Revit - The reason you should be using Workplane Viewers (All versions)

by Garry Stockton

There are times when you may want to model in 3D and you will have to set workplanes. The workplane is the plane which you are intending working on. In a 2D plan view you are working on the level the view is associated with so you don’t need to think about work planes, but when you are in a 3D view you will need to change between horizontal and vertical workplanes and also think about depth and even customised angles.

On the Architecture or Analyse tab you’ll see Viewer on the right side of the toolbar in the workplane panel.

When you open it, a new window opens and orients itself to the current workplane.  This window becomes the Workplane Viewer.

Revit wants you to be understand workplanes and to host things on correct workplanes in the model.  Virtually the entire model in Revit is built up on a series of 2D planes.  Additionally, being comfortable working in 3D views is an important Revit and BIM skill.  This is why you should use the Workplane Viewer…

A few impressive things about the Workplane Viewer:

• It can be put on a secondary monitor and it remains open
• It respects the Section Box of the currently active 3D view
• Auto zooms to the extent of proper sketch elements when in a Sketch Mode
• Keeps itself oriented to the current and correct Workplane
• It reports the currently set Workplane in text form in the bar at the top of the window
• Triggering Zoom Extents will affect both the current view and the Workplane Viewer

Interestingly, if a horizontal workplane is set (which is typically the case) and you are working in 3D, the Workplane Viewer will be giving you a Top View of the current 3D view – quite useful really.

The extent to which you can edit elements in the Workplane Viewer is dependent on the mode you are currently in.  Sketch modes allow you to edit sketch lines in the Viewer.  Even when editing a ‘Family In-place’ it allows you to select and modify the extrusions. Also, Workplane Viewer itself allows you to Orbit and use the Viewcube (meaning that you are no longer perpendicular to the current workplane.)  To fix this, go to a normal view and use the Set Workplane tool – the Workplane Viewer should now be back in sync with the current workplane.