View Range

While working on your ceilings, a few of you may want to try to experiment with different heights and arrangements. When doing this you may get a message that says that you are modeling outside of the view or that what you are modeling is not visible.

If you get this error message, it is 99% of the time caused by the reference level and offset of your component (ceiling in this case) is placing it in a view other than the one you are working on.

Easy fix: in the properties menu of your view (RCP in this case) go down to the Extents portion of the window and you will see View Range.

The view range menu can drastically change the look of your project, which can be great or catastrophic depending on your situation. Do not let this concern you as you should play with this if you are trying to achieve a certain condition. The View Range menu will open and look like this:

These parameters are self-explanatory when you remember about your Levels, Offsets, and Constraints that we have discussed in length in class and lab. Consider this another reason to model with these constraints and not have Unconnected components.

However, if you are like me, a graphic representation of this information is easier to understand. Therefore, when changing any of your View Range settings consult this Autodesk image to ensure you know what you will be getting.

The best tip I have when changing View Ranges is to write down what you started with in the event that you do not like the new view… I have learned this lesson the hard way more than once.