carefully named the 3D extrusions to
assist with identification, filtering and
reporting in Revizto.
● Zones group identified coordination
issues found during the clash
automation process.
● Incredibly powerful for aligning 3D
coordination to design deliverables.

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Zone priorities
● Zones are created to prioritise complex
areas of the building:
○ In-ceiling (services) void
○ Service risers
○ General spaces (low priority)
● Zones are fundamental to our clash
automation and grouping of identified
clashes.
● Coordination meetings and reporting are
driven by the zones created in Revizto .
● Zones are aligned to design deliverables
and project programmes.
High
High
High
High
Service
corridor
Low
Low
Low
Low

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Seek and find with
search sets
Controlling chaos with scalable cascading search sets

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The brains of coordination
● Cascading search sets are the ‘brains’.
● Geometry is filtered on unique metadata.
● Exclude geometry not being clash
tested.
● Flexible and transferable between
projects.
● Used to assist with 5D and asset and
facilities management.
● Reduces human error and increased
productivity.
Models
Coordination
Sets
Revit
Categories
Element
Properties

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Parent (model) selection
● Everything cascades from the Parent
(Revit Category) down.
○ Parent (Category)
■ Child (Element)
● Grandchild (Property value)
● Provides ‘one click’ updates to search
sets and clash tests
● Select ‘Models’ at an Element level to
enable backwards search compatibility
○ Item = Source File
● Search within ‘model’ sets to filter out
duplicate Revit Category elements

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Category (element) selection
● The most powerful way to locate
geometry from Revit is via Category
● Easily transferred between project
teams as a ‘standard’
● Coordination search sets, and clash test
are built on this fundamental method
● Category search sets exclude geometry
not being tested
● Make sure to select the geometry
at the right level (Element not File)

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Property (element) selection
● Finest level of searching and filtering
geometry in our search sets
● Used to breakdown the Revit Categories
into specific search sets for refined
clash detection or quantity schedules
● Property search sets are dependant
on Category search sets
● Changes to the Category search set
ripples into Property search sets
automatically
● Extremely powerful with building
services model elements

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Clash tests selection
● Coordination search sets power our clash
tests
● Alphabetically labeled to aid useability
and legibility across 100’s of combinations
● Each search set forms either Selection A
or B in the clash test matrix
● Refinement and selection is preferred
at the search set level to avoid complication
in clash tests
● Review and QA/QC can easily be done in 3D
before executing the clash test avoiding
false positives and closing existing issues
unnecessarily

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Highlight issues with
stamps
Never miss a coordination issue again

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Stamp it like its hot!
● The backbone of our 3D coordination
workflow
● Difference icons between a Clash
and a human-generated Issue
○ Diamond - Clash
○ Circle - Manual
● Divided into design or construction
disciplines
● ‘Heat maps’ are created to highlight
stamps in traditional 2D views
● Power our project dashboards
and reporting

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Stamp templates
● Provide quick access to commonly
reported issues
● Used to standardise and control
the assignee and reporting of identified
issues
● Templates allow quick changes
in the clash tests to cascade throughout
the project environment
● Colour-coded for quick identification
of design discipline
● Tags are added to assist with filtering
of issues, such as false positive clashes

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Heat maps
● Powerful to quickly view and review
where coordination issues have been
identified.
● Engages non-3D natives to use Revizto
to review coordination issues.
● Use tool in coordination meetings and
milestone model audits and reporting.
● Issues group together when multiple are
in the same location.
● Set up and control the view depth in
Revit to control the vertical dimension of
the heat map.

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Supercharge
coordination
clash automation
It’s like adding another resource into to your project team

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Clash tests
● Clash tests are created aligning to our clash
matrix
● Codifying the clash test allows for quick
setup, review and auditing
● Each selection set (26) is reviewed in 3D
model space at regular intervals
● Clash tests are designed to minimise
complexity and allow for junior BIM
coordinates to leverage Revizto+
● 26 primary coordination selection sets can
generate up to 676 combinations
● Currently use 278 active clash tests on our
projects

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Clash automation
● Clash test templates enable quick
management of discipline specific tests
● Stamps are assigned to control the Assignee
and any Tag data
● Grouping is by:
○ Zone
○ Level
○ System Name for services, else
by Chained proximity 5m:50m
● Group name is by Zone and Level
● Duplicate tests are used to assign different
priorities without Issue Automation

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Issue automation
● Issue automation is used to control
the initial Priority in the Issue Tracker
● Advanced issue automation can be used
to create rules to enhance the reporting
of identified issue
● Issue automation allow you to define:
○ Stamp
○ Priority
○ Deadline
○ Assignee
○ Watchers
○ Tags

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Hot tips
Things we learnt in the journey
to automating 3D coordination

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Gamifying coordination
● Issue Filters create specific ‘to do lists’
for each project team member
● Focuses the team on the most important
issues
● Linked to milestone coordination
reporting to the client and project team
● Project team empowered to resolve
critical issues over minor issues
● Coordination meetings are about
objectives not issues

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Encouraging engagement
● Appearance Templates create access
points to view the model from each team
members perspective.
● Powered by the cascading search sets
appearance templates are easily
updated and shared between projects.
● Highlight critical model elements:
○ Fire walls, protection.
○ Services sub-systems etc.

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Clarity in coordination
● Dashboards enable and drive
collaboration
● Foster transparency and engagement
for a common project goal
● Issued weekly to all project participants
including the client
● Line based charting creates
a collaborative coordination
environment where progress is rewarded
● Everything is reported to create a sense
of overall accomplishment

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Hotter tips!
● Live link work in progress (WIP) models
in Autodesk BIM360
● Export the 2D sheets from Revit weekly
● Create 2D ‘heat maps’ to assist issue
tracking
● Duplicate clash tests to enhance clash
automation and issue tracking
● Use old hardware to build a scalable
automation ‘farm’, we called ours ‘S.A.M’
for scheduled automation machines

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Supercharge your projects
with Revizto+ it’s like having extra BIM coordinators in our team

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Q&A Discussion

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Thank Y u
jason.howden@warrenandmahoney.com
linkedin.com/in/jhowden