Exploring Section Tools in Navisworks: A Step-by-Step Guide

Welcome back to our comprehensive Navisworks video series. In this installment, we'll master the Section tool—one of Navisworks' most powerful visualization features for examining complex 3D models. You'll learn to enable and precisely manipulate Section planes within Viewpoints, giving you the ability to peer inside your models with surgical precision. For this tutorial, we'll work with the Metogate.nwd file, so let's get started.

Navigate to the Open button and locate Metogate.nwd in your Lesson 1 folder. Before we can effectively use the Section tool, we need to establish a strategic Viewpoint—think of it as setting up your "camera angle" for optimal sectioning control. I recommend positioning yourself above the model, as this overhead perspective provides the clearest view of horizontal cuts through building floors. Once you've achieved a position similar to what you see here, right-click on your Saved Viewpoints panel, select Save Viewpoint, and name it Section 1. This step is crucial because Section planes are intrinsically linked to Viewpoints—you cannot create effective sections without first establishing this spatial relationship.

With your Viewpoint established, navigate to the Viewpoint tab and click Enable Sectioning. This activates your Section plane, and you'll immediately see its effect—in this case, the plane appears vertically oriented, cutting away everything west of that plane in our building model. Don't worry if the initial orientation isn't what you expected; this is perfectly normal and easily corrected.

For our first section, we want to create a horizontal Section plane that cuts through the model from the plane upward in the Z direction—essentially creating floor-by-floor views. Once sectioning is enabled, notice that the Sectioning Tools tab becomes active, and the Enable Sectioning button turns blue, indicating it's engaged. The Mode setting shows we're using Planes rather than Box (the alternative sectioning method we'll explore in future videos). Currently, we're working with a single plane called Plane 1, which Navisworks has oriented vertically by default.

To correct this orientation, access the Alignment options and select Top. This command instructs Navisworks to align Plane 1 horizontally, corresponding to the top view direction on the ViewCube. Just as we utilized the Transform tool in previous lessons, we can now activate Move to gain direct control over our Section plane. The button turns blue to indicate it's active, and the familiar Gizmo appears at your cursor.

Surrounding the Gizmo, you'll observe the visual representation of our active Section plane. The beauty of this system lies in its intuitive control: simply select any axis and drag to reposition the plane. When working with horizontal sections, dragging along the Z-axis (vertical) will raise or lower your cutting plane through the building's floors. While dragging along the X or Y axes won't affect the actual cut—since the plane maintains its horizontal orientation—these controls remain useful for repositioning the Gizmo itself, particularly when it drifts off-screen during complex navigation.

Position your Section plane at the first-floor level, taking care to cut through the space at a height that reveals the floor's layout clearly. To preserve this precise positioning, right-click on the Section 1 Viewpoint and select Update. This critical step saves the Section plane's location to the Viewpoint permanently. The power of this workflow becomes evident when you switch to any other Viewpoint, such as External 1—notice how the building appears whole again, and Enable Sectioning automatically disengages. Return to Section 1, and both the sectioning capability and your exact plane position are instantly restored.

Now let's expand our sectioning library by creating a second-floor view. Rather than starting from scratch, we'll leverage the work already completed. Right-click on Section 1 and select Add Copy—this creates an exact duplicate of our established Viewpoint, complete with all sectioning settings. Rename this new Viewpoint to Section 2, then adjust the Section plane to a position that effectively reveals the second-floor layout. The key is finding the sweet spot that shows room layouts, structural elements, and circulation paths without cutting through critical ceiling-mounted systems.

Secure this configuration by right-clicking on Section 2 and choosing Update. We now have two precisely positioned section views ready for instant access. Let's complete our floor-by-floor analysis by creating Section 3 for the third floor.

Repeat the duplication process: select Add Copy from Section 2, rename the new Viewpoint to Section 3, and elevate the Section plane to the third-floor level. As with the previous sections, right-click on Section 3 and select Update to lock in your positioning. You're building a comprehensive sectioning toolkit that will serve you throughout the project lifecycle.

For cleaner visualization during presentations or detailed analysis, you can hide the Gizmo and Section plane graphics by returning to the Sectioning Tools tab and toggling off the Move button. This leaves your three sections fully operational—Enable Sectioning remains active—while eliminating visual clutter from the interface.

The true power of this workflow lies in creating live, three-dimensional sectional views that support real-time exploration. Unlike static 2D sections, these views allow you to navigate, zoom, and examine details interactively while maintaining the sectional cut. This transforms Viewpoints from simple camera positions into sophisticated analysis tools. When you need to view the complete model, simply switch to any Viewpoint without sectioning enabled. To return to your sectional analysis, select any of your configured sectioned Viewpoints for immediate access.

In our next video, we'll dive into advanced Section options, including Box sectioning, multiple plane combinations, and integration with clash detection workflows—techniques that have become increasingly vital in today's complex BIM coordination processes. If you're continuing with this series, save your work as MiddlegateYourName.nwd to preserve all the sectioning configurations we've created. I'll see you in the next video, where we'll take your sectioning skills to the professional level. Thank you for following along.