Viewpoints panel

Section Nudge

A remote for the section box: faces named the way you see them, moves that follow the screen, a known step per press.

What it does#

Dragging a section handle is imprecise and easy to overshoot. This panel moves the box or one of its faces a known distance per press, every press one undo step, from buttons or from the keyboard.

Adjust: one face at a time#

The six faces sit in an unfolded box and are named the way you see them: Front is the face looking at you, Left is on the screen's left. The names follow the camera, so orbit round the model and Front is still the face in front of you; the small axis label under each name tells you which world axis that currently is. Click a face, then In to keep less of the model or Out to keep more. A tilted plane, a switched-off one, or a second plane facing the same way is listed under the remote by number.

Move: the whole box#

The Move tab slides all six planes together: left, right, up, down on the screen, nearer or farther from you. Two frames to choose from. World axes snaps each move to the world axis nearest the screen direction, like the compass ring round the ViewCube, so the box stays on the building's grid. Screen follows the camera exactly, like the cube itself, so Left is always screen-left even from an odd angle.

The step#

Halve and double buttons, presets in the document's units, and a box to type a value. On an imperial document the box reads and writes feet and inches the way Revit does: 0.5 is half a foot and shows as 0' 6", 0 0 1/8 is an eighth of an inch, and 1' 6", 6 1/2", 18" and 1-6 all work.

Keys and chords#

• With the panel focused: 0 to 6 pick a target, Tab cycles; Up and Down nudge a face; arrows move the box across the screen and Page Up and Page Down bring it nearer or push it farther; plus and minus change the step; Enter applies a typed step.
• Over the 3D view, no panel needed: Ctrl+Alt with Up and Down nudge, with Left and Right change the target, with Page Up and Page Down double and halve the step. Each is listed in the Shortcuts editor under its Nudge title, so it can be moved off Ctrl+Alt on a machine where the display driver owns those keys.

Limitations#

• In Box mode, shrinking a face past the opposite face is refused.
• The readout follows changes made elsewhere once a second, so a handle dragged in the view shows up after a beat.

Other uses#

• Fit to selection and Sectioning off sit at the bottom of the panel, so a whole sectioning job stays in one place.
• Step through a building floor by floor: set the step to the storey height and press Up.