As I mentioned in my AECbytes, What's New in Revit 2019 article, Revit 2019 now supports uncropped perspectives. In this post I will get into a little more detail on how you can navigate within an uncropped perspective.
I was talking with my friend Pieter Schiettecatte, from A+I, on the phone yesterday and he gave me more insight on how the new navigation features work. Thanks!
How the center of orbit is defined in a perspective view:
With that in mind, plus the new ability to actually move though a perspective view when scrolling the wheel button, you can actually navigate the model without opening the Navigation Wheel.
In reality, using the Look command on the Navigation Wheel is easier to turn, but it is just not as accessible.
Check out this YouTube video to see this new feature set in action...
It would probably be easier if the center of orbit changed when the orbit command is started rather than requiring a separate scroll first. Pieter sent me a link to this Revit Idea supporting that change: https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/revit-ideas/3d-orbit-around-the-mouse-by-default/idi-p/7856630. If you agree, vote for it.
Final comment... of course add-ins like Enscape make navigation and visualization much much easier. However, having better tools within the design authoring software should be well received by Revit users!
Update: Pieter also added...
The navigation trick to scroll to reset your center of orbit only works when you have nothing selecting. When you have an active selection, the center of orbit is always equal to the center of the selection
Also, when you activate the look tool (admittedly a hidden tool that should be easier to access), you can walk through the model in a “enscape-like” fashion. It’s not perfect but it works reasonably well. You can also set the speed of the walkthrough (in the options panel under navigation wheel).
In the wishlist department: I wish you could activate the look tool by just holding the right mouse button.
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I was talking with my friend Pieter Schiettecatte, from A+I, on the phone yesterday and he gave me more insight on how the new navigation features work. Thanks!
How the center of orbit is defined in a perspective view:
- If you open an uncropped perspective and do an orbit using Shift + Wheel Button, you will go flying out of the space you are in. This is because the center of orbit is at the center of the model by default.
- However, if you do a small scroll first, the object or area under your cursor becomes the center of orbit.
With that in mind, plus the new ability to actually move though a perspective view when scrolling the wheel button, you can actually navigate the model without opening the Navigation Wheel.
In reality, using the Look command on the Navigation Wheel is easier to turn, but it is just not as accessible.
Check out this YouTube video to see this new feature set in action...
It would probably be easier if the center of orbit changed when the orbit command is started rather than requiring a separate scroll first. Pieter sent me a link to this Revit Idea supporting that change: https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/revit-ideas/3d-orbit-around-the-mouse-by-default/idi-p/7856630. If you agree, vote for it.
Final comment... of course add-ins like Enscape make navigation and visualization much much easier. However, having better tools within the design authoring software should be well received by Revit users!
Update: Pieter also added...
The navigation trick to scroll to reset your center of orbit only works when you have nothing selecting. When you have an active selection, the center of orbit is always equal to the center of the selection
Also, when you activate the look tool (admittedly a hidden tool that should be easier to access), you can walk through the model in a “enscape-like” fashion. It’s not perfect but it works reasonably well. You can also set the speed of the walkthrough (in the options panel under navigation wheel).
In the wishlist department: I wish you could activate the look tool by just holding the right mouse button.