Graphic Display Management

View is a combination of the size, position and orientation of a drawing fragment on the screen.

There are different tools and methods allowing you to orient in the document when you edit it. You can zoom or pan the working area for visual control of changes in the document; you can save a selected view for further display or printing; you can separate the working area of a document into several nonoverlapping viewports to display different drawing fragments at the same time.

Display Modes

The main methods to change the document display on the screen are zooming and panning.

Zoom command enlarges the view of a drawing segment for better detailing or decreases it to display more of the drawing. Absolute sizes are not changed during zooming.

Pan command allows you to pan the drawing without decreasing or enlarging it.

Zoom and Pan commands are available in the View – Zoom menu or on the Zoom toolbar. For your convenience, most frequently used commands are on the Main toolbar and in the status bar.

For more convenience, the most often used commands are also available in the Main toolbar and in the status bar.

Note

You can zoom using the mouse wheel. Moving the mouse with the wheel pressed and held allows panning.

Pan Command

The mode to pan the image, occurs when you move the cursor with pressed left button, the image is moved dynamically to horizontal, vertical and diagonal directions. The scale of the document is not changed.

After starting the command, the cursor has the shape.

With the left button pressed, the cursor has the shape. In a perspective projection, the center relative to which the movement will be carried out is highlighted with a colored icon - a blue sphere . To exit from pan mode, press the ESC or ENTER buttons.

Zoom

Status bar – Navigate

Command line: ZOOM, Z

Turns on the mode in which you can increase an object’s size on the screen by moving the mouse up and decrease it by moving it down. All available options are displayed in the command line:

Specify corner of window or [All/Center/Dynamic/Extents /Scale/RScale/Window/Object] :

Command options:

All Displays the entire document on the screen, even if some of its objects are outside the established limits.

Identical to calling the All command.

In this document display mode, not only the boundaries of the drawing are taken into account, but also the boundaries of the established document limits:

Center Places the image in the center of the screen. Scale of the document is not changed, only the image is panned.

Displays the image in the center in the specified point with given scaling

coefficient or height.

Identical to launching the Center command.

Setting height value less than current one leads to image increase. Setting larger value results in image reduction

Dynamic Changes scale of the image on the screen in real time.

Identical to calling the Real time command.

The cursor’s movement enlarges the image on the screen, if the left button of mouse is pressed and the cursor goes. The image decreases on the screen, if the left button of the mouse is pressed and the cursor goes down.

Extents Displays the entire document inside its borders.

Identical to calling the Borders command.

Borders of the specified document limits are not taken into account (in comparison with All):

Previous Consecutive display of previous views on the screen.

Scale Changes the scale of the document using the precise scale factor.

Identical to calling the Scale command.

The image on the screen is decreased or increased according to the specified document limits and the value.

RScale Changes the document scale using the precise scale factor.

The image on the screen is decreased or increased relative to the limits of the current document view and according to the specified value.

Window Specifies display area of the document using two opposite corners of a rectangular frame.

Identical to calling the Window command.

Object Displays selected objects of the document on the screen.

Identical to calling the Selected command.

Select one or several objects on the screen after you select the Object option. The image is displayed after all objects are selected and the ENTER button is pressed.

If objects were selected beforehand – the display of image is reconstructed after the Object option is selected.

Realtime

Command line: ZOOMD, VIEWZOOMDYNAMIC

Turns on the interactive image zooming mode, in which moving the mouse cursor with the left button pressed and held up the screen enlarges the view on the screen, and moving downward – reduces it.

After starting the command from the View menu or the Main toolbar, the cursor looks as follows: .

Releasing the mouse button suspends the zoom, you can move the cursor to a different position, and then click again to continue zooming in the new position.

To exit the zoom mode, press ESC or ENTER.

Note

In addition, it is convenient to zoom in by rotating the mouse wheel. In this case, the zoom step can be set in the Mouse settings – 3D Orbit settings – Mouse wheel to rotate 3D orbit of the Options dialog box.

Window

Sets the display area of the document by specifying two opposite corners of a rectangular frame.

In the process of specifying, for precise positioning of the window, it is convenient to use a one-time object snap from the context menu calling it by clicking the right mouse button while holding CTRL (or SHIFT).

Scale

Menu: View – Navigation > Zoom scale

Toolbar: Navigation –

Changes the scale (zoom rate) of a document by specifying the exact scale factor.

The screen image is enlarged or reduced by a specified value relative to the specified document limits.

Zoom 1:1

Ribbon: View – Navigate > Zoom 1:1

Menu: View – Zoom > Zoom 1:1

Command line: ZOOM1, VIEWZOOM1X1

An image is scaled so that one pixel on the screen corresponds to one image point according to the specified DPI value.

Zoom Center

Ribbon: View – Zoom > Center

Menu: View – Zoom > Center

Toolbar: Zoom –

Displays image in the center in the specified point with given scaling coefficient or height.

Command prompts:

Specify center point: Enter magnification or height <200.00>:

First specify the point that will be the center of zoomed fragment, and then set magnification or height. One can enter numeric value in the command line or determine height by specifying two points on the screen.

Setting height value less than current one leads to image increase. Setting larger value results in image reduction.

Zoom All

Ribbon: View – Navigate > Zoom All

Menu: View – Zoom > Zoom All

Toolbar: Main –

Status bar:

Hotkeys: ALT+0

Command line: ZOOMALL, VIEWZOOMALL

Displays the whole document, even if some objects are outside the specified limits.

Zoom Selected

Ribbon: View – Navigate > Zoom Object

Menu: View – Zoom > Zoom Selected

Toolbar: Main –

Command line: FITSEL, FITSELECTED

Displays the selected objects.

Zoom Window

Ribbon: View – Navigate > Zoom Window

Menu: View – Zoom > Zoom Window

Toolbar: Main –

Status bar –

Command line: ZOOMW

Selects an area on the screen, the area is specified with two opposite corners of the rectangular frame.

Zoom In

Ribbon: View – Navigate > Zoom In

Menu: View – Zoom > Zoom In

Command line: ZOOMIN

Doubles the scale.

Zoom Out

Ribbon: View – Navigate > Zoom Out

Menu: View – Zoom > Zoom Out

Command line: ZOOMOUT

Decreases the scale by half.

Extents

Ribbon: View – Navigate > Extents

Menu: View – Navigation > Zoom Extents

Toolbar: Navigation –

Displays the entire document on the screen within its extents.

In this mode of displaying a document (in contrast to the All option), the boundaries of the set document limits are not taken into account.

Previous

Ribbon: View – Navigate > Previous

Menu: View – Navigation > Zoom Previous

Toolbar: Navigation –

Sequential display of previous views on the screen.

Setting of the Orthographic and Isometric Views

To quickly set the view, select the View – Views and select the required standard orthographic and isometric views.

Orthographic Views

Set Top

Menu: View – Views > Set Top

Command line: VIEW1

Set the top view.

Set Bottom

Menu: View – Views > Set Bottom

Command line: VIEW2

Set the bottom view.

Set Left

Command line: VIEW4

Set the left view.

Set Right

Menu: View – Views > Set Right

Command line: VIEW5

Set the right view.

Set Front

Menu: View – Views > Set Front

Command line: VIEW3

Set the front view.

Set Back

Menu: View – Views > Set Back

Command line: VIEW6

Set the back view.

Isometric Views

SW Isometric

Menu: View – Views > SW Isometric

Command line: SWISO

Set the southwest isometric view.

SE Isometric

Menu: View – Views > SE Isometric

Command line: SEISO

Set the southeast isometric view.

NE Isometric

Menu: View – Views > NE Isometric

Command line: NEISO

Set the northeast isometric view.

NW Isometric

Menu: View – Views > NW Isometric

Command line: NWISO

Set the northwest isometric view.

Managing the Display of Annotative Objects

Annotative objects are usually scaled differently than drawing views. Annotative objects are defined not by the model size, but by the sheet height. They are assigned with one or more scales. A scale depends on how such objects should look when printed.

If you have annotative objects in the drawing, you can control their display.

Display of annotative objects according to the current scale

Ribbon: Annotate – Annotation Scaling > Current Scale

Menu: View – Show Annotative Objects > Current Scale

Display of all annotative objects

Ribbon: Annotate – Annotation Scaling> All Scales

Menu: View – Show Annotative Objects > All Scales

Note

If a drawing has a large number of scales, this may slow down the processing of that drawing and other drawings that reference the drawing. To remove unused scales, it is recommended to delete scales by running the -PURGE command and selecting the Annotative scales option. This check is also carried out when opening a document.

3D Navigation

3D Orbit

Rotate view in 3D when camera moves on horizontal and vertical orbits.

Cursor will be changed to: .

The target of the view stays stationary while the camera location, or point of view, moves by mouse movements.

If you are moving cursor horizontally – camera is moving in XY plane of the WCS. If you are moving cursor vertically – camera is moving along Z-axis.

The example below shows the rotation of the view relative to a point located on a translucent object “window glass”.

You can set orbit options in Mouse settings – 3D Orbit settings – Orbit center in Options dialog box.

Set one of two center point location:

Parameters:

Visible objects Center of the objects you’re viewing is the center of orbit. Thus if you see

the part of circle, center of this circle is orbit center.

Visible parts of Center of the objects parts you’re viewing is the center of orbit. Thus if you

objects see the part of circle, center of this part is orbit center.

The Orbit command can be activated at any time in out-of-command mode by pressing the mouse wheel or by pressing SHIFT + wheel, depending on the settings:

To disable the possibility to call the Orbit using the mouse wheel (with and without SHIFT), uncheck Rotate the model with the mouse wheel box. This can be useful when working in a 2D projection, for example, with a geodetic plan.

Free Orbit

Orbits in any direction without reference to the planes.

Cursor will be changed to: .

The Free orbit type has an arcball, which is geometrically a big circle divided into four quadrants by four small circles. The camera position moves around the target. By default, the target point is the arcball center, it does not coincide with the geometric center of the set of objects being considered.

The position of target point (orbit center) can be set in the Mouse settings – Orbit settings – Orbit center section of the Options dialog box.

Options:

Visible objects Specifies the center of set of objects visible in the graphic

area as the orbit rotation center. Thus, if only a part of circle is displayed on the screen, the rotation will be carried

out around the center of this circle.

Visible parts of objects Specifies the center of set of object parts visible in the

graphic area as the orbit rotation center. Thus, if only a part of circle is displayed on the screen, the rotation will be carried out around the center of the circle part visible on

the screen.

3D-Navigation View Modes

Perspective

Ribbon: View – Navigate > Perspective View

Ribbon: Point clouds – Navigate > Prospective View

Toolbar: Views and projections –

Command line: FITPERSPECTIVEVIEW

Displays 3D-model in the perspective projection mode. When using 3D Walk and 3D Fly commands the mode starts automatically.

Orthogonality

Ribbon: View – Navigate > Orthogonal View

Ribbon: Point clouds – Navigate > Orthogonal View

Toolbar: Views and projections –

Command line: FITORTOGONALVIEW

Displays 3D model in orthogonal projection mode.

Differences in Zooming in 3D-Projections

The result of scrolling the mouse wheel in a perspective projection differs from the work in a parallel one. While in a parallel projection the scale of display changes, which results in visual extension or compression of the visible area (analogue of Zoom+/- command), then in the perspective projection the viewpoint moves farther or closer from/to the nearest visible object, which is the analogue of Fly command (3DFLY).

Thus, scrolling the mouse wheel in a perspective projection allows you to “go through” all visible objects, in contrast to a parallel projection, where the same action will only lead to the change of display scale, i.e. visual “stretching” of the visual area.

In addition, the step of changing the display scale in a parallel projection, as well as the step of moving the camera in a perspective projection is calculated adaptively depending on the distance to the object

under cursor, so that zooming/approaching to remote objects is faster, with adaptive step reduction while approaching. In case if the cursor projection along the camera line does not fall on any object, i.e. the cursor is “in emptiness”, the default step value is used, as it was in the previous version.

3D-Fly

Ribbon: View – Navigate > Fly

Menu: View – Walk and fly > Fly

Toolbar: View toolbar –

Command line: 3DFLY

Navigate 3D model in the perspective projection. You can change direction and height of moving.

After the command starts, the document window goes into fly mode and a perspective projection is set.

Cursor color changes to green. Top left corner displays current fly settings: walk step, coordinates of camera, coordinates of target. Command line displays inquire:

Fly or [waLk/eXit]:

Walk option changes navigation to Walk mode (3DWALK command). Exit option and ESC button finish the command.

Main direction of move in 3DFLY command is forward to the target. Other available moves are relative to the forward: left, right, back, up, down.

To perform the fly, press and hold down the key corresponding to the desired direction. At the end of movement in one direction, you must release the pressed key and press the key corresponding to movement in the other direction.

Used buttons:

UP (on the main and numerical keyboard), W Move up

LEFT (on the main and numerical keyboard), A Move left

RIGHT (on the main and numerical keyboard), D Move right

DOWN (on the main and numerical keyboard), S Move down

PAGE UP, Q Move up

PAGE DOWN, E Move down

+ (on the main and numerical keyboard) Increase step

– (on the main and numerical keyboard) Decrease step

While interrupting the movement, but remaining within the command, you can, by pressing the + or – keys once, increase or decrease the step (and, accordingly, the speed) of the movement by half. The default initial step value is 1 mm. The minimum acceptable value is 0.0001 mm. If you change the step and save the drawing, next time the saved step value will be offered as the initial value in the 3DFLY command.

Maximum step value is 1, minimum – 0.0001. Step value is saved with drawing. Press two buttons at the same time. For example, UP and LEFT to move in left-up direction.

To change the height, use Up and Down moving. To move camera without target, move mouse.

Note

Mouse wheel doesn’t work as zoom.

When navigating directly inside 3D model objects, the model appears to be clipped by the front view plane.

3D-Walk

Ribbon: View – Navigate > Walk

Menu: View – Walk and Fly > Walk

Toolbar: View toolbar –

Command line: 3DWALK

Command is similar to 3DFLY.

Navigate 3D model in the perspective projection parallel to z=0 plane in UCS. You can change direction of moving. You can change the height of moving for the following move on new height.

Started 3DWALK command sets perspective projection. Walk mode is similar to Fly mode, but step value is Walk step. Steps for Walk and Fly are the same.

Command line displays inquire:

Walk or [fLy/eXit]:

Fly option changes navigation to Fly mode (3DFLY command). Exit option and ESC button finish the command.

Working with 3DWALK command is similar to working with 3DFLY command in the current UCS.

Plan

A plan view is a view aimed toward the origin (0,0,0) from a point on the positive Z axis in UCS or WCS. This results in a view of the XY plane.

Ribbon: View – Coordinates > Current UCS

Ribbon: View – Coordinates > WCS

Ribbon: View – Coordinates > Named UCS

Menu: View – Views – PlanView > Current UCS

Menu: View – Views – PlanView > WCS

Menu: View – Views – PlanView > Named UCS

Command Line: PLAN

You can select current UCS, named UCS or WCS

Options:

Current Changes the view to XY plane in current UCS. Used by default

UCS

UCS Changes the view to XY plane in saved UCS. You will be asked for the name of

the saved UCS.

WCS Changes the view to XY plane in the WCS.

The Plan command changes view, but doesn’t change current UCS. All coordinates entered or displayed after running the command are counted relative to the current UCS.

View Cutting Planes

Ribbon: View – Navigate > SecantPlanes

Ribbon: Point clouds – Navigate > SecantPlanes

Toolbar: Navigate > SecantPlanes

Command line: DVIEW

For a view you can set front and/or back clipping planes that hide all objects located outside the space between these planes. The position of clipping planes is regulated by sliders moving them closer of farther from the point of view.

Note

View clipping planes are not drawing objects, but are display parameters (conditions).

Command options:

Front Displays a slider at the top of the workspace that allows you to adjust the

position of the front clipping plane. The back clipping plane is not specified (i.e.,

it is assumed to be at an infinite distance from the point of view).

Back Displays a slider at the top of the workspace that allows you to adjust the

position of the back clipping plane. The front clipping plane is not specified (i.e.,

it is assumed to be the same as the screen plane).

BOth Displays a slider at the top of the workspace that allows you to adjust the

position of both the front and back clipping planes.

Off The option is available when the command has already been called earlier and the clipping planes have been set. Hides a slider at the top of the workspace and turns off clipping planes.

Command prompts:

Select clipping plane or [Front/Back/BOth/Off]:

Specify the required option.

After starting the command and selecting the desired mode for specifying the clipping planes, you should adjust the position of these planes by moving the slider grips in the upper part of the workspace. Initially, the front plane is located at the point of view, and the back one at the maximum distance.

Display mode for both clipping planes. The position of planes is not adjusted:

Moving the front clipping plane away from the viewpoint while clipping the front objects:

Moving the back clipping plane towards the point of view while clipping off the background objects:

Viewport Tools for Views Management

Locator

Locator is a visual tool that can be used both in 2D model space and in 3D navigation, it allows you to:

• quickly identify the current orientation of a view (by the position of the orange marker point and the name of the view at the bottom of the locator);
• switch between orthographic, intermediate and isometric views (by clicking on the locator elements);
• set any arbitrary view (by clicking on the locator while holding down CTRL key).

The display of Locator and View control tools on the screen is managed through the menu of sign

When opening a document or working with drawing elements, the Locator is inactive and shows the current position of the view with the dot mark . The view name is translated in the tooltip below.

When you hover the cursor, the tool becomes active.

Each Locator element is responsible for setting a particular view.

The diagram below shows the location of vertices of orthographic views on the locator. Vertices are connected by edges of intermediate view. Zones of isometric views are located between these edges (light gray sectors in the diagram).

For example, knot circles serve to install orthogonal views, edges – intermediate views, and segments – isometric ones.

Setting an arbitrary view

In addition to the preset views, the locator allows you to set any desired view. To do this, click to select the desired position on the locator while holding down the CTRL key. The orange marker will be positioned exactly at the specified location, not just in the center of the locator zone. Below is the result of a normal click and click using CTRL.

View rotation mode

When you hover the cursor over the locator with the ALT key pressed, it changes its appearance and switches to the view rotation mode. The mode allows you to rotate the current view around the axis of the viewing direction. In other words, it is possible to rotate the view clockwise or counterclockwise in the plane of the current view.

For example, an arbitrary view is displayed.

When you move the cursor over the locator and hold down the ALT, the locator will change its appearance.

Click on the locator while holding ALT will turn the view to the specified position. The arrow position indicates the current rotation position of the view.

For accurate rotation for 90 degrees, click on one of the four circles on the locator edges.

After releasing the ALT key, the locator will return to its normal state.

LOCATORDISPLAY, NAVVCUBEDISPLAY System Variables

The LOCATORDISPLAY and NAVVCUBEDISPLAY system variables control the display of the Locator tool in the current viewport when the current visual style is applied.

Acceptable values:

• 0 the Locator is not displayed in 2D and 3D visual styles;
• 1 the Locator is displayed in 3D visual styles, but not in 2D visual styles;
• 2 the Locator is displayed in 2D visual styles, but not in 3D visual styles;
• 3 (default) the Locator is displayed in 2D and 3D visual styles.

LOCATORLOCATION System Variable

The LOCATORLOCATION system variable determines the corner of the viewport in which the Locator tool is displayed: 0 (default) – upper right, 1 - upper left, 2 - lower left, 3 - lower right. In the current version, only the Locator is displayed in the upper right corner, regardless of the set value.

LOCATOROPACITY System Variable

The LOCATOROPACITY system variable controls the transparency of the inactive locator.

Default value: 50.

Acceptable values: from 0 to 100 percent. 0% - the ViewCube is not displayed in the viewport, except when the cursor is over the Locator location. Less than 100% - the Locator merges with the background of the drawing window and obscures objects underneath it to a lesser extent. 100% - the Locator is completely opaque in the drawing window and obscures all objects underneath it in the viewport.

The current version only supports 50% transparency, regardless of the set value.

LOCATORSIZE System Variable

The LOCATORSIZE system variable allows you to set the Locator size: 0 – small, 1 – normal, 2 – large, 3 – small, 4 (default) – automatic mode (the size increases or decreases depending on the size of the active viewport, the scale factor of the active layout, or the size of the drawing window).

The current version only supports the automatic mode, regardless of the set value.

LOCATORORIENT system variable

The LOCATORORIENT system variable allows you to control the mode to set the current (custom or default) view of model space.

If the value of the system variable is 1 (UCS view orientation), then when you switch to the UCS, the view orientation changes in accordance with the direction of the axes of the current user coordinate system, which is reflected by the position of the locator marker (orange dot).

If the value of the system variable is 0 (corresponds to the orientation of the view according to the WCS), then when switching to the UCS, the orientation of the view will be determined relative to the world coordinate system.

The system variable only applies to setting custom views using the locator and from the context menu of the View Control widget.

The variable does not apply to setting views using the VIEW command, toolbars, calls from ribbon or menus.

Managing display of line weight on the screen

Line weight (width) is a width assigned to graphic primitives. Line weight allows to get thin and thick lines when creating a drawing.

Line weight is differently displayed in paper space and in model space.

Displaying in model space:

Line of a 1 pixel width corresponds to 0 line weight in model space. Display widths in pixels of other line weights are set proportionally to their values and do not depend on zooming in or out on the screen. For example, if a line weight is 4 pixels, primitives having such line weight are displayed with 4 pixel width on the screen, even though they are zoomed in.

Displaying in paper space:

Displayed in paper space line width of primitives is always the same as their line weights. That is why when a paper space list is zoomed, displayed width of primitives is changed.

To turn on/off display of line weights on the screen use the SW in the status bar.

Primitives having a width more than one pixel increase a regeneration time of drawing; productivity of program decreases if display of line weights is on. It is recommended to switch off the display of line weights. It does not affect displaying line weights (widths) when you print a drawing.

You can change a scale of line weights display for primitives in model space.

Lineweight Settings Dialog

Command Line: LINEWEIGHT

The command opens the Lineweight Settings dialog box to set the lineweight current value and measurement units, to control the lineweights display and scale, as well as to select the Default lineweight value for layers.

Options:

Current Lineweight List of standard lineweights.

Select from list of standard lineweights or special values By Layer, By Block or By Default. By Default value is defined by LWDEFAULT system variable. For all new layers lineweight is set By Default.

Units:

Millimiters (mm) Sets lineweight units to millimiters.

Inches (in) Sets lineweight units to inches.

Display Lineweight Sets the display of lines in the drawing according to the line weight.

When the box is checked, the lines are displayed according to their

weight in both the paper space and the model space.

By Default Sets By Default value for new layers (LWDEFAULT system variable).

Adjust Display Scale Sets the scale of the on-screen display of line weights for the model

space. Controls the value of the LWDISPLAY system variable. The value of the variable LWDISPLAY = 0 disables the display of line weights on the screen (disables the WEIGHT button in the status bar). The value of the variable LWDISPLAY = 1 corresponds to a screen display scale of 1.0.

To select a scale factor, change the position of the scale pointer.

Note

Using lineweight width that is more than one pixel may slow down performance on display regeneration. To speedup work in Model space you can decrease Adjust Display Scale setting or switch off Display Lineweight. Lineweights are always plotted at their real value whether their display is turned on or off.

.

Control the Display of Hatched Objects

Status bar: HATCH

Ribbon: Annotate – Hatch > Show Hatches

Command line: VIEWSHOWHATCHES)

The command to turn on and off the display of hatched objects, such as wide polylines, rings, shapes, fills, and hatches.

When the mode is turned off, objects are displayed as outlines on the screen, which increases the speed of processing large files and is also used when printing draft drawings.

Switching the fill mode does not affect objects drawn with line weight.

After switching the mode, the Regeneration (REGEN) command is automatically launched.

Display performance can also be improved by simplifying the text display.

Managing Named Views

When you perform a project, you often have to work with different fragments of a document. Navigation commands in the document (zooming and panning) and tools used to switch from model space to paper space and back are often used. You can save fragments of the document which are

frequently used as named view. Named views allow you to switch between one part of the document to another.

Ribbon: View – Views > Set View

Menu: View – Named Views

Command line: VIEW, -VIEW

Hot keys: ALT+E

The command allows creating, restoring and deleting named views from the model space and paper space.

After the command is started, the prompt of available options is shown in the command line:

Enter an option [?/Delete/Orthographic/Restore/Save/Settings/Window]:

Command options:

? Displays named views in the document.

Option starts the following prompt in the command line:

Enter view name(s) to list <*>:

Asterisk symbol (*) is set in the angle brackets by default, it means that when you press the ENTER a full list of named views is displayed in the command line:

Saved views:

The M letter means that named view is in the model space and L letter in paper space.

Delete Deletes named view.

Orthographic Selects standard orthogonal view.

The option starts the following prompt in the command line:

Enter an option [Top/Bottom/Front/Back/Left/Right] :

Options:

Top - Sets top view.

Bottom - Sets bottom view.

Front - Sets front view.

Back - Sets back view. Left - Sets left view.

Right - Sets right view.

Restore Restores the view (selected view is displayed on the screen).

Save Sets a name to the current view, displayed on the screen.

Settings Specifies the display properties of restored named view.

The option starts the following prompt in the command line:

Enter an option [BackGround/Categorize/Layer Snapshot/Live Section/UCS/Visual style]:

Options:

BackGround – Redefines background for view of model space, which does not have “2D Frame” value of visual style.

Categorize – Displays view category, specified in the drawing (for the views of model and layouts).

Layer Snapshot – Defines switch on/off parameters of the current view to be saved or not, with the named view (for the views of model and layouts).

Live Section – Displays live section used when the view is restored (only for model views)

UCS - Defines UCS to be saved or not, with the named view (for the views of model and layouts).

Visual style – Defines a visual style to be saved with view (only for model views)

Window Creates a new named view by specifying opposite corners of the rectangular area on the screen.

To save a current view:

Command prompts:

Enter an option [?/Delete/Orthographic/Restore/Save/Settings/Win dow]:

Select option Save.

Enter view name to save: Enter a view name and press ENTER.

To save several views at once:

Command prompts:

Enter an option [?/Delete/Orthographic/Restore/Save /

Select option Window.

Settings/Window]:

Specify first corner: Specify first corner of the rectangular area of the first view.

Note

After the view name is specified the image is autopanned to display a created named view on the screen.

To restore (display on the screen) a named view:

Command prompts:

To switch quickly between the view use the button at the end of the layouts tab bar. Click on it and the context menu displaying all existing layouts tabs and named views in the document is shown:

There are named views in the top part of the menu and layout tabs in the bottom part. Named views of the model are marked with Model: prefix, named views of the layout are marked with a prefix of the

corresponding layout’s name (Layout1:, Layout2:, A4: etc.). The current tab is marked with sign. Click on the corresponding menu item to switch to the required named view.

To delete a named view:

Command prompts:

Order of Objects

When editing a document, the objects are shown in the order that they were created. Some objects can be overlapped or obscure each other. To correct the situation, the order of the objects (their display on the screen) can be changed, one object can be placed in front of another.

Commands to change the order of objects allow you to regulate the display of overlapping objects in one plane.

Note

It is not possible to set a common order of objects for the model space and paper space: the order is set separately on each tab.

The Draworder command controls the order of drawing all objects. After running it, a prompt is displayed in the command line:

Enter object ordering option or [Above_objects/Under_objects/Front/Back]:

Commands to change the order of objects are shown in the Tools – Display Order and on the Display Order toolbar:

• Bring to Front;
• Send to Back;
• Bring Forward;
• Send Backward.

In addition to Display order command the Objectorder command can change draw order for such objects as text, dimensions and hatches.

Attention

The Objectorder command does not work with text objects, dimension objects and hatches that are included in blocks and external references. Work with the leader text and the table text is also not supported by this command.

After running the command, a prompt is displayed in the command line:

Select an option [TT/DT/TDT/HB]:

Commands to change the order of text, dimension and hatch objects are shown in the Tools – Display Order and on the Display Order toolbar:

• Texts to front;
• Dimensions to front;
• Texts and dimensions to front;

The command to change the display order of hatches: in the menu Tools – Display order > Hatches to back.

The version of the Purge document command to work from the command line (-PURGE) allows you to clear the object sorting table. The sorting table contains lists of the order of the objects. Sometimes there are so many such records that the program starts working with the document much slower. Purging this list removes empty entries, greatly speeding up your work.

Bring to Front

Menu: Tools – Display Order > Bring to Front

Toolbar Display Order –

Command line: DR, DRAWORDER, DRAWORDER1

Forces the selected object to be displayed in front of all other objects.

Send to Back

Menu: Tools – Display Order > Send to Back

Toolbar: Display Order –

Command line: DR, DRAWORDER, DRAWORDER2

Forces the selected object to be displayed behind all other objects.

Bring Forward

Menu: Tools – Display Order > Bring Forward

Toolbar: Display Order –

Command line: DR, DRAWORDER, DRAWORDER3

Forces the selected object to be displayed in front of the object located in front of it.

Send Backward

Menu: Tools – Display Order > Send Backward

Toolbar: Display Order –

Command line: DR, DRAWORDER, DRAWORDER4

Forces the selected object to be displayed behind the object located beneath.

Bring Texts to the Front

Menu: Tools – Display Order > Bring to Front Only Texts

Toolbar: Display Order –

Command Line: TEXTTOFRONT

Change draw order for all texts in the drawing or all texts from selection to the Front.

Bring Dimensions to the Front

Menu: Tools–Display Order > Bring to Front Only > Dimensions

Toolbar: Display Order –

Command Line: TEXTTOFRONT

Change draw order for all dimensions in the drawing or all dimensions from selection to the Front.

Bring Texts and Dimensions to the Front

Menu: Tools– Display Order > Bring to Front Only > Text and Dimensions

Toolbar: Display Order –

Command Line: TEXTTOFRONT

Change draw order for all dimensions and texts in the drawing or all dimensions and texts from selection to the Front.

Send Hatches to the Back

Menu: Tools– Display Order > Hatches to the Back

Toolbar: Display Order –

Command Line: TEXTTOFRONT

Change draw order for all hatches and fills in the drawing or all hatches and fills from selection to the Back.

Control the Objects Visibility

Objects Isolation

The isolation commands control the visibility of objects by isolating or hiding a selection set. Use ISOLATEOBJECTS and HIDEOBJECTS to create a temporary drawing view with selected objects isolated or hidden.

The commands are used to create a temporary view of the document when you need to hide the selected objects, or isolate - leave visible only the selected objects, hiding all others.

The commands for controlling the display of objects are located in context menu and Tools – Isolate Objects menu:

• Isolate Objects

• Hide Objects

• Undo isolation step

• Redo isolation step

• Unisolate objects

Note

Isolation and its undo is independent of the general undo-redo mechanism (UNDO/REDO). For example, you can isolate a set of objects, edit them, and then roll the isolation back to a previous visibility state. In this case, all changes for the edited objects will remain.

Control the display of objects placed in the menu of Toggle Isolate button in status bar.

Isolate objects mode:

Persistent isolation Selected objects stay hidden or isolated after save, close and reopen

of drawing.

Temporary isolation Selected objects are isolated or hidden in the current program

session.

Button form and menu composition depends on the presence of hidden and isolated objects:

• there are no hidden and isolated objects in the drawing.

Available functions:

Isolate objects

Hide objects

• there are hidden and isolated objects in the drawing.

Available functions:

Isolate more objects

Hide more objects

Unisolate objects in current layout

Unisolate objects in all layouts

Undo isolation step

Redo isolation step

Isolate Objects

Command Line: ISOLATEOBJECTS

If you isolate objects, only the isolated objects appear in the view.

Hide Objects

Undo Isolation Step

Successive undo f actions to isolate or hide objects..

Redo Isolation Step

Successive redo of undone steps of isolating or hiding objects.

Unisolate Objects

Command to redisplay the hidden objects.

You can unisolate objects in all drawing layouts or only in the current layout by selecting the required option in the command line:

Unisolate objects [in_All_layouts/in_Current_layout/] <in_Current_layout>:You can choose option to cancel objects isolation on the Isolate objects toolbar and on the ribbon – View tab – Isolate group**:**

Turns on visibility of earlier isolated or hidden objects in the current layout

Turns on visibility of earlier isolated or hidden objects in all layouts

Bounding Prism

For each model or paper space viewport, you can create a bounding prism – an area in a threedimensional space, beyond which all the graphics are not displayed.

The prism is constructed taking into account the direction of the UCS axes. The upper part of the prism is blue, the lower part is orange. A gray outline of the prism is displayed in the XY plane of the current UCS.

The prism can be created by specifying a contour on the screen (rectangular or polygonal), on the basis of an existing polyline or based on a bounding box of selected objects.

The created prism can be stretched, compressed, and resized by dragging edges and faces.

So, you can grab any area of the face and move it along its normal (in the case of a rectangular prism) or in any direction (in the case of a polygonal prism). Hidden faces can be moved by grabbing one of their edges. Snaps and orthographic drawing modes can be used.

The entire prism can be dragged while holding down CTRL.

A bounding prism is created for each viewport. It will not restrict the image in other viewports.

At the time of creating or editing a prism, it is displayed in all viewports, but its effect only applies to the screen in which it was created or was selected for editing. When you finish adjusting the prism, it will crop the image only in the viewport for which it was created.

To create a new or edit an existing prism, go to the desired viewport and run the Bounding prism command.

While editing a prism, you can switch to another viewport to continue editing it from a more comfortable angle. At the same time, editing of the prism that belongs to the previous viewport (in which the Bounding Prism Bounding prism command was run) will continue in the new viewport, and

not the current one. A prism in its own viewport is displayed more vividly than in the others so that it is always clear which viewport it belongs to, regardless of which viewport is currently active.

When saving a document, prisms are also saved for their viewports.

An existing prism can be deleted or enabled/disabled. If the prism is disabled, graphics outside the prism become visible. Disabled prism object is still present in the model space and can be switched on later.

Options:

Undo Sequentially undoing prism editing actions.

Exit Exits command.

Options for creating a new prism:

bounding prism

Options appear when there is no prism in the viewport or when New option is selected.

New Discontinue contour creation to specify a new one.

Polygonal Draw a polygonal outline in the XY plane of the current view’s UCS that will

define the outline of the prism.

Selection Selects the objects around which a rectangular prism will be built. Then,

using grips, change the upper and lower prism cutoff boundary, if

necessary.

polyLine Selects an existing closed polyline that will define the contour of the prism.

Then, using grips, set the upper and lower prism cutoff boundary, if necessary. The prism will be built in the direction of the UCS axes of the

current view.

Bounding Prism by Object

Ribbon: View – Visibility Manager > Bounding prism by Object

Menu: View > Bounding Prism by Object

Toolbar: View Toolbar – Bounding prism by Object

Command line: MCLIPBYSELECTION

Creates a bounding prism based on the selection made prior to running the command. The prism will be created with the dimensions of a rectangular box describing the sample. If there is no preselection, you will be prompted to select objects. The result of the command operation is similar to the result of work of the Bounding prism command with the Select option.

Viewports of Model Space

Model space can be separated into several rectangular non-overlapping areas called viewports (VP).

Non-overlapping areas fill in model space and cannot be placed over each other. When starting a project, usually one viewport, filling in all the model space is used. This viewport can be separated into several viewports and different fragments of the drawing, or model views can be displayed on every viewport at the same time. The changes made in one viewport are also shown in the whole drawing (in other viewports).

You can switch between viewports (transition from one viewport to another) at any time, even whilst a command is being performed. The cursor is displayed in the current viewport – the common arrowhead is displayed in all the other viewports. To switch to another viewport, click at any point on the screen. To cycle through viewports, you can use the CYCLEVIEWPORTS command or the CTRL+R hotkeys.

For every viewport you can specify the display scale, pan the viewport image independently of the other viewports, specify UCS and display the modes of grid and snap usage. You can save the setting parameters of any viewports to use them again and restore an image of any viewport.

Only one non-overlapping viewport can be printed.

Configuration of non-overlapping viewports can be different:

1 Viewport

In Model Space: restores the configuration to one viewport (the view is taken from the last active window).

In Paper Space: creates one viewport.

2 Viewports Vertical

Creates a configuration of two vertical viewports.

2 Viewports Horizontal

Ribbon: View – Model Viewports – Viewport Configuration > Two: Horizontal

Menu: View – ViewPort > 2 Viewports Horizontal

Toolbar: ViewPorts >

Document tab context menu: 2 Viewports Horizontal

Command line: SPLITVIEWPORT_HORIZONTAL

Creates a configuration of two horizontal viewports.

3 Viewports

Command line: SPLITVIEWPORT_3

Creates a configuration of three viewports.

After starting the command, there is a prompt in the command line:

Enter an option [Horizontal/Vertical/Left/Right/Top/Bottom]

Command options:

Horizontal Creates a configuration of three horizontally placed viewports.

Vertical Creates a configuration of three vertically placed viewports.

Left Creates a configuration of three viewports, one of which is placed to the

left and the others – to the right.

Right Creates a configuration of three viewports, one of which is placed to the

right and the others – to the left.

Top Creates a configuration of three viewports, one of which is placed at the

top and the others – at the bottom.

Bottom Creates a configuration of three viewports, one of which is placed at the

bottom and the others – at the top.

3 Viewports Horizontal

Ribbon: View – Model Viewports – Viewport Configuration > Three Viewports Horizontal

Menu: View – Viewports > 3 Viewports Horizontal

Creates a configuration of three viewports, one of which is located on the right, and two on the left.

Document tab context menu: 3 Viewports Right

Command line: SPLITVIEWPORT_3_RIGHT

3 Viewports Top

Ribbon: View – Model Viewports – Viewport Configuration > Three Viewports Top

Menu: View – Viewports > 3 Viewports Top

Toolbar: Viewports –

Document tab context menu: 3 Viewports Above

Command line: SPLITVIEWPORT_3_ABOVE

Creates a configuration of three viewports, one at the top and two at the bottom.

3 Viewports Bottom

Ribbon: View – Model Viewport – Viewport Configuration > Three Viewports Bottom

Menu: View – Viewports > 3 Viewports Bottom

Toolbar: Viewports –

Document tab context menu: 3 Viewports Below

Command line: SPLITVIEWPORT_3_BELOW

Creates a configuration of three viewports, one at the bottom and two at the top.

4 Viewports

Ribbon: View – Model Viewports – Viewport Configuration > Four: Equal

Menu: View – ViewPort > 4 Viewports

Toolbar: ViewPorts >

Document tab context menu: 4 Viewports

Command line: SPLITVIEWPORT_4

Creates a configuration of four similar viewports.

Named Viewports

Ribbon: View – Model Viewports –> Named

Menu: View – Viewports > Named Viewports

Toolbar: ViewPorts – Viewports

Toolbar: Layout – Viewports

Command line: VIEWPORTS, VPORTS

The command opens the Viewports dialog box.

On the New Viewports tab you can create the required configuration of viewports on the standard base and save it for further usage:

Parameters:

New name: Name of the saved configuration of viewports.

Standard viewports: List of standard configurations of viewports.

Apply to:

Display Applies the selected configuration of viewports to the whole Model

Space.

Current viewport Applies the selected configuration of viewports to the current viewport.

Setup:

2D Sets the selected configuration as the current viewport for all viewports.

3D Sets the selected configuration of standard model views for all

viewports.

Preview Preview of the selected configuration of viewports.

The current viewport is shown with a double frame.

Change view

Changes the view of the common viewport.

to:

There are existing named views of the drawing in the drop-down list

(there are additional standard model views for 3D mode).

Visual style: Changes the visual style of the selected viewport.

The available styles in the drop-down list are:

• *Current*

• 2D Wireframe

• Conceptual

• Realistic

• Wireframe

• Hidden

• Shades of Gray

• Sketchy

• X-ray

• Shaded with edges

• Shaded

• Monochrome

To change a view or a visual style for a viewport:

• 1. Double click to select the viewport in the Preview window (selected object is shown with double frame).
• 2. Select the required view or visual style from the drop-down list.

If a name was specified during the creation of the configuration of the viewports, the configuration will be saved as a named configuration. A named configuration of viewports can be used without preset.

The list of created and saved configurations is shown on the Named Viewports tab:

To create a configurations of viewports:

• 1. Select a standard configuration in the New Viewports tab.
• 2. In the New name enter a configuration name.
• 3. Select OK.

The name of the created configuration is shown in the Named viewports section of the Named Viewports tab when the Viewports dialog is opened next time.

The Save Configuration command from the View>Viewports menu allows a name to be specified in the command line for the current configuration of viewports.

To restore a configuration of viewports:

• 1. Select the required configuration in the Named viewports list (after selection, a list of viewports will be selected in the Preview window).
• 2. Select OK.

Or:

• 1. Start the Restore Configuration command (the View>Viewports).
• 2. In the command line, type the configuration name as an answer to the prompt Enter viewport configuration name: (the list of available configurations is shown in the command line’s protocol).
• 3. Press ENTER to finish the command.

To rename a configuration of viewports:

• 1. Select the required configuration in the Named viewports list (after selection, a list of viewports will be selected in the Preview window).
• 2. Select the Rename option from the context menu.
• 3. Enter a new configuration name.
• 4. Press ENTER or click on any place of the section except the renaming field to finish the command.
• 5. Select OK.

To delete a configuration of viewports:

• 1. Select the required configuration in the Named viewports list (after selection, a list of viewports will be selected in the Preview window).
• 2. Select the Delete option from the context menu.
• 3. Select OK.

Or:

• 1. Start the Delete Configuration command (the View>Viewports).
• 2. In the command line, type the configuration name as an answer to the prompt Enter viewport configuration name: (the list of available configurations is shown in the command line’s protocol).
• 3. Press ENTER to finish the command.

Managing Viewports from the Command Line

Command line: -VPORTS, -VIEWPORTS

The command allows managing viewports both in model space and paper space.

The prompt with available options is displayed in the command line, after the command is launched:

Enter viewport option [Save/Restore/Delete/1/2/3/4/Object/Polygonal/REctangular/ Fit/ON(off)/Lock(unlock)/Clip/LAyer]<1>:

Command options:

Save Saves a current configuration of viewports in model space.

When the option is selected, model space is switched to paper space.

Restore Restores previously saved configuration of viewports (selected

configuration is shown on the screen).

When a configuration is selected in paper space it is offered to create a configuration of viewports the same as a current configuration of

viewports in model space.

You can perform the operation with Restore configuration command.

Delete Deletes a previously saved configuration of viewports in model space.

You can perform the operation with the Delete configuration command.

1 Restores a configuration with one viewport (view is taken from the last

viewport) in model space.

Creates one viewport in paper space.

2 Creates a configuration with horizontal or vertical arrangement of

viewports. An arrangement is specified with an option from the command

line:

Enter an option [Horizontal/Vertical]:

3 Creates a configuration of three viewports. An arrangement is specified

with an option from the command line:

Enter an option

[Horizontal/Vertical/Left/Right/Top/Bottom]:

4 Creates a configuration of four viewports.

Object Transforms previously created closed objects (circles, ellipses, closed

polylines and splines) into viewports in paper space (for more information

see “Create a viewport by object” section).

Polygonal Creates a polygonal viewport in paper space.

Option is available in a current layout, where you want to place a

viewport, and also is available in model space (for more information see

“Create a polygonal viewport” section).

REctangular Creates a rectangular viewport in paper space.

Option is available in a current layout, where you want to place a

viewport, and also is available in model space (for more information see

“Create a rectangular viewport” section).

Fit The option allows creating an inscribed viewport in a current layout,

where all objects from model space are inscribed.

ON(off) Switches on/off display of viewport content.

Lock(unlock) Locks/unlocks a viewport.

You can lock a viewport to make earlier specified scale unchanged (zooming inside a viewport does not change a scale of viewport).

Clip Clips borders of viewports (for more information see “Set show boundary

for a viewport” section).

LAyer Resets viewport layer property overrides.

Visual Styles

nanoCAD allows you to set methods (styles) for displaying three-dimensional objects in the current viewport. You can change the visual style of a viewport in the Properties bar in Miscellaneous section, or by using the view control widget at the top of the viewport.

Predefined visual styles:

2dWireframe – the style is intended to work with flat drawings. Only edges are displayed as lines and curves that represent surface boundaries. Fills and hatches are not displayed. The type and weight of lines are taken into account. Raster and OLE objects are visible. See below for more details on the visual style.

Conceptual – objects are displayed using smooth shading and Gooch face style. Gooch’s face style is characterized by transitions between cold and warm, rather than between dark and light shades of colors. This effect is less realistic, but it better represents the model details.

Realistic – objects are displayed using smooth shading and showing materials.

Wireframe – only edges are displayed in form of lines and curves that represent the boundaries of surfaces. Line type and weight are not taken into account, raster objects are not displayed. When using materials, the color of lines is determined by the color of material. Draw order and fill options from 2D solids are not displayed.

This visual style does not result in repeated creation of the view when its direction changes, as is the case with the 2dWireframe visual style. In large 3D models, the time savings will be significant.

Hidden – objects are represented as a wireframe. Unlike the Wireframe style, edges hidden by opaque surfaces are not displayed.

Shades of Gray – objects are displayed using shades of a single color (gray) with smooth transitions.

Sketchy – objects are displayed with a freehand drawing effect, taking into account the Line Extend and Jitter edge modifiers.

X-Ray – objects are displayed partially transparent.

Shaded with edges – objects are displayed using smooth shading with visible edges.

Shaded – objects are displayed using smooth shading with no overtly defined edges.

Feature of 2D Wireframe Visual Style

This style is intended for working with flat drawings. Only edges are displayed as lines and curves that represent surface boundaries. Fills and hatches are not displayed. The type and weight of lines are taken into account. Raster and OLE objects are visible.

The 2D Wireframe style settings are not editable in the Visual Styles Dialog Box and cannot be used to create a user defined style.

Work with incorrect z-coordinates

When 2D Wireframe style is used in conjunction with a top view, the z-coordinate values are ignored when displaying and redrawing the drawing. This allows you to quickly display and work with incorrect documents, which are flat drawings, the objects of which have a spread of coordinates in height, often very significant. As a rule, such a spread appears after incorrect conversion of 2D drawings to 3D DWG format by third-party CAD systems. If other visual styles are used, such drawings may take a significant amount of time to display and redraw.

Note

To correct (zero) the z-coordinates of objects in such drawings, use the AUDITGEOMETRY geometry check command.

Work with point clouds

2D Wireframe style is not designed to work with point clouds. When importing point clouds into a viewport with 2D Wireframe style set, you will be prompted to automatically switch to Wireframe visual style, which you should accept.

Visual Styles Manager

To create, edit, apply, and delete visual styles, use the Visual Styles functional panel.

The top field displays a list of all standard visual styles and the styles of the current document. The options for the visual style selected from the list are displayed below.

Actions with a visual style

Actions with the selected style are available from the context menu or using the buttons.

Create visual style Creates a new visual style based on the settings of the selected style. Allows you to specify a name and explanation for the new style.

It is recommended to create new visual styles rather than changing the settings of the predefined ones.

Delete visual style Removes the selected visual style. Inbuilt styles and the current viewport style cannot be deleted.

Apply visual style Applies the selected visual style to the current viewport. When you apply a visual style or change its settings, the corresponding viewport is automatically updated to reflect those changes. Any changes to the current visual style are saved in the drawing.

Rename visual style

Opens the dialog box for renaming the visual style or editing the description. Inbuilt styles cannot be renamed.

Reset to default Resets the style parameter values to the default ones.

Delete predefined visual styles

Deletes standard visual styles.

Visual Styles Properties

Face properties

Lighting model Style of shading for faces, solid fills, and gradient hatches (VSFACESTYLE system variable):

• Invisible. Faces seem to be hidden, there is no shading of faces and surfaces. Only the edges of faces are displayed. Used in the Wireframe visual style.

• Constant. Uniform shading without transitions. Hidden line suppression makes invisible lines, edges, and other objects that are actually obscured by objects in the foreground. Used in the Hidden and Sketchy visual styles.

• Realistic. Allows you to achieve a realistic shading effect.

• Gooch. This shading method enhances detail by softening the contrast between highlights and shadows. Warm colors are used in lighted areas, cool colors are used in shaded areas.

Lighting quality Determines the quality of lighting of object faces. Actually sets the color interpolation method for faces of 3D solids and surfaces in the current viewport (VSLIGHTINGQUALITY system variable).

No lighting – faces are not lighted. Depending on the value of the Color parameter, objects are colored in one color or another entirely.

Per face lighting – for each face, a specific color is calculated without

transitions. Curved surfaces are displayed as a facet approximation.

Per vertex lighting – colors are calculated for the gradient transition between the vertices of the faces. The style provides a smooth display without the use of hardware acceleration.

Per pixel lighting – the highest smoothing quality.

Color mode Specifies the display of colors on faces. (VSFACECOLORMODE system variable):

• No color mode. Does not apply to the face color modifier.
• Object color. Faces are displayed in different shades of the object’s color.

• Background color. Faces are displayed in different shades of the background color of the current space.
• Mono. Faces are displayed in different shades of the color specified by the Mono color option.
• Tint. Edges are shaded by changing the tine and saturation values based on the color specified by the Mono color option.
• Desaturate. Edges are displayed in different shades of the object’s color softened by reducing its saturation by 30%.

Mono color Allows you to select a monochrome color or a color tint depending on

the color mode of the face (VSMONOCOLOR system variable). The setting has an effect if the face color mode is set to Mono or Tint.

Use opacity All objects are displayed semi-transparent. The degree of transparency is

controlled by the Opacity % option.

Opacity % The degree of opacity of objects: 0% - completely transparent, 100% -

completely opaque. Only taken into account when the Use opacity box

is checked.

Show materials Enables the display of assigned materials.

Show textures Enables the display of assigned textures.

Edge properties

Mode Method to display edges of objects (VSEDGES system variable):

• No edges. Do not display edges.
• Isolines. Display by isolines.
• Facet edges. Display by face edges.

Color The color of edges. (VSEDGECOLOR system variable)

Obscured edge properties

Show Display object edges hidden by graphics (VSOCCLUDEDEDGES system

variable).

Color The color of overlapped edges (VSOCCLUDEDCOLOR system variable).

Pattern The line type for displaying overlapped edges (VSOCCLUDEDLTYPE system variable).

Intersection edge properties

Show Display intersection edges of 3D objects (VSINTERSECTIONEDGES system

variable). Can significantly slow down the work with large drawings.

Color Color of intersection edges (VSINTERSECTIONCOLOR system variable).

Pattern Line type of intersection edges (VSINTERSECTIONLTYPE system

variable).

Silhouette edge properties

Show Display silhouette edges of 3D objects. (VSSILHEDGES system variable).

Width The width at which silhouette edges are displayed. (VSSILHWIDTH

system variable).

Isometric Drafting

Status bar: button

Toolbar: Isometry –

Command line: ISODRAFT, -ISODRAFT

The program contains tools that allow you to create twodimensional drawings in an isometric projection. A flat isometric drawing emulates a three-dimensional view of an object from a specific perspective, being, in fact, a flat representation of an isometric 3D-projection.

The isometric drafting tool is convenient to use, when you need to create several simple isometric views in a twodimensional drawing or edit an existing isometric drawing.

Note

A drawing created in the isometric drawing mode are not 3D models. It is impossible to extract 3D distances from them, display in different viewports, automatically suppress hidden lines.

When creating a flat drawing, the isometric projection axes are not orthogonal, which creates significant difficulties when drawing in a usual way, because angles and distances are distorted.

Isometric drafting mode

The Isodraft mode is used for isometric drawing.

The Isodraft mode allows you to quickly switch between three isometry planes (isoplanes):

• Isoplane Left. The plane allows you to create objects oriented along the axes of 90 and 150 degrees.
• Isoplane Right. The plane allows you to create objects oriented along axes of 30 and 90 degrees.
• Isoplane Top. The plane allows you to create objects oriented along the axes of 30 and 150 degrees.

When the mode is enabled, the lines of the cursor crosshairs are aligned in accordance with the axes of the selected isometric plane. While working in isodraft mode, you can switch between isoplanes, which allows you to consistently draw the faces of the target object.

Isometry toolbar

To create isometric drawings, it is convenient to use the Isometry toolbar. It contains the button to enable the isometric drawing mode, three buttons to set isometric planes (ISODRAFT1, ISODRAFT2 and ISODRAFT3 commands), to create isorectangles, isocircles and isoarcs (rectangles, circles and arcs in an isometric projection).

Impact of the mode on drawing settings and precision tools

Enabling (disabling) the isometric drawing mode, as well as setting this or that isoplane changes a number of related drawing parameters and settings, for example, drawing precision tools. The following settings and modes change automatically:

• orthogonal directions;
• snap orientation;
• grid orientation;
• polar tracking angles;
• orientation of isometric circles, arcs and rectangles when they are created.

Frequently used tools in isometric drawing

In the process of creating isometric drawings, the following construction and precision tools are most commonly used:

• Polar tracking and direction-distance method;
• Object snaps and grid snaps;
• Object tracking;
• Moving and copying;
• Cropping and lengthening.

Enabling isometric drafting mode

The isometric drafting mode is enabled in several ways:

• By -ISODRAFT command, by button on the Isometry toolbar or by button in the status bar;
• By isometric snap in the Snap and Grid tab in the Drafting settings dialog box:

• Setting 1 as a value for SNAPSTYL system variable;
• Enabling one of isometric planes:
  • by selecting one of ISOPLANE options of the ISODRAFT command;
  • by selecting one of planes on the Isometry toolbar;
  • By the command ISODRAFT1 (isoplane left), ISODRAFT2 (isoplane top), ISODRAFT3 (isoplane right);

• By changing the value of SNAPISOPAIR system variable: 0 – isoplane left, 1 – isoplane top, 2 – isoplane right.

Note

To switch quickly between isoplanes, use F5 key.

Creating geometric entities

The following commands are used to create circles, arcs, rectangles in the current isometric plane.

Creating isocircle

To create a circle in the current plane, use ISOCIRCLE command that starts the ELLIPSE command with the Isocircle option.

If the isodraft mode is disabled at the moment the ISOCIRCLE command is started, then the isometric mode will be enabled first, after which it will be possible to create a circle in the selected isoplane.

The Isocircle option of the ELLIPSE command is available only when isometric mode is enabled. When you select the Isocircle option, a circle will be drawn in the current isoplane.

The process of drawing a circle in the isodraft mode does not differ from the same action with the disabled isodraft mode: you should specify the center of the circle and select the radius/diameter of the future circle.

Creating isorectangle

To create a rectangle in the current plane, use ISORECTANGLE command that starts the RECTANGLE command with the Isorectangle option.

If the isodraft mode is disabled at the moment the ISORECTANGLE command is started, then the isometric mode will be enabled first, after which it will be possible to create a rectangle in the selected isoplane.

The Isorectangle option of the RECTANGLE command is available only when isometric mode is enabled. When you select the Isorectangle option, a rectangle will be drawn in the current isoplane.

The process of drawing a rectangle in the isodraft mode does not differ from the same action with isodraft mode disabled: you should specify the point of the first corner of the rectangle and select the point of the diametrically opposite corner/dimensions of the rectangle.

Creating isoarc

To create an elliptical arc in the current isometric plane, use ISOARC command that starts creating an elliptical arc by the ELLIPSE with the Arc > Isoarc option.

If the isodraft mode is disabled at the moment the ISOARC command is started, then it will be enabled first, after which it will be possible to create an arc in the selected isoplane.

The Isoarc option of the ELLIPSE command is available only when isometric mode is enabled. When you select the Isoarc option, an arc will be drawn in the current isoplane.

The process of drawing an arc in the isodraft mode does not differ from the same action with isodraft mode disabled.

SNAPSTYL system variable

The system variable allows you to change the drawing mode. The variable values are integers:

• 0 standard drawing mode;
• 1 isometric drawing mode.

SNAPISOPAIR system variable

The system variable allows you to change the current isometric plane in the current viewport. The variable values are integers:

• 0 left plane of isometry,
• 1 top plane of isometry,
• 2 right plane of isometry.

Drawing Regeneration

Sometimes, when you are working with a document after the command is finished, some visual elements stay on the drawing; for example, markers of characteristic points. To delete such visual elements, use forced regeneration (specified manually) or redrawing of a drawing.

Two commands in nanoCAD are used for it: Regen and Redraw (View menu).

Redrawing a drawing is faster than regeneration because all the drawing objects’ coordinates are recalculated (converting values with floating points from the drawing database to integer display coordinates) during regeneration.

Regeneration

Status bar:

Command line: RE, REA, REGEN, REGENALL

The Regen command is used for a forced update of a current drawing.

Command performs following actions:

• Recomputes the locations and visibility for all objects
• Recalculates tables

• Updates automatically calculated attribute values.

Redrawing

Menu: View – Redraw

Command line: Redraw

The Redraw command is used for a forced update of a display.