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Integrated BIM tools, including Revit, AutoCAD, and Civil 3D
& Manufacturing
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Professional CAD/CAM tools built on Inventor and AutoCAD
Integrated BIM tools, including Revit, AutoCAD, and Civil 3D
Professional CAD/CAM tools built on Inventor and AutoCAD
Transcript
00:01
Measuring Distances in the Autodesk Viewer.
00:04
And this video, we'll set up and measure distances in the Autodesk Viewer and test them against the original model.
00:12
I'm working in the Autodesk Viewer. And I've signed in, so I actually have access to the markup tools.
00:18
But before working with them, I first want to take a look at how to measure a model.
00:23
In the tool bar at the bottom of the view, I click "Measure".
00:26
And then you can see I have a variety of measuring tools.
00:30
First, let's click "Settings". Here's where you set the unit type.
00:35
The default here is decimal feet, but you can choose from a variety of imperial and metric units.
00:42
I'm gonna select "Feet" and "Fractional Inches" because that's what this particular project is.
01:01
The Isolate Measurement option changes the display of the model elements to wire frame and grades them out.
01:07
We'll see how Enable Free Measure works later. Click "Settings" to close it again.
01:14
Now I'm zooming in to get a little bit closer and I have my distance command selected.
01:20
I can pick two points. And you'll notice that as I am picking these points,
01:25
I actually have access to snap points on the model.
01:29
So you can see here, I'm getting fairly close to this, 71 ft 3.5 inches here.
01:37
Let's take a look at that in the Revit plan.
01:40
So I've opened the Revit plan in the Ground Floor Plan view.
01:44
In the Quick Access toolbar, I'm clicking measure between two references and then snapping to the end of this wall.
01:52
You can see with the temporary dimensions, and in the options bar that the total length is 71 ft.
01:60
In my Autodesk Viewer, it's actually 71 3.5 inches.
02:05
So I didn't get those two points very exact.
02:09
Let me just scroll over now to the entrance. And I'm going to do the measure tool again.
02:14
And I'm picking the two points that define this opening.
02:18
And you can see that it's 5 ft 8.5 inches. So again, I may not be getting exactly the two points.
02:24
Let's check that in Revit. And the entry here, I'm still in my measure command.
02:33
And I'm picking the two points. It should be 5 ft eight. So I'm pretty close but not exact, but it does give me enough information.
02:42
Now, let's say that I do not have the correct measurements here.
02:47
I can actually calibrate on a known distance.
02:51
So I clicked calibrate. I'm picking the two points.
02:54
I'm being a little bit more careful this time, and I'm typing in the defined size. Let's say this should be 6 ft, click calibrate.
03:04
Now, if I go to my distance command, you can see that the number has actually updated to 6 ft and a half of an inch.
03:13
So it's modified that and if I scroll around to the other side of the building,
03:17
where I also have a measurement that measurement has increased as well.
03:22
Now, that's not the right size. I do want the 5 ft eight.
03:25
So I'm gonna return to my calibrate command and set the defined size back to 5 ft eight, and click calibrate.
03:35
And when I select distance there, it is again 5 ft 8.5.
03:40
So while I don't have exact numbers in this particular instance, it's close enough for what I want to see.
03:47
But I'm gonna ask my architect.
03:50
So here when I click comments, it takes a picture,
03:53
it includes the measuring tools and I'm going to say these are the dimensions I'm using, are they right?
03:60
And then when I click post, it applies that and sends it to the architect.
04:05
Let's switch back to Revit.
04:07
And in the shared views palette, I now see I have three comments, and as I scroll down, I click reply and type good for a general estimate.
04:16
I'm gonna switch back to the Autodesk Viewer and I'm gonna click on the URL to reload the page.
04:23
It zooms back out to the original view, but I can also see the reply now.
04:30
Now back in the measure tools, I want to measure an angle.
04:34
I'm going to use a view cube to switch to the front view and then zoom in on the lobby area.
04:40
I'm going to click angle on the measure toolbar,
04:43
and then pick three points that define that angle, and the angle shows approximately 98.8 degrees.
04:55
I want to add some measurements that are not connected to elements in the model.
04:60
So first, I'm going to take a look at my view cube, click on the corner, and get a different view.
05:06
I noticed that I still have my measurement in here that I don't need in this view anymore.
05:11
So I'm gonna make sure I have it selected and click delete.
05:15
Next, I'm gonna create a section. So I'm gonna click on the section, and then the Z plane.
05:23
I need to zoom out a little bit to see my arrow.
05:26
I want to modify the cut plane of the section until I can see the sidewalk in front of the lobby.
05:35
Now I'm gonna click the top in the view cube, and scroll over until I can see the section that I want to be on the sidewalk.
05:45
From here, I want to go ahead and click on my measure settings,
05:51
and I'm gonna change, enable free measure and turn it on.
05:56
I'm gonna click settings to close the dialog box, and now I can add distances anywhere in the view.
06:04
I don't have to be snapping to anything in particular.
06:07
So, what I wanna do here is add a series of about 6 ft apart.
06:13
And so I'm gonna click on two points and add some measurements.
06:16
They're not connected to anything.
06:18
I'm just gonna click two points, and then get them to about 6 ft.
06:24
Now, I can't pick right on top of them because they will change the distance, but I can add each of them separately.
06:31
And so really what I'm trying to do is get a feel, for the 6 ft rather than being in an exact 6 ft.
06:38
When you select one that's at an angle up comes the X, Y and Z axis.
06:42
So, you know, you can, I'm not gonna be able to get it quite exact, but at least I'm close.
06:50
Once I have my measurements in place, I'm going to click comments and I'm going to add a comment here.
06:57
You can see, I said add circle stickers at 6 ft apart down the sidewalk,
07:03
and I can go ahead and post that and send it to the architect.
07:10
We are finished measuring.
07:12
So in the measure toolbar, I'm gonna click,
07:16
and we're ready now to try out the rest of the markup tools that can be used along with measurements.
Video transcript
00:01
Measuring Distances in the Autodesk Viewer.
00:04
And this video, we'll set up and measure distances in the Autodesk Viewer and test them against the original model.
00:12
I'm working in the Autodesk Viewer. And I've signed in, so I actually have access to the markup tools.
00:18
But before working with them, I first want to take a look at how to measure a model.
00:23
In the tool bar at the bottom of the view, I click "Measure".
00:26
And then you can see I have a variety of measuring tools.
00:30
First, let's click "Settings". Here's where you set the unit type.
00:35
The default here is decimal feet, but you can choose from a variety of imperial and metric units.
00:42
I'm gonna select "Feet" and "Fractional Inches" because that's what this particular project is.
01:01
The Isolate Measurement option changes the display of the model elements to wire frame and grades them out.
01:07
We'll see how Enable Free Measure works later. Click "Settings" to close it again.
01:14
Now I'm zooming in to get a little bit closer and I have my distance command selected.
01:20
I can pick two points. And you'll notice that as I am picking these points,
01:25
I actually have access to snap points on the model.
01:29
So you can see here, I'm getting fairly close to this, 71 ft 3.5 inches here.
01:37
Let's take a look at that in the Revit plan.
01:40
So I've opened the Revit plan in the Ground Floor Plan view.
01:44
In the Quick Access toolbar, I'm clicking measure between two references and then snapping to the end of this wall.
01:52
You can see with the temporary dimensions, and in the options bar that the total length is 71 ft.
01:60
In my Autodesk Viewer, it's actually 71 3.5 inches.
02:05
So I didn't get those two points very exact.
02:09
Let me just scroll over now to the entrance. And I'm going to do the measure tool again.
02:14
And I'm picking the two points that define this opening.
02:18
And you can see that it's 5 ft 8.5 inches. So again, I may not be getting exactly the two points.
02:24
Let's check that in Revit. And the entry here, I'm still in my measure command.
02:33
And I'm picking the two points. It should be 5 ft eight. So I'm pretty close but not exact, but it does give me enough information.
02:42
Now, let's say that I do not have the correct measurements here.
02:47
I can actually calibrate on a known distance.
02:51
So I clicked calibrate. I'm picking the two points.
02:54
I'm being a little bit more careful this time, and I'm typing in the defined size. Let's say this should be 6 ft, click calibrate.
03:04
Now, if I go to my distance command, you can see that the number has actually updated to 6 ft and a half of an inch.
03:13
So it's modified that and if I scroll around to the other side of the building,
03:17
where I also have a measurement that measurement has increased as well.
03:22
Now, that's not the right size. I do want the 5 ft eight.
03:25
So I'm gonna return to my calibrate command and set the defined size back to 5 ft eight, and click calibrate.
03:35
And when I select distance there, it is again 5 ft 8.5.
03:40
So while I don't have exact numbers in this particular instance, it's close enough for what I want to see.
03:47
But I'm gonna ask my architect.
03:50
So here when I click comments, it takes a picture,
03:53
it includes the measuring tools and I'm going to say these are the dimensions I'm using, are they right?
03:60
And then when I click post, it applies that and sends it to the architect.
04:05
Let's switch back to Revit.
04:07
And in the shared views palette, I now see I have three comments, and as I scroll down, I click reply and type good for a general estimate.
04:16
I'm gonna switch back to the Autodesk Viewer and I'm gonna click on the URL to reload the page.
04:23
It zooms back out to the original view, but I can also see the reply now.
04:30
Now back in the measure tools, I want to measure an angle.
04:34
I'm going to use a view cube to switch to the front view and then zoom in on the lobby area.
04:40
I'm going to click angle on the measure toolbar,
04:43
and then pick three points that define that angle, and the angle shows approximately 98.8 degrees.
04:55
I want to add some measurements that are not connected to elements in the model.
04:60
So first, I'm going to take a look at my view cube, click on the corner, and get a different view.
05:06
I noticed that I still have my measurement in here that I don't need in this view anymore.
05:11
So I'm gonna make sure I have it selected and click delete.
05:15
Next, I'm gonna create a section. So I'm gonna click on the section, and then the Z plane.
05:23
I need to zoom out a little bit to see my arrow.
05:26
I want to modify the cut plane of the section until I can see the sidewalk in front of the lobby.
05:35
Now I'm gonna click the top in the view cube, and scroll over until I can see the section that I want to be on the sidewalk.
05:45
From here, I want to go ahead and click on my measure settings,
05:51
and I'm gonna change, enable free measure and turn it on.
05:56
I'm gonna click settings to close the dialog box, and now I can add distances anywhere in the view.
06:04
I don't have to be snapping to anything in particular.
06:07
So, what I wanna do here is add a series of about 6 ft apart.
06:13
And so I'm gonna click on two points and add some measurements.
06:16
They're not connected to anything.
06:18
I'm just gonna click two points, and then get them to about 6 ft.
06:24
Now, I can't pick right on top of them because they will change the distance, but I can add each of them separately.
06:31
And so really what I'm trying to do is get a feel, for the 6 ft rather than being in an exact 6 ft.
06:38
When you select one that's at an angle up comes the X, Y and Z axis.
06:42
So, you know, you can, I'm not gonna be able to get it quite exact, but at least I'm close.
06:50
Once I have my measurements in place, I'm going to click comments and I'm going to add a comment here.
06:57
You can see, I said add circle stickers at 6 ft apart down the sidewalk,
07:03
and I can go ahead and post that and send it to the architect.
07:10
We are finished measuring.
07:12
So in the measure toolbar, I'm gonna click,
07:16
and we're ready now to try out the rest of the markup tools that can be used along with measurements.
In this exercise, you will set up and measure distances in the Autodesk Viewer and test them against the original model in Revit. You will also post comments that include measurements.
You need to have access to Revit and a shared view to work through these steps. If you have not created a shared view in an earlier exercise, do that now. If you do not have access to Revit, ask someone who does to create a shared view and you can work through the Autodesk Viewer portion of the practice. You will also need a free Autodesk Account to access the Markup tools, but the rest of the Autodesk Viewer tools are available without signing in.
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