This article explains how you can use the Sectioning tool in Solibri. With the Sectioning tool, you can cut a model along one or more section planes to see deeper into the model and investigate its internal parts without moving or hiding any geometry. An active section plane hides everything on one side of the plane.
The size of a section plane is defined by the extents of all of the components in the model. It's not possible to change the size. The colour and transparency are also fixed and cannot be edited.
Tip
You can choose from various options for sectioning visualization in Sectioning settings.
The article covers the following topics:
Only one section plane can be active at a time. The active section plane is blue, whereas the inactive section planes are light green. You can add up to six section planes into one model. Typically (not exclusively) this gives top, bottom, front, back, left and right around a component(s) or part of the model.
To add a section plane:
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Select the Sectioning tool from the main toolbar:
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Click a component surface. A blue section plane appears:
A number of commands are available to control the section planes:
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To switch the active section plane, press Space.
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To nudge an individual section plane, use Shift + > or Shift + < .
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To adjust the position of an individual section plane, press and hold Shift, click the plane and drag it to a new position.
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To adjust the position of all section planes, press and hold Shift and roll the mouse wheel.
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To rotate the active (vertical) section plane, press X or Alt + X. To rotate the active (horizontal) section plane - press Y or Alt + Y. Once a section plane has been rotated from vertical or horizontal, it is possible to rotate in both X and Y axis.
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To flip the active section plane cutting direction, press Backspace.
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To remove the active section plane, press Delete.
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To switch off the visibility of all section planes, press T.
To remove all section planes:
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Right-click the 3D view to access the context menu.
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Select Sectioning, then Remove all Section Planes or click Show All () from the main toolbar.
To restore section planes:
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If you accidentally remove a section plane and notice this immediately, you can click Undo from the main toolbar.
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If you have used Show All and now want to see the section planes that were previously applied to the model, right click the mouse in the 3D view and select Sectioning, then Restore Previous Sectioning.
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If you have a saved an issue with sectioning applied, these will be restored when you select the issue in the Issues or Issue Sorter view.
To save section planes:
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Section planes are only stored when you create a slide (Results view) or a new issue (Issues view).
Important
You cannot click through a section plane. To add an additional section plane, you must rotate the model until a part of the building is visible and you can click past the existing section plane.
Tip
Before creating issues, it's a good idea to switch off section planes (press T) to enhance the appearance of the screenshot.
Tip
You can draw and make markings on the visible section plane, and then hide the plane by pressing T.
When you're visualising a model, it can be beneficial to restrict the visibility of all components on an individual floor-by-floor basis. This is done by adding a section plane above and below a floor:
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In the 3D view, spin the model to show an elevation view.
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Right-click any component visible on the storey/floor you wish to isolate, and select Sectioning, then Sections Above and Below Floor from the context menu.
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Section planes are added above and below the floor:
You can edit the planes using the normal sectioning tools.
When you are examining a building and working in a particular area, it can be useful to create a section box around a space (room). A section box can be created around any visible Space in the model.
Tip
Spaces typically exist in architectural models, but sometimes also in other models/disciplines. However, the spaces must be exported from the authoring tool to be present in the IFC model.
To create a section box:
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Spaces must be visible to create a section box around them. To set spaces visible, use the Show/Hide Spaces tool (see image below) or press Alt + S.
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In the 3D view, move the mouse over the space you want to section around. Right click and select Sectioning, then Create Section Box around Space from the context menu.
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A dialog opens, listing all the spaces 'under' the mouse click from the cursor position to the vanishing point. Select the correct space from the drop-down list and click OK:
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A section box is created around the space selected from the list:
Once the section box is created, you can edit the individual section planes with the normal sectioning tools.
To visualise components or issues in a more focused manner, you can use a section box. You can set components to the Selection Basket and create a section box around them.
To section with Selection Basket:
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Set the component(s) to the Selection Basket. In the example below, the selected component appears as blue:
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Right click in the 3D view and select Sectioning, then Section Box around Selection Basket from the context menu.
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A section box is created around the component(s):
The section planes can now be modified in the normal way.
Tip
Advanced Sectioning: Visualisation of the Selection Basket items can be radically changed based on the creation order of the Selection Basket. You can either create the section and then show all other elements in transparency, or by show all components first and then add a section box around the model entities as they are in the model.