Flatten or remove lines in z-axis

[cdross]

I am using 2014 LT and I am working with a drawing with lines that are in the z-axis. I have tried using the 0,0,0 move 0,01e99 and no luck. This series of commands has always worked for me in the past. Any tips on how to get things out of the z-axis? How can you view the items in z?

Thanks.

[cadffm]

Move from
0,0,0
to
0,0,1e99(!)
and back
0,0,1e99
to
0,0,0

Should works.

Is that really a Line?
Layer is unlock?
Macro or Script: Osnap is off or netter: Osnapcoord is set to 1 ?

Post a DWG with one Line, please

[steven-g · Accepted solution]

The macro should work for just lines, but if they are inside a block then you have other issues. As you need to make the changes in the block editor. But the question was how to view the objects, The commands for that can be found uner the view tab of both the menu and the ribbon, for the ribbon you then need to look in the coordinates panel and there is a drop down with the various views (front, back, left, right, etc). TOP is the same as "world"

In the menu look down for the 3Dviews sub menu, try front view, you can also type view at the command line and get the various options in the view dialogue. It probably won't make much sense I usually select object that look out of place and give them a color before going back to world wiew to see where they are. Or you could try one of the isometric views, but that doesn't always give good results.

If you change the view and see nothing it probably means that you have a few objects with really varied Z values and Autocad has zoomed way out to show them on screen. Just remember undo will always get you back to a normal view or typing UCS<enter>W<enter>PLAN<enter><enter> will take you back to the world standaard view.

[pendean]

Select all the objects in your file.
Start PROPERTIES command, sort by entity type, and change every Z setting to 0 (that's a zero). Should take about 5-minutes at most.

If you have 3D blocks or 3D objects, the above tip will simply move their basepoint to z=0.

[cdross]

That seems to have fixed things for now. How do I ensure that things are not in the z-axis going forward? These drawings were started by someone else so it is a bit frustrating.

[pendean · Accepted solution]

There is no ability to lock-down Z-settings in LT.

[cdross]

Thanks!

[steven-g]

I remember a tip somewhere on the forums, that I use often, and that is draw using polylines where possible, and start away from any drawing objects with the first point. It's not always practical but a polyline will either start at zero elevation when no snaps are used (otherwise the first point will adopt the z value of the existing snap geometry, but once started a polyline will not be affected by any z values, it will still snap to any geometry you pick but will ignore any z values and just take on the X and Y coordinates.

I often use this to trace around a 3D drawing, finish the polyline at the second point then trim the first segment back and use pedit to close the ployline.

[cadffm]

@Anonymous
Thats a crazy way.

The "normal" way is to use pointfilters
http://help.autodesk.com/view/ACDLT/2018/ENU/?guid=GUID-46A720EC-712F-44E3-95F7-ABBCC08F8B85

But the move-menu-macro to 1e99 should fastest way in 99%

[steven-g]

The flatten macro that is often quoted in LT can cause havoc to a drawing, and without carefully monitoring of the results should be avoided. Point filters is a good method, I just hate all that extra keyboard input.

[rdw]

The company i work for has a full version of cad and we would like to eliminate this z axis thing.  The z axis issue seems to pop up continuously,  however we do not ever draw 3d with cad. (i know sometimes it could come from an inserted block or what not but this is happening on new drawings files with nothing in them. How do we disable the z permanently??

Let me give you another example of something that happens all the time.  I create a new note with a leader and mtext and check the z axis, it says 0 (zero).  Everything is perfect until you have to move your note maybe a foot or 6 inches in any direction with no base points used to make sure it does not have a chance to possibly snap to something that is not at 0 on the z-axis but the text will move to -2 3/4 on the z-axis for example.  What causes this?  it is some frustrating because it changes the appearance of the text as well.

I really want to **** this in the butt so therefore i will also be doing further investigating while waiting for someone to see the post but please feel free to offer a resolution if you have one.

[rdw]

I may have found a fix on my own for making sure drafting lines are on the 0 z-axis.  I am using AutoCAD 2018 and this appears to be working for now.  I went to AutoCAD options and then to the Drafting tab and at the bottom left you have Object Snap Options.  I checked the box next to replace value with current elevation. All lines appear to stay at 0 on the Z-axis but this still does not solve my moving text issue.......

[rdw]

I may have found a fix on my own for making sure drafting lines are on the 0 z-axis.  I am using Auto CAD 2018 and this appears to be working for now.  I went to Auto CAD options and then to the Drafting tab and at the bottom left you have Object Snap Options.  I checked the box next to replace value with current elevation. All lines appear to stay at 0 on the Z-axis but this still does not solve my moving text issue.......

[pendean]

OSNAPZ is a feature of AutoCAD, not LT: glad you found that as a solution for your needs.

[steven-g]

If you are using a full version of Autocad there is the osnapz variable, in LT it isn't an option and if you are 1000% certain there is no odd geometry in your drawings and that you aren't snapping to any objects then there is something strange going on. Could you post a copy of a drawing that contains mtext that does this and someone could maybe find a reason, providing it isn't just a single computer error.

[cdross]

Completely agree. Wish the z-axis would go away if you are not using it. I know that the downloads of cad elements- windows, appliances, etc brought the z-axis into the drawing I was working on. I am in LT so I had to keep selecting items to turn the z to 0. Process for sure once corrupted. LT works well for my needs, until I need something in regular cad.

[msalekm]

I also have this problem many times, especially in projects that have drawn AutoCAD files and other engineers.
This time it was a big file and the common tricks didn't help ... but in the end I got a great result and very fast ...
But that's the wonderful way to do it
1. First, output the pdf output from the file you want ... with the plot command and select the pdf high quallity option
2. Then import this pdf file into AutoCAD

yesssss ....
It ended so easily in less than a minute a big problem was solved ...
This imported file is made of calligraphy and is easily editable ... and its most amazing feature is that it also preserves the layers ....
Take it easy

[steven-g]

You will lose some accuracy using that method. But in the right circumstances a nice idea.

[RangrStudio]

When I get surveyor's drawings, they usually have z values per contour and label. I usually select items then select similar and either make the elevation 0 in properties or the z start and z end 0 in properties. This works for almost everything and takes minutes. 

This particular time, I have some leaders that don't have a z value in properties, but they do have z values in the drawing-- I blocked out a few leaders from the drawing in the attached file.

How to give these leaders 0 values? 

Thanks!

[hwalker]

@RangrStudio Do you have access to full AutoCAD or do you have LT2024. If the answer is yes to either of those, try using the lisp in the post below

Solved: Re: Changing Multileader Elevations to Zero - Autodesk Community - AutoCAD