3D View Default Layer Group

[gdford]

When I place a 3D marquee is there a way to control the default layer set that is used to open the  selected area into the 3D view?

Thanks

[Karl Ottenstein]

By 3D marquee, I assume you mean the bold (multi-story) marquee?  If so, the 3D window opens with exactly the same layers as the floor plan view that you placed the marquee in... assuming you are jumping directly to 3D via F3 or some other shortcut/etc.

You can then set whatever layer combo you really want while in 3D and save THAT as a view... and the marquee as well as that layer combo will be part of that view.

[gdford]

Yes - that confirms that what I have been doing is the only way to deal with this... I really cannot imagine a time I would want a 3d view to have exactly the same layer group as the 2D view I used to create the 3D view when using the marquee to create the 3D view.... Yes I can change the layer group for the new 3d view I have created using the bold multi-story marquee, but after doing that in 35 locations one after the other time and time again working with a client to place artwork on walls, I really wish I could set the default layer group for the the marquee to use when it opens a new 3D view.  I need to navigate in floor plan to see where i need to  place the marquee and then I need the marquee to be a different layer set.... I really want this to happen automatically. Surly there should be a way to set a default for this.

Thanks Karl!

[Barry Kelly]

I tend to set my floor plan layer combination to the same one I want to see in the 3D.

Sure, the plan may have 'extra' info you would not normally have in a plan view, but at least I have all the same layers to work with and this avoids the problem you are experiencing.

Obviously I have my views sets saved for the plans with the correct layer combinations, so there is no problem with publishing the wrong info.

Barry.

[Mahmoud Qenawi]

I think the only way is to work directly on view map and not project map.

So when you use a marquee on floor plan it can be viewed differently in every 3d view which are set to different layer combos.

[Karl Ottenstein]

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@gdford wrote:

Yes - that confirms that what I have been doing is the only way to deal with this... I really cannot imagine a time I would want a 3d view to have exactly the same layer group as the 2D view I used to create the 3D view when using the marquee to create the 3D view.... Yes I can change the layer group for the new 3d view I have created using the bold multi-story marquee, but after doing that in 35 locations one after the other time and time again working with a client to place artwork on walls, I really wish I could set the default layer group for the the marquee to use when it opens a new 3D view.  I need to navigate in floor plan to see where i need to  place the marquee and then I need the marquee to be a different layer set.... I really want this to happen automatically. Surly there should be a way to set a default for this.

Thanks Karl!

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Hi Gary.  Like Barry, my 2D layer combinations work fine for nearly all of my 3D views, since it really doesn't matter that any 2D annotation layers are on as they produce nothing in 3D.  I do, however, have special 3D layer combinations for certain things.

The easiest way to change the layer combo for your large number of 3D views... and then it is done for the rest of your project... is to use a project index that lists all views. The layer combination is a pop-up/drop-down menu so once you sort your views to put your 35 or whatever views next to each other, just click the layer combo cell on each view in turn and change it to the desired 3D combination.

Karl

PS. The purpose of the thin (single story) and bold (multi story) marquees is to be able to select for modification or 3D view the content within it based on the current visibility.  Allowing the marquee to result in a display of different layers would break this simple purpose... and confuse the heck out of people I fear when they didn't see something that was visible in plan... or something that wasn't visible in plan suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

So, another alternative, is to change your layer combination before you switch to the 3D window after drawing a marquee.

[gdford]

Hey Karl,

I understand that I can choose a view from the layer combo popup. What does creating an index of views have to do with the layer combo popup?