topic Re: You gotta try visibility-add-eng-v1.1 in Dynamic Blocks Forum

You gotta try visibility-add-eng-v1.1

Anonymous — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 16:33:28 GMT

Ok, the instructions aren't the clearest, however, when you get the hang of
it you'll love it. Try to make my valve (attached) without using this lisp
routine, you'll spend 10X longer.

Here are the steps I figured out:
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Elements:
Lines, arcs, splines, attributes, text, etc.

1) Place all the elements. The location doesn't matter at first, so make
them easy to select by not stacking things on top of each other.

2) Add all the parameters/actions you want - DO NOT add any visibility
states or lookups yet. Make sure your actions affect the things you want,
and don't affect the things you don't want them to.

3) Load visibility-add-eng.lsp.

4) Add a visibility parameter using (visibility_add). Rename the parameter
accordingly.

5) Set this new visibility parameter active using (visibility-up). There is
a little problem with the program here. When you have one visibility
parameter active and you set a new one active, it gets hung up. Use the
visibility state pulldown and select a state. Note the command line will
ask you for a visibility state. Type ? to see those available, then type in
any name you want.

6) Add the states to the list of visibilities - DO NOT change the visibility
of anything yet.

7) Using (element-sel-current-del) select all the elements you do not want
to be affected when you change this particular visibility state.
For example: If I'm working on the "actuator" visibility states, I don't
want my valve type to change if a person wants to use a different actuator,
therefore, I will select every element that is not an actuator.

8) Now you can make elements visible or invisible in the states you've
defined. Do not bother changing the visibility of the elements you've
removed.
NOTE: if you draw a new object or copy something, it will not be removed
from any visibility sets.

9) Repeat steps 4 thru 8.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

I did not list all the functions in this routine. Many I don't even know
how to use yet, or why.

Todd

Re: You gotta try visibility-add-eng-v1.1

Anonymous — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 17:30:55 GMT

This is really cool! There are so many blocks where I need multiple
visibility states. I only discovered this two days ago and I've already
started making more powerful DB's. I too have notice that you need to
construct the DB in a very deliberate way for it to work, but once you
figure that out its great!

Thank you,

Jim Dee

www.caddee.com

"T Bennett" wrote in message
news:6216794@discussion.autodesk.com...
Ok, the instructions aren't the clearest, however, when you get the hang of
it you'll love it. Try to make my valve (attached) without using this lisp
routine, you'll spend 10X longer.

Here are the steps I figured out:
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Elements:
Lines, arcs, splines, attributes, text, etc.

1) Place all the elements. The location doesn't matter at first, so make
them easy to select by not stacking things on top of each other.

2) Add all the parameters/actions you want - DO NOT add any visibility
states or lookups yet. Make sure your actions affect the things you want,
and don't affect the things you don't want them to.

3) Load visibility-add-eng.lsp.

4) Add a visibility parameter using (visibility_add). Rename the parameter
accordingly.

5) Set this new visibility parameter active using (visibility-up). There is
a little problem with the program here. When you have one visibility
parameter active and you set a new one active, it gets hung up. Use the
visibility state pulldown and select a state. Note the command line will
ask you for a visibility state. Type ? to see those available, then type in
any name you want.

6) Add the states to the list of visibilities - DO NOT change the visibility
of anything yet.

7) Using (element-sel-current-del) select all the elements you do not want
to be affected when you change this particular visibility state.
For example: If I'm working on the "actuator" visibility states, I don't
want my valve type to change if a person wants to use a different actuator,
therefore, I will select every element that is not an actuator.

8) Now you can make elements visible or invisible in the states you've
defined. Do not bother changing the visibility of the elements you've
removed.
NOTE: if you draw a new object or copy something, it will not be removed
from any visibility sets.

9) Repeat steps 4 thru 8.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

I did not list all the functions in this routine. Many I don't even know
how to use yet, or why.

Todd

Re: You gotta try visibility-add-eng-v1.1

Anonymous — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 14:37:04 GMT

Are you confident such modifications will survive in other versions of
AutoCAD? I glanced at the code which all seemed very confusing.
I didn't spend enough time with it to determine what it is actually doing
but I hope for the sake of your time, all your new and improved blocks
don't fall apart or cause corruption.

Good luck.

"T Bennett" wrote in message
news:6216794@discussion.autodesk.com...
Ok, the instructions aren't the clearest, however, when you get the hang of
it you'll love it.

Re: You gotta try visibility-add-eng-v1.1

Anonymous — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 17:59:53 GMT

No problem. At the pace our company upgrades, we shouldn't have to worry
about it for about 10 years.

Win XP Pro SP2
P4 3.06
AutoCAD 2006

Todd

"Jason Piercey" wrote in message
news:6217508@discussion.autodesk.com...
Are you confident such modifications will survive in other versions of
AutoCAD? I glanced at the code which all seemed very confusing.
I didn't spend enough time with it to determine what it is actually doing
but I hope for the sake of your time, all your new and improved blocks
don't fall apart or cause corruption.

Good luck.

"T Bennett" wrote in message
news:6216794@discussion.autodesk.com...
Ok, the instructions aren't the clearest, however, when you get the hang of
it you'll love it.

Re: You gotta try visibility-add-eng-v1.1

Anonymous — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 23:17:44 GMT

The best solution is for AutoDesk to just add the flexibility of multiple
visibility states. Until then, I'm going with this.

Is anyone using it in AutoCAD 2010 or later?

Todd

"Jason Piercey" wrote in message
news:6217508@discussion.autodesk.com...
Are you confident such modifications will survive in other versions of
AutoCAD? I glanced at the code which all seemed very confusing.
I didn't spend enough time with it to determine what it is actually doing
but I hope for the sake of your time, all your new and improved blocks
don't fall apart or cause corruption.

Good luck.

"T Bennett" wrote in message
news:6216794@discussion.autodesk.com...
Ok, the instructions aren't the clearest, however, when you get the hang of
it you'll love it.

Re: You gotta try visibility-add-eng-v1.1

NikolayPoleshchuk — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 06:14:43 GMT

In AutoCAD 2010 it is OK.
I'm preparing visibility-add-eng-v1.2 where some inaccuracies will be removed.

Re: You gotta try visibility-add-eng-v1.1

NikolayPoleshchuk — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 09:29:17 GMT

Version 1.2 is added. See commentary here: http://poleshchuk.spb.ru/cad/2009/tainypod12e.htm

Re: You gotta try visibility-add-eng-v1.1

Anonymous — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 12:11:35 GMT

Cool, I'll try it when I get a chance.

wrote in message news:6225878@discussion.autodesk.com...
Version 1.2 is added. See commentary here:
http://poleshchuk.spb.ru/cad/2009/tainypod12e.htm

Re: You gotta try visibility-add-eng-v1.1

Anonymous — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 17:57:39 GMT

Hello,

This is what I was looking for!

well, I have some doubts. still cannot make this work.

after I add a visibility with visibility_add, what should I do?

if I try to use the visibility up, I can not select the visibility parameter that I added before.

if I try to add another parameter visibility, the program returns error.

what am I doing wrong?

I sending the file that I'm working. I want select what the elements in the legend I want.

Sorry for the errors, I'm brazilian and I don't speak english very well. Google Translate help me #) Edited by: rafa.fiss on Jul 31, 2009 5:58 PM

Re: You gotta try visibility-add-eng-v1.1

NikolayPoleshchuk — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 08:20:02 GMT

AutoCAD sees only one visibilty parameter in the Block Editor while editing its visibility states. This parameter is at the top of an internal vis-parameters list.
So you cannot edit visibility parameter until it becames up on the top in the block definition. If you want to do something with a parameter you should first make it uppest (use visibility-up) and only then edit it. After that you can put another vis-parameter to the top (use visibility-up again but pick another parameter) and then edit it.
And so on.

Re: You gotta try visibility-add-eng-v1.1

Anonymous — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 15:07:44 GMT

My only question is, if you figured this out, why couldn't Autodesk?

Re: You gotta try visibility-add-eng-v1.1

NikolayPoleshchuk — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 02:26:30 GMT

Autodesk knows about this improvement. But they say that the problem is not in their nearest plans.

Re: You gotta try visibility-add-eng-v1.1

Anonymous — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 04:10:56 GMT

I love the sound of this lisp, it's exactly what I've been looking for but I can't get it to work.
I can add a visibility parameter using (visibility_add) which it does but with errors;

{color:#3366ff}Command: _appload visibility-add-eng.lsp successfully loaded.
Command:
Command:
Command: (visibility_add)
Select point for placing Visibility Set: _.BParameter
Enter parameter type
[Alignment/Base/pOint/Linear/Polar/Xy/Rotation/Flip/Visibility/looKup]: _V
Specify parameter location or [Name/Label/Description/Palette]: _L
Enter visibility property label : Visibility-1
Specify parameter location or [Name/Label/Description/Palette]:
Enter number of grips [0/1] <1>:
Command: _.BSAVE
Command: ; error: quit / exit abort

{color:#000000}I then rename the parameter as in step 4. And try to set the new parameter active using (visibility-up) but I get the following error;
{color}
Command: (visibility-up)
Select required Visibility Set: ; error: bad argument type: numberp: nil
{color}

Am I missing something?

I am using AutoCAD 2010.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

Gemma

Re: You gotta try visibility-add-eng-v1.1

Anonymous — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 17:27:46 GMT

I guess the guy made a
visibility-add-eng-v1.2. Are you using this or version
1.1?

I used version 1.1 on AutoCAD 2006 with
no problems. We have recently upgraded to 2008, but I haven't
tried either version since. However, Nikolay Poleshchuk said it worked
with 2010.

P.S. I snipped this from a previous
post:

<<Instructions for using are given in
English at the bottom of the page (6 steps):>>

<<
href="http://www.private.peterlink.ru/poleshchuk/cad/2009/tainypod12e.htm#moveProps">http://www.private.peterlink.ru/poleshchuk/cad/2009/tainypod12e.htm#moveProps
face=Arial size=2>>>

The instructions could be better, but there's a
lost-in-translation thing, I'm sure.

Todd

style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">

<GemT> wrote in message
href="news:6242557@discussion.autodesk.com">news:6242557@discussion.autodesk.com...

I love the sound of this lisp, it's exactly what I've been looking for but
I can't get it to work.
I can add a visibility parameter using
(visibility_add) which it does but with errors;

{color:#3366ff}Command:
_appload visibility-add-eng.lsp successfully
loaded.
Command:
Command:
Command: (visibility_add)
Select point
for placing Visibility Set: _.BParameter
Enter parameter type

[Alignment/Base/pOint/Linear/Polar/Xy/Rotation/Flip/Visibility/looKup]:
_V
Specify parameter location or [Name/Label/Description/Palette]:
_L
Enter visibility property label : Visibility-1
Specify parameter
location or [Name/Label/Description/Palette]:
Enter number of grips [0/1]
<1>:
Command: _.BSAVE
Command: ; error: quit / exit
abort

{color:#000000}I then rename the parameter as in step 4. And try
to set the new parameter active using (visibility-up) but I get the following
error;
{color}
Command: (visibility-up)
Select required Visibility
Set: ; error: bad argument type: numberp: nil
{color}

Am I missing
something?

I am using AutoCAD 2010.

Any help would be greatly
appreciated.

Thanks.

Gemma

Re: You gotta try visibility-add-eng-v1.1

Anonymous — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 02:01:10 GMT

Ok I got it to work. It was the way I was opening the block in the block editor. I was inserting the block into a dwg and editing it that way when I should have opened the actual block file.

Anyway I have another problem now. All my elements have disappeared??? I set all my visibility parameters up, tested it, all worked ok then closed the block editor (after saving etc). Then went to reopen it and all the elements that I removed in each visibility parameter had disappeared. How can I get them back. They don't appear if I insert the block into a drawing either.

Help.

Gemma

Re: You gotta try visibility-add-eng-v1.1

Anonymous — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 04:13:48 GMT

Well I got around that by deleting all the vp's and starting again...lets try again.

Gemma

Re: You gotta try visibility-add-eng-v1.1

Anonymous — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 20:37:34 GMT

Sorry dude. I can't say I'm an expert by any
stretch. I made one that works great, but when I tried to modify it later,
it wouldn't work. Of course I made it in 2006 using v1.1 and tried to
modify it in 2008 using v1.2. I haven't had time to mess with it
since.

I believe that one of the sub routines needs to be
run before you start.

style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">

<GemT> wrote in message
href="news:6244223@discussion.autodesk.com">news:6244223@discussion.autodesk.com...
Well
I got around that by deleting all the vp's and starting again...lets try
again.

Gemma

Re: You gotta try visibility-add-eng-v1.1

nbawden — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 04:09:42 GMT

Hi, I managed to get this lisp going on my first attempt and was impressed with what it can do.

I have a couple of questions about it

1) After running it successfully the first time I have since discovered that 9 times out of 10 when I run visibility_add it asks me to select the point for the visibility set and when I click on the spot I want it fails with the error

"; error: bad argument type: lentityp
nil"

Any idea what is causing this?

2) If I already have an existing block with a visibility set and I want to expand on it by adding a second visibility parameter what do I need to do? It seems that I can't keep an existing visibility parameter and add more with this lisp?

Re: You gotta try visibility-add-eng-v1.1

Anonymous — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 15:51:30 GMT

Sorry, you've long since tapped my knowledge of this program.

wrote in message news:6249912@discussion.autodesk.com...
Hi, I managed to get this lisp going on my first attempt and was impressed
with what it can do.

I have a couple of questions about it

1) After running it successfully the first time I have since discovered that
9 times out of 10 when I run visibility_add it asks me to select the point
for the visibility set and when I click on the spot I want it fails with the
error

"; error: bad argument type: lentityp
nil"

Any idea what is causing this?

2) If I already have an existing block with a visibility set and I want to
expand on it by adding a second visibility parameter what do I need to do?
It seems that I can't keep an existing visibility parameter and add more
with this lisp?

Re: You gotta try visibility-add-eng-v1.1

NikolayPoleshchuk — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 07:41:19 GMT

Try version 1.3: http://www.private.peterlink.ru/poleshchuk/cad/2009/tainypod12e.htm