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Presentation

Names, lighting, the opening view, and per-type overrides.

The VUE teamLast updated

Presentation is everything about how a model looks that is not the model itself: what it is called, how it is lit, and the frame a visitor sees first.

Names

Revit names are for Revit. ST-TWR-STR-1200-ANTH is a perfectly good type name inside a family and a poor label on a product page.

  • Model name — what the model is called in your library and, if you show it, in the viewer.
  • Type names — renamable individually. The original name is kept underneath as the link to the converted geometry, so renaming is safe and reversible.

If the model has a configurator, the option labels usually matter more than the type names — a visitor picks “1200 mm” and “Anthracite” rather than reading a type name at all. See types and the configurator.

Lighting environments

The environment decides how the model is lit and what sits behind it. Four are available:

EnvironmentSuits
StudioNeutral packshot lighting on a dark backdrop. The safe default for a product page, and the right answer more often than not.
OfficeInterior daylight with a ceiling grid. Furniture, partitions, fit-out.
OutdoorOpen sky and direct sun. Cladding, roofing, street furniture, plant.
ContemporaryA glass pavilion with pale stone. Soft wrapping light for a premium look.
Screenshot to addThe Presentation panel with the environment picker open, showing the four options with their hints.

These are generated rather than photographic, which is why there is nothing to download and no lighting file to manage. Changing one is instant.

How settings inherit

The cascade is:

type override → model setting → platform default

  • Set the environment on the model and every type follows it.
  • Set it on a type and that type keeps it, whatever the model later changes to.
  • A type showing Inherited (Office) has no override of its own. Clearing an override returns it to inheriting rather than to the default.

Inherit is not the same as the default value. A type set explicitly to Studio stays Studio when you move the model to Outdoor; a type that is inheriting moves with it. That distinction is the whole point of the cascade, and it is why clearing an override is a different action from setting it back to Studio.

The opening view

The start view is the camera position a visitor sees before they touch anything — the still frame on your product page and the first impression of the product.

Spin, pan and zoom until it looks right, then save it. VUE stores the camera rather than a picture, so the saved view still works when you change the environment or the materials.

Worth doing on anything you publish. Two reasons:

  • the automatic framing is chosen to fit the model, not to flatter it — a tall radiator framed to fit is a thin sliver in a wide frame;
  • many visitors never interact at all. For them the start view is the only view.
Screenshot to addA model with the start view being saved, showing the framing before and after.

Set the start view per type if the product changes shape dramatically between types. Otherwise one view on the model is enough.