Switching Viewport Views With Crops

[trashcan]

This has been driving me nuts for years. 

 

I make a viewport, crop it, annotate all nice and then I want to duplicate that VP and change the view, say from LEFT to RIGHT. 

 

Now my crop has to be moved. 

 

I know I can make a new VP via a design layer and it'll do the things I want, but then I have to redo all my annotations. 

 

Seems like a pain either way. 

 

Is there some secret recipe out there somewhere that allows me to: change a view of a viewport and the crop intelligently re-adjust to the new view? would probably save me hundreds of hours over the years...

[Mark Aceto]

No but I’ve learned that the general rule of thumb is:

• annotations in plan view go on the design layer
• annotations in 3D views go on the annotation layer of the SLVP

Multiple pane view helps with the back-and-forth between design and sheet layers of that workflow (design layers on the left; sheet layer on the right). Also a little bit of extra classing to control viewport visibilities.

 

Just be thankful you’re not an architect that’s plating up a 200 sheet drawing set. We have it easy.

[michaelk]

2 hours ago, trashcan said:

Is there some secret recipe out there somewhere that allows me to: change a view of a viewport and the crop intelligently re-adjust to the new view? would probably save me hundreds of hours over the years...

 

I always try to draw with the building centered on 0,0 on the design layer.  That way when you do what you are doing with viewports (and I do exactly the same thing) all the annotations and the crop have a good chance of being correct.

 

When I'm drawing scenery, each separate element is drawn on it's own layer (I usually make them symbols) so I can make 4 viewports with views of one scenic element, duplicate them, change the layer of all 4 and have instant viewports of the another scenic element.

[Boh]

11 hours ago, trashcan said:

I make a viewport, crop it, annotate all nice and then I want to duplicate that VP and change the view, say from LEFT to RIGHT. 

Sounds like you are using orthogonal vps? I hardly ever use them, I’ve found little use for them in architectural drafting. With section vps you can duplicate a vp then adjust the section line to quickly get a new view with crop and annotations pretty well centred.

 

As @michaelksuggests, keeping your design layer model near the centre is a good idea too.

 

@Mark Aceto we may have a different rule of thumb as the only annotations I put on design layers are ones that I want to see in more than one viewport e.g. room names. I try to put all notes in vp annotations. I find this way my model stays clean and I don’t have to worry about classing the notes. I also often use a floating view window to quickly flick between design and sheet layers

[Mark Aceto]

10 hours ago, michaelk said:

When I'm drawing scenery, each separate element is drawn on it's own layer (I usually make them symbols) so I can make 4 viewports with views of one scenic element, duplicate them, change the layer of all 4 and have instant viewports of the another scenic element.

This is probably an enhancement request but man it would be cool if the clip cube had its own plane like a hanging position or symbol definition, so you could isolate scenery or whatever you want with your own 0,0 (especially since you can create a clip cube by selecting the objects you want to isolate). Maybe creating a few fake hanging positions is a workaround? I recall some folks telling me they just use a rectangle for a floor package.

[Mark Aceto]

40 minutes ago, Boh said:

@Mark Aceto we may have a different rule of thumb as the only annotations I put on design layers are ones that I want to see in more than one viewport e.g. room names. I try to put all notes in vp annotations. I find this way my model stays clean and I don’t have to worry about classing the notes. I also often use a floating view window to quickly flick between design and sheet layers

Rules were meant to be broken 😎

[trashcan]

A fixed reference for a viewport would solve this annoying series of work around we've all developed. 

 

@Mark Aceto your thinking about assigning any viewport a position of 0,0 so when the angle changes, the model position doesn't, is a great idea. 

 

@Boh I am using ortho views, but only for isos. Using section VPs for everything (left, right, front, back) is a timesaver and a technique I'm just starting to use. It's nice to have the section references on a top view, but not strictly necessary for my purposes. Good workflow adjustment for me. 

[Mark Aceto]

3 hours ago, trashcan said:

@Mark Aceto your thinking about assigning any viewport a position of 0,0 so when the angle changes, the model position doesn't, is a great idea. 

 

Alas, half-baked. While you can create a Saved View inside an edit mode, you cannot create a Viewport from in there. So it's really just the drawing origin that works.