Views: plans, 3D and view range

A floor plan is a horizontal cut through the model. The View Range (Properties › View Range › Edit) defines four planes: Top, Cut Plane, Bottom and View Depth. Elements cut by the cut plane (typically about 1200 above the level) draw with heavy cut lines; elements between the cut plane and bottom show in projection. Windows with sills above the cut plane won't appear cut — a common surprise; lower the cut plane or adjust the view range.

• Visibility/Graphics (VG): turn categories on/off, override line colours and weights, control links and annotation for this view.

• Temporary Hide/Isolate (sunglasses icon, HH/HI/HR): quick, temporary; doesn't print.

• Hide in View (EH element, VH category): permanent for that view.

• Filters: rules such as Fire Rating = 60 to colour or hide elements by parameter.

• Reveal hidden elements (light-bulb icon, RH): shows what's hidden so you can unhide it.

Each view has its own scale (which sizes annotation), detail level (Coarse, Medium, Fine — controls how much family and layer detail shows; walls show their layers at Medium/Fine), visual style (Wireframe, Hidden Line, Shaded…), crop region and shadows. Set them per view, or better, through view templates (later lesson).

Right-click a view › Duplicate View:

• Duplicate — model only; annotation isn't copied.

• Duplicate with Detailing — copies annotation too.

• Duplicate as a Dependent — child views that share the parent's annotation, for splitting a large plan across sheets.

Use duplicates for different purposes: a furniture plan, a dimension plan, a fire plan — all from one model.

The house icon on the Quick Access Toolbar opens the default 3D view. Duplicate it for named 3D views. A Section Box (Properties) cuts the 3D view to a region — ideal for showing one floor or a cutaway. Camera views create perspectives. Save orientations and lock 3D views to tag them.