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Viewports not showing all the elements in a design layer


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Hello, I've just set up a view port for a 1:25 section looking into a design layer. A number of lines do not appear in the viewport. I've put everything onto the same class and checked visibilities but everything seems okay. The common factor is all of the drawing elements not displaying were imported from Autocad then copied into my design layer and manipulated to suit his project. A screen shot of the design layer and the sheet layer with viewport are attached for info.

 

Thanks in advance.

 

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Were any of the Autocad items in groups or symbols? I've had similar visibility issues in the past that were resolved by digging into the problematic design layer objects and arbitrarily assigned them to a new class then making sure the viewport had the new class active. 

 

Another strategy would be to turn on all the viewport's classes and check if the missing elements are now visible. If they are, select small groups of classes and turn them off until you have identified the culprit class. Not terribly efficient but has worked for me.

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Just to amplify @RGyori's comments, you need to be extra careful with "Container" objects.  Groups, Symbols, PIOs, Viewports all have a class for the top level object. Objects that are contained inside these objects can be in a different class.

 

For the contained objects to be visible, both the class of the container and the class of the object must be visible.

 

This can get quite tricky if you have nested groups in different classes.  Start with everything on and then see what you can turn off without losing your objects.

 

Or go back to the design layer and dig in to determine what set of classes contained objects need to have visible.

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Thanks everyone, the issue was the classes weren't set to visible in the object info box (see file this attached this time!). I don't get why the classes need to be controlled in at least three different locations (autocad just has the layers pallette and thats it - used in paper space and model space), but that will be a reflection of my lack of experience.

 

I'm a few months into VW having spent 20 years just using Autocad so its a bit of an up hill struggle still. I understand that Classes = ACAD Layers, Layers = ACAD Model Space and Sheets = ACAD paper Space, but the way they all work together is very different. I've avoided using classes up until now, but need to start to understand them better (obviously!). I feel like I've only scratched the surface so booking in some one to one training in autumn now that I understand, in high level terms, what VW capabilities are and just how much of the software I don't know! ('Classes' will certainly be one topic to cover)

 

Thanks again for the help

 

Jon

Screenshot 2019-08-06 at 21.15.17.png

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Hi @jonp0001, I know your question may have been rhetorical, but there are actually good reasons to set visibility in multiple places. The overarching idea is that by being able to change the visibility (and in some cases attributes) of objects in a class you use the same model to display in different ways for different purposes.

 

Draw all of the detail you need into a single model on a design layer at 1:50. You can then use classes to turn off the objects that are too detailed for that scale, but still have them visible in a Viewport at 1:4 scale.

 

Or draw two different options in two different classes. You can then make two viewports, set the class visibilities different and be able to see both options side by side without having to duplicate the other parts of the building.

 

Also, what are you thinking of as the third place to set Class Visibilities? I can only think of the overall drawing class setting in the Navigation and Organization palette, and for a specific viewport under the Classes... button in the OIP (Object Info Palette).

 

If you set object attributes to be By Class, you can then not only change the visibility of the objects in a Viewport, but also the attributes for just that one viewport.

 

HTH

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Hi Pat, thank you for the added detail - this forum has been really helpful, its appreciated. 

 

I have a sense that Classes are much more sophisticated than layers in Autocad (mainly LT that I've been using). I believe the issue is that I'm currently using VW Architect as a 2D tool when its really aimed at 3D BIM. Thats the longer term ambition for me and the practice (in the next 6 months). I can see that pulling drawings from a 3D model will need quite a sophisticated use of classes (I still think of them as ACAD layers! But I'm trying not to). Using the classes for different scales is interesting and certainly something I do in Autocad so I'll explore that idea a little further. One of the things that I'm getting to grips with is that the classes also seem to have sub sets, but this might just be where I have nested symbols and groups as suggested in this thread.

 

In terms of the three locations, see attached screen grab, although I think A and C are probably the same. It was B that caught me out and triggered this thread (classes in the object info palette).

 

Jon

Screenshot 2019-08-06 at 23.33.48.png

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Yes, A & C are basically for the same thing.  A is just a different way of setting the active class (that you would do in C by setting the check mark to the correct class.

 

There is also a D, the Organization Dialog Box. This opens when you double click on the classes icon you have circled in C. This is where you create classes and edit their attributes, but you can also change the class visibility and selected class form there also.

 

 

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