Neophyte's Q: File > Document Settings > Model Setup

[buz]

I'm just returning to VWs from a 3 year hiatus. Upgraded 11.5 to 2009 and am perusing basic drawing/modeling practices. So far am very impressed with 2009 intuitiveness, there are so many easily 're-discovered' commands, etc.

I found the Model Setup command to be awkward at best. For a practice drawing I set up a 1 basement w/ 2 floors above and had slab layers created. Model Setup default elevations for the Mod Foundation, Mod Slab B1 and Mod Floor B1 were all negative numbers, as you would presume them to be (below grade).

Problem is in an elevation VP. Mod Foundation and Mod Slab B1 bottom Z must both be changed from their default negative values to {0} in order to render correctly in the VP.

Presuming again, if those two layers each have the same bottom Z value, logically they would render at the same elevation - one 'covering' the other in a front view. That is not the case, they stack properly. Bottom line is I have managed a 'work around' to get my front view VP to look right.

Can someone discern my description and issue? Do I presume the Model Setup Command a frivolous front end 'gadget' that requires tweaking of elevations later?

Thank you for any insights.

[J Lucas]

See the thread subject "To Model or not to Model".

[buz]

Well ...... this is embarrassing!! No idea how I missed that thread not to mention no idea why I didn't bother to 'search' the forum first.

Sorry and thank you.

[Jeffrey W Ouellette]

The Model Setup command should always work, as long as you don't rename the layers from the defaults used. I realize that this may appear to be a serious shortcoming, but it is a limitation to work with at this time.

If you want to implement custom layer and class names and still rely on the plug-in tools NOT to introduce new classes, I suggest diving into the "Class and Layer Mapping..." and "Standard Naming..." commands to setup your own naming preferences.