Creating a Chainlink Fence in Navisworks Using Civil 3D

Figuring out how to create different objects to show your model in Navisworks can be difficult, mainly because Civil 3D isn’t a BIM product, in other words we don’t create models utilizing an actual object to represent itself. For instance instead of using a curb object we utilize a corridor object or a collection of feature lines. One such object that is difficult to figure out how to get to show up in Navisworks is a Chainlink fence. Kevin Lind pointed me in the correct direction on how to create a chainlink fence utilizing Civil 3D.

• The first step is to create a feature line at the location where the fence is going to be.
• Next sample from surface to get the feature line draped across the surface.
• If you want the fence to end short of the surface, now is the time to move it up.
• Now offset the feature line a small distance over and the appropriate distance up.
• Now create a surface and add the feature lines to it.
• If your fence has bends in it, add a boundary.

Since Navisworks does not recognize materials assigned in Civil 3D, a material will need to be created in Navisworks. The material will need to approximate a grid and have transparency. Here’s a picture of what I came up with for my first try. Not perfect, but I think it conveys the location and look of a fence fairly well.