In this session, we are going to add overlay text on a simulation. We can use overlay text to provide information like date, time, task name, task type, etc.; in some cases, overlay text may be used to show tasks that are not attached to any model elements. For example, sometimes a BIM model may not include model elements related to falseworks, like shoring or scaffolding. In this case, we may use overlay text to show these tasks during a simulation. In the “TimeLiner” window, under the “Simulate” tab, click on the “Settings” button. In the “Overlay Text” box, click on the “Edit” button. The default overlay text in Navisworks shows the date and time of tasks being executed. We can either enter exact text into the text box or input words with prefix “%” or “$” acting as keywords. The words with prefix will be replaced by corresponding values. If you are familiar with these keywords, you can manually add, modify or delete the overlay text; if not, you may use the “Date/Time,” “Cost,” and “Extras” button to select and insert possible keywords into the text box. The “Colors” button can be used to define the color of the overlay text. The “Font” button allows us to select font, font style, and point size. You can see the current font selection next to the “Font” button. Now let us edit the overlay text. Delete the default text inside the text box. Click on “Extras” and select “Currently active tasks.” A word “TASKS” prefixed with the “$” character is inserted into the textbox. Then click on the “Date/Time” button. Select “Date and time representation appropriate for local.” Then a word “c” prefixed with “%” character is inserted into the text box. These two words will be replaced by the actual date and time and task name during the TimeLiner simulation. Next, we would like to add a legend for the colored task types used in the simulation. We have set up different task types in the previous session, and each task type is corresponding to a specific color. However, users will not know what color represents what. So we may use overlay text to list the task types in their corresponding colors. In the text box, type “Legend: ” Press Ctrl and Enter keys at the same time to feed to the next line. Then, key in the five task types we set up previously, including “Laying out,” “Binding formwork,” “Installing rebar,” “Grouting,” and “Removing formwork.” Then, behind each task type text, add a color keyword we assigned for the task type. Click on the “Colors” button, select “Green” for "Binding formwork," “Blue” for "Installing rebar," and “Red” for "Grouting." However, some colors are not in the default color list, so we need to key in the RGB values manually. The color of “Laying out” is yellow, and its corresponding RGB value is 255, 255, and 0. The color of “Removing formwork” is purple, so we input the RGB values as 155, 148 and 255. After the settings are done, click on “OK” in the “Overlay Text” window, and then click on “OK” in the “Simulation Settings Dialog Box.” Now, we can see the overlay text information that we just set up at the left-upper corner of the simulation.
