How to use the BIM Holoview application.


Below are instructions on general use of the BIM Holoview app.

If you need help with your Revit model click here.

If you need help with exporting from Navisworks click here.

For tips to make sure the Automatic Coloring works as expected please click here.

For HoloLens 1 please click here.

For HoloLens 2 please click here.

For instructions on installing please click here.

BIM Holoview

Instructions for installing the application:

Get the Meta Quest application from AppLab.

Get it from AppLab


Instructions for using the BIM viewer application in the Quest:

Entering your Login Credentials:
  1. Navigate to the Login page.
  2. Enter the same details you used to register on this website.
  3. Click the Login button. You will be navigated to the downloads page, please wait until your models appear to continue.
  4. Once you are logged in the login page icon will be green.
  5. Click the Clear button to clear all details in the username and password fields.
Entering your Login Credentials
Using Single-Sign-On:
  1. Navigate to the Login page.
  2. Ensure the Managed Device is checked, enter your username and tap on Get Token.
  3. This will send a request to the server, verify your Single-Sign-On details and send a 1-time use 6-digit code via email.
  4. Enter the code into the Code... field and tap Submit.
  5. You will be navigated to the downloads page, please wait until your models appear to continue.
  6. Once you are logged in the login page icon will be green.
  7. Click the Clear button to clear all details in the username and code fields.
Entering your Login Credentials

Downloading a model:
  1. Navigate to the Downloads page.
  2. Click the download icon for the model you wish to download.
  3. An X icon will appear which you can click to cancel the download.
  4. Once the download is complete you will see a Tick icon and that model can now be placed.
  5. Click the Refresh icon to refresh your downloads list.
  6. Click the Sort icon to change between the different sort modes (this is persisted across downloads and placement):
    • Oldest first
    • Newest first
    • Alphabetical
    • Reverse-alphabetical
  7. Use the Page Up and Page Down buttons to scroll through your list of models.
  8. You may experience some slight freezing here as the model gets processed.
Downloads page

Placing a model:
  1. Navigate to the Placement page.
  2. The model should now appear in the model list.
  3. Click on the model you wish to place, it will be highlighted yellow.
  4. Use the toggle switch to switch between 1:1 and table top. Toggle switch 1:1 Toggle switch Table top
  5. Click on the placement button, it will say Place model or Place tabletop based on your placement type.
  6. For 1:1:
    • It will use the first view point found and place it according to the positional data.
  7. For Tabletop:
    • It will load the model and place it roughly 0.75m in front of you.
  8. Click the Refresh button to refresh the placement list.
  9. Click the Sort icon to change between the different sort modes (this is persisted across downloads and placement):
    • Oldest first
    • Newest first
    • Alphabetical
    • Reverse-alphabetical
  10. Use the Page Up and Page Down buttons to scroll through your list of models.
Placement options page

Moving a model:
  1. For 1:1:
    1. Navigate to the Movement page.
    2. Grab the movement widget to move the model.
    3. To change the sensitivity grab the slider and changes its value with 0.1 being slower and 10 being faster.
    4. Select whether you would like to do a temporary movement.
      1. When the Temp movement button is clicked (red text) then it will save the current location so you can move the model freely. Once you click the button again it will move the model back to the originally saved position.
      2. When the Temp movement button is not clicked (white text) then all movement will be saved for the model.
    5. Use the + and - buttons to modify the view distance.
    6. To rotate, grab the handles to rotate the model. Note the movement is around the center of the model, not your location.
    7. Use the Widget Position toggle to switch the default starting height of the movement widget.
    8. If the Vertical Lock toggle is checked then the model will stay on the horizontal plane - it won't move up or down.
    9. Turn Teleport Mode on to use the hand ray cursor to teleport to different locations in the model
      1. Free will teleport to the cursor location.
      2. Horizontal will teleport to the cursor location without moving up or down.
      3. Vertical Offset will teleport to the cursor location, placing you approximately 1.7m above.
  2. For Tabletop:
    1. Grab the model with your hand inside it or using the far hand rays and drag it to your desired location.
    2. Use 2 hands to scale, move and rotate or use the bounding box. For the bounding box, use the small cubes in the corners for scaling and the small circles in the middle of the lines for rotating.
  3. Changing the view distance allows you to see more of the model. It applies a viewing sphere around the user and anything past the distance (in meters) is not visible. Please note: this cannot be changed in tabletop mode.
Rotation handles Movement page
Tabletop movement

Changing transparency or color options:
  1. Navigate to the Colors page.
  2. Click Start Colors when you want to start applying colors.
    • Turn on Hard Mode to interact with the model. Clicking a part of the model will change its color. Clicking Start Colors will automatically turn on Hard Mode.
  3. Click Stop Colors to stop applying colors.
  4. Click Reset to reset all the colors and hidden objects back to their original color/visibility.
  5. To change the transparency option, select ether the Normal or Trasparent radio button and select apply. The level of transparency applied is based on the opacity level in the settings.
Coloring page

Ruler:
  1. Navigate to the Ruler page.
  2. Click Start Ruler to begin placing a ruler.
    1. Hard Mode allows you to place a ruler on the model.
  3. Click on the History button to show your ruler history.
    1. Click on the cursor select icon for a previous ruler to place the ruler again.
    2. Click on the trash icon to delete that ruler.
    3. Click on Clear All to delete all previously saved rulers.
  4. Once a ruler is placed you can move the start and end positions by the bottom panel.
    1. First place a ruler or select one from the ruler history list.
    2. Select either the Start or End to move.
    3. Grab the slider and move it + for increasing length or - for decreasing length.
  5. To level the ruler vertically or horizontally, toggle the Vertical or Horizontal level checkboxes prior to placing the ruler.
Ruler page Ruler page

Properties page:

The Start Tags option will only be available if you have used the Plugins and the ‘Export Property Data’ option has been selected.

  1. Navigate to the Tags page.
  2. Ensure a model is placed and has properties otherwise you can't navigate there. To get properties for your model please upload your model through our plugins which can be found on their respective instructions. Revit & Navisworks.
  3. Click on the Start Tags button.
    1. Hard Mode will be automatically enabled when starting tags.
  4. Once you are in Tags mode you may click on any object in your model using the far hand ray and a new window will appear on that object close to you.
    1. This will display all property information we gathered from our plugin.
    2. Grab the panel or use the far hand ray and hold/drag the window to move it.
    3. Click on the X to close that window
  5. Click Stop Tags button to stop placing property tags.
  6. Click Clear all tags to remove all current tags.
  7. Toggle Hide all tags to make the tag windows disappear and re-appear.
Properties page

Settings:
  1. Navigate to the Settings page.
  2. Click the Clean cache button to delete all downloaded models.
  3. Use the Metric/Imperial toggle to switch the ruler measurement type.
  4. Use the Passthrough toggle to turn the Quest passthrough on and off.
  5. Grab the Passthrough Opacity slider to change the intensity of the passthrough.
  6. Z-Correction
    1. Click Start Z-Mode to begin applying a z-offset to z-fighting objects.
      • Hard Mode will be automatically enabled when starting z-mode.
    2. Next click on the object that is z-fighting to toggle the offset. This will essentially display the toggled object in front of the object it is z-fighting with.
    3. Click Reset to set all z-offsets back to the defaults.
    4. Click Hard Mode to turn hard mode on and off.
    5. Z-corrected objects will be persisted so the next time you place that model it will automatically apply the z-offset upon loading.
Settings page

Hiding objects or changing transparency options:
  1. Navigate to the Visibility page.
  2. Click Start Hiding when you want to start hiding objects.
    • Turn on Hard Mode to interact with the model. Clicking a part of the model will hide it. Clicking Start Hiding will automatically turn on Hard Mode.
  3. Click Stop Hiding to stop hiding objects.
  4. Click Reset to reset all the hidden objects back to their original visibility.
  5. When Hide all items in tree is on, it will give you a prompt when clicking on a part of the model to hide all items for that group. It will navigate up the object heirarchy to find the best grouping option and hide the whole group if you select OK.
  6. Preserve Transparency is applied when the model is loading. It preserves the transparency of any object that already has transparency (eg: windows) when loading. This is on by default.
  7. To change the transparency option, select ether the Normal or Trasparent radio button and select apply. The level of transparency applied is based on the opacity level slider.
  8. Grab the Opacity slider to change the intensity of the transparency. An opacity level of 40 means it is 40% transparent.
Visibility page Visibility page

Adding new issues:
  1. Navigate to the Add Issue page.
  2. Click Add Issue when you want to start adding issues.
    • Turn on Hard Mode to interact with the model. Clicking a part of the model will add a new issue at the exact location of the cursor. Clicking Add Issue will automatically turn on Hard Mode.
  3. Click Stop adding issues to stop adding new issues.
  4. Once you place a new issue, a new window will appear in front of you.
    1. If you would like to use one of your predifined types, click the Type button and click on your desired type. This will populate the Title and Info automatically. If the project is linked to BIM 360 then the issue cannot be created without a type.
    2. Otherwise you can click on the Title and Info fields and enter the information via the popup keyboard.
    3. Click on the Camera button to take a picture of the issue. Then click the Take Photo button to take the photo.
    4. Click on the Picture button to display/hide the picture. You can move the picture by clicking and dragging on it.
    5. Click the Submit button at the bottom to upload the issue to the server. It will only be saved if you click the submit button.
    6. Once the issue is submitted it will become active and a red tick icon will appear on the right. Click the Red/Green Tick button to toggle its resolved status.
    7. Grab the blue bar on top to move the issue window.
Add issues page Individual issue page

Viewing current issues:
  1. Navigate to the View Issues page.
  2. Click on the Pin Icon for a previous issue to display the issue.
  3. Click on the Trash Icon to delete that issue which will also delete it from the server.
  4. Click on Show Pins to show all pins on the model.
    • Click on a pin that is on the model to display that issue.
  5. Click on Show Resolved to show all resolved issues.
    • This will also display their pins if Show Pins is selected.
View issues page

Teleport to predefined views:
  1. Navigate to the views page.
  2. Click on any of the listed reference points or views to jump to that view point.
  3. There is a seperator (---------) to seperate the reference points from the view points.
Views page

Notes:
  • Each model downloaded is saved into the cache. So the next time you open the app you won’t have to download the model again, unless it is removed from the cache, which can happen when there is not enough room in the cache.
  • You can clean/empty the cache by navigating to the Settings page and clicking on Clean Cache. This will wipe all currently downloaded models.
  • You will stay logged into the app until another account is logged in.
  • Once you get logged out the cache will be cleaned.
  • The pin button will pin the UI in place so it will stop following you.
  • The walk mode button will appear whenever you have a model placed. It will hide the model so you can walk safely using the passthrough.
  • Each time you place a tabletop model it will be automatically optimized based on how close to the model you are.
  • If you lose the UI or it gets stuck behind a wall you can use the hand menu home button to bring it back. Bring your hand/controller up, fingers facing towards the ceiling and palm facing you, and tap the Home button that appears.