REVIT PURE PRESENTS

PAMPHLETS

ISSUE #7 / WINTER 2018

3D VIEWS

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 PAMPHLETS
ISSUE #7 / WINTER 2018 / 3D VIEWS

WHAT IS THIS “PAMPHLET” ?

Revit Pure Pamphlets are published 4 times a year by email. Each edition
covers a very specific Revit theme.

We like to pick themes that are complex and confusing. Our job is to make
these topics simple for you.

Here are all pamphlets published so far:

Pamphlet #1 - Summer 2016 - Worksets

Pamphlet #2 - Fall 2016 - Schedules
Pamphlet #3 - Winter 2017 - Phases
Pamphlet #4 - Spring 2017 - CAD
Pamphlet #5 - Summer 2017 - Filters
Pamphlet #6 - Fall 2017 - Virtual Reality
Pamphlet #7 - Winter 2018 - 3D Views

Go to revitpure.com to subscribe and receive all pamphlets.

MAKE REVIT BEAUTIFUL

Revit presentation capabilities are amazing and underused. How many
times did someone tell you that drawings and views made in Revit are ugly?
This myth needs to be destroyed.

The goal of this pamphlet is to teach you simple techniques to navigate

and create beauty from your 3D views.

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CREATING 3D VIEWS
Clicking on the Default 3D Views icon create an orthographic view
of your model.
To spin your model around, hold SHIFT + Mouse Wheel. The center of the
spin will be the selected element.

VIEW CUBE: Click on the corners or faces of View Cube to adjust view.

SECTION BOX: Activate in view properties, use arrows to adjust box.

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CREATE A PERSPECTIVE
Perspectives (camera) are created by clicking an observer point,
then clicking where the observer is looking.

Then, adjust Crop Region to set the limits of the perspective.

To adjust the observer, click the crop region and go to plan view. The
camera will be visible and you can adjust the position. If some part of the
view is invisible, make sure to adjust Far Clip settings.

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THE NAVIGATION WHEEL

The navigation wheel is an underused tool that is incredibly helpful to
navigate inside 3D views. Activate the tool on the right side of your 3D
view window.

WALK AROUND THE MODEL

Use the Walk tool in the navigation wheel to walk around in the view. Then,
user the Pan or Look tool to make final visual adjustments. Use Rewind to
go back to previous view limits.

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ADJUST THE FOCAL LENGTH OF A PERSPECTIVE

When adjusting the crop region of a perspective, the view might become
distorted. To avoid this problem, change the Focal Length by opening
the navigation wheel, clicking the small arrow sub-menu and selecting
“Increase/Decrease Focal Length”.

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9 TIPS TO CREATE BEAUTIFUL 3D VIEWS

1- ACTIVATE ANTI-ALIASING

Aliasing occurs when an angled line looks pixelated. To activate anti-

aliasing, go to Graphic Display Options in the view and check “Smooth
Lines With Anti-Aliasing”.

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2- ACTIVATE SILHOUETTES

Go to Graphic Display Options in the view settings. In the silhouettes

menu, select a line with a sufficient thickness. As you can see below, the
3D view becomes much more alive and gain a sense of depth.

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3- ACTIVATE CAST SHADOWS

Go to Graphic Display Options in the view settings. Go to the shadow

option and check “Cast Shadows”.

In the Lighting sub-menu, you can adjust the value for Shadows. Reducing
the value to about 20-30 is often a good idea.

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4- ACTIVATE AMBIENT SHADOWS

There is a second type of shadows available in Revit, called Ambient

Shadows. They are used to mimic the natural lighting condition from a
cloudy sky and reflection from surrounding objects. Go to Graphic
Display Options in the view settings. Go to the shadow option and check
“Ambient Shadows”.

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5- USE CONSISTENT COLORS VISUAL STYLE

The best visual style for casual visualization is Consistent Colors.

While not the most realistic style, it produce a quality good enough for
conceptual styles view. This visual style is also very fast and loads quickly.

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6- HAVE FUN WITH THE GRADIENT BACKGROUND

An underused tool in Revit visualization is the gradient background.

The default colors are OK, but by messing around with different color
schemes, you can get pretty interesting and artistic results. Go to Graphic
Display Options, then to the background submenu. Pick colors for sky and
horizon. In the image below, we experiment with a very emotive sunset.

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7- TRY SKETCHY LINES FOR CONCEPTUAL VIEWS

Sketchy lines can be useful to produce a 3D view ressembling a

conceptual sketch. When shown to a client, it indicates that the project is
still evolving. Views that are over-realistic should be avoided early in the
design process.

Go to Graphic Display Options, then to the Sketchy Lines submenu.

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8- USE HIDDEN LINE STYLE WITH MATERIALS ACCENT

An alternative to the Consistent Colors style is to use the Hidden Line

style with a touch of accent colors.

In the image below, we go to the Materials menu in the manage tab

and set a solid fill pattern for the glass material. As you see in the 3D view,
everything is white except for the windows.

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9- USE AN IMAGE BACKGROUND

When you are ready for a more realistic type of view, try using a .jpeg
image for the background. Go to the background tab and select your
image. Use the Offset tool to adjust the height.

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THANKS FOR READING !

Did you like this pamphlet? We’ve got a surprise for you! The DESIGN
package will be released in mid 2018! It will contain tips, tricks and tutorials
on topics similar to this pamphlet. You will learn to:

- Create beautiful site plans

- Create mind-blowing section-perspective views
- Embelish your views with beautiful and realistic materials
- Use VR technology and other visualization techniques with Revit

Stay tuned!

SPRING 2018

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