Clip Cube Viewports

[Mark Aceto]

OK this is driving me bonkers... 

 

When I create a VP from a CC, the objects outside of the CC are shown. I must be missing some Easter egg nano-triangle setting buried somewhere... 

 

I'm checking the right boxes:

 

 

Here's a view of the CC:

 

 

Here's what it looks like on the VP (and, yes, I updated the VP):

 

 

Edited March 11, 2021 by Mark Aceto

[Mark Aceto]

Thanks @Tom W.

 

OK so because Hidden Line isn't compatible with Clip Cubes (not even on the DL) my workaround options so far are:

• Create 3-4 sections for each object (front, left, right, iso) + a plan VP for top view
  • Please kill me
• Create a new layer for each object (so much for the Lighting layer that's now merged with other departments)
  • So far, I like this one the best because I can Create Multiple Viewports, so it's the fewest clicks (and no sections for elevations)

Who's come up with a better workaround?

[Tom W.]

I'm not 100% clear what the end result is you're looking to achieve. Or what role the clip cube is playing. The screenshots look like orthogonal sections so could just be created using 'Create Section Viewport...'? Otherwise to get a 3D clip cube viewport in something resembling Hidden Line render all I can think of is rendering it in 'Lines + Shadow' (Artistic Renderworks) + setting the shadow colour to white + making the edge thickness quite thin... and setting DPI quite high...

[Mark Aceto]

They're ortho elevations + an iso which is why it's so ridickydonk that I have to create a section for each elevation:

1. Clip Cube section for front elevation
2. Clip Cube section for right elevation
3. Clip Cube section for left elevation
4. Plan view for top
5. Iso view for iso (but then I have to add extraneous classes to hide objects obstructing the view)

Maximum effort. Stupid. Worth it.

 

The frustrating thing is that CC sections are using Hidden Line attributes (without revealing objects outside the clip cube). Am I missing an obvious workaround like using the Section Class attributes for non-section CC VP's somehow? Whatever I'm doing is 10,000 times more complicated than it should be.

 

Here's a WIP:

 

Edited March 11, 2021 by Mark Aceto

[line-weight]

It's not quite clear what you are wanting and what the problem is.

 

Is it that you want to use the clip cube to isolate an object and then create an isometric view of it by itself, in hidden line?

 

Having just tried, I can see that the "clip cube" extents work in the viewport if it's OpenGL but not if it's hidden line. Which I can see is annoying (because it seems like if I create a section viewport, then I can render it in hidden line and it *will* respect the clip cube extents).

 

If the question is how to isolate a single object, then one method I sometimes use is to make it a symbol. Then one instance is in the model, and another instance is somewhere else (on a different design layer say) and you can then use that instance to generate your elevations etc. This is potentially less fiddly than trying to isolate it using class or layer visibility.

[Mark Aceto]

@line-weight yes, that's exactly what I'm hoping to accomplish.

 

I like the symbol solution.

 

I think someone else had requested the ability to Tag objects (vs classes and layers) for filtering. Really, any way to to slice and dice the model without overcomplicating it with redundancy (especially when exporting DWG's to collaborators).

[line-weight]

Is it intended behaviour that the clip cube doesn't affect the visibility of stuff in a hidden line isometric vport I wonder?

[Andy Broomell]

45 minutes ago, Mark Aceto said:

without overcomplicating it with redundancy

A tertiary organization system such as tags sounds exactly like overcomplicating the software to me 😉 

 

9 minutes ago, line-weight said:

Is it intended behaviour that the clip cube doesn't affect the visibility of stuff in a hidden line isometric vport I wonder?

 

Indeed, apparently there's some technical limitation with the Hidden Line engine that disallows Clip Cube from working, sadly. THIS is where the improvement should be made, rather than adding tags.

 

For now, utilizing Classes, Layers, and/or Symbols should get the job done.

[line-weight]

15 minutes ago, Andy Broomell said:

Indeed, apparently there's some technical limitation with the Hidden Line engine that disallows Clip Cube from working, sadly. THIS is where the improvement should be made, rather than adding tags.

 

Yet it seems to work in a hidden-line section viewport?

 

[Mark Aceto]

5 minutes ago, line-weight said:

Yet it seems to work in a hidden-line section viewport?

 

Exactly.

[Mark Aceto]

22 minutes ago, Andy Broomell said:

A tertiary organization system such as tags sounds exactly like overcomplicating the software to me 😉 

 

Compared to adding extraneous layers, classes and symbols purely to control visibility, then yes. I have to export DWG's for collaborators, so I try to keep the file as minimalist as possible for everyone on my team.

 

Also, if you don't want to use tags, then don't (they're optional).

[Mark Aceto]

Honestly, by adding a layer instead of using a clip cube, I can get the job done with 3 clicks, and only use sections when I'm actually sectioning. I hate adding layers for the DWG folks on my team but this is the baseline to beat.

 

[Andy Broomell]

31 minutes ago, line-weight said:

 

Yet it seems to work in a hidden-line section viewport?

 

 

A Section Viewport is not Clip Cube. Different underlying code.

 

(one of those confusing things about Vectorworks where there are multiple things that seem similar yet are completely different.)