VIEWBASE Oddity?

[Anonymous]

Good morning my dear friends of the AutoCAD Forum, I have an oddity that I need a little help with:

Last week I had discovered the VIEWBASE set of commands for outputting 2D drawings of my 3D models, and have been using it quite successfully for putting together drawings for my Master's of Fine Arts final project book. Part of the process for compiling the drawings for my book includes editing a couple features in my scenic unit models to reflect changes made through our construction process (essentially, I am putting together a set of as-built drawings), something that up until this morning has not been an issue. This morning, I was generating print layouts of a scenic unit, in this case a door unit that mounts to a pivot bar, the model of which I edited to reflect an as-built change in the length of the pivot arms, and part of the process included a change to the design of the pivot bar itself, specifically the design of the end mounts, which, when originally conceptualized, were flanges welded to the end of the bar rather than the updated design featuring a cup in which the bar could freely rotate. Because of the nature of the changes, I opted to generate all new models of the pieces in need of change instead of trying to modify what I had, so I deleted the original set of objects, and replaced it with new all pieces. When I went to set up my print layout things got a little weird, in that despite having deleted the original objects that no longer show up on the model in modelspace, nor do they exist on any layer visible or frozen, they do still show up on the parent view and associated views in my print layout, and I cannot figure out why?

I also will note that in the process of editing the model, I went a step further put each feature of the drawing in its own block to make selecting individual model features easier, along with shifting specific components to a group of layers representing material types within the blocks for each model feature, i.e.  my steel inner frame block features the frame pieces assigned to the "steel" layer, while the hardware shown is assigned to a layer called "hardware", and a wheel mounted into the frame was assigned to a layer called "plastics". I then set a layer for each block that makes up the whole of the model, so as to be able to easily hide the parts I don't want to see. This is something I've done before without issue, so I don't suspect this to have anything to do with my problem, though I mention it only to help narrow down the causes. EDIT: I also took some time a created a 3D Dynamic block last week to generate hex-head bolts of a specific length, and separate Dynamic block for matching nuts and washers. Usually I just pull the appropriate hardware from McMaster-Carr, however creating the blocks saves me time by allowing quick manipulation of a linear parameter to lengthen or shorten to bolt, good for when you don't quite know what length you need. I don't suspect this is a contributor to my issue either, but I did make the blocks within this drawing set so I mention it none-the-less.        

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated, and to help describe my problem, I have attached a PDF print showing an isometric of my model as it exists in modelspace next to a VIEWBASE parent view showing the additional deleted geometry.  

For those who a curious about the design: This is a door unit from a production of An Absolute Turkey, a three act farce. The play takes place in three different locations, differing per act, and is usually produced with three completely different sets. In our case, our budget nor timeline allows for the construction of three complete sets, so the decision was made to approach the show from a more abstract style. The unit shown is one of two identical pieces designed to pivot around the shown pivot bar that was attached to a false proscenium. This allowed, along with other movable set features, for the dynamic of the set to change from act to act by changing the door's orientation. Because the play calls for heavy use of the doors (the doors themselves are not in the model) in the comedic action of the play, the units needed to be fairly stable when interacted with necessitating the need to have a stiff steel inner frame that was built out with a wood frame, a MDF top skin and then detail moulding, attached to a pivot point with very tight tolerances. For this we chose a combination of DOM and precision steel tubing with a ID-OD difference of around 0.02". The tight tolerance required the changes to the pivot bar as mentioned above to allow the bar to freely move along with allowing the arms to rotate freely around the bar as well. In the end, this proved extremely successful, the doors pivoted well, albeit stiff, despite having to fight a slight rake in the floor of + or - 1/2" over the distance traveled, and stayed very steady through heavy door slamming. It was however necessary to install a drop pin (also not shown) on the door frame to lock the unit into position during the performances. The pin simply engaged a hole drilled into the stage floor.     

[Otto]

Hello GWMaine

It looks like you are looking for information related to filtering or grouping layers. Community members with similar questions found the following article(s) useful:

Layer Filter Properties Dialog Box (Layer Properties Manager)

Ribbon - Layer Filter Combo Control

[Anonymous]

Thanks, but I don't see how layer filter controls can have an impact on my problem...

[Anonymous]

Pay no attention to OTTO, its an auto-bot/help-bot that isn't very helpful.

Sorry I can't help, I don't use VIEWBASE, I annotate the actual model through PS viewports.

[Anonymous]

VIEWBASE can have problems with heavily edited 3d models, the newer releases are better about it but it still happens on occasion.

Option 1. Purge and save the drawing, close AutoCad, empty your temp file location (normally C:\Users\_____\AppData\Local\Temp) and reopen the drawing.

Option 2. If option 1 does not work try creating a new VIEWBASE view will all elements in it. You can place it outside the printed area. This will force Autocad to re-index the 3d solids/regions in the drawing and should fix the problem.

[Anonymous]

I have tried clearing the temp data, and purging the drawing but they didn't do much to help. In rethinking about how I arrived to my problem this morning, I thought about how freezing and thawing layers may be part of the problem, and so a froze and thawed all of the drawing layers, which cured my ghosting deleted parts problem in my views, however introduced another oddity: Now when I generate a parent view, the majority of the model appears in the view, save for one particular block, in this case the internal steel frame of my model, and nothing seems to be able to get it to show up. It is visible in modelspace, exists on an active layer, and even shows up in the command as a conceptual view when placing the parent view and defining projected views. On close-out of the command instead of generating a 2D rendering of that particular block, it just disappears as if it never existed. 

I did have better success copying and pasting the group of blocks that make up my model and pasting them into a new drawing template, everything that should be there shows up, and nothing that shouldn't is gone. I may just use this as a solution, generating my views from a new file, and saving the heavily edited original as a separate historic entity. I had a problem with printing a series of viewport layouts a month ago, where trying to output my drawing to AdobePDF as a plot device (don't even get me started on why I can't print direct to the plotter...) would stall and refuse to complete. Copying the needed geometry to a clean template file solved the problem and the PDFs could be made. This may be my process from now on...

[john.vellek · Accepted solution]

Hi @Anonymous,

I'm sorry that you are having Viewbase issues. Since you are creating new views, please try this method:

Copy your model to a new drawing. Then run Viewbase. If the views still don't show all the correct geometry, scale your model up by 1.00001 and trey again.

Which version of AutoCAD are you using as this type of problem, to my knowledge, has been repaired in the current release.

Please select the Accept as Solution button if my post solves your issue or answers your question.

[john.vellek]

Hi @Anonymous,

I am checking back to see if my post helped you with your problem. Please add a post with how you decide to proceed and your results so other Community members may benefit.

Please hit the Accept as Solution button if a post or posts solves your issue or answers your question.

[Anonymous]

     Yes, copying the model from the original drawing file to a new blank template did solve my problems as I did note in my last post above, however thanks for the input.

     I use AutoCAD 2018, and this is not the first issue I have had with VIEWBASE or Viewports recently. Last week, while beginning my exploration of VIEWBASE, I ran into problems with a layout where I had inserted a parent view along with a section view from the parent, and then a detail view generated from the section view. After formatting these views as desired, I went back to the parent to create another projected side view of the opposite side of the unit, and it would not work, nor could I create a view of any type anywhere on that layout. Starting a new layout within the original DWG solved the problem in that case.

     Additionally, as noted in my last post, I mentioned a problem plotting a set of layouts with viewports to PDF using AdobePDF. The drawing being plotted was a fairly simple 2D drawing, though the geometry was present along a 3D model from which it was derived via flatshot, explode, and overkill. Every attempt to plot to PDF via AdobePDF or the native PDF plot device stalled and failed, as did any attempt to plot directly to my Designjet T2500. Again, as I did yesterday, the only way to get the layouts to print was to copy the 2D geometry to a new drawing template and setup new layouts.

     Because of my recent troubles, I have decided that my process from now on will be to generate and edit my models in one file, then copy and paste the finalized piece as a group of blocks into a new file for layouts and plotting. This seems to be working better.

     I also want to note that I am continuing to have other issues with AutoCAD that I have sought help with in the past without resolution: While working in 3D primarily, though the same issue pops up in many of my 2D only drawings as well, I will have AutoCAD crash and close out randomly and usually without warning. It at least will notify me when the crash occurs and saves the open drawings in whatever state they are in for later recovery. This problem was far worse when I initially drafted and modeled the very same scenic units that I am working editing and recompiling for my book now back in November using AutoCAD 2017. For each scenic unit, I have a master file, and at least 8 to 10 recovery files. Upgrading to to 2018 helped, as does being consistent with driver updates and Windows updates, however I still cannot go for an entire day without at least one software crash.

     Often, I do get a hint that a crash is coming, usually in the form of highlighted objects or grips that remain on screen after hitting escape two or more times following a command. Performing a regen or better yet, hitting the save button (saves and then regens the drawing) usually clears it. Sometimes I don't catch it fast enough, and panning or orbiting the drawing is usually the catalyst to initiate the crash in that case.

     I have been told that my problem stems from my use of Windows 10, or that it could be a hardware issue, though my laptop is no slouch, being just less than 1 year old, featuring a i7 processor, Nvidia GTX1060 graphics card (yes, I know it's not a Quadro) with 6gb of dedicated video RAM, 16gb of system RAM, and a M2 configuration SSD with plenty of free space. I also do not multitask too much while drafting, so aside from a few minor background processes, and an open Google Chrome browser window (for McMaster-Carr part acquisition only), AutoCAD is free to use nearly the entirety of the PC's power. I have offloaded all of my other processes and workflow to my MacBook Pro instead.

     So, at this juncture I am at a loss for ideas in solving any of my issues. The only constants in problem that remain are my default drafting template: created from the ground up with all of my standard layers, styles, layouts and title blocks, this template iteration originating from AutoCAD 2016, and my workspace: a custom variation of the AutoCAD Classic environment, again created from scratch, and migrated from AutoCAD 2015, gaining only minor changes every year, usually only in the arrangement of the tool bars.

With all that said, could the root of all of my problems relate to my default drafting template? I have taken care as to prevent addition of non-standard layers, styles, blocks, and attachments from cluttering up my template, but that doesn't mean that it hasn't happened. I did recently start getting a notification when I start a new drawing from the template and perform a save as to a DWG file, in the form of a pop-up box asking if I want to update drawing paths. Perhaps it's time to start a new template...          

[Djacob62]

GWMaine - I have had the same problem today with Viewbase.  I am using AutoCAD 2014 but I opened the file in 2018 and had the same issues.  I had been creating Viewbase views then all of a sudden I could not create a new view nor could I edit an existing one.

I did WBLOCK the model to a new file.  I opened the new model file and I was able to create new Viewbase views.

Since my file was saved on a network drive and it backs up every 4 hours, I was able to pull out a back up from earlier in the day and I was able to get the Viewbase working on it.  I lost a few hours worth of work but at least my drawing isn't a total loss.

Had I not been able to do that, the drawing would have been worthless with being able to edit the model and have the views update.

As far as AutoCAD crashing - the only issues I have had is spinning the model in MSPACE using the Shift-Middle Button and moving the mouse (or trackball in my case).  There is a known AutoCAD glitch that it will completely blow you out of AutoCAD - no questions, no kiss goodbye - just BAM! and it's gone.  So the only work around is to not use it and use the 3DOrbit, which is not as convenient as shift-middle button.

Regards,

Don

[Anonymous]

Don,
Thanks for the reply, this has been an on-going issue for me, and now it's
costing me money. I have moved on from grad school into a full time career
for which the majority of my work load is drafting in AutoCAD, and I now
have a work desktop PC with a Quadro graphics chipset and quite a bit more
processing power than my personal laptop. In discussing my problems with my
coworkers, they too mentioned the shift-scroll wheel glitch, and I have
been working hard to break myself from the habit. That is definitely
something Autodesk needs to address, as it seems to not only crash ACAD,
but also seems to corrupt models and the drawing space, leading to the
VIEWBASE issues I have. Presently, I have taken to copying and pasting my
models into a new drawing before doing plate layouts, and this seems to be
helping a bit. The next step I took, and I just started this today, is to
implement a 3DCONNEXION SpacePilot Pro in my drafting setup to take
advantage of its positional control. It's not the best, but it does seem to
help.

Thanks for the thoughts, hopefully Autodesk can sort a lot of these bugs
out through the next few builds.
- Greg

[Djacob62]

It happened to me again on the same drawing yesterday.

I had just made some major changes to the model and it went T.U. on me.  I think the changes were more than what AutoCAD could handle with all the views.

So what I am starting to do now is edit the view first, remove the objects I know I am going to change, then go edit the model.  Once I am done editing the model I go back and edit the view to re-add the changed objects.

I'm doing a small platform and including structures it is attaching to and objects around it.  The drawing set has different views, sections and details for each item.  Maybe it's too complex for AutoCAD - just guessing.

Well, I'll see how it goes today.

[Anonymous]

Don,
A couple more thoughts about the VIEWBASE issues:

Over the last 24 hours or so (I have been almost literally non-stop
drafting since 7:30AM yesterday except for my ride home last night to work
from the dining room),I have picked up some additional tips on how to get
VIEWBASE to play nice.

The most important lesson I learned is that it doesn't like complex models,
and if you're like me this may be a major issue. The unit I was drafting
this week was a scenic wall with a false brick paneling to be applied, for
which I modeled out a section of the panel to ensure proper pattern line-up
at the wall's break point. This put a lot of stress on AutoCAD apparently,
so removing the texture from the model made things a bit more smooth.
Likewise, where I had steel tube framing that I modeled as tube with
appropriate radiused corners, this also apparently was not playing nice
either. I spent an hour and a half last night remodeling the scenic unit
with simple solid shapes, and that has prove successful thus far, allowing
me to generate all the views I needed over 14 layouts. I didn't count, but
I'll guess that there may be 40 views over the 14 layouts when you add up
the detail and section views with the parents and projected views.

The majority of my new simple model is new geometry, and assembled in a
new, clean file. I opted to use a couple pieces of my original model to
save time, however, and I'm not sure that was a good choice. I was careful
not to use Shift and Pan to Orbit in Modelspace, using the SpacePilot Pro
instead, and I am growing quite fond of it now. This appeared to help
minimize VIEWBASE problems or ACAD outright crashing, though both did still
occur, just not every 30 minutes or so as it had been doing, instead only 3
times between 8:00pm and 5:30am. I also want to note that my standard
practice at present includes copying and pasting my models into a fresh
drawing before doing layouts, and this too has reduced issues.

On the subject of crash recovery, I have also abandoned any attempt to
generate VIEWBASE views in recovered files, as at least for me, 90% of the
time upon recovery, I can no longer edit existing views or add new ones.
Instead, I am saving every few minutes so in the event of a crash, I can
open up my saved drawing, and continue from that point. I may loose a
little bit of time doing this, but it's better than getting far into a
recovered drawing only to have it suddenly refuse to generate views. I do
still take advantage of the recovery manager when modeling or drafting, as
I can continue to use the geometry successfully in most cases, and as I
mentioned before, my standard practice now is to copy and paste the
geometry into a new drawing before generating layouts and views, which will
negate some corruption of the data.

So, as I am sure you're wondering, yes, my headaches with AutoCAD, 3D
modeling, and viewbase are the reasons behind my non-stop Red Bull-fueled
drafting marathon, as I have deadlines to meet, and ACAD has done its best
to thwart me at every turn, however it seems I may finally be gaining
ground.

Good luck, hopefully some of this helps you as well.
- Greg