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Getting Started on Catenda Hub
Getting Started on Catenda Hub
Sjaak Velthoven avatar
Written by Sjaak Velthoven
Updated over a week ago

Catenda Hub is a cloud-based communication and collaboration platform that allows all stakeholders to get involved in virtual design and construction, without the need of having access to advanced VDC tools.

Catenda uses open standard formats to ensure interoperability across all authoring and clash detection software that are supporting the IFC standard.

This article contains information about the following topics:

Account setup

An invitation is sent to you via email by Catenda with a link to the next steps of registration. Using this link you can create an account with your personal credentials.

After your registration is complete, you can access your projects on Catenda Hub from any web browser.

Interface

Once you login you will land on a page where a list of available projects is displayed.

Select your project to land in the project environment.

In left side menu you are presented with the following main function areas;

  • Documents: upload, download and view documents. In addition you can have a review session and communicate the results to the necessary parties.

  • Models: view and navigate through models and point clouds (IFC, e57, las). Federate various trade models and create topics based on interest points to communicate with other stakeholders.

  • Topics: create markups on models and/or documents to request, resolve and clarify points of interest in the project. This allows for open communication across all stakeholders.

Documents

Uploading

This is the delivery area of Catenda Hub where you can upload all file types by simply selecting the desired destination and dragging and dropping to upload (just like Windows Explorer). You can also upload via the upload button in the top right corner.

When a document match is found in the folder, Catenda creates a new revision and keeps the records of all superseded revisions.

Downloading

Simply search for required documents using the search bar or filter sidebar and select them. Filters can be saved for future usage.

After selecting your documents click on the download button.

The documents will be downloaded onto your PC.

Viewing

The document viewer in Catenda supports a lot of file types ranging from PDFs to various Microsoft files (doc, ppt, xls, etc.) as well as point cloud files. The Viewer also supports video files such as mp4.

Simply search for the required file using the search bar or filter sidebar and click on it to open in the viewer.

Markups

Use the markup tools to identify areas you would like to communicate with other project members. The markups can be added to existing topics or you can create a new one which can be placed on a topic board of choice.

Models

In the models area, you are presented a list with all models available to you based on your access rights. These can be selected and turned on in the 3D viewer, enabling you to intuitively view and navigate through federated models.

Topics

Topics is where you have your communication channels in the form of topic boards. Topic boards are controlled by access rights and can be connected to external solutions such as authoring and clash detection tools for a smooth exchange to interest points (clashes, RFI, tasks, clarifications, etc.). These topics can be created and replayed with all necessary object in any other software that supports BCF (BIM Collaboration Format)

Plugins and Integrations (download links)

  • Connects your desktop to Catenda

  • Schedule downloads from the document repository on Catenda to a defined destination on your PC

  • Schedule uploads from a defined destination on your PC to the document repository on Catenda

  • Run these scheduled downloads and uploads on a daily basis

  • Access to all your Catenda projects

  • Exchange topics between Catenda and Navisworks

  • Locate clash objects in Navisworks

  • Create BCF topics from clashes in Navisworks

  • Access the document library on Catenda to open any file format supported by Navisworks

  • Access all models revisions (not only latest)

  • Save your NWD file directly to Catenda

  • Consolidate viewpoints when you create a topic from a group or multiple clashes (create one viewpoint with all clashes)

  • Access to all your Catenda projects

  • Exchange topics between Catenda and Revit

  • Export IFC models to Catenda

  • Locate clash objects in Revit

  • Create BCF topics (2D and 3D) in Revit

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