Rotated Measure for Navisworks

Getting Started

Opening the Panel

After installation, find Rotated Measure on the Add-Ins tab in Navisworks. Click the button to open the dock panel. The panel can be docked anywhere in the Navisworks interface — left, right, bottom, or floating.

Interface Overview

The panel is organized into three main areas:

Toolbar (top) — Measurement mode buttons and Settings gear
Results area (center) — Start, End, and Difference coordinates with section copy buttons
Results bar (bottom) — X / Y / Z / Distance summary values
Rotation Angle (bottom) — Angle entry, multi-slot buttons, Set Angle, and Clear

First Measurement

Set your rotation angle — Enter the angle in the input field, or use Set Angle to pick two points (see Setting the Angle)
Select a measurement mode — Click a mode button in the toolbar (Point to Point is the default)
Pick your points — Navisworks activates the native measurement tool. Use normal Navisworks snapping to pick your start and end points
Read the results — The panel updates automatically with X, Y, Z, and Distance in your building's coordinate frame

Tip: The plugin uses Navisworks native measurement tools. All built-in snap modes (vertex, edge, surface) work exactly as they do in standard Navisworks — no loss of precision.

Measurement Modes

All 8 Navisworks measurement modes are available from the toolbar. Each mode activates the corresponding native Navisworks tool, then captures the result and applies the rotation.

Mode	Description
Point to Point	Standard two-point measurement. Pick a start and end point. Returns the rotated delta between them.
Point to Multiple Points	Multiple measurements from a single reference point. Pick the origin once, then pick additional end points. Each end point shows its distance from the origin.
Point Line	Measure along a path through multiple sequential points. Each segment is measured individually and a running total is shown.
Accumulate	Running total of multiple separate measurements. Each new measurement adds to the previous total. Useful for tallying lengths across disconnected runs. (Paid feature)
Angle	Measure the angle between two lines defined by three points. Pick the vertex, then the two arms of the angle.
Area	Measure the area of a polygon defined by multiple picked points. Click to close the polygon and display the area.
Point	Capture the coordinates of a single point. Reports the rotated X, Y, Z position of the picked point, adjusted for any project base point offset.
Shortest Distance	Measure the shortest distance between two selected objects. Select objects using Navisworks selection, then activate this mode.

Note: Accumulate mode and perpendicular/parallel snap lock are paid features. They appear in the toolbar but are grayed out in the free tier.

Setting the Rotation Angle

The rotation angle is the bearing of your building's primary axis, measured clockwise from world north (or counterclockwise from world east, depending on your convention). Once set, all measurements report X and Y relative to this axis.

Manual Entry

Type an angle directly into the angle input field at the bottom of the panel. Angles are entered in degrees, from 0 to 360. Press Enter or click away to apply. The last five angles you've entered are stored in the dropdown history.

Two-Point Pick (Set Angle)

Click the Set Angle button, then pick two points on any surface that defines your building's primary axis — typically along a wall, corridor centerline, or grid line.

Click Set Angle in the panel
Pick the first point (start of the axis direction)
Pick the second point (end of the axis direction)
The plugin calculates the bearing between the two points and sets it as the rotation angle

Tip: Pick along a wall face or the centerline of a corridor for best accuracy. The angle is calculated from the horizontal component — Z variation between the two points is ignored.

Auto-Detect from Model

Select one or more elements in Navisworks, then click Auto-Detect in the Settings panel. The plugin reads the rotation from the model's coordinate transform — useful for models exported from Revit with shared coordinates.

Works best when elements are selected that belong to the building's main structural grid
If multiple transforms are found, the plugin picks the dominant rotation
Auto-Detect is a paid feature

Clearing the Angle

Click the Clear button next to the angle field to reset the angle to 0°. Measurements will revert to reporting in world coordinates.

Multi-Angle Slots (A–E)

Five named slots — A, B, C, D, E — let you store and quickly switch between rotation angles. This is useful on campus projects or multi-building models where each building has a different orientation.

Using Slots

Click a slot button (A through E) to activate it. The current angle field shows the angle stored in that slot.
Set an angle using any method (manual entry, two-point pick, or auto-detect) — the angle is automatically saved to the active slot.
Switch slots to instantly change the active rotation. Results update immediately for the next measurement.

Slot Persistence

Slot angles are saved per file. When you reopen a Navisworks model, each slot restores the angle that was set during your last session.

Tip: Label your usage before starting — for example, A for Building 1, B for Building 2, C for the site grid. The slot labels (A–E) are fixed, but the angles are yours to define.

Rotated Coordinates

After each measurement, the panel shows three rows of coordinates: Start, End, and Difference. Each row shows X, Y, and Z values in your building's rotated coordinate frame.

Row	Description
Start	The rotated coordinates of the first picked point. If a project base point is set, this position is reported relative to your project origin.
End	The rotated coordinates of the second picked point (or most recent point in multi-point modes).
Difference	The signed delta from Start to End in each axis. This is typically the most useful value — the X, Y, and Z distance along the building grid.

How Rotation Is Applied

The plugin computes the rotated frame from your angle setting:

X (Along) — Component of the delta in the direction of your rotation angle
Y (Across) — Component perpendicular to your rotation angle (in the horizontal plane)
Z (Elevation) — Vertical component, unchanged by rotation

A positive X value means the end point is further along your building's primary axis. A negative X means it's behind the start point along that axis.

Copying Coordinates

Each row has a copy button on the right side that copies all three values as a formatted string. Right-click any individual value to copy just that number. See Keyboard Shortcuts for details.

Results Bar

The results bar at the bottom of the panel shows a quick summary of the current measurement in four color-coded values:

Value	Color	Description
X	Red	Delta along your building's primary axis (Along)
Y	Green	Delta perpendicular to your primary axis (Across)
Z	Blue	Vertical elevation change
Distance	Orange	Total 3D straight-line distance between start and end

The axis colors match Navisworks convention and the overlay line colors, so the visual elements and the numbers always correspond.

Tip: Right-click any value in the results bar to copy it to the clipboard.

Project Base Point

The project base point shifts the Start and End coordinate positions into local project coordinates. This is useful when your Navisworks model is placed at a surveyor's coordinate origin far from zero, and you want positions to read as local project coordinates instead.

What It Does

When a base point is set, the X, Y, and Z values shown in the Start and End rows are offset by the base point values. The Difference row is never affected — deltas are always independent of origin.

Setting the Base Point

Open Settings (gear icon in the toolbar)
Enter the base point X, Y, and Z values in the Project Base Point fields
Close Settings — Start and End coordinates update immediately

Global vs. Per-File

The base point can be set globally (applies to all files) or per-file. In Settings, toggle Use per-file base point to save different offsets for different models. Per-file settings are identified by the file path, size, and modification date.

Note: The base point is applied after rotation. The offset values are in your rotated coordinate frame, not world coordinates.

Settings

Open Settings by clicking the gear icon in the toolbar. Settings are saved automatically.

Setting	Description
Units	Display unit for all measurements: feet (decimal), feet-inches (fractional), meters, or millimeters.
Precision	Number of decimal places shown in results. Applies to all values in the panel.
Override Navisworks Settings	When enabled, the plugin uses its own unit and precision settings. When disabled, units are imported from the open Navisworks document on load.
Show Overlay	Enable or disable the color-coded overlay lines drawn in the Navisworks viewport. (Paid feature)
Project Base Point	X, Y, Z offset applied to Start and End position display. See Project Base Point.
Use Per-File Base Point	Store separate base point values for each model file.
Auto-Detect Angle	Automatically detect the rotation angle from the selected element's transform when you make a selection. (Paid feature)

Storage: Settings are stored in %AppData%\Pixeltools\RotatedMeasure\RotatedMeasure.json

Keyboard Shortcuts & Mouse Actions

Action	How
Copy a single value	Right-click any value in the results panel or results bar, then choose Copy
Copy a full coordinate row	Click the copy button at the right end of the Start, End, or Difference row
Clear measurement	`Escape` — clears the active measurement and resets the results panel
Apply entered angle	`Enter` after typing in the angle field
Switch angle slot	Click any A / B / C / D / E button in the angle area
Open Settings	Click the gear icon in the toolbar

Frequently Asked Questions

Why doesn't my angle match what I'd expect from Revit's True North rotation?

Revit stores True North as a counterclockwise rotation from project north. Navisworks exports the geometry transformed by that angle. The angle you enter in Rotated Measure is the bearing of your building's X axis measured from world east (or clockwise from world north, depending on the convention you're using). Use the two-point pick method on a known wall to get the angle directly from the geometry — no conversion needed.

The plugin activated Navisworks measurement but the results panel didn't update. What's wrong?

The plugin polls for completed measurements. Make sure you've completed the measurement — for Point to Point, that means picking both start and end points. If the panel still doesn't update, click the mode button again to re-activate polling.

Can I use this with Navisworks Freedom?

No. Navisworks Freedom does not support plugins. Rotated Measure requires Navisworks Manage or Simulate 2024, 2025, or 2026.

My X and Y values look right but Z is wrong. What's happening?

Z (elevation) is not affected by the rotation angle — it always reports world Z. If the Z value looks wrong, check whether your project base point has a Z offset set in Settings. If you're not using a base point, the Z value is the raw elevation from the Navisworks world origin.

How do I find the right rotation angle for my model?

The easiest method is the two-point pick. Click Set Angle, then snap to two points along a known wall or grid line — a long exterior wall works well. The plugin calculates the bearing automatically. If you know the angle from the Revit model (Manage → Project Location → Location → Angle from True North), you can also type it directly.

The Difference values are correct but Start and End positions don't match Revit's coordinates.

This is usually a project base point issue. In Revit, coordinates shown in the model are relative to the project base point or survey point. Set the matching X, Y, Z offset in Rotated Measure's Settings under Project Base Point to align the position readout.

Does the overlay work in all viewpoints?

Yes, the overlay is rendered in the Navisworks 3D viewport regardless of viewpoint. The lines are drawn in the same coordinate space as the model and stay with the measurement geometry.

Can I use multiple rotation angles in the same session?

Yes — that's what the A through E slots are for. Store a different angle in each slot and switch between them as you measure different buildings or site areas. The active slot is always shown highlighted in the angle section of the panel.