Round Trip vs Model Merging

Which Konstru workflow is right for you?

The efficiencies that Konstru can provide to your everyday workflows are numerous. The benefits of 'One Way' translation to save time in duplicating work are obvious to most, but when considering implementing 'Round Trip' or 'Model Merge' workflows as part of your project, the need to understand and manage the various native differences between models becomes more important.

In the following section, we will outline the difference between Round Trip and Model Merge workflows with the goal of helping you decide which process is right for you. Often times it will be the case that the user will use both Round Trips and Model Merges at different times on the same project.

User Example:

At the start of a project, implementing Round Trip workflows makes a lot of sense, as the models are more similar, geometrically and metadata wise, than they might be at the conclusion of a project, where all the idiosyncrasies of a construction project are most prevalent.

As the models diverge over the life of a project, the fine grained approach of the Merge Settings allows users a greater level of control over the changes Konstru can make you their BIM models.

Round Trip Model Updates

Calls for highly coordinated and synchronized models. Changes, including deletions of objects, to one model are propagated to all the linked Konstru models via updates, and vice versa, with data being updated on the original model based on changes made in the linked platforms.

Model update workflows with Konstru offer the most possible automation of cumbersome existing processes, but can also add complexity with regards to the management of the differences between the models. The more platforms you choose to link with Konstru, the more this difference management becomes prevalent. Konstru has developed tools to help with these processes, including Filters and the Review interface.

As such, model update workflows are considered best suited to smaller projects, where the team is able to communicate frequently about project changes and there is little need to break up the project into 'manageable' chunks.

Model Merging

Operates more closely like a traditional project model delivery process, where various 3D models are created to analyze a structure and others to document it (which are coordinated to a degree decided necessary for the project, but never 100%) .

Each model operates mostly independently until there is a need to transfer data between them, whereby Konstru models are created, compared and only the data the users wishes is merged from one model to another. The differences between models can be managed via the Merge settings, but you are still able to automate away significant amount of manual data transfer.

As it more closely resembles traditional process and has little regard for how projects are subdivided or portioned model merging is a great workflow for essentially all projects that are unable to maintain the high level of coordination provided by Konstru Round Trip workflows.