View Manipulation in BuildIT Construction

Tutorial Download

If you would like to download the files used in this article, download the accompanying Training Data and extract its contents to a folder on your PC.

Mouse and Keyboard Shortcuts

• Open the “Module 3.buildit” file by selecting “File> Open” and navigating to where the file is saved.
• Selecting objects
  • Left Click objects to select them. Then, select an empty space to deselect. Objects will turn orange when selected, this can be customized in the Settings under Display.
    
  • To select more than one object, use CTRL and Left Click.
    
  • To make a rectangular selection, hold CTRL or SHIFT and Left Click and drag. You may also double click the left mouse button, hold and then drag.
    
• Menu
  • Right click an object to access the contextual menu.
    
• Navigation
  • Zoom All
    • CTRL + 0
  • Predetermined Views
    • ALT + 1, ALT + 2, etc.
      
  • Zoom
    • The scroll wheel is used to zoom in or out, in the direction of the cursor.
    • Middle mouse is used for smooth zoom in the direction of the cursor.
  • Rotate
    • Left Click to rotate about the location of your cursor.
  • Defaults
    • Defaults can be customized under “File > Settings > Mouse”.
      
       
• Perspective and orthographic views.
  • The view can be toggled between Perspective and Orthographic. In perspective, the point size is warped based on distance from the viewer. In orthographic, all points and objects are the same size, similar to most CAD platforms.
    
    

Saving Views

• Using Save View
  • Navigate to the intended view, shown below.
  • Click the Save View Icon  or select “View > Save View” from the menu.
  • Enter a name for the view.
  • Select Apply
    
    
     
• Using Set View – Hide the Roof
  • Select “View > Set View”. The Command Panel will appear on the right of the screen.
  • The upper part of the dialog “View:Set” is the camera positioning, which is not normally edited.
  • In this exercise, we'll use "Use clipping box", allowing for hidden elements outside the clipping box.
  • Select the checkbox beside "Use clipping box"
  • Resize the clipping box with the manipulators to hide the roof in the CAD file.

Once the box hides the desired elements, select Apply in the command.



RESULT:

Show and No Show

• Show and No Show (Shortcut: CTRL+E)
  • This terminology is used to describe the view state of objects. Objects "in Show" will be visible and objects "in No Show" will not be visible until the view state is changed.
  • Select the objects shown.
  • In the ObjectProperties area (lower right), uncheck "Put in Show".
    • This will remove the objects shown from the view.
• In the Object Properties area (lower right), uncheck “Put in Show”.

• The objects in No Show can be viewed by selecting “View > Toggle Show/No Show”.

Recap:

Congratulations, you have completed the module on view manipulation! By now you should have a grasp of how to:

• Opening BuildIT
• Mouse and Keyboard Shortcuts
• Saving Views
• Show and No Show
• CAD Manipulation

See Also

• Software Download, Release Notes, and Installation Instructions for BuildIT Construction