Persistant view settings per window

[Paul King]

Please, please can we allow two or more windows side by side that keep their own layer combinations and other display attributes , WITHOUT requiring user to go back to the view map & regen with correct view settings for that window every time you switch focus to another window with different layer combo and back again.

This is a regular and recurring problem for me - I frequently need to work backwards & forwards between two views with different layer combos active. Stopping & setting correct layer combos back on & waiting for regen between every third mouse click is just not OK

These views might even e.g. be different ends of the same large building elevation, one with boolean operators switched on, one without, or one 2D detailing window, with a range of other plans & elevations that need to be adjusted , so implications can be considered all at once, each view with different layer combination.

Default behaviour should be that window once opened should have kept all its original layer display settings when focus returns to it , no matter what layers are switched off & on in other windows.

This behaviour is needed almost always. It is rare that one wants to see the affect of another window's layer combo transferred to current window when you click on it to work there again.


This would require a change to layer control from a global model basis to a per window basis, and would presumably require more memory - but RAM is cheap & the productivity gain well worth it. Users who don't like it could toggle this working mode off.

[Erika Epstein]

Huh?

[Anonymous]

Erika wrote:
Huh?
Sorry, but I can't follow what you are asking. Windows don't have a layer combination; the walls they are placed in have a layer they are on

I suspect he means the rectangular area each view opens up in, i.e. an on-screen window, not a window on a building!

Personally I think it might be a good idea to have this option. I use a big screen, and often have multiple views open at one time. Having to relaunch each view from the view map, just to retain its layer comb is a pain; especially if you have lots of views, or you can't remember the name of the view either.

The ability to just click into an elevation view that is already open (but in the background) from a plan, without the layer combination changing would be great.

[Erika Epstein]

[Laura Yanoviak]

Peter wrote:
The ability to just click into an elevation view that is already open (but in the background) from a plan, without the layer combination changing would be great.

Why not use Virtual Trace for toggling between views?

[Anonymous]

Laura wrote:

Peter wrote:
The ability to just click into an elevation view that is already open (but in the background) from a plan, without the layer combination changing would be great.

Why not use Virtual Trace for toggling between views?

Yes you could to some extent, although it would prevent you from displaying an overlayed plan as well, which is the main purpose I use it for. I generally use Virtual Trace for little more than how ghost storey used to work, as in just referencing other storeys above or below the current. I know how it works and what options are available, I just haven't found a way of integrating it better into how I work. Perhaps I should just experiment more with it!

I wonder how many others use Virtual Trace to its fullest capabilities? It would be an interesting poll perhaps!

I've got a feeling ArchiCAD just wasn't designed with the big screen in mind, where you might have multiple views open simultaneously and would want to navigate between them by just selecting the windows. I can certainly see no harm in having it the proposed way. At least you know what that view would look like at all times!

Thanks for the idea though. I certainly hadn't thought of using it like that.

[Paul King]

Virtual Trace doesn't help - try placing a trace reference with different layer combo in current window, then click "activate reference" to edit something in that reference - sure enough a new window containing that reference appears - but then try clicking back on your original window... - You will find the wrong layer combo is now active for that original view, so you still manually need to reselect desired layer combo & other display settings & regen that view to continue working. Then you need to do it over again every time you need to edit in another view window

Virtual trace is really just another way to statically display a cached version of a saved view & doesn't help or avoid need for manually correcting view settings & regenerating if actually live editing back & forward between saved views.

[Rob]

Virtual Trace doesn't help - try placing a trace reference with different layer combo in current window, then click "activate reference" to edit something in that reference - sure enough a new window containing that reference appears - but then try clicking back on your original window... - You will find the wrong layer combo is now active for that original view

IMHO it's a bug rather than an intention. I would report it.

[Paul King]

I can accept some regenerating is inevitable if you have just changed something in one view & it actually impacts on the current view window you have just clicked, but the view settings used for current window at least should not have been overwritten.

Certainly ArchiCAD should also be smart enough not to regen if a change is made to a purely 2D entity in another view !

[Laura Yanoviak]

Paul wrote:
try placing a trace reference with different layer combo in current window, then click "activate reference" to edit something in that reference - sure enough a new window containing that reference appears - but then try clicking back on your original window... - You will find the wrong layer combo is now active for that original view, so you still manually need to reselect desired layer combo & other display settings & regen that view to continue working. Then you need to do it over again every time you need to edit in another view window

That's because this is the wrong process. Click on the "Switch Reference with Active" button on the Trace & Reference Palette to access the Reference, and again to return to the Active. Also, I suggest working in Views not Viewpoints, where the Layer Combination, Scale, and Display Options have been saved.