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Well considering that VWs has lost the initiative when it comes to intuitive architectural drafting this is probably the single most time consuming work around to solve when working on a project.

The disturbing thing is that the way VWs is set up at the moment, it seems the best way to control all (3D/2D/Render) output is to have each and every object and all the subsequent sub-objects in their own class and then work with overrides, on overrides, combined with overrides, which obviously is so time consuming and hard to oversee it's ridiculous.

The root of the problem as far as I can see is the great lack of architectural knowledge in the development department.

Edited by Vincent C
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Hi Gents,

They are called 'Saved Views'.

I use working saved views for design layer presets. To really quickly switch between working plans I un-tick 'Save Zoom and Pan'. This means you can very quickly switch between levels or different plans types on levels. Eg. General arrangement plans to RCP's to Electrical etc. Also this gives others working on the same project an idea of how the drawings have been worked on, or set up.

For sheet/presentation drawings, I create saved views for each drawing. This works very well when issuing large numbers of drawings with the 'Export PDF (Batch)' command. The only letter that needs to be changed in the export is the revision letter (the 'X' in the PDF number below).

Eg. Job No, Drawing No, Revision Letter, and drawing Description.

1234-A102X [Plan-Level 1]

Hope that helps.

Edited by Diamond
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I use working saved views for design layer presets.

This setup seems to be the most effective workflow for me also.

Caveat is that you need to be disciplined in the way you setup and manage your project in respect to classes. Something I've learned the hard way.

How on earth though do you hide a single object - when you don't want to hide the whole class - without creating another class?

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How on earth though do you hide a single object - when you don't want to hide the whole class - without creating another class?

There are only 4 options I know for this:

Create a new class

Create a new layer

Mask the object

Change Pen&Fill styles to None (switching back to by Class when you want it to reappear)

If you have a selection of objects that need to be alternatively hidden you can create groups/symbols so -

Group 1 (Class-Scenario 1) contains Class-Furniture objects

Group 2 (Class-Scenario 2) contains Class-Furniture objects

Scenario 1 & 2 Furniture objects are ungrouped

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bcd, My opinion: if a single object is unique or different enough to require being hidden all by itself, then it is unique and different enough to warrant a new class. Planning and thinking ahead is certainly required, however, creation or duplication of a class is actually pretty easy and fast. The main problem arises when you need to consider in which VP's, Saved Views, etc the new class needs to be on or off. This can be time consuming. But it's still a lot faster and more functional than tracing paper and erasers... I consider myself fortunate that I generally work alone. In a team setting this can get messy and requires more discipline than most are willing (or able) to muster.

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Agreed Peter, for instances of singular objects which should be singularly classed.

But, when folks speak of hiding an object I see it as a temporary event that's happening on the fly - and will be undone on the fly.

Having a Hide class or a Scenario Class is very useful for these instances.

So - Group your object

Change the class of the Group to Hide (etc) leaving the Class Assignments of the subobjects of the group intact.

Retrieve your object by making the Hide class visible and ungrouping.

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I remember when I did my first project, I had a new roof layer, an existing roof layer and a new roof class and an existing roof class for the same objects. Needless to say, almost impossible to manage (back then, no saved views used, visibility controlled via viewport only) :crazy:

Now I use layers to define the location of the building element and classes to control the visibility of the building elements.

Sometimes though, I want one object to show in one viewport and the same object to be invisible in another. Usually it involves the none class - and because my viewports are in the None class you can't turn that off.

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I have reservations. How would this not confuse others who may need to work on the file? Do you have any examples from other apps using a similar workflow? Almost anything is possible with an intuitive implementation.

As stated by BCD, I use groups and turning on and off object visibility outside the group to manage this. Especially helpful when building up 2D elevations. Make sure those preference short cuts are up in your mode bar.

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It is meant to only be a temporary condition. I've used this feature in another program (but can't remember which one), and when you hide anything, the next time you open the file everything that was hidden is unhidden/visible. It was either in AutoCAD or some Adobe program. It is very handy.

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In workgroups, how are drawings prevented from hiding objects from other team members?

I'm solo so I don't require worksharing either from VW or any other program, so I can't answer your question directly.

But as shown in my previous link, there is a toggle switch so you can temporarily view hidden objects. If you toggle on to show hidden elements, R___t enters into a mode similar to the edit Group mode in VW. In this mode you can see and unhide these elements easily. It is extremely efficient.

Edit:

The attached pic should clarify my comments a bit more

Edited by Kizza
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Make two vectorscripts each with one simple line.

The first is:

Show(All);

When you run this, all objects that have had their individual visibility set to hidden will reappear.

The second is:

Hide(SEL=True);

This one will set the visibility state of all the selected objects to hidden.

If you really want to get fancy you could make into menu commands and then add them to your workspace and given the keyboard shortcuts.

I find this useful to get objects out of the way, especially when working in 3d.

This is a global setting, so there is no way to do this for a single viewport.

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It seems no one mentioned the Hide script in Vectorworks. I have an old one written by Julian Carr, and I still keep it handy as a Menu Command. Here's the Hide Selected Object one:

___________________________________

{Developed by Julian Carr - 1997

Hide Selected will hide all objects that are selected. To return to the previous visibility status, deselect everything then go to the Class menu and choose the active class (the one with a tick).}

Procedure HideSelected;

VAR

hn2Obj : HANDLE;

BEGIN

IF (NumSObj(ActLayer)=1)&(GetType(FSActLayer)=11) THEN BEGIN

hn2Obj:=FInGroup(FSActLayer);

REPEAT

IF Selected(hn2Obj) THEN Hide((Sel=True)& V);

hn2Obj:=NextObj(hn2Obj);

UNTIL hn2Obj=Nil;

END ELSE Hide((Sel=True));

END;

Run(HideSelected);

______________________

--- and then to Show All Objects, I use a simple script:

_______________________

Show((ALL));

______________________

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-- Another take on the Hide Objects script -- Hide Unselected Objects:

___________________________________________

{Developed by Julian Carr - 1997

Hide Unselected will hide unselected objects. To return to the previous visibility status, deselect everything then go to the Class menu and choose the active class (the one with a tick).}

Procedure HideUnselected;

Procedure FEO1(hn2Obj:HANDLE);

BEGIN

hn2Obj:=FIn3D(hn2Obj);

REPEAT

SetSelect(hn2Obj);

hn2Obj:=NextObj(hn2Obj);

UNTIL hn2Obj=Nil;

END;

Procedure FEO2(hn2Obj:HANDLE);

BEGIN

SetDSelect(hn2Obj);

END;

BEGIN

ForEachObject(FEO1,(T=Wall)&(Sel=True));

Hide((Sel=False));

ForEachObject(FEO2,(Sel=True)&(T=Symbol));

END;

Run(HideUnselected);

________________________________________

I tried Julian's original tip of selecting the active class to show all objects, and it doesn't seem to work. What does work, though, is simply hitting the Previous View button on the window bar.

Edited by Bob-H
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