Object Viewer should be Non-Modal (don't have to close it to do OTHER things)

[doni49]

I absolutely hate using the Object Viewer in its current incarnation.  It is very difficult to get it setup just the way I want to see it.  Then if I need to update something in my model, I need to CLOSE IT and make the change then restart the object viewer again and set it up again.

I'd like it a WHOLE LOT BETTER if it were in a floating (non-modal) window that I could move to my second screen and just leave it.  Then as I make changes in my model (I use Civil 3d), the Object Viewer would show me the results of my changes.  It should include an option to NOT update automatically in case I'm making a bunch of changes and don't want it to take the time to update with each minor change.

[troma]

I don't do this stuff a whole lot, so tell me where I'm wrong.

It sounds like you could just use a couple of modelspace viewports. Have a 2D viewport where you do your work, and a 3D viewport set up like your object viewer. That way everything will update on the fly. Would that work?

[doni49]

That's what I started doing yesterday (IDK why in the world I never thought of it before) but I hate giving up the screen real estate on my main screen for this.  I'd rather put the viewer on my second monitor and just leave it there -- which is where my layer, xref & design center tools are all kept. 

I'd REALLY like to be able to just open ANY view and put them separately anywhere on either screen but I don't see that happening anytime soon.  But they're already treating Oject Viewer differently than the regular VPs so I thought MAYBE this could be done.  Just take what they already have, make it non-modal.  Plus not everyone likes to view their file using multiple VPs so if someone opens the file and doesn't like them, they reset it back to single VP mode.  Using my suggestion, I would at least retain my Object Viewer settings/orientation.

I just realized as I was typing this that the second part of my request is moot -- if I don't want things to update automatically, I can just turn off auto update for those specific items (surfaces & corridors etc).

[Cadguru42]

This Idea is great. Too bad it's being ignored by Autodesk. The multiple viewports workaround doesn't really work when you're dealing with state plane coordinates because of the defect where curves won't display correctly when multiple viewports are used. If they made the Object Viewer modeless it might end up having the exact same issue where curved objects won't display properly if far from the origin. 

[TimYarris]

Thanks to @Cadguru42 for tagging me. 

We have a more performant, modeless object viewer in work. See this entry on our public roadmap.

[doni49]

@Cadguru42  wrote:

The multiple viewports workaround doesn't really work when you're dealing with state plane coordinates

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I almost never work in a dwg that DOESN'T use State Plane Coordinates.  I've never had an issue.

[Cadguru42]

@doni49 It's an AutoCAD issue where if you have multiple viewports on the screen at a time, have anything with curves that are far from the origin (most state planes) then the curves do not display properly. This is a known defect that's been going on ever since ACAD 2016 that the ACAD team says to just move everything to the origin (can't do that with civil/survey projects) and the C3D team says it's an AutoCAD issue so nothing gets done to fix the issue even after 9 years. C3D 2025 still has this same issue.

https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/civil-3d-ideas/fix-curve-display-bug/idi-p/11790675

https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/civil-3d-forum/c3d-2016-curves-incorrectly-displayed-with-multiple-vi...