Vico Office R6.

8 Release Notes

Trimble Product Release Notes – Vico Office 6.8

Welcome to Vico Office! These notes include detailed insight for users upgrading to Vico Office. You
will find details about new functions, fixed functions, known issues, and best practices for using the
program. This document should be read and understood by all users of Vico Office.

The 6.8 release of Vico Office introduces new functionality related to Trimble Connect integration,
support for the latest BIM authoring software versions, and improvements in IFC and Tekla BIM.
Defects that have been addressed as part of this release are listed in the Fixed Defects section.

Enhancements

NEW Publish to Connect

The new Publish to Connect functionality makes it possible to share BIM data created in Vico Office
with non-Vico Office users through Trimble Connect. The Publish to Trimble Connect function can
be accessed by selecting “Model Register” under the “Document Control” Workflow Item. Select one
or more models to start the process, then choose the project where the Vico BIM data should be
stored.

After publishing, the quantity information for each of the elements will be available as properties in
Trimble Connect for Browser, Windows, and Mobile. The Trimble Connect for Windows (Desktop)

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application provides the ability to group by Object Property, which enables a Takeoff Item-based
view in Connect.

NEW Advanced Parameters for IFC Files from Connect

Advanced parameters are now also available for IFC files imported from Trimble Connect. After select-
ing the “Import from Trimble Connect” button in the Model Register and choosing an IFC file, the
“Advanced” button appears in the dialog, allowing you to specify what parameters from the impor-
ted IFC file should be used in the Vico project.

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Support for Latest BIM Software

Support was added for the most recent releases of BIM software:

l Tekla ® 2018i and 2019

l ArchiCAD® 23

l Revit ® 2020

l Support for latest IFC versions

Tekla Integration Improvements

The Tekla Publisher was extended with new CAD quantities to support estimating workflows.

Other Enhancements

l Ability to select if zeroed-out TOI's should or should not be removed from the Takeoff

l Extended IFC import with IfcElementType

l Refined / redesigned Trimble Connect dialog

l Support for Autodesk's 'Fabrication MEP'

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Fixed Defects

The following defects have been addressed in this release:

Reference ID - Description

l 128611 - Issue with publishing of cost data to Modelogix caused by double-byte (Swedish)
characters.

l 128756 - Conditional Formatting dialog not localized.

l 128757 - Cost Plan right-click menu items not localized.

l 128810 - Rebar size not correct in Vico Office for IFC files saved from Revit.

l 128850 - Some IFC file import processes failed with an error.

l 129034 - Cost Component Formulas translated when moving Components from Reference
to current projects.

l 129092 - User Management problem after VPSA backup/restore.

l 129223 - Upper case characters in email addresses cause problems.

l 129330 - IFC Import fails when clicking 'Advanced' button.

l 126488 - Schedule Planner Lookahead Report shows incorrect value in 'Code' column.

l 127314 - Cost Component Formulas are translated to German during Excel Import.

l 127980 - Schedule Planner crashes when switching to Planning mode.

l 128192 - IFC import problem with specific rebar files.

l 128464 - IFC import fails in specific projects.

l 129990 - Some rebar sizes missing in Vico Office for IFC files with imperial units saved from
Revit.

l 130001 - Assembly parameters do not appear in IFC file created from Tekla Structures.

l 130069 - Publish model to remote VPS fails in Revit/Archicad.

Important Notes

l ArchiCAD 23 introduces new functionality related to modeling of beams and columns

(multi-segmented beams and columns). Users can create beam elements with multiple seg-
ments that can be assigned different profiles. Vico Office cannot calculate accurate quantities
for beam elements with multiple segments. Beam and column elements modeled as single

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segment continue to provide accurate quantities.

l When saving an IFC 2X3 file from Tekla Structures, incorrect rebar sizes may be used for
quantification. This can be avoided by changing the IFC version to IFC 4. An explanation of
the required steps can be found in this article on the Tekla Structures website.

l The Vico Office publishers for ArchiCAD do not work in the Windows 7 operating system.

l Support for Vico Office R5.X project databases will be removed in the next maintenance
release. Please make sure to update your projects now to the latest Vico Office version.

Known Issues

Visit this page to see descriptions of unresolved issues that originate outside of Vico Office.

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Installation

Networking

Important: When you use Vico Office in a configuration with separate server and client, make sure
that both server and client(s) systems are updated to the latest version of Vico Office.

Administrative rights

Installation of Vico Office requires administrator rights and elevated access rights in cases where
User Account Controls (UAC) are enabled; UACs may need to be modified, or turned off, via the Con-
trol Panel.

When installing Vico Office while connected to a network domain, the user account control settings
may be different from an offline profile, which can result in changed hardware identification char-
acteristics. The changed hardware characteristics may result in a “no valid license found” message.
Reinstalling your license will solve this issue.

The versant database

Versant is the backend database used to store and interact with information inside of the Vico Pro-
ject Server (VPS).  Most local installations of Vico Office will see a folder for the c:\Versant directory
stored onto their machine for project storage.  The project server can also be installed across a LAN
for communal project access.  See the installation guide for more details.

BIM connections

In some cases, the installer is unable to detect the folder in which ArchiCad, AutoCAD, Revit and
Tekla was installed on your computer. If this happens, the Vico installer allows for selecting the
folder manually. All required files will be copied to the specified folder.

Trimble Solution Improvement

When running the Vico installer, you are encouraged to participate in the 'Trimble Solution Improve-
ment' program. When you select 'Yes', a crash report is automatically sent to Trimble. Only necessary
information required by developers to help them understand why a crash occurred is included in the
report. When you select 'No', a crash report is NOT automatically sent to Trimble. However, you can
send this report manually. A prompt will be available on the UI after the crash has occurred.

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Reverting to Earlier Versions of Vico Office

If there is a need to revert back to a previous Vico Office release on your machine, some files have to
be removed manually, as the Vico Office database files are not backward compatible. Please check
the Vico Office Installation guide available on SupportLink and follow the steps on how to 'Revert
back to a Previous Vico Office' version.

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Upgrading

The Golden Rule of Upgrades - Back up all existing projects

It is fundamentally important that all existing projects get backed up before upgrading to a new
installation of Vico Office.  Deployment environments can vary greatly and the safest way to mitigate
any data loss occurring during an upgrade is to back up all of your projects before any new install-
ation of Vico Office.

Previous version files

Vico Office will not unpack project (.vico) pack files that were created before R5.0. If you have a pro-
ject .vico file that was created before R5.0, first unpack it in R5.x. Then, pack it in R5.x (compatible
pack) before unpacking it with the current version of Vico Office.

Disk cleanup precautions

When running standard Windows Disk Cleanup, or other similar applications to free up disk space, it
is almost certain that all .log files will be deleted from your system. While most Windows .log files are
expendable, the Versant database logs are not. Permanently deleting them from your system will
destroy your Vico Office projects. Please ensure that Versant .log files are excluded from the Disk
Cleanup.

Anti-virus software

Some Anti-Virus software blocks or slows down the communication between Vico Office and the
Vico Project Server. Exceptions should be added to the Anti-Virus software settings to prevent this –
see the Vico Office Installation Guide for these settings.

Trimble Connect

Trimble Connect, a cloud-based collaboration application, enables you to share files with other sup-
ported applications and your team members. To access your Trimble Connect account from Vico
Office, use the following Server URL: 

l app.connect.trimble.com

You can then choose from a drop-down list the Trimble Connect region to which you wish your pro-
jects connected.

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Vico WinEst Integration

If you are using GC Estimator (Vico and WinEst), you will need to download the latest plugin from
Vico SupportLink. Select the Vico WinEst plugin for your version of Vico Office and WinEst.

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Known Issues

l Windows 10 is the recommended Windows version for ArchiCAD. To ensure that the Vico Office
publisher for ArchiCAD functions correctly, we recommend keeping the Windows 10 operating
system up to date with all available updates.

Cost Explorer

l When using a constant in a formula with a TOQ that is equal to zero, the constant will be ignored
and result in an incorrect answer.
Example:

When ManualTOI.Length = 0:

ManualTOI.Length + 2 = 0 (incorrect answer)

l When using a constant in a compound formula where one of the TOQs is zero, it may result in an
incorrect answer depending on where you place the constant. Note in the example below that
when the constant is NOT placed next to the TOQ with a zero value, the formula will result in an
correct answer.
Example:

When ManualTOI.Length = 0 and ManualTOI.Net Surface Area = 5

ManualTOI.Length + 2 + ManualTOI.Net Surface Area = 5 (incorrect

answer)

ManualTOI.Length + ManualTOI.Net Surface Area + 2 = 7 (correct

answer)

Document Controller

l Some PDF font types may appear incorrectly (e.g., incorrect character spacing, missing char-
acters, or replaced characters) when imported into Document Controller. We have tested most
common font types; however, some outliers may still exist.  Please contact Technical Support
team if you encounter such occurrences so that we can add support for your font type.

Language Support

l Vico Office is available in multiple languages. However, cross-language support is not sup-
ported. Using Vico Office across multiple installed languages may result in visual inaccuracies

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and defects. (T-80855)

Report Designer

l Calculated fields that have custom tag values may not appear in a report when Print previewed.
There are two ways to ensure that they appear in your reports: (D-13464)
o Change the Data Source for your calculated field to "none".
o Add calculated fields using the CalculateField Collection Editor.

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1. Create a Tag (in this example, name it "Subcontractor") and assign it Values.

2. Edit the report template. The Report Designer is displayed.

3. On the Field List tab, right-click on Components > Edit Calculated Fields.

4. On the CalculatedField Collection Editor dialog box, click Add.

5. Select the Data Member.

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6. Select the expression for this calculated field.

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7. Choose the created tag value and click OK.

8. Bind this calculated field to a report and preview it.

l Changing the 'Tag' property of the Report object may cause Vico Office to crash when saving the
template. This is because it will change the edited report's name (Report.Tag), which is linked to
the template. Therefore, it is not recommended to change the Tag property.

Publishers

ArchiCAD

l Composite ArchiCAD wall elements may show a different area selection to what might be auto-
matically expected at the corner of walls. This is due to a change in how ArchiCAD now classifies
ends and sides of walls. Quantities should be reviewed and the painting tool should be used if
deemed necessary by the user to facilitate required quantities.

ArchiCAD and Revit

l Composite element wall or slab layers cannot currently be quantified from Revit or ArchiCAD. Pro-
visions have been made to deploy the best possible results via the current API availability. If
quantities and/or TOI composition are not desirable when coming in from these systems, users

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are advised to work out custom formulas (via TOM/TOP/CP) to come up with their own cal-
culations that reflect their preferred takeoff of such composite elements.

Revit

l Modifying Sub Elements of Revit slabs to create sloping areas where the slab has inconsistent
thicknesses (e.g., top surface modified with slopes and the bottom left flat) can occasionally
cause incorrect volume calculations.

l Revit models that are linked together and published into Vico Office do not always behave
predictably.  In some cases, linked models do not respect the filtering constraints that were put
on the publishing view and can result in undesired outputs and/or duplicate quantities.  Users
are advised to remove the link between files and publish them separately.

SketchUp

l SketchUp does not store reference information in the same way as some other BIM authoring
applications, thus making it harder for Vico Office to provide some quantity types coming from
SketchUp.  Also, some element type classification are not currently being read well.  The new
Onscreen Takeoff tools should help to supplement any occurrences of missing quantities, and
element types can be manually reassigned in TOM to address this. We are working with the
SketchUp team on a regular basis to resolve this.

Tekla

l Tekla content created and managed in the latest release using the ‘organizer’ tool may not be
read correctly by Vico Office.  When this happens, users may find that the element type recog-
nition in TOM does not behave as expected.  To resolve this, users can go into TOM and change
the elements to the desired type inside of Vico Office, or they can manage the classifications

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manually in Tekla.
Please contact our technical support team if you wish to classify the elements manually inside
of Tekla.  When doing so, they will provide you with the ‘object.inp’ file that it can be dropped
into your Tekla dataset. Doing so will automate the creation of ‘Vico 01, 02, 03 and Vico object
type’ inside of the Tekla classification tool. For more information, see our Knowledge Base art-
icles available on Vico Office SupportLink.

Takeoff Manager

l Each release of Vico Office brings with it improved quantity calculations, as well as support for
new CAD applications.  As such, the calculated values for takeoff quantities (TOQs) can change
from release to release.  The changes can be a result of how elements are quantified by Vico,
how locations are derived by Vico, or how bodies are generated by the authoring application. 
Vico Office does not force the reactivation of models with each new release, however it is
strongly advised the users reactivate in each new release to take full advantage of the latest and
greatest calculation methods.

Vico Project Server (VPS)

l The following error may appear when starting Vico Office (with Vico Project Server installed):
E7031 : UT_ER_DBID_NOACCESS

This error is due to the 'osc-dbid' file missing from the Versant database folder.

c:\versant\db

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To manually create this file:

1. Ensure that Vico Office is closed.

2. Open a command window with Administrator rights.

3. Type "dbid -N" and then press Enter

The file is created. Now you can start Vico Office properly.

l Projects that are restored using only the VPSA backup command, rather than the packing func-
tionality, cannot be properly updated into newer (R5.0) versions of Vico Office.  To avoid this
problem, users should rely on the packing functionality to preserve their historical projects,
rather than simply replying on the VPSA backups.

WinEst integration

l The WinEst Integration utility must be reinstalled after Vico Office.  This is because VO may over-
write the default layout.xml information and the integration becomes unusable.  A simple rein-
stallation of the connector will rectify the problem.

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Trimble GC Division, Support Services

Trimble GC Division Support Services is committed to offering timely, thorough, and efficient res-
olutions to your installation and operation issues in accordance with your Trimble Support Contract.

To receive the best support possible, be sure to review the Trimble Support Services Handbook.

You can contact Trimble GC Division, Support Services by:

l Email: [email protected]

l Internet: http://support.vicosoftware.com

The Trimble SupportLink includes a technical knowledge base, answers to frequently asked ques-
tions, technical documentation, and a form to submit specific support requests 24 hours a day, 365
days a year.

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