Trace Reference - Default Colour

[Gerry Leonor]

is there a way to set the default colour for Trace Reference?

i've been biting the bullet for years & having to constantly change it from the pale yellow to the blue.

i thought it was set in the Work Environment, but i couldn't find it, unless i'm looking incorrectly.

[Barry Kelly]

I don't think there is any where that you can set the default, but it will stay as you set it in a file.

So, set it as you want in your template and then every file you open from that will have the correct setting.

Barry.

[Gerry Leonor]

ok -- will amend the template, test it & see if it's permanent...

cheers

[DGSketcher]

That's not my experience on Mac. It may work with a really clean & well prepared template, but I am forever having to change the trace colour. I can use the "Apply settings to all references", but it isn't long before a trace turns up with a different colour. I'll admit I use different colours to differentiate from other drawn information in a View when necessary, but in my experience I don't seem to be a able to establish a stable colour using the "Apply..." button. I think the trace pen setting probably gets stored in different places and they aren't consistently updated by "Apply...".

Different issue but I have the same thing with Filter & Cut Elements in 3D where the section cut surface display has to be constantly changed in views from "Custom" to "Use element attributes".

These both feel like a couple of settings that should be dropped into a View Styles if GS ever deliver such a feature.

[Barry Kelly]

Not that I have every really played with it, but I thought that the 'Apply to all' button was just for the visible elements.

But it does indeed, change the colour of all existing references as well.

It is in a bit of an obscure place though I think.

In my experimentation, pressing that button will change all current references to that colour and it does set that colour for all new references.

So if you have a view that does not have a reference, and you set another view as a trace reference, then it will appear with the applied colour.

You can of course change the colour of individual references.

If you change the existing reference to another, it will keep the same colour, it won't reset.

If your view does have a reference, but the trace & reference is turned off, then if you set a new reference, it will keep the colour of the original hidden reference.

Only views that have no reference linked will adopt the default reference colour.

Barry.

[DGSketcher]

Thanks for reviewing this Barry. I think from your comments it kind of reinforces that root problem in some of AC's code, that in simpler times flexibility was key, but these days that flexibility is problematic as we look for simpler centralised and consistent control.

Personally I don't see it as an issue, but it is definitely something that could be improved.

One aspect I have never considered or used (always something new to learn in AC!)... I think some users publish drawings with trace references displayed, and as I suggested above it may be that the trace colour is significant to the presentation & clarity of the drawing? If this is the case then indeed as @Gerry Leonor has suggested, a reliable setting location in the Work Environment or even perhaps more relevant would be for it to be in the View (Style (one day)) settings.