New Tool?

[Ray C]

Hi Folks
I’m having a devil of a time trying to get use to X1’s layer sets without the 3D column of 10.o.
So far haven’t found one instance where I would consider it an improvement.

Any way,,,, the above is what prompted this (Monday morning babbling?). When in any 3D view,,,,A tool that appears on the edit menu that would uncheck the selected item in the LD box for that views layer set. We could customize the current views layer set one item at a time or shift select several and turn them off. At present its,,,, lets see,,,, I count seven clicks to accomplish the same.

Back to work, Ray

[louis]

Ray,

It is actually better and faster. It will take some getting used to. It takes a slightly different approach to work it.

Set up your camera sets ahead of time and there will be no need to change them and you can have as many camera sets as you need.

[Rusty]

You just need to get used to it, then you're probably going to like it.

[Ray C]

You just need to get used to it, then you're probably going to like it.

I hope so,,,



Thanks guys

[Dermot Dempsey]

"I’m having a devil of a time trying to get use to X1’s layer sets without the 3D column of 10.o. So far haven’t found one instance where I would consider it an improvement."

I believe the changes we made to layers and layer sets in X1 actually make the display options easier to understand and use while also making them more powerful at the same time. It is different though and I think this causes some people to miss the old functionality until they become comfortable with how the tools work in X1.

Try this in V10. Open a new plan and draw a rectangular polyline and a polyline solid. By default both of these objects will be on your Default CAD Layer. To turn off the display in plan view, you can go into your Layer Display Options and uncheck the 2D display column. This seems to make sense because everyone knows that the plan view is a 2D view so the 3D column is not going to affect the display. So over time, most users have learned to simply ignore the 3D column when they are working in plan view because it doesn't do anything there.

Now, while still in plan view, change the line thickness, color, and style for your Default CAD Layer. The display of the rectangular polyline and the polyline solid both change. This is what people expect because they have learned that these attributes affect all objects that are on that layer.

Now draw a wall and create an elevation view looking at the wall. Once again draw a rectangular polyline and a polyline solid. This is where it gets confusing. To turn off the display of the rectangular polyline, you need to uncheck the 2D column and to turn off the display of the polyline solid you need to uncheck the 3D column. Does the 2D column control the display in 2D view or 3D views? Or does it control the display of 2D objects or 3D objects? This is ambiguous in elevation views.

You might have also noticed that the polyline solid is not using your line color, line thickness or line style but the rectangular polyline does. How can you change the line thickness of the polyline solid? Unfortunately, in V10, the only way to do really this is to send it to a CAD detail where you can edit all of the lines as simple CAD objects.

In X1 this is so much simpler. There is no 2D and 3D column because there is just one column that controls whether or not objects are displayed. No matter what view you are in or what type of object you have, the object is either displayed or not depending on what your active layer set is and whether or not the layer is being displayed or not. There are some exceptions to this rule because some objects won't be displayed if they are "owned" by another object that is not being displayed.

In addition, you can now control the how your edge lines display for any architectural objects through your layers. This can greatly improve the visual quality of your elevation and other camera views if you send them directly to layout pages. And even if you send them to CAD details first, this can reduce the amount of work needed to change them into what you want.

The only thing you really need to understand in X1 is that your currently active layer set controls your display, regargless of what view you are in. One thing that can help make working with layer sets easier is to make sure that you keep the Active Layer Set control on your toolbar. If you are using the toolbars that shipped with X1, this should already be there. If are using your own custom toolbars, you should make sure that you include this tool. This tool will show you the current layer set that you are working in and it allows you to quickly change to any other layer set.

[Ray C]

Thank you for the reply Dermot
Too late in the day for my brain cells to digest this right now, but I do understand most of your comments and will submit a reply later.

Thanks, Ray

[Ray C]

So over time, most users have learned to simply ignore the 3D column when they are working in plan view because it doesn't do anything there.
.

This is probably true for new users,,,, but IMO (at present :-) ), being able to use the same layer set for both 2D & 3D makes more sense. Example,,,, I draw EWP (joist and rafter) layouts for most if not all plans. In plan view I’m working on the same view that will be sent to layout. Lets Say first floor framing layer set,,, joist, foundation walls and other items visible. Now if I want to work in 3D on the joist and prefer to have only the joist show, well that is all that shows because of my 3D column set up.

Now draw a wall and create an elevation view looking at the wall. Once again draw a rectangular polyline and a polyline solid. This is where it gets confusing. To turn off the display of the rectangular polyline, you need to uncheck the 2D column and to turn off the display of the polyline solid you need to uncheck the 3D column. Does the 2D column control the display in 2D view or 3D views? Or does it control the display of 2D objects or 3D objects? This is ambiguous in elevation views.
.

There again I guess it all comes down to work habits. I’ve almost never drawn 3D objects (p line solids and the like) and left them on a 2D layer. Example,,, draw a quick step,,, chimney cap,,, kick boards,,, and so on. These types of items have layers they get assigned to. The layer painter made this a lot quicker than previous versions


As for the line weights being sent to layout and cad details, this is very helpful. I personally send all elevation and cross section views to a cad detail and have found that using the layer painter accomplishes the same in short order. Now,,,,, having all those lines land on their original layers rather than Line layer and Pattern layer would really be an enormous time saver in both layout and cad detail. I realize if the layer set that created the layout view or cad detail is set up properly there shouldn’t be the need to do the above as long as the line weights in the 2D view of a layer set are the same required for the 3D view of the same layer set. I’m not too sure about that one yet!!!!!!!!

Ok,,, hold off on that tool (original post),,, LOL

Thanks again, Ray