Reference Display

[country]

I must be having a blond or seniors moment.  

I am inputting an existing design for an addition plan.  When working on the foundation level, I want to display the main level railings so I can add in the stairwell.  I believe I have turned on the railing wall in my reference layer but it is not showing.  I am just going to use a cad box for now but would like to know what I am doing incorrectly.

Railing.zip

[Joe_Carrick]

Change the railing to "Solid".  Then it will show in the reference plan.

 

ps:  I think this is a bug in Chief.  It shouldn't matter if the railing is any of the other styles, they should still show in the reference plan.

[country]

Thanks Joe.

i agree that it should show without being changed.  I'll send in a request.

[Alaskan_Son]

Just check Use Object Settings

[country]

I'll have a look for that tomorrow.  Is it a setting in the reference layer settings?

[Alaskan_Son]

4 minutes ago, country said:

I'll have a look for that tomorrow.  Is it a setting in the reference layer settings?

[dshall]

15 hours ago, Alaskan_Son said:

Just check Use Object Settings

 

It seems to me there was a downside to this but I do not remember what it is.

 

Michael,  can you think of a downside?

[country]

I checked the thread on "use XOR" but it was truly confusing.  I don't recall the Use Object Settings being mentioned but I may have missed it.  

I have to spend some time reading the manual on reference floor settings.  I have been using them but find they are not as straight forward as regular layers.

[HumbleChief]

 

1 hour ago, country said:

I checked the thread on "use XOR" but it was truly confusing.  I don't recall the Use Object Settings being mentioned but I may have missed it.  

I have to spend some time reading the manual on reference floor settings.  I have been using them but find they are not as straight forward as regular layers.

 

There's no reason you shouldn't be 'truly confused' by any XOR setting as you are not a software engineer, even though it is assumed, as a user you have a similar knowledge base.

 

Both those settings are very confusing but "Use XOR Drawing" should not be in any dbx anywhere any time in a user friendly user interface without a clear explanation or some plain English terms so users can understand WTF "Use XOR Drawing" means. Another very clear case where the engineers got in to the user interface where they do not belong. Right now I just click around those setting until the ref layer looks correct but never really know why.

 

From the Help Menu "Use XOR Drawing changes the color of lines in the Reference Floor that are drawn on top of other lines. Lines with identical properties do not display. When unchecked, the Reference Floor color does not change, and identical lines are not suppressed."

 

There HAS to be a better, clearer way to explain what XOR Drawing is intended to represent than the complex engineering term that is currently there.

 

 

[HumbleChief]

20 hours ago, Joe_Carrick said:

Change the railing to "Solid".  Then it will show in the reference plan.

 

ps:  I think this is a bug in Chief.  It shouldn't matter if the railing is any of the other styles, they should still show in the reference plan.

I think you are correct Joe. There's no reason that railing walls should need any special treatment (use object settings) to show in a ref layer. But good to know Michael.

 

BTW how does one change a railing wall to "Solid"?

[dshall]

Good topic......  

 

question:  do you guys use USE OBJECT SETTINGS and why and if so,  do you use with all ref sets.

 

And if you don't use them,  why not?

[HumbleChief]

Here's how/why I use Object Settings in a ref set. Still don't really understand them so good. Not sure why object setting affects the line but not the triangle? Not sure why XOR affects the triangle and not the line?

 

 

[Alaskan_Son]

4 hours ago, dshall said:

 

It seems to me there was a downside to this but I do not remember what it is.

 

Michael,  can you think of a downside?

 

Yes.  Fills.  Objects display with their fills which is something you may or may not want.  It really just depends on the plan, the view, and what you're trying to show. 

[dshall]

3 minutes ago, Alaskan_Son said:

 

Yes.  Fills.  Objects display with their fills which is something you may or may not want.  It really just depends on the plan, the view, and what you're trying to show. 

 

Yep,  if I am referencing the second floor at first floor,  I do not want to see wall fills,  however if I am on foundation plan referencing the first floor,  I do want to see the concrete fill of the concrete at first floor which I want.....  but it will also show the fills of the walls above,  not what I would want but I can definitely live with it.

 

So this is an example of a ref set using the object on and an example of a ref set using object off.

 

[HumbleChief]

You're very welcome glad I could help....

[dshall]

3 minutes ago, HumbleChief said:

You're very welcome glad I could help....

Yea,  just watched the vid,  I think there are more downsides to the XOR but I think I could find a use for the USE OBJECT ON option for select ref sets.

 

I did a vid on this stuff many many years ago,  it i always good to re-review.

 

[HumbleChief]

15 minutes ago, dshall said:

Yea,  just watched the vid,  I think there are more downsides to the XOR but I think I could find a use for the USE OBJECT ON option for select ref sets.

 

I did a vid on this stuff many many years ago,  it i always good to re-review.

 

Kinda curious why the XOR affects the triangle around the shear symbol. Is there another way to show it using "show object on."

[Alaskan_Son]

2 minutes ago, HumbleChief said:

Kinda curious why the XOR affects the triangle around the shear symbol. Is there another way to show it using "show object on."

 

I really think this is a bug in Chief.  Chief cancels out a handful of things when using XOR drawing that I don't believe it should.

[Alaskan_Son]

BTW, you can use transparent text and XOR drawing won't cancel out the callout lines.

[HumbleChief]

Thanks Michael.

[HumbleChief]

50 minutes ago, dshall said:

I think there are more downsides to the XOR...

 

Any that come to mind?

[Alaskan_Son]

See if this helps you understand XOR drawing a little better.  Check out the following plan.  Try playing with the settings while switching between the first floor and the attic level.  Also try turning color and line weight displays on and off....

XOR example.plan

 

Note that it makes a big difference whether or not the color setting of the objects match.

 

P.S.  Just use the All On set as your reference layer set.

[Alaskan_Son]

Note that Chief uses XOR drawing to affect the display of both:

1. Objects on the reference floor with respect to other objects on the reference floor
2. Objects on the current floor with respect to objects on the reference floor

...but does not affect the display of objects on the current floor with respect to other objects on the current floor.

 

Try drawing some additional objects on the attic level in the plan above to explore this a bit.

 

In my personal opinion, I kinda think Chief should at least give us the option to use XOR drawing strictly in scenario #2 mode. Actually, this is what seems to be the most natural way to set it OOB. 

[dshall]

WOW Michael,  my head is swimming......  thanks for putting that together,  it will take a while to wrap my head around this.

[HumbleChief]

1 hour ago, dshall said:

WOW Michael,  my head is swimming......  thanks for putting that together,  it will take a while to wrap my head around this.

+ 1 TO THAT.....