After the Enscape .msi installer has finished running and has been closed, you should then be able to open the CAD you installed Enscape for, whereby Enscape should then be visible as a top level menu, or as a toolbar or ribbon and when using Enscape for SketchUp, Rhino, or ArchiCAD, will be either docked or floating.

However, you may also find that you have to manually enable Enscape in the CAD via the CAD’s toolbar / menu options. This article explains how that is done for each of the CADs the Enscape plugin is currently provided for.

Once installed for Revit, you should then see Enscape as a top level menu option within Revit’s top level menu structure. If you can not see an option for Enscape, then it is likely that the installation is corrupted and you should try a fresh reinstall of Enscape.

If you can see the Enscape top level menu option, then clicking on it should result in the Enscape ribbon becoming visible, as shown in the following screenshot.

Starting Enscape in Revit

You will notice that at first not all the buttons are active and this is because you must first perform the following:

• Make sure you have at least one 3D view available in your project.
• Create and select a valid 3D View in Revit so that the Start button in the Enscape ribbon bar is no longer grayed out.
• Press the Start button in the Enscape ribbon.

The view’s associated phasing and design option is used for Enscape’s view.
You can leave Enscape open while you make any desired changes in Revit (e.g. cross sections, materials or geometric changes in the model).
Your changes will show up instantly in Enscape.

If Enscape is installed for SketchUp, you should, at least, see an Enscape menu option under SketchUp’s top level Extensions menu button if Enscape has been successfully and correctly installed.

If you want to work with the Enscape Toolbars instead of the top level drop down menu, then you can enable these in one of two ways. The first method is to add the Enscape ribbon to the SketchUp Toolbar by right-clicking the SketchUp Toolbar and selecting both the Enscape and Enscape Capturing options.

The first time this is done, the Enscape toolbars may open ‘floating’ and once you dock them in the SketchUp toolbar, by disabling and re-enabling them they will then open as docked toolbars on opening SketchUp in the future.

The second method is to add the Enscape ribbon via the View dropdown menu’s Toolbar option. Once clicked, SketchUp’s Toolbar window will open where you will be given a list which will include Enscape and Enscape Capturing as toolbar options. Check them both and click [Close] in Toolbar window.

This will open the two Enscape Toolbars in the same way as the first method, and again you may have to dock the windows when doing this for the first time. Some buttons are initially grayed out, and this is because Enscape has not been started yet.

Starting Enscape in SketchUp

Once Enscape is installed, you will need to follow these steps to be able to view your SketchUp project in Enscape:

• Open your SketchUp project file.
• Click on the “Start Enscape” button in the Enscape ribbon.
• The Enscape window opens in the perspective view.

You can leave Enscape open while you make any desired changes in SketchUp (e.g. cross sections, materials or geometric changes in the model). Your changes will show up instantly as long as you have Live Updates activated in Enscape. Activating the Synchronize Views will sync the perspective view from SketchUp to the Enscape window.

Once Enscape is installed for Rhino, then the Enscape toolbars should be visible under their own tab, either floating or docked. If they are not visible, then you will have to enable the toolbars.

We can access this in Rhino in various ways, one way is to select the Tools -> Toolbar Layout… option.

This way the Rhino Options window should open with the Toolbars already highlighted in the list in the left-hand side column.

If not, then scroll down to find and click on that Toolbars option in that column.

Click on the Enscape.Rhino6.Plugin (or Enscape.Rhino.Plugin if using Rhino 5) listed in the Files section of the Rhino Options window and then tick the Enscape and Enscape Capturing checkboxes, and the Enscape Toolbars will appear, either floating or docked. Click OK to close the Rhino Options window.

If the Enscape.Rhino6.Plugin is not listed under the Files section, then you will have to load it manually.

To do this, click on the top level File option in the Rhino Options window, and navigate to the following location:

For Rhino 6 – C:\Users\%username%\AppData\Roaming\McNeel\Rhinoceros\6.0\UI\Plug-ins

For Rhino 5 – C:\Users\%username%\AppData\Roaming\McNeel\Rhinoceros\5.0\Plug-ins\Enscape.Rhino.Plugin\settings

Highlight the Enscape.Rhino6.Plugin.rui or Enscape.Rhino.Plugin.rui file and click Open and the Enscape and Enscape Capturing checkboxes should then become available.

Starting Enscape in Rhino

Follow these steps to view your Rhino project in 3D:

• Open your Rhino project file.
• Click on the “Start Enscape” button in the Enscape ribbon.
• The Enscape window will open separately.

You can leave Enscape open while you make any desired changes in Rhino (e.g. cross sections, materials or geometric changes in the model). Your changes will show up instantly as long as you have activated the Live Updates for Enscape. Activating the Synchronize Views will sync the perspective view from Rhino to the Enscape window.

It is also worth noting that you can call most of the Enscape commands from the Rhino Command line. As all Enscape commands start with the word Enscape, typing ‘Enscape‘ will prompt Rhino to display all available commands.

Once installed, the Enscape plugin can be located through the ArchiCAD -> Window -> Palettes menu. Here you can see the Enscape Palette to the far right:

You should also have, by default, an Enscape menu option in the ArchiCAD top menu, which you can then click to reveal all the Enscape options. 

You can also select the ArchiCAD Toolbars options to create an Enscape Toolbar, which can then be docked horizontally or vertically into the ArchiCAD workspace.

As Enscape is only available as a Palette by default, which is only vertically dockable, then if you want Enscape options available as an ArchiCAD Toolbar you will have to manually create that toolbar. To do this, take the following steps:

Click on the ArchiCAD Window -> Toolbars -> Toolbars.. option.

This will open the ArchiCAD Work Environment window, and the Toolbars section will be highlighted.

Click on Toolbar Options, and then New Toolbar…

Name it Enscape.

From the List drop-down menu options, select All new commands in alphabetical order.

You will then be show a list. From the list highlight all options that have (Enscape) after the name, apart from Enscape (Enscape) and Enscape Toolbar (Enscape) and then click the >>> Add selected >>>. This will add these buttons to the Enscape Toolbar you created previously.

You can then re-order these options to suite your needs, and it is worth having Enscape Palette open and visible whilst you do this so that you can mirror the order for the sake of consistency.

Once done, click OK which will close the Work Environment window.

Click again on Window -> Toolbars -> and you will see Enscape listed as an Toolbar option.  Click on it, and a horizontal Enscape Toolbar that you created in the previous steps should become visible, either floating or docked. This can be left floating, or dragged and docked vertically or horizontally to the ArchiCAD workspace.

Starting Enscape in ArchiCAD

Follow these steps to view your ArchiCAD project in 3D:

• Open your ArchiCAD project file and make sure you have either a Perspective or Axonometry view open.

• Click on the “Start Enscape” button in the Enscape menu, palette or toolbar.
• The Enscape window will open separately.

You can leave Enscape open while you make any desired changes in ArchiCAD (e.g. cross sections, materials or geometric changes in the model). Your changes will show up instantly as long as you have activated the Live Update in Enscape. Activating the View Synchronization will sync the perspective view from ArchiCAD to the Enscape window.

Once installed, Enscape will be available as a tool set in Vectorworks. If the tool set is not immediately shown, you may need to start and close Vectorworks once before installing Enscape, in which case you should uninstall Enscape first. After you reinstall Enscape you may then also need to manually add it to your Vectorworks’ workspace. This can be done via the Vectorworks’ menu option Tools->Third-party->Enscape->Add Enscape to workspace.

Starting Enscape in Vectorworks

Once enabled, you can open the Enscape tool set to access the Start button. Open the Enscape tool set by clicking on the Enscape tab.

Follow these steps to view your Vectorworks project in 3D:

• Open a Vectorworks project file.
• Click on the Enscape logo in the tool set. This will trigger the Enscape toolbar at the top of the screen.
• Clicking the Start button in the Enscape toolbar will trigger the Enscape window to open.

You can leave Enscape open while you make any desired changes in Vectorworks (e.g. cross sections, materials or geometric changes in the model). Your changes will show up instantly as long as you have activated the Live Update in Enscape. Activating the View Synchronization will sync the perspective view from Vectorworks to the Enscape window.