scheduled Fix dashed hidden line rendering - what a mess!

Kevin McAllister · October 13, 2015

Please fix dashed hidden line rendering mode.

I almost always use a combination of Custom Renderworks for background rendering and Hidden Line for foreground rendering on Sheet Layer viewports. Once and a while I want to show some of the structure behind and switch to Dashed Hidden Line for foreground rendering instead. If an object is complex I'm instantly reminded of how unusable this mode can be. The reasons why -

- the dashed lines should not override the solid outlines of the object. I have no idea why this happens but it just makes the drawing look like the printer ran out of ink. The dashed lines should always be behind the solid lines and never obscure them.

- the line weight of the dashed lines should be adjustable. Currently they are the same weight as the solid lines. Yes, you can adjust their greyness but conventions call for more than this. I'm not sure why the greyness/dash style isn't by class much like section style. Making it by class would also allow for overriding the line weight.

- some degree of control over what is included. Often there are so many dashed hidden lines the drawing becomes a mass of unreadable lines.

Thanks,

Kevin

Matt Panzer · September 20, 2016

Yes, these are both separate known issues. I just linked this thread to the bug report for the dashed hidden line problem. It needed a little bump. ;-)

zoomer · October 13, 2015

+ 1

Jershaun · October 21, 2015

+1

Also, speaking of dashed lines, the dash setting in the hybrid object does not work at all. Although you have the tick on, it does not show as dashed (just grey). I would also ask for the settings mentioned above for the hybrid object.

zoomer · October 22, 2015

^

I realized that too an hour ago ....

Seems like all settings get ignored in VW 2016.

(Had not much experience with it before now though)

SamIWas · November 20, 2015

Please fix dashed hidden line rendering mode.
I almost always use a combination of Custom Renderworks for background rendering and Hidden Line for foreground rendering on Sheet Layer viewports. Once and a while I want to show some of the structure behind and switch to Dashed Hidden Line for foreground rendering instead. If an object is complex I'm instantly reminded of how unusable this mode can be. The reasons why -

- the dashed lines should not override the solid outlines of the object. I have no idea why this happens but it just makes the drawing look like the printer ran out of ink. The dashed lines should always be behind the solid lines and never obscure them.

- the line weight of the dashed lines should be adjustable. Currently they are the same weight as the solid lines. Yes, you can adjust their greyness but conventions call for more than this. I'm not sure why the greyness/dash style isn't by class much like section style. Making it by class would also allow for overriding the line weight.

- some degree of control over what is included. Often there are so many dashed hidden lines the drawing becomes a mass of unreadable lines.

Thanks,

Kevin

I just did a search to see if this was a thing. Yeah...not sure why dashed lines would be on top of the solid lines. When they are greyed, it makes things look really bizarre.

grant_PD · November 20, 2015

+1

Kevin McAllister · May 4, 2016

I'm bumping this thread as I print out unusable dashed hidden line drawing again. What a mess. The overlapping lines make the object edges look dashed :-(

KM

Kevin McAllister · September 15, 2016

Bump

Kevin McAllister · September 19, 2016

Here's a visual example to go with this thread. This really needs to be addressed.

Kevin

Edited September 19, 2016 by Kevin McAllister

Matt Panzer · September 19, 2016

Have you tried setting the viewport background render to Dashed Hidden Line and the foreground render to Hidden Line? Won't this give you what you need?

Nevertheless, it should do what your asking using ONLY Dashed Hidden Line.

-Matt

Kevin McAllister · September 19, 2016

Thanks Matt. Not a bad idea for simple things. I tend to use a Renderworks style for the background because I like shading on curved objects.

Kevin

Andy Broomell · September 20, 2016

Perhaps Alan is referring to a separate issue when drafting in 2D, where you have a dashed shape with a fill in front of another shape behind it. Such as this:

This is completely separate from the problems with Dashed Hidden Line rendering mode being discussed above, wherein the greyed lines are drawn in front of the solid lines, something which cannot be controlled and which is very dumb. (This is related to rendering 3D models, not 2D drafting.)

Kevin McAllister · September 20, 2016

Alan,

Thanks for the feedback. This issue is specific to Hidden Line rendering mode. Unfortunately the user has no control over the fill or front/back position of the lines. VW automatically generates things in the way shown in my left hand image. As Andy says, the solid lines should always be in front, which they are not.

Kevin

rDesign · November 20, 2015

Please fix dashed hidden line rendering mode.
I almost always use a combination of Custom Renderworks for background rendering and Hidden Line for foreground rendering on Sheet Layer viewports. Once and a while I want to show some of the structure behind and switch to Dashed Hidden Line for foreground rendering instead. If an object is complex I'm instantly reminded of how unusable this mode can be. The reasons why -

- the dashed lines should not override the solid outlines of the object. I have no idea why this happens but it just makes the drawing look like the printer ran out of ink. The dashed lines should always be behind the solid lines and never obscure them.

- the line weight of the dashed lines should be adjustable. Currently they are the same weight as the solid lines. Yes, you can adjust their greyness but conventions call for more than this. I'm not sure why the greyness/dash style isn't by class much like section style. Making it by class would also allow for overriding the line weight.

- some degree of control over what is included. Often there are so many dashed hidden lines the drawing becomes a mass of unreadable lines.

Thanks,

Kevin

AutoCAD has long had a setting in the Plotter Configuration Editor called 'Merge Control' that allows you to globally control whether 'Lines Overwrite' (current Vw behavior) or 'Lines Merge' (what is described in Kevin's first request).

If possible, this 'Lines Merge Control' should be added as an option to Vw print settings. This would address the first part of Kevin's hidden-line requests

Matt Panzer · September 19, 2016

12 minutes ago, Kevin McAllister said:

Thanks Matt. Not a bad idea for simple things. I tend to use a Renderworks style for the background because I like shading on curved objects.

No problem Kevin. I like to do the same with the shading

AlanW · September 19, 2016

Kevin, If you don't have a fill in your hatch you don't get the problem. Seems the issue is the fill starts from the centre of the line and so does the line thickness, so if you have a wide dashed linestyle the dots only cover half the solid fill so you get this strange look. If you place the dashed line to back all the time or better still don't have fill on any dashed line polys you should be ok,
HTH

rDesign · September 19, 2016

40 minutes ago, Alan Woodwell said:

Kevin, If you don't have a fill in your hatch you don't get the problem. Seems the issue is the fill starts from the centre of the line and so does the line thickness, so if you have a wide dashed linestyle the dots only cover half the solid fill so you get this strange look. If you place the dashed line to back all the time or better still don't have fill on any dashed line polys you should be ok,
HTH

I disagree Alan, I think Kevin is right about this - Dashed Hidden Line is not working properly. Dashed lines should never render on top of solid lines, the lines should merge. Solid lines should always get 'Sent to Front' in terms of the rendering order.

AlanW · September 19, 2016

Hi if you try it out without fill they merge.

AlanW · September 20, 2016

Ah ha, yes I see the issue now. Ill get back in my box.

Andrew Bell · September 28, 2016

On 9/20/2016 at 8:00 AM, Matt Panzer said:

Yes, these are both separate known issues. I just linked this thread to the bug report for the dashed hidden line problem. It needed a little bump. ;-)

Thanks to the nudge, this will be fixed in an upcoming service pack for VW2017.

Kevin McAllister · September 28, 2016

Thanks Andrew! Its great to hear its getting some attention.

Kevin

Matt Panzer · September 28, 2016

16 minutes ago, Andrew Bell said:

Thanks to the nudge, this will be fixed in an upcoming service pack for VW2017.

Great news! Thanks Andrew!

scheduled Fix dashed hidden line rendering - what a mess!

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