Navisworks: Free Freedom Viewer and Manage Trial

On a construction project, the architectural, structural and MEP models are usually built in different programs. Navisworks brings them together into one federated model so the team can review the whole project, find clashes before they reach site and plan construction sequences.

Which Navisworks do you need?

• Navisworks Manage: coordination and clash detection, model review, simulation and analysis, quantification, and issues integration with Autodesk Construction Cloud.
• Navisworks Simulate: model review, simulation and analysis, and quantification, without clash detection.
• Navisworks Freedom: a free viewer for NWD and 3D DWF files.

Manage and Simulate are paid subscriptions with a 30-day free trial. Autodesk also offers the free NWC Export Utility for exporting cache files from other design programs.

Navisworks Freedom, the free viewer

Freedom lets stakeholders without a paid license open NWD files and explore the whole project. It shows the model hierarchy, object properties and embedded review data such as viewpoints, animations, redlines and comments. NWD files are compressed and need no model preparation, server hosting or ongoing costs, which makes them a practical way to share large models.

How to download

1. For the free viewer, the Download button opens Autodesk’s Navisworks viewers page; choose Navisworks Freedom.
2. For Manage or Simulate, start the free trial from the Navisworks product page with an Autodesk account.

Navisworks is a Windows application. It is commonly used alongside Civil 3D and Revit; for PDF-based drawing review on the same projects, see Bluebeam Revu.