layer "solo" button

ScottC

Hi, not sure if this is already a thing and I'm just not seeing it, but if not I would find it very useful. So this may be a feature request in which case I can redirect it if necessary.
I would like to have an icon in each layer, right near the on/off icon, which let's you "solo" that layer by turning off all others. Solo comes from recording software that let's you solo a track in one click. I know you can select all the layers and turn them off but that is a multi click process and with lots of layers, you have to scroll down to get them all.
Is there already this functionality somewhere in Bricscad?
thanks..
Scott

David Waight

Scott,
LAYISO could be the command you are looking for.

You access this without having to go into the Layers dialog or the Drawing Explorer.

https://help.bricsys.com/hc/en-us/articles/360006619274-LayIso

Make sure you look at the settings as layers can be either locked or hidden, you can even isolate more than one layer.

HTH

ScottC

Thanks, this works for me.. then to turn them back on I would use Layuniso. Not quite as elegant as a button but maybe if I made keyboard alias' for them it would be fine.
thanks

sorry for the multiple posts - a message came up each time telling me the network was busy and to try again in 30 seconds

Dan Wiseman

Also, you can select layer(s) in the Layers Panel/Dialog and then right-click and select "Isolate Selected Layers" from the pop up. Then use "LayerP" or "LayUnIso" to revert back again.

Michael Mayer

@Dan Wiseman said:
Also, you can select layer(s) in the Layers Panel/Dialog and then right-click and select "Isolate Selected Layers" from the pop up. Then use "LayerP" or "LayUnIso" to revert back again.

Would be nice if there was a Button that would just switch between isolation when activated
and un-isolation when deactivated.

Like Vectorworks has a dropdown to temporarily switch between several Layer states. Like :
Show Active Layer only
Show Active Layer and other transparent (like ACAD locked state ?)
Show All (visible) Layers
Show All (visible) Layers, others snap-able
Show All (visible) Layers, others snap-able and edit-able (= Bricscad's default ?)
and such ....

This way you can very easy switch between between global visibility options without
the need to edit Layer's individual visibilities or lock states.
And without warnings being thrown at you like in Bricscad when you try to activate
a hidden, frozen or locked Layer.
Would be so much better when "being active" would just temporarily overwrite
Layers sub-states, for the time being activated.

martin@enco.us

There is a built-in Layers toolbar that has both Isolate and unisolate.

It would be fairly simple to make this a toggle using Diesel for the toggle and lisp for the command.

ScottC

For me, the problem with layiso is:
I use a lot of 3d blocks, with multiple parts each on different layers within the block.
To activate layiso, you are supposed to select the part whose layer you want to isolate.
When I do that, the layer I'm actually selecting is the one that the block was inserted into, not the layer of the part.
So I'm back to selecting all the layers in the panel to turn them off, then turn on the real layer I want.

@Michael Mayer said:
Would be nice if there was a Button that would just switch between isolation when activated
and un-isolation when deactivated.

Agreed - this is the Solo button in the layer panel that would do what I need. You could also solo multiple layers at a time. When deselected, the layers return to the previous state. Also agree about the all the warnings that need to be clicked off - frustrating.

RoatanBill

An idea.

Once you've started a command and the system is looking for your mouse input, i thought how handy it would be for objects to go transparent as you mouse over them. Enough to see the object, but transparent enough to see through it to what's otherwise hidden. That would avoid many of the gyrations to change the view to see the points you want.

The tab key could keep making things transparent so if multiple things are in the way, they all go transparent. As the mouse moves off an object, it goes back to normal.

Tom Foster

Lately, I've been working in Xray renderstyle, for this v reason.

Then frequently going to 2Dwireframe, which isn't actually a renderstyle but is the 'native' un-messed-with style, so is the only style that's fully accurate for snapping, and coincident edges/vertices don't jitter around when zoomed in.

Tom Foster

@ScottC said:
I use a lot of 3d blocks, with multiple parts each on different layers within the block.
To activate layiso, you are supposed to select the part whose layer you want to isolate.
When I do that, the layer I'm actually selecting is the one that the block was inserted into, not the layer of the part.
So I'm back to selecting all the layers in the panel to turn them off, then turn on the real layer I want.

Exactly - this is on top of also not being able to use HideObject within a Block or Xref i.e. not within a Bedit or Refedit session, as being currently discussed in https://forum.bricsys.com/discussion/36126/refedit-with-double-click#latest .

So basically there's no practical way of making 3D elements temporarily invisible so you can see and work on something behind or within, if you're using Blocks, as I constantly do in 2D and wish I could in 3D too. You have to have the 3D model as one big 'non-Block'. Really enraging. Especially as it's not because technically impossible - early versions of V19 did allow HideObject within Refedit sessions, and also brilliantly controllable from Structure Panel - but that facility was removed!

A Block can be HideObject'd, but not its contents once the Block is opened in Refedit or Bedit. Unlike other elements, a Block doesn't disappear when its Layer is switched Off, only when Frozen.

ScottS

@RoatanBill said:
An idea.

Once you've started a command and the system is looking for your mouse input, i thought how handy it would be for objects to go transparent as you mouse over them. Enough to see the object, but transparent enough to see through it to what's otherwise hidden. That would avoid many of the gyrations to change the view to see the points you want.

The tab key could keep making things transparent so if multiple things are in the way, they all go transparent. As the mouse moves off an object, it goes back to normal.

@RoatanBill This is a terrific idea to enhance the tab key, already handy for cycling through selections of overlapping entities, faces, or edges. However, currently, once you tab beyond the foremost object or two, it can be hard to see which entity is getting highlighted. Especially where coincident faces occur. If the objects in front turned transparent, though, as you tabbed deeper, that could be a really useful option.

This idea should also enhance entity snaps: when the cursor hovers over a snap point on a hidden object beyond, when that snap is highlighted, maybe after a short delay, an instant x-ray view exposes the entity that is actually about to get snapped to. Or, if that's too much graphic acrobatics, at least with the tabbing transparency capability it would be nice to be able to deactivate snaps to hidden objects (cf @Joe Dunfee's request some years ago) until they get unveiled.

Taking the tabbing concept a couple steps further, maybe while tabbing the ctrl key could let you choose either to turn foreground objects transparent (x-ray), or to hide them—or to x-ray-ify or turn off their corresponding layers.... There should also be a way, with the shift key, say, to "lock in" the visibility state of those entities if you want to preserve it when the mouse moves away, or for subsequent commands.

And then, just maybe, there would be a way to save a snapshot of such visibility states into named views, so that it becomes a tool not only for modeling but also for presentation and documentation.

RoatanBill

@ScottS

There are numerous ways to approach revealing hidden objects and only the developers know which approach makes any sense from their perspective. I'm sure if they thought about it for a while they could come up with even better ideas because they know the code base.

The user interface for something like this is again their call. I'd just like them and you CAD Professionals to consider it. I'm just a CAD lightweight.

James Maeding

@RoatanBill
That is correct, and I have written many layer related commands.
They should be key-ins, not graphical picks too, though I have some toolbars with them.
I tell people if they are going to layer manager, they are doing it wrong 95% of the time, assuming you have a few decent tools.
The most helpful one is my "CC" (change layer/color/linetype) in the free purgeids tools I give out.
It lets you pick one item, then shows entity info, and layer props in the dialog.
You can edit the props right there.
It lets you walk up and down the nesting level, so you can jump to a blocks insertion layer, rather than the actual line layer.
I could customize that to have an "isolate layer" button, not a bad idea.

ScottS

@James Maeding said:
They should be key-ins, not graphical picks

I agree. What I really like about @RoatanBill's idea is how it would let you navigate the visibility of objects and/or layers "on the fly", i.e., in the middle of other commands. Having to go click a toolbar or drop-down would defeat the purpose. So I was just suggesting potential ways to expand his idea with some modifier keys that already have similar functions elsewhere in BC. Whatever method maximizes ease of use, quick access, and choice of options.

I tell people if they are going to layer manager, they are doing it wrong 95% of the time, assuming you have a few decent tools.
The most helpful one is my "CC" (change layer/color/linetype) in the free purgeids tools I give out.
It lets you pick one item, then shows entity info, and layer props in the dialog.
You can edit the props right there.
It lets you walk up and down the nesting level, so you can jump to a blocks insertion layer, rather than the actual line layer.
I could customize that to have an "isolate layer" button, not a bad idea.

Sounds useful, like rollover tips enhanced for blocks.

ScottC

That does sound useful. The less hunting for pulldowns, menus and panels the better. @James Maeding - Any chance of posting that here if you add that functionality?
cheers..

Hans De Backer

Hi ScottC,

what happens when an entity is hovered and highlighted (when SelectionPreview is activated), can be controlled in fine detail when a 'rendered' visual style is active, that is: any style different from 2dWireframe.

From what you wrote, my assumption is you would prefer to set RedHilite_HiddenEdge_Alpha to 90 instead of the default value of 50...

No kidding: RedHilite_HiddenEdge_Alpha??

Admittedly, the name of this setting could do with improvement...
It controls the transparency /opacity ('Alpha') of hidden edges of selected 3dSolids when highlighted in case the Red(way) graphical (render) device is used ( = non-2dWireframe visual style). And yes, there's more than a dozen similar related settings.

Just give it a try, change this setting and hover a 3dSolid, chances are you will get what I mean.

But, when hovering a block, by default only the visible edges of the 3dSolids it contains are highlighted... bummer? No, press the Ctrl key while hovering the solids or other (sub)entities contained in the block, and you will see the hoped for 'hidden' stuff come forward.

Maybe not perfect, but perhaps, helpful?

ScottC

Hi Hans, I have selectionpreview set to 3, and I changed RedHilite_HiddenEdge_Alpha to 90 as per your suggestion. I see the hidden lines become brighter with the higher setting (when using control key/hover) which is helpful with opaque styles like Conceptual. I normally use X-Ray style though so I can see these entities anyway so this is not a problem.

One suggestion was to be able to select a part of a nested block so I could use layiso (keyboard). I still like the solo button on layer manager but this would work too. I should mention I use mechanical parametric blocks as in the attached image. If I want the drawers (which are a nested block on the drawer layer), to be "soloed" I would like a very quick method to do that. It seems like as soon as something is in a block it becomes much harder to work with for me, but maybe with cycling selection method or a layer manager solo button, this could be accomplished somehow?