Revit Views

Views are your viewports onto the project. You can create as many Views as you need. Views can be created automatically, for example when you create a Camera or a Level.

There are two types of Views:

2D Views

oriented to specific coordinates. Examples: plan, elevation, section etc.

3D Views

perspective or orthogonal (isometric). Examples: camera or walkthrough

Project Browser

The Project Browser in Revit

All views are listed in the Project Browser. When clicking a View, the properties are shown in the Properties Panel. When double clicking a view, it is opened in the main area. You may also right-click a view to access specific options, such as rename or duplicate View.

Creating Views

Views are created manually through the buttons in the Create Panel of the View Tab.

Crop Region

Most views have a crop region, which determines which part of your project is visible in that specific view.

The crop region can be made visible through the properties of the View:

When you enable Crop Region Visible and click Apply, the crop region is visible as a black frame in your view. When you click it, you can adjust the crop region by dragging the the blue arrow controls at the middle of the edges:

Plans

Plan views are automatically created when your create a Level in an elevation view.

If you want to create a plan without a corresponding level, use the Ribbon.

Click the Create Plan View Button. When you click the arrow at the bottom, you can select which type of plan you'd like to create.

Elevations

There are three types of elevations: building (default), interior and framing. You can change a building Elevation to Interior Elevation in the Type Selector. The difference between the two is that an Interior Elevation is automatically set to the walls enclosing the room.

An elevation is indicated in a plan view using one of the tags above. It consists of two parts: the center (circle or square) and the 'nose' (arrow) attached to it. The nose indicates the direction(s) of the elevation. The center shows the Sheet number on which the elevation appears and it's number on that sheet.

When you select the center of the tag:

You can specify which views are enables for the elevation by checking the corresponding check-boxes. You can also rotate the elevation by using the rotate icon

When you select the nose of the elevation tag, you can show and change the cut plane (solid line) and the extents of the elevation (dashed lines):

Click and drag the solid line to move the cut plane of the elevation. Use the blue arrows to move the rear extents of the elevation. Use the blue dots to change the side extents of the elevation.

Sections

There are three types of sections: building (default), wall and detail. You can change the type in the Type Selector. Building and Wall sections can (should) only be used in planes that are perpendicular to the project Levels (vertical).

A section is indicated in a plan view using the tag above (for metric systems). It consists of two parts: the center (circle) and a line with a filled rectangle attached to it.

When you select the filled rectangle at the end of the section line, you can change the length of the section line and the section extents.

The (Gaps in Segments) symbol can be used to break the section line in segments. This allows you to tweak the line to prevent it from interfering with other content in your drawing.

Callouts

A callout shows part of another view at a larger scale. Callouts are linked to the model and display the model in the Callout view. You can add detailing to a callout view.

3D Views

there are three types of 3D views: default 3d view, camera and walkthrough. The Default 3D views displays an orthogonal view, Camera uses a perspective view.

To fine-tune camera placement, use the Navigation Wheel (Shift + W):

You can find the Navigation Wheel in the Navigation Bar, which is usually docked at the right hand side of your view:

When you don't see your Navigation Bar, enable it in the User Interface button in the Windows panel on the View Tab.

View Properties

All views have specific properties that are listed in the Properties Panel, when you select a view. The chapter lists the most important properties for the main views.

All views

Detail Level

Selects the amount of Detail that is displayed in this view. Choose from Coarse, Medium or Fine. Wall, Floor and Roof structure, including material patterns, are only shown in Medium and Fine. Families may be set up to show different content for each of these modes.

Graphic Display Option (Visual Style)

Determines the graphics properties of the view. Ranges from simple wireframe display, simple shading or realistic visual styles. Only 3D views can be Ray Traced.

Visibility/Graphics Overrides

Let's you specify which components are visible in this view. Split into three categories: Model, Annotation and Imported categories. You can use this to, for example: hide all Walls or Furniture in a view (Model), or hide all Levels or Tags in a view (Annotation).

Crop View

whether or not the displayed area of the view is limited. Not available for 3D camera views

Crop Region Visible

whether or not to display the crop box

Far Clip

Anything beyond the Far Clip Offset is invisible when clipping is enabled. Especially useful for 3D views in large, complex models.

Plan

Underlay

Displays another slice of the model under the current plan view. That slice of the model can be from above or below the current level. The underlay appears dimmed and is visible even in hidden line. The underlay is useful to understand the relation of components on different floors. You set an underlay by specifying a level.

View Range

Controls the specific geometric planes that define the boundaries of each view. These boundaries are set by defining the exact cut plane as well as the top and bottom clip planes.

3D

Eye Elevation

The height of the camera (eye) numerically.

Target Elevation

The height of the target (pivot) of the camera.