In Model Reviewer

Tekla Structures

Not version-specific

Tekla Structures

imr

model

reviewer

in-model

Environment

Not environment-specific

Purpose and description

The goal of this document is to outline a procedure and the tools needed to conduct model-based review of shop drawing submittals for both steel and concrete. The process allows the architect, structural engineer, general contractor and steel fabricator to package, review and merge comments on both the 3D model and 2D electronic shop drawings. The procedure uses the In- Model Reviewer application and Tekla Structures software. Also referred to as 2D-3D review, workflow videos can be viewed at http://www.tekla.com/IMR.

In-Model Reviewer includes two applications: the actual review application and a packaging, or merging, application called In-Model Reviewer Packaging Tool. Both are implied in this discussion.

To successfully implement the In-Model Reviewer tools and process, both software and a well defined review procedure is recommended.

System requirements

Tekla Structures and the latest Service Release must be installed to run the In-Model Reviewer. Software is downloaded from Tekla Warehouse. All Tekla Structures V17 and later configurations will support the use of the In-Model Reviewer with the exception to the Viewer, which is limited in use because users cannot save their comments to the model.
US Imperial is the only Tekla Structures environment that is supported.
In-Model Reviewer and the In-Model Reviewer Packaging Tool are Tekla Structures Extensions found on Tekla Warehouse. Select Product > Extension Downloads, search for In-Model Reviewer and download the installation. The user must install Tekla Structures first before installing these tools.
BlueBeam Revu, Adobe Acrobat Writer, or other PDF mark-up software can be installed to redline PDFs that are opened from the In-Model Reviewer interface.

Installing In Model Reviewer

To install the In-Model Reviewer (IMR), an installation package is provided in Tekla Warehouse with all the needed installation files. Several files are installed in your Tekla Structures environment. These are discussed in the Additional Information section of this page if users wish to customize these files further to include some of their own settings (like adding to the objects.inp). Back to top

Using In Model Reviewer

Project Setup

Recommended Work Process

This section proposes a recommended workflow to be followed by the project team in implementing the in-model review process. The workflow addresses key functionality like:

Review by multiple reviewers (architect, engineer, contractor, fabricator)
Review of multiple submittals per project
Review of revised submittals
Review and stamp 2D electronic shop drawings in combination with 3D model

Note that the review team can implement several different work processes. They can be categorized into two types: in-series and in-parallel. They are illustrated in Figure 1. The in-series approach is the traditional approach where comments are accumulated as the reviewed submittal is sent from one reviewer to the next. This is a more traditional approach that does not require the merging of comments as discussed in Table 1. To speed up the review turnaround time, project teams can implement an in-parallel work process where each review team can review their copy of the submittal simultaneously. Then leaving the merging of comments (previously called transferring redlines) to the general contractor or fabricator.

Figure 1: In-Series vs. In-Parallel Work Process for Submittal Review

Table 1: Multi-Role, 2D-3D Review Procedure

Furthermore, Chart 1 illustrates how the detailer and review team will process revised submittals based on the overall status of the submittal. What you will see in the In-Model Reviewer is the ability to link different submittals to an originating submittal in order to track changes from one submittal to the revised submittal.

Chart 1: Workflow Diagram of In-Model Review

Creating a Submittal

This section explains how the steel or concrete detailer creates a submittal with the In-Model Reviewer that will be shared with the review team. A submittal is comprised of a group of model assemblies/cast units and their associated 2D shop drawings in PDF format.

The steps for a detailer to create a submittal are as follows:

Print PDF drawings of all assembly, cast unit, and general arrangement drawings to be included in the submittal. The drawing name must match the assembly position or cast unit position number. Place them in a unique submittal folder on a project directory (i.e. <model folder>\Plot Files\Seq 1 Approval). Set the following variables in the Advanced Options of the model (Tools > Options > Advanced Options > Printing).

XS_DRAWING_PLOT_FILE_NAME_A=%DRAWING_NAME.% XS_DRAWING_PLOT_FILE_NAME_C=%DRAWING_NAME.%
XS_DRAWING_PLOT_FILE_NAME_G=%DRAWING_TITLE%

Note that erection drawings are not stamped with the In-Model Reviewer even if they are included in the drawings folder. As a work around, Tekla has created an E-sheet custom component that detailers can add to the model and include in the submittal so that E-sheets show up in the submittal and can be stamped. This dummy assembly does not impact piece mark number nor will it show up in drawings or bill of materials.

Launch the application from icon/thumbnail

Select the “Fabricator” role and provide the user initials. Select OK.

The In-Model Reviewer will open. An empty Submittals(0) folder is created by default. The number in parenthesis refers to the number of assemblies or cast units included in the submittal.
Select the assemblies, cast units, and GA drawing dummy parts in the model that are to be included in the submittal. Make sure the Select Assemblies switch is active.

Right click on the empty Submittals folder and select Create from selected.

The user is prompted to fill in the Submittal properties.

Fill in the dialog properties and then select OK.
1. Submittal name: This will be what shows up in the review tool folder
2. Description: More descriptive name of submittal.
3. Drawing source: Folder location where PDF drawings are stored for this given submittal (see step 1 above). All the PDF files in this folder will be automatically copied to four respective role folders in the Tekla Structures model folder as shown (see image below).
4. Revision number: If a revision of a previous submittal, select the appropriate number.
5. Revision of: Select previous submittal in the below list to “link” the revised submittal to the original. This is very critical for the detailer to do since it is what allows the loading of revision histories in the In-Model Reviewer.
Assemblies, cast units, and GA drawings are added to the submittal. The PDF drawings are also copied into their respective folders. These files can be viewed through the Drawing Folders tab at the bottom left pane of the In-Model Reviewer.

The detailer should check to make sure the review status is cleared for the reviewers. By default, the Not Reviewed status is set. To clear status, right click on the Submittal and select Clear status from all roles.

In the past, detailers have created unique model views per submittal for the review team so that it is easy for them to know what to review. Now with the In-Model Reviewer, the assemblies to review are isolated to a given submittal; therefore this may not be needed. However, if model views are still desired, the detailer can use the In-Model Reviewer to do this by selecting the submittal tree, right click in the view and Create View \ 3D View. Give the View a submittal name.

If desired, reference in the review team’s design BIM models or 2D .dwg plan drawings. This way the engineer and architect can review their design intent within the context of the fabrication model. The best 3D data format to use is .ifc. Note that the review team can do this step themselves; however, they may not be as familiar with using Tekla Structures as the detailer.
Close In-Model Reviewer.
Save model. Close Tekla Structures.

Open the In-Model Reviewer Packaging Tool by clicking on Start > All Programs > Tekla Structures <version> > Tools > In-Model Reviewer Packager.

Choose the model to package. Select which submittal folders to send (they will highlight in blue) and add them to the right pane. Note that the application already identifies critical files to include the package. DO NOT REMOVE FILES FROM THE RIGHT. If there are additional files to be included that are not in the model folder (like catalog files or numbering setting files), the user can include those via the bottom dialog.

Click on the Package button to create a zipped package file. Select a folder to save the .zip file.

Submittal Delivery to Design Team

The Submittal Package can be delivered to the review team either via email or posted to a common ftp or project server. Typically, the fabricator/detailer will pass the submittal to the general contractor who then distributes copies to the architect and structural engineer for review.
The review team will unpack the submittal onto their local PC or a network drive where they can access the submittal file through the Tekla Structures software. Here are the steps to unpack the submittal.

Copy the zipped submittal file into a file location.
Launch the In-Model Reviewer Packaging Tool from the Windows Start Menu.

On the Unpackaging tab browse to the zipped file.
Specify the folder in which to unzip the folder.

Click the Unpackage button to unzip the submittal package with the original model name into the destination folder.

Reviewing a Submittal

The architect, structural engineer and contractor can all use the In-Model Reviewer to review a submittal sent to them. All model and drawing comments are saved in their own respective folders within the model. Here are the steps to begin the review process.

Launch Tekla Structures, browse to and open the unpackaged submittal model. A default 3D view should show up on the screen. If no view is visible, select Views > View List and open a 3D-view (or create if necessary).

Launch the application from the toolbar icon. This launches a Macro called In-Model Reviewer.
Select the Role and enter the reviewer Name. Role options are Architect, Engineer, General Contractor, or Fabricator. The Fabricator role should only be used by the fabricator or detailer who sets up the submittals and processes the reviewed submittals.
Apply a check mark to indicate which Submittals to load for review. If a revised submittal is to be reviewed, check both the previous submittal and the revised submittal.

Select Save to remember these settings during the next session and to move to the review station or select OK. The In-Model Reviewer application should now open.

Overview of the Interface

The In-Model Reviewer is a Tekla Extension for Tekla Structures that allows users to visualize, review and share comments on assemblies or cast units in the model. Typically, the user will select assemblies and cast units in the tree list, observe where they highlight in the model, review the drawing, and then stamp the model and drawing in one action. It is also possible to pick assemblies in the model to then view in the tree list.

The interface contains three panes: an assembly browser (upper left), status tab (lower left) and drawings/data summary pane (right).

The toolbars and tab pages are now described.

Menu Toolbar

The Menu toolbar consists of:

Refresh all– Refreshes cache with model.
Show object list pane – Show/hide the object pane list at the right.
Always stay on top – Pins the application on top of other applications. This setting will stay active when the tool is launched in future sessions.
Auto-highlight –Automatically selects objects in the model.
Auto-highlight from model selection – When this mode is active, the user selects the submittal in the tree and then selects objects in the model to highlight them in the tree list.
Show properties – Show/hide tabs at lower left pane.
Settings – Contains several commands or settings:
- Set Properties – Customize the properties in the Properties tab on the object view list pane. There are 5 parameters already provided be default that are not customizable.
- Show unassigned assemblies –Turning on allows fabricator to view and select unassigned assemblies.
- Stamp – The stamp settings can be specified for how the status, role initials, date and comments are written to the PDF.

Colorize Model – Double click this icon to color the model by the corresponding reviewer status for a given role. The active role will be shown with a check box next to it. Note that every time an assembly or cast unit is stamped in the Status Settings tab, the model color updates automatically.

The following colors correspond to model status:

Green – reviewed
Yellow – reviewed as noted
Red – revise and submit
Blue – not reviewed

To turn colors back to the default settings, check the Default option and then double click on the Colorized Model icon.

Help – Help documentation and information about the application including this training manual.

Assemblies/ Cast Units tab

There are four main activities performed within the Assemblies/Cast Units tab. (Note that creating submittals is discussed in section 1.2 above).

Navigate submittals –To view the contents of a submittal, select the submittal in the list and it highlights all the assemblies or cast units in that submittal in the model (see image). The object view pane at the right is used to view assembly/cast unit status summary.

Select assemblies/cast units to view drawing – Select similar assemblies to view the PDF in the right pane.

Select parts to view property sets of data – Select multiple parts under the assemblies through the tree view to view main part information and review each property set in its entirety for the whole submittal. The user can sort by the columns and customize the content.

Select assemblies/cast units to stamp – Select the assemblies or units in the tree. Add comments and remarks. Once reviewed, the user stamps their status and comments into the assemblies. The stamp is added to the PDF automatically and the assemblies change color in the model.

The Assemblies/Cast Unit tab also includes toolbars for better viewing of the submittals.

These features include:

Inquire – Inquire properties of selected assembly or cast unit
Zoom to Selected – Model will zoom into location of selected assembly or cast unit
Hide – Hide selected assemblies or cast units.
Redraw View – If dimensions have been added to the model, the user can refresh the view.
Show Selected Only – This is a powerful tool to select the submittal tree and then hide all other objects in the model. Then the user knows only what they need to review.

Drawing tab

The Drawing tab allows user to preview the PDF. The user can see the stamp that is added to the drawing and move it to the proper location.

Other features include:

Pan – Hand icon. Must be at a zoomed in location to use the pan.
Zoom – Zoom using various options. Go back to default by selecting extents
Search – Search for text in the PDF document.
Delete comments – Right click on stamp and select delete to remove.

Statues Summary tab

The Status Summary tab is used to view and track assembly or cast unit status and comments in a selected submittal (see image). Status is shown as three different colors where any assemblies or cast units containing comments are shown with a pencil symbol. The “Worst case” column can be sorted where the collectively most important statuses (red – yellow – green) are added up. This allows the fabricator to quickly see which assemblies have issues to be resolved. It also lets the review team keep track of unreviewed assemblies in a given submittal.
Unique status and comment information can be viewed by selecting an assembly or cast unit in the object view list pane and viewing the Status Detail tab in the lower left pane.

The user can see the status and comments of other reviewers in the model (under their respective column), as well as their PDF drawings (right-click on a given assembly or cast unit and select Open Drawing. Then select the particular role).

By default all 4 reviewer status and comment tabs are shown. This is available so that when all parties have reviewed the model, all the comments and statuses can be seen at the same time. However, a particular reviewer may wish to switch off the columns during the review.

Right-click on the Status Summary tab.
Then uncheck the listed options.
These settings are not saved when you reopen the tool.

Parameters tab

The Parameters tab lists out nested object data within the selected assembly or part in the tree view pane. Generally, this tab is viewed when either an assembly or one of its parts are selected at the left.

Select assemblies – see all part information

Select parts – see all bolt, weld, rebar information

The user can drill down into more detail of bolts, welds, and reinforcement:

Select an individual line item in the parameters tab.
Use the Object Properties tab to view many properties of bolts, welds and reinforcement
Use the Status Detail tab to view reviewer comments. Individual comments can be added within the Comments field

Note that the data in the list can be sorted by a given parameter by selecting the corresponding column.
There are eight default parameters included with the ability to add additional parameters.

Drawing – denotes a link to a PDF piece mark drawing by right click/Open
Name – part name
Grid Location – grid intersection in the model
Profile – part section property name (i.e., W14X90)
Top Level – Highest point of sloped beams or columns reference point
Mark – piece mark number which matches shop drawing
Material – part material property name or grade
Phase– project phase specified by detailer in the model

Additional properties (customizable by reviewer):

Length – length considering cuts and fittings
Number – Quantity in object groups (applicable for bolt groups and rebar groups)
Gross Length – length from centerline to centerline (not fabricated length)

To customize the parameters,

Select Settings > Properties
Define the Tekla Structures variable fields that are desired
Save

The settings saved away will save in the TeklaStructuresModel.xml file located in your model folder. To learn more about Tekla Structures variable fields, search in the Tekla Structures Help.

Status Setting tab

The Status Setting tab is where the status and comments is set and then stamped into the selected assemblies or cast units. The initials used during the log in, as well as the provided date are also written as part of the status. The user can select Get to load comments from another reviewed submittal and use them on other submittals.

Stamp – Will stamp all PDF drawings in the submittal for a particular role. All PDFs are stamped with

Assembly or cast unit status & comments
Any part, bolt, weld or rebar comments within the assembly or cast unit
Stamp settings set up in the Settings toolbar

Either written text comments or a revision tag are written to the PDF. The written stamp also includes a colored stamp box based on the review status. The PDF is stored in the model folder and can be browsed through using the Drawing Folders tab as shown.

Status Detail tab

The Status Detail tab contains the review status information for the particular object selected in the object view pane. This is where weld, bolt, rebar and part comments can be viewed or even placed. Also, the comments and status from other reviewers can be viewed.

Object Properties tab

The Object Properties tab allows the reviewer to see very in-depth information about welds, bolts or rebar selected in the object pane list. For example, all pertinent weld information like Reference Text is provided. The review team can use this tab to see all detailing information provided by the detailer into the model.

Drawing Folders tab

The Drawing folders tab provides a convenient location to browse the reviewed PDF drawings including erection drawings which are not directly linked to assemblies in the tree list.

User-defined attributes tab

When a particular submittal and role is opened, all review information set in the In-Model Reviewer is written into the assembly user-defined attribute tabs A/E/C Review Status or Fabrication Status. These values will remain in place unless overwritten by a later status of the same assembly (for example a revised and resubmitted submittal).

Example Steps of Assembly/Cast Unit Review

Here are the steps for reviewing a given assembly/cast unit in a given submittal. It assumes that a submittal is already loaded in the In-Model Reviewer.

Review starting from tree list

Expand the submittal tree of assemblies.
Select all assemblies in the list. Mass review data in the parameters tab.
Select an assembly or cast unit in the tree list.
Review the drawing in the PDF preview.
Visualize in the 3D model as well.
Select all the assemblies with the same name.
Set the Status color setting as desired with appropriate comments.
Stamp.
Model should recolor with appropriate color status. Drawing should receive stamp.
Move stamp to new location if needed.
Open PDF if additional comments are needed.
Repeat steps 1-12 for all assemblies
Close the In-Model Reviewer. Close Tekla Structures.
Package up submittal with the In-Model Reviewer Packaging Tool.

To track progress of assembly status, select the Submittal row in the tree list and look at the Status Summary tab. The status color will show and any comments applied to a given submittal will have a pencil next to it.

Review starting from model

Alternatively, users can select assemblies in the model and then see where they are in the tree list. The steps include:

Select button for Auto-selection based on model
Highlight submittal tree.
Select assembly in the model.
The assembly will highlight in the list as light blue.
To review the drawing and to stamp, select it in the tree view.

Sample redlining tools in BlueBeam Revu

If additional redlining is needed in the PDF, users can use their own PDF Review tool installed on their computer like BlueBeam Revu® or Adobe Acrobat®. To open the PDFs with a review tool, right-click on the assembly in the tree and select Open drawing.

Restrictions can be placed on the PDFs when saved so that users without password access cannot change comments already added into the PDF.
Reports can be run to print out the review status in html or xls format. See the appendix for more information.

Merge and Review Comments

This section discusses how the review team shares their reviewed comments with the construction team who then can combine those comments into one 2D and 3D record set. Here are the steps:

Creating a Review Package

Each review team will package and return their comments to the fabricator or general contractor as a Review Package (see Chart 1in Section 1.1 above). Once the review team has reviewed a submittal, they can create the Review Package and return it to who provided the submittal.

Close the In-Model Reviewer.
Close Tekla Structures.
Open the In-Model Reviewer Packaging Tool from the Start Menu

Choose the model to package, select the submittal folder to send (highlight the folder in blue) and add them to the right pane. Note that the application already identifies critical files to include the package. DO NOT REMOVE FILES FROM THE RIGHT.

Package the submittal. This will create a zipped package file.
Send the Review Package zip file to the person who sent the submittal.

Unpacking and merging the Review Packages

Several Review Packages can be merged into one desired role for viewing. This is essentially the same thing as transferring redlines within the traditional paper review process. It may be that the general contractor will combine the comments and then send the combined model and PDF comments back to the fabricator. Another option is that the fabricator can take the Review Packages, unpack, and merge them into his/her current production model. Once the comments are merged, the fabricator can view the model and drawing comments within the In-Model Reviewer to then process and take action on the submittal (refer to Chart 1 in Section 1.1. above).

It is suggested to create a folder structure in Windows Explorer to store the Review Packages such that they are unpacked into their own unique folder. Image below suggests a folder structure in Microsoft Windows Explorer based on the disciplines providing reviewed submittals.

Open the In-Model Reviewer Packaging Tool from the Start Menu.

Go to the Unpackaging tab in the dialog box, pick the source zip file, and pick a destination folder. Note that the Review Package folders have to be unpackaged before they can be merged. You can repeat these steps for each Review Package you receive. Note that within the destination folder, there will be a copy of the Tekla model folder with the reviewed contents located in the InModelReview\Submittals\<submittal_name> folder.

To merge comments from one model to another, restart the In-Model Reviewer Packaging Tool from the Start Menu and go to the Merging tab.

Select the role to merge from. This will copy the comments from only that given role within the Review Package. Select the model to merge from (this is the unpackaged Review Packages).
Select the Tekla Structures model to which to copy these comments into. This can either be the model that was used to create the initial submittal or a model from another reviewer. The fabrication model could have changed since the submittal was originally created.
Select the role to merge the content into. Make sure to check the Combine Drawing Comments check box.
Select the Submittals button at the right.
Check mark the submittal name to merge from. If no names show up, that means that the submittal package was not created correctly in one of the models.
Select Merge. The process should run for a few seconds.
Close down the IMR Packager tool.
Open Tekla Structures and open the Tekla Structures production model into which the comments were merged.
Open the In-Model Reviewer.
Select the submittal name in the tree and switch to the Status Summary tab. The user can see the combined statuses.

Select an assembly or cast unit in the submittal tree. The pdf should have combined comments.

The pdf comments are all combined into one pdf drawing within the merged role. However, the individual pdf comments are also stored within each role’s folder structure within the production model. So a record set is stored as a combined set and as the individually reviewed sets.

Note that the review status data shown in the In-Model Reviewer application is not automatically written into the model assembly or cast-unit user-defined attribute Review Status tabs. This is because this data is stored within the InModelReviewer.xml file within the model folder and is only written to the model when a given role and submittal are opened to visualize the colors in the model. In order to get the status user-defined attributes written to the assemblies or cast units in the model, the detailer should select role within the Colorize Model icon then double click it again. It will colorize the model for that given role. At that point the data is written to the user-defined attributes. Do this for each status (Architect, Engineer, and Contrctor).

Reviewing a Revised Submittal

If revisions to a submittal need to be resent to the review team, a new Submittal Package is created with a new submittal number that is linked to the previous submittal so that the review team can refer back to the previous submittal drawings as needed. See Section 1.2 above for how two submittals are linked.
When the reviewers load the revised submittal, they should load both the previous submittal and the new submittal so they can look at both the submittal model and drawing data at the same time. They can do this by switching between both of the loaded tree structures.

Additional information

Instructions for using the In Model Review extension with BlueBeam Revu are available here.

Image

APPENDIX:

This appendix provides more detail for Tekla In-Model Review users wishing to know how the submittal data is being created, visualized and stored.

Installation Files

Several files are installed into the environment folders. They are summarized below.

Selecting the Role establishes which set of assembly and cast unit user-defined attributes (UDAs) are used for writing comments to the model database. The following table summarizes which user-defined attributes are used per role to store comments and status:

Table 2: Role-based User-Defined Attribute for Status and Comments

Creating Reports and TEKLA BIMsight Models

See Table 1 above for where the report creation, web model creation and packaging up of PDFs are shared back to the steel detailer or fabricator.

Create Report

A report can be run for the reviewed submittal, based on what assemblies or cast units are selected in the model. The report corresponds to the current role used in the In-Model Reviewer. The reports used are called:

Reviewer(Arch)_Status_Export.csv
Reviewer(ENG)_Status_Export.csv
Reviewer(GC)_Status_Export.csv

HTML-based reports are available for the reviewers to extract the model review comments/status from the model. These reports are found within the Tekla Structures Reports.

Review_Status_Report(Architect).html
Review_Status_Report(ENG).html
Review_Status_Report(GC).html

Reports can be run from the Tekla Structures menu under Drawings & Reports > Create Reports.

Publish a Tekla BIMsight model

A Tekla BIMsight model can be published as a record set of a submittal. The review data can be stored into the exported IFC file fromTekla Structures that is viewed with Tekla BIMsight. The user can customize the IFC_properties_sets.inp file found within the system environment installation folder\us_common\inp to then add the desired attributes to be published out.

Export to .CSV

The model status and comments can also be exported into a comma delimited (.csv) file. Select the Status Summary tab, right-click and select Export (.csv). This file includes the assembly or cast unit GUID so it can be attribute imported into other models of the same origin and can be kept for archiving.