The simplest way to create a 3D view of a particular location of your model is to place a perspective camera into that area. This will give you a real time view of what the space within your model will look like. But what if you wanted to create a view showing more than that? What if you wanted to show a view which contained the interior and exterior? For example, you wanted to show in 3D an entire floor plan or a stairwell. This step by step guide will show you how to display your design in a more realistic view.
3D Floor Plans
Showing floor plans in 3D is a very quick and effective process, which can help you explain, check or even change your design.
Step 1
The first step is to duplicate your Default 3D View. Go to your Project Browser, locate your Default 3D View, right click on it and select Duplicate. Once done, you need to Rename the view. (e.g. 01 Ground Floor 3D view). This can be done by right clicking on the view in the Project Browser and select Rename.
Step 2
Next select the 3D View which you have just created and then right click on the 3D View Cube in the top right of your screen. From the drop down menu, go to Orientate to View, then Floor plans, and then select your chosen level.
Step 3
Now you have navigated to the chosen view, simply hold the Shift Key and your Mouse Wheel down and rotate the view to see your 3D Floor Plan.
What Revit has done is used the extents and the cut plane of the floor plan camera to remove the rest of the building, just leaving you with a floor plan. Simple!
Section 3D Views
When creating section 3D views, the process is a little different. 3D Floor plan views use the cut plan and extents of an existing view. So for this next step we will need to create our own cut plane and extents by using the Section Tool.
Step 1
Go to a Floor plan which will be the base of your 3D view – (This view can cover multiple floors). Next, place a section next to the area in which you want to see and resize the crop box. To resize, select the section line and drag the blue arrows of the cropped region into a new position. (Don’t worry if it is not exact as we can change this after). Then rename the Section View to correspond with the area in which you want to view. (E.g. Main Stairwell)
Step 2
The next step is to Duplicate your Default 3D View. Go to your Project Browser, locate your Default 3D View, right click on it and select Duplicate. Now rename the view. (E.g. Main Stairwell 3D view)
Step 3
Once done, select the 3D view which you have just created and the right click on the 3D View Cube in the top right of your screen. From the drop down menu, go to Orientate to View, then Sections, and then select your recently created Section View.
Step 4
Now you have navigated to the chosen view, simply hold the Shift Key and your Mouse Wheel down and rotate the view to see your 3D Section View. To change the size of the crop box, simply select the box around the view then click, hold and drag the blue arrows that appear to a new position.
Using this method of view creation is a very effective way of ensuring that the 3D components you are placing are situated correctly. Clients will often find this method very helpful when they may not be able to understand or appreciate what a 2D view is displaying. So to ensure you are delivering what it is your clients are asking for, set up some 3D cut-out views and watch those frowns turn upside down!
Cadassist’s BIM consultants are on hand to help guide you, so if you are unsure of what a particular update can do for you or if you have a general query, we are on hand to help – a useful resource, particularly if you are tackling your first project. Please contact your account manager or sales@cadassist.co.uk for this and other BIM services.
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