Navisworks API: Working with Grids And Levels

By Naveen Kumar

In Navisworks, grids and levels are valuable tools for exploring a scene, providing spatial context for your location and the placement of objects within the environment.

You can access grids and levels through the “Grids & Levels” panel in the View tab. Now, let’s utilize the Navisworks API to work with grids and levels.

In this blog post, we will explore the following topics:

• Turns grids on or off
• Customizing grid line colors based on the camera’s position
• Configuring the grid mode
• Setting a specific display level when “Fixed” grid mode is selected

Turns grids on or off

// Access the active document in Navisworks
Document doc = Autodesk.Navisworks.Api.Application.ActiveDocument;
// Retrieve grid options from the Navisworks application
GridsOptions gridOptions = Autodesk.Navisworks.Api.Application.Options.Grids;
// Enable grid visibility (set to 'false' to hide the grid)
gridOptions.Enabled = true;
// If X-ray mode is switched off, transparent gridlines hidden by objects will not be displayed.
gridOptions.XRayMode = true;

Customizing grid line colors based on the camera’s position

// Customize grid line colors based on the camera's position
gridOptions.AboveColor = new Color(1, 0, 0);
gridOptions.BelowColor = new Color(0, 1, 0);
gridOptions.OtherColor = new Color(1, 1, 1);

Configuring the grid mode

// Access the Grids object from the active document
DocumentGrids docGrids = doc.Grids;
// Set the grid render mode to show both above and below grid lines
docGrids.RenderMode = GridsRenderMode.AboveAndBelow;

Setting a specific display level when “Fixed” grid mode is selected

GridSystem gridSystem = docGrids.ActiveSystem;
// Set the grid render mode to "Fixed" and restrict grid visibility to a specific level
// e.g., Level 3
// ensuring the grid remains fixed at that level during navigation.
GridLevelCollection gridLevelCollection = gridSystem.Levels;
GridLevel requiredGridLevel = gridLevelCollection.Where(level => level.DisplayName=="Level 3").First();
// Set grid render mode to "Fixed" if Level 3 is found
if (requiredGridLevel != null)
{
docGrids.RenderMode = GridsRenderMode.Locked;
docGrids.SetSystemLockedLevel(gridSystem, requiredGridLevel);
}