2010

Glossary
Glossary of technical terms relating to Autodesk Navisworks Freedom 2010.
Display Terminology
average frame rate This shows the current measured frame rate, averaged over the last second.
average frame time This shows the time taken to render the last frame.
average triangle rate This shows the rate at which triangles are being rendered and is a measure of how well
your graphics card is working.
culling Culling is a process for determining items not to draw during the render of a scene. Autodesk Navisworks
does a level of prioritized culling with the
drop-out method of rendering interactive scenes, but you have a
certain level of control over other aspects of culling such as backface, near and far planes.
drop-out In order to maintain interactivity and guarantee a user-defined frame rate, Autodesk Navisworks only
renders what it can in the fraction of a second it has. The remainder is "dropped out", or not rendered.
Autodesk Navisworks prioritizes what is rendered and what is dropped out based on size of the item's bounding
box, distance from viewer and size on screen, so only the less significant items in the scene are dropped out.
Once navigation has ceased, the scene continues rendering until all items are visible.
frame rate The frame rate is the number of frames per second (FPS) that are rendered in the main navigation
window. Autodesk Navisworks guarantees a user-defined frame rate in order to maintain interactivity.
File Terminology
published data files (.nwd ) Published NWD files are useful when wanting to take a snapshot of the model at
a certain time. All the geometry and review information is saved into the .nwd file and cannot then be changed.
Published NWD files can also contain information about the file, as well as being able to be password protected
and time-bombed for security. These files are also very small, compressing the CAD data by up to 80% of the
original size.
Published NWD files are useful when issuing models for viewing by others with the Autodesk Navisworks Freedom
2010 free viewer, as well as being appendable themselves into Autodesk Navisworks to build up a larger scene.
Selection Terminology
These are terms specific to Autodesk Navisworks that are used in relation to selecting items.
composite objects A composite object is a group of geometry that is considered a single object in the selection
tree. For example, a window object might be made up of a frame and a pane. If a composite object, the window
object would be both the frame and the pane and be selected all at once.
instances An instance is a single object, which is referred to several times within a model, for example a tree.
This has the advantage of cutting down on file size by not unnecessarily repeating an object.
item name The original CAD or Autodesk Navisworks assigned identifier. Any item can have a name and this
name will usually come from the original CAD package that the model was created in.
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