Morphing Fills

[Anonymous]

I set the cut section fills in my exterior walls and all columns to a custom hatch pattern that is basically the same as structural concrete, and initially all was well - it was showing up fine in plan and section.

Then I started poking around in the default views and layout book settings, and discovered that the walls and floors default to a solid fill in those views. OK, no problem, I figured I can just define my own views if I decide I don't want it that way.

However, the next time I went back into my model, in the project map view, I found that all of those hatches had been changed to the solid fill in the model itself! The fill pattern still shows in the object settings, but what's showing up on screen is a solid mass of color, not the fill hatch pattern. Even walls that I did *not* assign any sort of fill to (just empty fills) are now showing up as solid masses of color, even though they still say they are empty fills!

What's going on here, and how can I fix it, and keep it fixed so this doesn't happen again?

Wendy

[Link]

It looks like you have toggled Bitmap fills on. Check that View>On-screen View Options > Vectorial Hatching is turned on (it will look indented).

Could also be that you've altered the appearance of (cut) fills in your Model View Options, which are assigned to your views. Check those at Document > Set Model View > Model View Options...

Cheers,
Link.

[Anonymous]

Link wrote:
It looks like you have toggled Bitmap fills on.

How might I have done that? I didn't do anything to mess with the fills, at least not that I know of.

Check that View>On-screen View Options > Vectorial Hatching is turned on (it will look indented).

Yup, it's on. It's been on the whole time I've worked on this project.

Could also be that you've altered the appearance of (cut) fills in your Model View Options, which are assigned to your views. Check those at Document > Set Model View > Model View Options...

Again, how might I have done that? I didn't go into these sections at all.

Well, thanks anyways, Link. I don't know what I did, but a little while ago, after some more general mucking about, the fills all suddenly flipped back to the way they're supposed to be. If it happens again, I'll take another look at these possibilities. At least it gives me a place to start looking, so thanks for your help.

Wendy

[Link]

Model View Option Combinations are assigned to views, so all you needed to do was double click on a view (in the View Map) that had a different Model View Option Combination assigned to it. There's no mystery, try double-clicking on different views and see what happens.

It's a pleasure to help people like yourself, but it is obvious to see that you would benefit greatly from some real training, instead of stumbling along. Surely there's someone closeby who will be able to help.

Try and think of training as an investment, not a cost.

Good luck.

Cheers,
Link.

[Anonymous]

Thanks much, Link. I did try clicking on different views, every single one that I have, as a matter of fact, and it didn't change things. I really don't remember what the last thing I did was that flipped the switch.

I've had "real training", too - several rounds of it, in fact, on multiple versions, and I would indeed be dead in the water without it. But the program is so dense, and I typically have rather large time gaps between projects, so I just don't remember everything. It doesn't help, either, that new versions come out so often that I usually don't do more than 1-2 projects in a version before I upgrade to a new one, so no sooner do I just start to understand some of the deeper issues in one version than the whole thing gets changed. I think I've owned more versions of this progam than I've actually done projects in it <g>. And apparently I'm just not as quick with picking up this sort of thing as I'd like to think I am <sigh>.

There's also the problem that often issues surface like this that aren't covered in the training, so it's not always easy to know where to turn when something unexpected occurs. There's a lot that you still have to just discover by trial and error, I've found, especially because the online help and manual don't typically cover most of the problems I have, either, or at least not in a way that's easy to locate the explanation.

Thus, I really, really, really appreciate your help, and that of all the rest of the folks around here. As time goes by, I find I'm integrating more and more, but it's still a steep curve that keeps changing.

Wendy

[Link]

Yes - it is hard to find trainers who offer a complete solution with ongoing support. Plenty of people offering tidbits here and there, but not a total offering. If I was there I'd gladly come and visit you in Cali.

Until then, we'll be glad to help you here.

Cheers,
Link.

[Anonymous]

Oh, top-notch support exists here just fine. What doesn't exist is the budget to afford enough of it whenever I need it, at something like $125/hour or more in consulting fees, on top of the cost of the classes ;-> So, I just struggle along the best I can.

It *is* hard when there's an upgrade to just have lecture-format training, though. It would help a lot to have it be hands-on.

You're welcome to come visit any time, though ;->

Wendy