Display Order ...disorder

[Gerald Lock]

I'm unable to comment on the help article located here:

https://community.graphisoft.com/t5/Documentation/Display-Order/ta-p/303447

...so I'm posting here in the hope of having the mystery solved.

Reading the above article, and the ArchiCAD application online help section on Display Order I was led to believe that display order follows a particular default behaviour when assigning the default value.

Before explaining or demonstrating this to my studio colleagues, I thought I'd test the various elements to get my facts straight.

I made a new project file from the Australian Template, placed all the various elements from the tool box and using the Element Info palette, I found they had the following default Display Order values:

Figure, Drawing = 5

Fill = 6

Wall, Column, Slab, Roof, Shell, Stair, Railing, Curtain Wall, Mesh, Morph = 7

Object, Lamp = 8

Beam, Spline, Polyline, Arc, Line, Hotspot, Worksheet*, Detail* = 9

Text, Label, Dimensions (all types), Section*, Elevation*, Internal Elevation* = 10

*Marker

To check these weren't inheriting some former value or value set by the Australian Template, I selected all elements and ran the Edit > Display Order > Reset Default Order command. They all remained the same as when placed.

By contrast the community help article linked above states the exact opposite:

And the article makes this back-to-front order clear in the text, stating:

"Bring Froward: When an Element is Brought Forward, its Drawing Index is decreased by one. When the Element is completely in the front, its Drawing Index is 1... Send Backward: Similarly, when an Element is sent Backward, its Drawing Index is increased by one. When the Element is completely in the back, its Drawing Index is 14"

To further (slightly) confuse the issue, the ArchiCAD user manual help section linked above lists seven classes (after stating there are six!)

1.Annotation (Text, Labels, all Dimension types, Zone Stamps)

2.2D artwork (Lines, Circles, Splines, Hotspots)

3.Library Parts (Objects, Lamps, Stairs)

4.2D Fills

5.3D structures (Walls, Beams, Slabs, Doors, Windows, Columns, Roofs, Meshes)

6.Zones

7.Figures

and then reverts back to six orders (I suspect the 2D Fills item was a mistake!) and the default order values are thus:

1-4: Void by default

5: Annotation

6: 2D Artwork

7: Library Parts

8: 3D Structures

9: 2D Polygons

10: Figures

11-14: Void by default

From what I see on screen, the lower the Display Order value, the further back the element is stacked, and vice versa.

Can anyone explain why I'm seeing this inversion of Display Order values?

Has the ordering changed since the community help article was written? Or is there something else going on?

Thanks in advance 🙂

[Barry Kelly · Accepted solution]

Yes that article is old and the default display order values did change a few versions ago.

Exactly when and why, I do not recall.

The article says the value decreases on sending forward and increases on sending back.

I am not sure if that was the way it worked back then (we could never see the display order then), but it is definitely the other way around now.

Forward increases the order value and backwards decreases it.

There are still 14 levels and what you observed is not what is shown in the HELP reference.

@Rubia Torres , is there any chance that knowledge base article and the help reference can be amended please?

Barry.

[Gerald Lock]

Excellent! Thanks for your prompt follow-up Barry. Very much appreciated.

I'll leave out the help links in our intranet article until the change/update has been confirmed by Graphisoft

[Rubia Torres]

Hi @Gerald Lock and @Barry Kelly,

Thank you for bringing this topic to our attention. The correction in the Help site will be published in the event of the Archicad 27.2.0 release. The Community article has been archived.

Best regards,

[Barry Kelly]

Thanks @Rubia Torres 

Barry.