viewport hidden plot
Hi,
I went on the forum to look for any related topics and only found out this was a request in 2002 already. Back then, Bricsys' answer was "It is being considered but not on short term". Today, we are nearly 10 years later and still this feature is missing. In our company, this is becoming a serious shortcoming and I am getting complaints from several of our Bricscad users.
The workaround of setting each VP to a hidden shademode is useless as it takes too much time because each VP is being rendered on the fly and thus eating up a lot of processor power and finally causing the software to "hang" when working with a decent 3d model file. Usually our files are fully finished in Autocad by the R&D dept. and should be fully usable and plottable by our lower level Bricscad users without too much hassle.
Using Autodesk's DWGTrueview as a plotting tool is the other option I already suggested, but of course that could not be called a SOLUTION.
Anyone else struggling with this?
The below is the conversation there already was between Bricsys and myself about a year ago.
[UTC 08:18 2010-04-12] Hallo,
nadat ik vandaag de allernieuwste release notes las (v10.3.11) en nog niks terugvond betreffende deze "support request", wens ik dit nog eens terug onder jullie aandacht te brengen, aangezien het voor onze bricscad-gebruikers een belangrijk euvel is.
Wat is de huidige stand van zaken?
Groet,
Koen Peeters
R&D STAGECO Belgium N.V.
[UTC 09:09 2009-12-01] [FILE UPLOADED]
Het is niet de bedoeling om een VP niet te printen, maar om de inhoud van dat VP te printen "as hidden", zodat enkel de zichtbare elementen (3d) worden afgedrukt.
Wanneer ik hetzelfde bestand vanuit Acad afdruk, wordt de weergavemodus van de VP's wél correct behandeld en afgedrukt.
In bijlage heb ik enkele screendumps van de VP eigenschappenvensters en de plot vanuit Acad toegevoegd.
Intern bij ons, worden zo goed als alle tekeningen in Acad gemaakt. Steeds staan de viewports op "hidden", om er voor te zorgen dat de afdruk correct is.
Wanneer onze Bricscad-gebruikers achteraf deze bestanden openen en plotten, krijgen ze niet de gewenste afdruk, zoals eerder uitgelegd.
[FILE UPLOADED]
[UTC 14:37 2009-11-30] Geachte,
wij merkten dat, ondanks het feit dat de viewport properties zijn ingesteld als "hide plot", deze tóch worden geplot als "niet hidden = as displayed".
Ik probeerde dit, zowel met een bestand dat oorspronkelijk in Acad werd gemaakt (incl. viewports), als met een volledig in Bricscad gemaakt bestand. Bij beiden gaf het hetzelfde resultaat.
Groet,
Koen Peeters
R&D STAGECO Belgium N.V.
Response
[UTC 13:08 2010-04-13] HDB:
Ondersteuning van HIDE PLOT vergt een zeer omvangrijke ontwikkeling. We zijn van plan om dit mettertijd te ondersteunen, helaas nog niet in de nabije toekomst.
Vriendelijke groet,
Hans De Backer
[UTC 08:51 2009-12-01] LV:
Het lijkt er inderdaad op dat de HIDE PLOT eigenschap van een viewport genegeerd wordt. Ik weet niet of dit 'as designed' is en dat ze enkel toegevoegd is om compatibel te zijn met Acad. Ik zal dit doorgeven aan onze programmeurs.
Als je een viewport in een layout niet wil printen kan je ook de ON eigenschap gebruiken.
Bedankt om dit probleem onder onze aandacht te brengen.
Comments
-
Hi Koen,
Yes you are right. Plotting with hidden line removal doesn't work. I would recommend that you raise another support request if you haven't already done so. Its an important feature for those using 3D and it won't be an option for some to use AutoCAD for plotting.
I haven't investigated it fully, but it would appear Bricscad way of dealing with Viewport states is not in step with changes made in AutoCAD around 2007. This introduced the Visual styles feature. In AutoCAD SHADEMODE has been replaced with VSCURRENT. This seems to set different values than SHADEMODE for the Visual State of the Viewport, so Bricscad is out of step here. For printing you need to set the SHADEPLOT of the viewport, which Bricscad doesn't do.
Work arounds in the meantime:
- Could use SOLPROF to generate the 3D view. Not dynamic, but I used to use this years ago to reduce computing time in AutoCAD.
- Could turn of some vports, only have on the one you need to work on. Turn them all back on to print
- Could toggle the visual state of the vports. Change to hidden view only when you plot. The routine below could be used for this purpose.
;------------------------------------------------------------------------------
; CAD Concepts Limited
;
; VISUAL STYLE
;
; Copyright (C) 2011 CAD Concepts Limited.
; BEARING DISTANCE TEXT by CAD Concepts Ltd is licensed under
; a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
; http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/nz/deed.en
; For options available to you under this license.
; This software is provided "as is". No liability is taken of
; FITNESS FOR ANY PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
;------------------------------------------------------------------------------
; File : VS.lsp
; Author : Jason Bourhill
; Web : http://www.cadconcepts.co.nz
; Date : 7/Apr/2011
; CAD Ver(s) : Tested on AutoCAD 2010 & Bricscad V11
; Purpose : Routine to change the Visual Style (SHADEMODE) of selected VIEWPORTS
; note in AutoCAD VSCURRENT looks to have replaced SHADEMODE
;
; Usage : To load type (load "VS.LSP") from the command line or drag
; and drop the file onto your drawing using explorer. Will
; automatically run on loading.
;
; Select a VIEWPORTS on your drawing then press Enter. You will
; then be prompted for a visual style. After enter preffered
; option the selected viewports visual state will be updated.
;
; To run the routine again type VS at the command line.
;
; NOTE in AutoCAD doesn't work for all Visual Styles.
; more to it than simply changing the VisualStyle of the
; Viewport.
;
; Requires : Nothing else
;------------------------------------------------------------------------------
; Rev no : A
; Reason : First release
; Rev Date : 7/Apr/2011
; Rev by : Jason Bourhill
;
; Description:
; First release.
;------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(defun C:VS ( / SETVSTYLEACAD SETVSTYLEBCAD sset ans)
(defun setvstyleACAD (sset opt / num)
; in AutoCAD use Visual Style (VSCURRENT)
(setq num 0) ; zero counter
(repeat (sslength sset) ; repeat for each object in the selection set
; can't use entmod with a VIEWPORT. Change through ActiveX instead
(vl-load-com)
(vla-put-VisualStyle (vlax-ename->vla-object (ssname sset num)) opt); replace current Visual Style value with new value.
(setq num (1+ num)) ; increment counter
)
(prin1)
); end setvstyleACAD
(defun setvstyleBCAD (sset opt / num saveCM ent)
; In Bricscad use SHADEMODE
(setq num 0) ; zero counter
(setq saveCM (getvar "CMDECHO")) ; save current command echo value
(setvar "CMDECHO" 0) ; turn of command echo
(command "MSPACE") ; Change to Model Space
(repeat (sslength sset) ; repeat for each object in the selection set
; vla-put-VisualStyle Doesn't work in Bricscad.
; Run SHADEMODE from COMMAND line instead.
(setq ent (entget (ssname sset num))) ; Find VIEWPORT properties
(setvar "CVPORT" (cdr(assoc 69 ent))) ; Make VIEWPORT current
(cond
((= opt 0) (setq shopt "2D")) ; Set VIEWPORT to 2d Wireframe
((= opt 1) (setq shopt "3D")) ; Set VIEWPORT to 3d Wireframe
((= opt 2) (setq shopt "H")) ; Set VIEWPORT to Hidden
((= opt 3) (setq shopt "F")) ; Set VIEWPORT to Flat
((= opt 4) (setq shopt "G")) ; Set VIEWPORT to Gouraud
((= opt 5) (setq shopt "L")) ; Set VIEWPORT to Flat + Edges
((= opt 6) (setq shopt "O")) ; Set VIEWPORT to Gouraud + Edges
)
(command "SHADEMODE" shopt) ; set VIEWPORT to chosen visual style
(setq num (1+ num)) ; increment counter
)
(command "PSPACE") ; return to Paper Space value
(setvar "CMDECHO" saveCM) ; return command echo to saved value
); end setvstyleBCAD
; MAIN PROGRAM
(princ "\nSelect Viewports to change plot settings") ; Provide prompt
(setq sset (ssget '((0 . "VIEWPORT")))) ; select only VIEWPORTS
(if sset
(progn
(initget "2D 3D Hidden Flat Gouraud fLat gOuraud")
(setq ans (getkword "\nVisual Style [2D wireframe/3D wireframe/Hidden/Flat/Gouraud/fLat+edges/gOuraud+edges]: ")) ; prompt for Shadeplot setting
(cond
((= ans "2D") (setq ans 0))
((= ans "3D") (setq ans 1))
((= ans "Hidden") (setq ans 2))
((= ans "Flat") (setq ans 3))
((= ans "Gouraud") (setq ans 4))
((= ans "fLat") (setq ans 5))
((= ans "gOuraud") (setq ans 6))
(t (princ "\nInvalid option or nothing entered") (setq ans nil))
)
(if ans ; if we have a valid value continue
(if (eq (getvar "PROGRAM") "acad") (setvstyleACAD sset ans)(setvstyleBCAD sset ans)) ; run the correct function depending on whether its AutoCAD or Bricscad
)
)
(princ "\nNothing Selected") ; Selection set empty
) ; end if sset
(prin1); make a quiet exit
)
(C:VS) ; Autorun on loadHope this is of help, and keep on placing support requests to get it resolved.
Regards,
Jason Bourhill
0 -
Hi jason,
thanks for your reaction. Any support is very welcome.
The workarounds you mention are the ones I already tried myself, but none of them are a valuable replacement for the hassle free printing we and our users expect.
Bricscad promotes itself as being the best alternative for Autocad and it probably is, but I will keep on pushing the developers for this missing feature.
Regards,
Koen
0 -
Last night I stayed up late to get a job done and spent about 2 1/2 hours creating a 3-d drawing, only to discover that my Bricscad Pro v 11 will not create the hidden line views. Note that I want to create Vector output which will be printed to a PDF file.
I don't understand how best to use the DWG TrueView software. Is just setting each viewport properties to HIDE sufficient?
Joe Dunfee
0 -
Hi Joe,
if you just want to print and get a result where the hidden lines are not shown, the only thing you need to do is set the viewport's property to "hide plot". Then you should be able to print the file to a pdf, using DWG Trueview, with the wanted result.
In Autocad there is a possibilty to print and actually show the hidden lines on the plot as dashed lines, but as far as I know, Bricscad is missing some features (visual style stting) to make that possible. I created a few screen shots from a very simple welding assembly in both Bricscad and Autocad to show these things. Though this last method has a huge downside: it makes plotting very slow and time consuming, so only usable for small models. Plus it only works for solid entities, not for surfaces or such. That's why we usually set all viewports to "hide plot" and manually trace the hidden structure for the necessary views in paperspace (e.g. front, side and back) with standard dashed lines on a layer "hidden lines". This gives you a result with e.g. 1 viewport showing an isometric view of your part and not showing any hidden content, while the other viewports show you the hidden structure as dashed lines and printing goes fast. Another thing I should mention is; this only works for solid entities, not for surfaces or such.
I hope this sheds some light on the matter for you.
We can only hope Bricsys will be doing the necessary programming to add these very welcome features in the near future.
Regards,
Koen
0 -
Give us some weeks, maybe months and we will not disappoint your hopes. Watch us.
Best regards, erik
0 -
Has anything been done about this? I just downloaded and installed the latest version (11.4.6) of Bricscad and there is'nt any "hide plot"
feature. This needs to be resolved! "Shade plot" would be nice too but hide plot is a necessity.
0 -
On my 11.4.2 I was surprised to see that it supported rendered viewports. That is, you have to go into a viewport and select one of the 3-D shademodes (hidden lines is one of them). Note however, that the hideplot setting for the viewport's properties is not effective. You must do it the first way.
Joe Dunfee
0 -
@ Koen Peeters.. Wow Cool company! You guys made the stage for the Rolling Stones? that is just so cool!
0 -
Dear developers,
about 3 months ago you (Eric De Keyser) wrote "Give us some weeks, maybe months and we will not disappoint your hopes".
Any progress yet???
We really need this basic feature!
Koen0
