Frame Power BI Viewer

What this page is for

Use this page when your team reviews BIM context mainly through a Power BI report and wants to understand what the embedded Frame viewer is doing for end viewers.

In this workflow, the viewer is not a separate tool sitting next to the dashboard. It is the visual layer inside the report that helps users move from tables, charts, and filters into model context without leaving Power BI.

What makes this viewer different

The Frame viewer inside our Power BI BIM dashboard templates is designed for report consumption and review, not just raw geometry access.

Compared with a more generic viewer workflow, this one is built to:

stay aligned with Power BI selections, filters, and drill-through workflows
help users move between saved views and report contexts faster
handle federated models more comfortably inside the report experience
give clearer feedback in both 3D and 2D review situations
preserve useful viewer state between recurring sessions

That difference matters because many teams using Power BI are not looking for a full authoring or coordination tool. They need a viewer that supports the way they already review data inside dashboards.

Why this viewer update matters

We updated the viewer inside our Power BI BIM dashboard templates to improve the parts of the experience teams feel every day: switching views, reviewing federated models, understanding selections, using the controls more easily, and returning to the same state later.

When a Power BI report includes BIM geometry, the viewer is where data turns into context. If that experience feels slow or disconnected from the model structure, the whole dashboard becomes harder to trust and harder to use.

This release focused on practical improvements:

better performance when changing between views
better support for federated models
better visual feedback in 2D selections
more flexible interaction modes
cleaner and more usable toolbars
a federated panel browser for model-by-model view switching
better handling of saved cameras, states, and preferences

Faster movement between views

One of the biggest improvements in this release is faster switching between views.

That matters in real review sessions where users move between saved views, filtered states, sheet contexts, and different report pages while trying to answer a coordination or reporting question. A more responsive viewer keeps up with the pace of the dashboard instead of feeling like a separate layer.

This is especially useful during:

weekly coordination meetings
drill-through workflows from summary pages to model detail
QA sessions comparing several saved viewpoints
dashboard demos where the visual context needs to keep up with the narrative

Better loading for federated models

Federated model review is central to many BIM reporting workflows, so this update also improves how the viewer behaves when loading federated models.

That makes it easier to review combined architectural, structural, and MEP contexts inside a Power BI template instead of jumping between isolated models. It is a better fit for:

cross-discipline issue review
coordination dashboards built from federated ACC views
multi-model asset inspection
reports where adjacency and surrounding context matter

Better 2D selection feedback

We also improved 2D selection colors so selected content is easier to identify in sheets and drawing contexts.

This is a small UI change with real usability impact. Clearer feedback helps users trust what they selected when moving between 3D and 2D views or when reviewing filtered results coming from Power BI visuals.

New interaction modes

The viewer now supports multiple interaction modes so users can inspect the model in different ways depending on the question they are asking.

The updated modes include:

X-Ray
Zoom to selection
Highlight only

These modes make the viewer more adaptable:

X-Ray helps reveal a selected set while keeping surrounding context visible.
Zoom to selection moves users directly to the relevant area faster.
Highlight only gives a cleaner, presentation-friendly way to emphasize selected elements.

Improved toolbars and UI flow

The updated toolbars focus on clarity and usability during real dashboard sessions.

This matters because the audience for a Power BI report is usually mixed. Some users are comfortable with BIM tools. Others mainly work in Power BI, Excel, or project management workflows. The viewer UI needs to support both without feeling overloaded.

Federated panel browser

One of the most useful additions in this launch is the federated panel browser.

It lets users switch between views for each model inside a federated setup, which keeps the workflow inside the combined view while still preserving model-by-model context. That makes federated review feel more intentional and less flattened.

Better saving of cameras, states, and preferences

We also improved how the viewer handles saved camera positions, view states, and user preferences.

That is important in recurring review workflows where the saved state becomes part of the team conversation. A camera angle, visibility setup, or preferred interaction mode often acts as the shared reference for a meeting, a handoff, or a presentation.

Better state handling supports:

repeated dashboard reviews across milestones
stakeholder presentations that need predictable visual states
team preferences that should persist across sessions
faster return to prepared viewpoints

What this means for template users

For teams using Frame Power BI BIM dashboard templates, the viewer is not an extra add-on. It is part of the reporting workflow itself.

Better viewer behavior means the templates become more useful day to day:

reports are easier to navigate
federated review becomes more practical
selections are easier to understand in both 3D and 2D
saved states are more dependable for repeated use

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Add the walkthrough video and supporting screenshots for this page here when the media is ready.