The Tekla plugin is made by Dalux and works with Tekla, helping you with tasks like uploading models and drawings, and creating or reviewing comments.
This article shows you how to upload models and drawings using the plugin. The plugin does not upload the actual Tekla model file to Dalux. Instead, it’s processed as a 'daluxbim' file.
To learn how to download the plugin, read this article: Dalux plugins for modelling software
How to upload and update your 3D model and drawing files
User rights
To be able to upload documents from Tekla, you need to be in a user group with permissions to edit buildings and locations on the relevant Dalux project. If you cannot do this, contact your project administrator.
Select project and building
To upload your model from Tekla to Dalux, open Tekla and make sure you are logged into your Dalux account in the plugin.
Select or change project by clicking Change Project and selecting a project from the list.
Click Upload in the toolbar, select the building and file you want to upload your model to, and click OK:
If this is the first time you upload this model, select "new file" in the File field. If you have previously uploaded this model, select the file you want to update.
Important!
Make sure that the building where you want to upload your Tekla file already exists in the Dalux project, as you cannot create new buildings via the plugin.
Upload files
From the main upload screen, you can select the files you want to upload and see the metadata associated with them.
Notice
If you are uploading for the first time, go through Level mapping,
Property mapping, and
Discipline mapping first (see below). The plugin saves these settings for future uploads.
Filename: This is the name of the file in Dalux. Change this under Property Mapping to fill it with Tekla properties, or double-click the filename in the list view after selecting it to change it manually.
Version: This is the version the file will get in Dalux after the upload (each export will increase this number).
Folder: Select the folder in Dalux Box where the file will be uploaded.
If a file naming template is attached to the folder, the plugin displays a warning if the name does not match the template. The plugin does not upload files whose names do not match the template.
Uploaded: This is the date of the last upload of this file.
Active view: Select the view that determines the level the drawing should be mapped to. Select "No mapping" if you do not want the drawing/sheet to be associated with a level.
Dalux level: Select the level to which the drawing will be mapped according to the active view.
Number: This is the sheet number of the drawing (editable in Tekla only).
Title: This is the name used for the drawing in Design and Locations. Enter the value manually or map it under Property mapping.
Content description: This is a system metadata field. Enter the value manually or map it under Property mapping.
Custom metadata from the project appears here and behaves like 'Content description'.
Select the files by checking the boxes, and the plugin highlights each selected line.
An orange asterisk indicates a mandatory field. You must select a value to be able to upload the file.
Tips and tricks
You can multiselect by holding down Ctrl or Shift while selecting multiple lines.
Model files
Models behave the same way as drawings, with two main differences.
Active View (3D)
Select the 3D view you want to use for the upload. The upload uses the level of detail of this view, and the plugin uploads only the objects visible in this view.
Level mapping
WARNING
If your Dalux project already contains levels, do not create levels from your sheets during the upload to Dalux.
The level mapping displays the levels from the model. You can map each one to a Dalux level and assign a name.
You can:
- Choose existing levels if they have already been created in Dalux.
- Create a new one based on the level from the model.
- Select 'No level mapping', and the plugin will not import the level.
Property mapping
In Property mapping, you specify the file name and map any Dalux metadata to a Tekla property.
Dalux property: Sselect the system or custom metadata field of the Dalux project. It lists the current value used for each file.
Tekla property: Select the properties from the Tekla model. It lists the new value that will be used for the Dalux property after clicking Apply.
After you click Apply and upload the files to Dalux, the plugin saves this setup and reuses it the next time you upload.
You can restore the previous mapping used during the last upload by clicking "Revert to last uploaded mapping" in the lower left corner.
Tips and tricks
Title is the name that appears under Locations, so keep it short and to the point.
To add two Tekla properties to a Dalux property, combine them into a new Tekla property and then assign that new Tekla property to a Dalux property.
Discipline mapping
In discipline mapping, you to map 'Discipline', 'Subdiscipline', or both with user input or a Tekla property.
Dalux Property: Select Discipline or Subdiscipline. It lists the current value used for each file.
Tekla Property: Select the properties from the Tekla model. It lists the new value that will be used for the Dalux property after clicking Apply.
After you click Apply and upload the files to Dalux, the plugin saves this setup and reuses the next time you upload.
You can restore the previous mapping used during the last upload by clicking "Revert to last uploaded mapping".
Tips and tricks
Dalux uses Discipline and Subdiscipline to sort the drawings under Locations.
Message
At the bottom, you can enter a message to explain the reason for the upload. You can add only one message for the entire upload, not for each individual file. The message appears in the upload log in Dalux Box Pro.
After upload
When you are finished setting up your files and click "Upload", you will see a progress screen.
After all files have been uploaded, the result shows a check mark for each successful upload.
If any of files fail to upload, a red information icon appears to the right of each one. Hover over the icon to see the reason.
Notice
Your model will be uploaded in the Locations module as a daluxbim-file. If the model is linked to Dalux Box, it will be saved there as a daluxbim-file as well.