viewing order issues - floors class in front of walls class

[ffonics]

Having a problem where the class containing all floors on a layer are appearing in front of the class containing all walls on the same layer. I have tried the "send to back" command for the floors, but as soon as I switch layers, vp's, sheets... and then come back, the floors are back to the front. This is really frustrating in the sheet layer that I've designated as the "floor plans" where I have settled for just turning off the floors class to print. [using anno's to hide objects behind]

Also, I tried using the "respect design layer viewport overrides" option for the sheets after sending the floors class to the back, but to no success.

Is it simply a class hierarchy issue or a "glitch" in the software that does not respect object viewing order according to height.

any help is greatly appreciated.

[Chad McNeely]

Classes do not have an effect on stacking order.

Layer stacking order can be adjusted with stacking order overrides in viewports.

Within individual design layers you can change the stacking order of objects using the "send" commands, which will then be maintained for that layer's occurances throughout the drawing.

[ffonics]

thanks for the response.

the problem is that I am using the "send" command to change the stacking order of the floors and walls within the design layer. However, after I change to another view, sheet, vp, etc... this change is undone. therefore I think it must be a glitch in VW. right?

[Chad McNeely]

Is your class visibilty setting set to something other than "show/snap/modify"?

Sometimes, the stuff on the bottom gets selected "through" the stuff on top if the stuff on top is not in the active class, when one of the more limiting class visibily options is used. Or if the stuff on top is a group or symbol that combines visible and invisible classes in the container/contents.

Otherwise, sounds like something goofy with VW. Maybe try adding a new layer for the floor if all else fails.

[Damon Design]

Agree the easier way is to place the floors on separate layers, in that you mostly don't see the floors except for level changes on plan views; I tend to use a floor plan only class and draw those changes as lines and, (obviously) have that class on only in that plan view. That keeps the walls and other elements always visible regardless of their stacking order. Having floors layers visible for me is mostly used for sections, and modeling.

[Jeffrey W Ouellette]

ffonics,

Sounds like you have the concepts and controls of "Layers" and "Classes" mixed up.

Layers are containers that consistently effect "stacking order". Think of them in terms of sheets of mylar like pin-bar manual drafting.

Classes are attributes of objects meant to control graphic attributes (line color, style, weight, fill) and add nomenclature, or taxonomy, to drawn/modeled elements by giving them an identity/classification (e.g. Door-Main vs. Window-Spec). Classes do not know stacking order.

It sounds like you have your "floor stuff" layer actually in front of the "plan stuff" layer. Open the Layer pane of the Organization dialog and chekc the order of the list. The Layers "stack" in the order they list, by default; the layer at the top of the list is the frontmost layer, the layer at the bottom is the furthest back. You can reorder the layers by selecting/highlighting the layer then clicking on the number column for that layer and dragging to a new location on the list.