Section Viewport Display?

[Bruce Kieffer]

42 minutes ago, Mickey said:

Ha thwarted again.

I thought this time I really outsmarted 'em.

I created a clip cube so that only my desired objects were visible.

Now no issues of a front view, and seeing through to objects behind what I wanted to show.

Perfect.

Use the command to create a viewport , and "Display with clip cube" so only my clipped view would be in the viewport, and I could give it annotations.

Ha...!

The checkbox was greyed out.

Much head scratching until you hover over it, and read the info.

" ...Only available in shaded and renderworks modes"

Why is it so hard to do a section, or clip cube view port in wireframe?

I went down that wrong road too! Sad. The solution is easy. Give us wire frame in the section VP.

[line-weight]

I don't really understand what you're trying to achieve. I'm not quite sure how a section of a wireframe would really be meaningful or useful. Can you post something that lets us see what you're trying to show?

 

 

[Bruce Kieffer]

28 minutes ago, line-weight said:

I don't really understand what you're trying to achieve. I'm not quite sure how a section of a wireframe would really be meaningful or useful. Can you post something that lets us see what you're trying to show?

 

 

Look back at the original post. I explained the need there.

[rDesign]

On 12/5/2023 at 7:38 AM, Bruce Kieffer said:

What are section viewports used for, and why use them if they are so limited?

For my Architectural work, I use Section Viewports all the time for Building Sections, Interior Elevations, Exterior Building Elevations, Detail Elevations, etc. For Exterior Building Elevations I use SLVPs so I can show the grade line close to the building face. Interior Elevations have gotten better in recent releases, but sometimes I find Section SLVPs easier to control.
 

I have not run into the issues you had with adding dimensions to circles on Section SLVPs, for example to locate pipes penetrating walls. (Granted I am not dimensioning them to the millimeter).

 

If I were drawing the cabinetry details from your example, I would have drawn the shelf bracket support holes with 2D circle annotations in the Hidden Line SLVP. I would not bother with modeling them in 3D.

Edited January 1, 2024 by rDesign

[Bruce Kieffer]

1 hour ago, rDesign said:

If I were drawing the cabinetry details from your example, I would have drawn the shelf bracket support holes with 2D circle annotations in the Hidden Line SLVP. I would not bother with modeling them in 3D.

That is an option. I assume it would work to be able to snap to the center. Even so, not being able to see the outline of the dividers on the cabinet sides is still a problem. I've moved on and I have given up the idea of using section VPs to do what I need to do.

[line-weight]

13 hours ago, Bruce Kieffer said:

Look back at the original post. I explained the need there.

Sorry, my question was aimed at @Mickey.

[Bruce Kieffer]

Looks like this type viewport that I wanted back in 2023 can be achieved now in Vectorworks 2025. I'm still testing, but it looks like when I hide objects in a design layer those selections are also hidden in the VP. If this holds true it will greatly simplify and speed up my drawing time. One limitation is; you cannot go back to the DL, change which objects are hidden or showing, and then see those changes in the VP. That does not work. Here are a few examples from my current house project. This is a simple design, and not the best to use for an example, but it works.

[Pat Stanford]

You don't have to go back to the Design Layer. Just use the Visibility Tool in the Object Visibility mode and set to Hide Objects. You can click on objects in the viewport from the sheet layer and hide them directly. Or unhide them in the Show Object. You even get a nice red preview of what is going to be shown or hidden.

 

Thanks to @Tom W. for pointing this out in another thread.

 

[Tom W.]

55 minutes ago, Pat Stanford said:

You don't have to go back to the Design Layer. Just use the Visibility Tool in the Object Visibility mode and set to Hide Objects. You can click on objects in the viewport from the sheet layer and hide them directly. Or unhide them in the Show Object. You even get a nice red preview of what is going to be shown or hidden.

 

Thanks to @Tom W. for pointing this out in another thread.

 

 

Although this doesn't work with Section Viewports unfortunately. Here you need to Edit Design Layer or Edit Section in Place + use the Visibility Tool there in the edit mode then return to the VP, ensuring that 'Apply object visibility changes' is enabled in the 'Edit Viewport' dialog.

[Bruce Kieffer]

9 hours ago, Pat Stanford said:

You don't have to go back to the Design Layer. Just use the Visibility Tool in the Object Visibility mode and set to Hide Objects. You can click on objects in the viewport from the sheet layer and hide them directly. Or unhide them in the Show Object. You even get a nice red preview of what is going to be shown or hidden.

 

Thanks to @Tom W. for pointing this out in another thread.

 

Wow, that is nice! FYI... It does not work if the VP is of a symbol. Then the entire symbol is hidden, and that does limit this trick.

Edited January 23 by Bruce Kieffer

[Mickey]

Well @Bruce Kieffer I'm glad your use has been solved, but sadly we still can't create viewports from a clipcube in wireframe.

I use the clipcube more and more as drawings are getting more complex, and the ability to hide the noise while I focus on something small is really useful.

But man'o'man do I wish I could create a viewport from that clipcube in wireframe.

 

[line-weight]

On 2/12/2025 at 12:12 AM, Mickey said:

Well @Bruce Kieffer I'm glad your use has been solved, but sadly we still can't create viewports from a clipcube in wireframe.

I use the clipcube more and more as drawings are getting more complex, and the ability to hide the noise while I focus on something small is really useful.

But man'o'man do I wish I could create a viewport from that clipcube in wireframe.

 

 

I still don't really understand what it is that you want to create. As per my previous comment, I don't see how a section of a wireframe would be meaningful/useful. Can you post an example?

[Bruce Kieffer]

1 hour ago, line-weight said:

 

I still don't really understand what it is that you want to create. As per my previous comment, I don't see how a section of a wireframe would be meaningful/useful. Can you post an example?

Yes I can! I've been working on the example for our user group to explain it later today. This may not be the best example, but it does show what I need. The right VP is a section VP. Wireframe is not an option (sadly). The horizontal dividers have been "sectioned" by the section VP cut. They are filled black and I cannot see the biscuit grooves, and I need to see those grooves. The left VP is a "standard VP looking from the right and set to wireframe. The best solution for my needs would be if wireframe was an available render option for a section VP. Hiding objects seems to be the next best workaround.

 

[line-weight]

3 minutes ago, Bruce Kieffer said:

Yes I can! I've been working on the example for our user group to explain it later today. This may not be the best example, but it does show what I need. The right VP is a section VP. Wireframe is not an option (sadly). The horizontal dividers have been "sectioned" by the section VP cut. They are filled black and I cannot see the biscuit grooves, and I need to see those grooves. The left VP is a "standard VP looking from the right and set to wireframe. The best solution for my needs would be if wireframe was an available render option for a section VP. Hiding objects seems to be the next best workaround.

 

 

I think this has all been covered already in the thread - what you want is not a conventional sectional drawing. You want an elevation of a part. By definition if you don't want the drawing to show sectioned geometry, then it's not a section that you're after. Hiding objects isn't a workaround - it's the logical way to produce a drawing where you don't want those objects to be included.

 

In your case, the left hand VP happens to work in wireframe because it's a simple part, but really it should be rendered in hidden line, not wireframe.

 

But actually my question was to @Mickey rather than to you. @Mickey is additionally talking about the clip cube and I'm not sure exactly what they mean.

 

 

[Tom W.]

21 minutes ago, Bruce Kieffer said:

Yes I can! I've been working on the example for our user group to explain it later today. This may not be the best example, but it does show what I need. The right VP is a section VP. Wireframe is not an option (sadly). The horizontal dividers have been "sectioned" by the section VP cut. They are filled black and I cannot see the biscuit grooves, and I need to see those grooves. The left VP is a "standard VP looking from the right and set to wireframe. The best solution for my needs would be if wireframe was an available render option for a section VP. Hiding objects seems to be the next best workaround.

 

 

You should be able to use the 'Hidden Object Display...' settings in the OIP for the Section VP to achieve this.

 

For example these holes are in the side panel behind the shelves:

 

 

[Bruce Kieffer]

1 hour ago, Tom W. said:

 

You should be able to use the 'Hidden Object Display...' settings in the OIP for the Section VP to achieve this.

 

For example these holes are in the side panel behind the shelves:

 

 

What is the setting you are using in the Hidden Object Display? I've tried everything, but I cannot get rid of the black fill.

[Tom W.]

9 minutes ago, Bruce Kieffer said:

What is the setting you are using in the Hidden Object Display? I've tried everything, but I cannot get rid of the black fill.

 

In the Advanced Section Properties > Attributes tab I have it set to 'Separate cross sections' with 'Use attributes of original objects' enabled. Presumably your black fill is coming from using 'Merge cross sections' + the default 'Section Style' Attribute Class...?

[line-weight]

30 minutes ago, Tom W. said:

 

In the Advanced Section Properties > Attributes tab I have it set to 'Separate cross sections' with 'Use attributes of original objects' enabled. Presumably your black fill is coming from using 'Merge cross sections' + the default 'Section Style' Attribute Class...?

Does this rely on the shelf objects having a "none" fill attribute?

[Tom W.]

8 minutes ago, line-weight said:

Does this rely on the shelf objects having a "none" fill attribute?

 

No I don't think so. That was the first thing I tried + setting the Fill to None had no effect.

 

In these two VPs, 5 is just a standard section through the symbol + 4 has the 'None' class set to display Hidden Objects:

 

 

All the symbol geometry is in 'None' class.

 

I do not normally ever use the hidden object settings I just tried it quickly after seeing these posts.

[Tom W.]

20 minutes ago, line-weight said:

Does this rely on the shelf objects having a "none" fill attribute?

 

Oops I stand corrected: setting fill to none does work! My geometry wasn't set to take its fill by class which is why the class override didn't take effect. So this is another way to achieve the same thing. In this VP I just used class overrides to change the 'None' class fill to None:

 

[Bruce Kieffer]

I used a Material too, and the material has a fill. I need the material for my worksheet criteria. I removed the material and fill form the bottom two shelves here:

[Tom W.]

Try keeping the Material but using Data Vis to remove the fill

[line-weight]

Surely the least convoluted way to not show the shelves would be just to put them in a "shelf" class and then turn that class off in the vport.

[Bruce Kieffer]

12 minutes ago, Tom W. said:

Try keeping the Material but using Data Vis to remove the fill

I can't find my Data Viz menu in the View Bar. 

[Bruce Kieffer]

3 minutes ago, line-weight said:

Surely the least convoluted way to not show the shelves would be just to put them in a "shelf" class and then turn that class off in the vport.

Absolutely. But in my case if I could set the section VP to render hidden line that would be the best solution. I have added that to the wish list.