topic Re: Draw Order in AutoCAD Forum

Draw Order

seanNKRS3 — Wed, 01 Apr 2020 15:57:03 GMT

Afternoon all, I just wondering if anybody could maybe point me in the right direction.

I am in the process of placing icons on top of a set of floor plans issued by an architect for a project I'm working on. Normally this is straight forward and my icons (which i believe are dynamic blocks) simply sit on top without any of the floor plan showing through.

Oddly on this particular project I'm finding that the floor plan likes to be on top/at the front and will mask my icons. I can get my icons back to the top/front by using the Draw Order command but this seems to be short lived, befor I know it parts of the floor plan are masking my icons again.

The architects floor plans consist of many dynamic blocks also - is there a setting within the block which could be causing this?

I've attached a small pic which may help.

Re: Draw Order

seanNKRS3 — Wed, 01 Apr 2020 16:11:24 GMT

Just to add a bit more info - my blocks have transparency set to 0.

Re: Draw Order

pendean — Wed, 01 Apr 2020 16:14:27 GMT

Does REGENALL fix the issue after you draworder them into place?
Can you post a screenshot of your ABOUT and GRAPHICSCONFIG commands popups please?

Re: Draw Order

seanNKRS3 — Wed, 01 Apr 2020 16:19:40 GMT

REGENALL does work. 🙂

Is this likely to be a perm fix? any idea why it needs that command?

Thanks

Re: Draw Order

pendean — Wed, 01 Apr 2020 16:30:38 GMT

First, you have an update you need to install: LT2020.1.2 is where you need to be. Go do so now.
Second, why is your hardware acceleration turned off? where you having other issues, or did the software do that on its own? You appear to have a video card that should have it on.

As a test, if you CTRL+X then CTRL+C one of those objects, does the draworder stick for that object?
Are you XREFing the other person's drawing or just drawing in it? If yes to XREF, what is your VISRETAIN set to?
Does DRAWORDER their entire file "back" fix your issue too?

Re: Draw Order

jayhar — Wed, 01 Apr 2020 16:32:39 GMT

Hi @seanNKRS3

Try this

Command: TEXTTOFRONT

Bring to front [Text/Dimensions/Leaders/All] <All>

Please Mark the Post or Posts as Solution(s) to help others find the answer quickly. If your issue persists,

Please give me a bit more detail on this issue so we can continue to work towards getting this solved.

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Re: Draw Order

nrz13 — Wed, 01 Apr 2020 20:02:41 GMT

I've experienced persistent draw order issues over the years with AutoCAD and it's only gotten worse in the last few releases. For drawings with a lot of overlapping objects, we'll make a block of the drawing to retain the layer order. For whatever reason, AutoCAD retains the layer order within blocks, but not linework. Not a great workaround, but a workaround nonetheless if you continue to have problems.

Re: Draw Order

seanNKRS3 — Thu, 02 Apr 2020 07:23:59 GMT

First, you have an update you need to install: LT2020.1.2 is where you need to be. Go do so now.

Done. 😊

Second, why is your hardware acceleration turned off? where you having other issues, or did the software do that on its own? You appear to have a video card that should have it on.

I had a drawing where suddenly it would eat 6GB of RAM. Turning off acceleration brought things back to normal so it's been off since.

As a test, if you CTRL+X then CTRL+C one of those objects, does the draworder stick for that object?

Do you mean CTRL+V? If so things now behave as I would expect - if I do cut and paste then the pasted item always sits on top.

Are you XREFing the other person's drawing or just drawing in it? If yes to XREF, what is your VISRETAIN set to?
Does DRAWORDER their entire file "back" fix your issue too?

Just drawing on it

Previously a DRAWORDER of their drawing would temporarily fix things. It looks like we are all good now? I will know more throughout the day as I continue to work on the drawings.

Thanks for all your help.

Re: Draw Order

seanNKRS3 — Thu, 02 Apr 2020 08:02:08 GMT

This is very useful to know thanks

Re: Draw Order

seanNKRS3 — Fri, 03 Apr 2020 09:26:54 GMT

Hi all,

Unfortunately the problem persists but the good news is that I can create the problem.

If I edit one of my icon blocks and save it all the draw order is lost and the bottom layer is brought to the top. The REGENALL command will fix this.

Is this normal behaviour? Editing blocks is relatively new to me, still I'm sure I have not experienced this before out side of this drawing set??

Re: Draw Order

pendean — Fri, 03 Apr 2020 11:51:03 GMT

"... The REGENALL command will fix this... ."
On some systems, that is the fix.

Re: Draw Order

nrz13 — Fri, 03 Apr 2020 12:43:44 GMT

It is normal for exiting blocks, unfortunately. I added the regen command to my keyboard shortcuts for saving/discarding blocks.

Re: Draw Order

franzlourie1512 — Thu, 29 Jan 2026 05:38:44 GMT

Try to close the cad not just the file but the entire cad and relaunch it. It somehow worked for me.