Navisworks MCP : Documents information to the model using Claude AI

In this video, we continue with the TDS Navisworks MCP Bridge. In the first video, Claude could read a live Navisworks model and act on it. This time we go the other way — taking information out of drawings/documents and putting it onto the model.

On a real project, the information about your equipment sits in documents: datasheets, drawings, registers. The model mostly just carries the geometry. Getting that information onto the model normally means typing it in by hand, property by property, item by item. Here we use the original drawing for that model instead.

We give Claude a scanned equipment drawing — a cracking tower, C1101 — and ask it to put the vessel specification and the nozzle specification onto the right items in the open Navisworks model.

• Reads the drawing set and finds the C1101 sheet
• Reads the two specification tables off a scanned page
• Queries the live Navisworks model through the Bridge to see what is actually there
• Matches every row in the drawing to a real item — the tower, twelve nozzles and three manholes
• Stages everything into an Excel workbook, and checks it against the model row by row
• Stops and asks four questions before importing
• Imports the values, then reads them back through a different route to verify
• Selects and zooms to the tower so the new properties can be checked against the drawing

The part I find most useful is the checkpoint.

Claude does not import and then report. It stops before writing and asks. In this case it flagged that the drawing prints "PS1" where it clearly means PSI, how the shell and heads columns should be handled, one manhole row that actually covers three separate items, and whether the drawing number from the title block should travel onto the vessel as well. We answered in one line, and only then did anything reach the model.

The demonstration runs in real time. The pauses you see are Claude actually working — reading the pages, querying the model and matching the rows.

ABOUT TDS ENGR SOLUTIONS

TDS Engr Solutions Pte Ltd is based in Singapore and provides engineering software solutions, training, consultancy and custom development.

Our work includes:

• AVEVA E3D / Unified Engineering training and consultancy
• Autodesk Navisworks and Plant 3D training
• Custom plugin and engineering application development
• Engineering IT consultancy
• Workflow optimisation and automation
• AI-assisted engineering workflow development

We focus on practical solutions that help engineering teams make better use of their existing software, project data and engineering workflows.

Website: https://www.tdsengrsolutions.com
Email: sales@tdsengrsolutions.com

If you found this useful, please like and subscribe.

We will be sharing more practical examples of using AI, MCP and engineering software in upcoming technical presentations.

#Navisworks #MCP #ClaudeAI #AI #AutodeskNavisworks #EngineeringAI #DigitalEngineering #BIM #EngineeringSoftware #TDS