Layers Auto-assignment

[aaronwagner]

Question on how objects are automatically assigned to layers:

When an object is placed or extruded from another object, how does FormIt 360 determine which layer it should belong to?

The trouble I'm having now is that while objects belong to certain layers, if the objects extruded from them touch or are within ~n proximity, they will automatically adopt into the nearby object's layer (thereby abandoning the original layer).

Layers are a really awesome addition (!!!), in that I can break up my model and work on the components independently.  However, this auto-switch can be disorienting.  For the meantime, what I am doing is moving the current or surrounding objects a good distance away to prevent this, then moving them back into place.

Here's an example:

I have an overall mass object that handles gross floor area and general form.  I am now modeling some interior partitions within the model.  To accomplish this, I need to turn off visibility of the mass.  Except when I extrude a new partition or sketch a new line, the line and/or extrusion switch into the mass layer (I'm guessing because this is all going on within the mass object).

Thanks!

[Tobias_Hathorn · Accepted solution]

HI Aaron - Thanks for the descriptive post!

The layers are useful for model visualization and scalability - but they won't help with the workflow you describe.

You need to use Groups to keep your geometry separated. This is essential functionality - here's a series of 2 minute videos to learn more about Groups!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQJh6TTVIGk&index=14&list=PLqumTDi1CVHPYm8E9gJg9WNWxeNoSDFkx

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGFYyfZIwpA&index=15&list=PLqumTDi1CVHPYm8E9gJg9WNWxeNoSDFkx

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjAkOzxAhRo&index=16&list=PLqumTDi1CVHPYm8E9gJg9WNWxeNoSDFkx

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TRfbOkR7gs&index=17&list=PLqumTDi1CVHPYm8E9gJg9WNWxeNoSDFkx

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p19ikcVmMY0&index=18&list=PLqumTDi1CVHPYm8E9gJg9WNWxeNoSDFkx

Hope this helps!

Tobias

[aaronwagner]

Awesome, thank you!!

[aaronwagner]

Quick update: I'm now using Groups a bit more properly for this workflow, and completely loving the functionality. Thanks!

[Anonymous]

Why would you include layers, but make this happen? Layers are more important to me than groups. I then could have layers that are in separate groups. I feel like if you give the option for layers, it should stay as that instead of changing when you don't want them to. Is it possible that in the future this will be a more useful feature? I have different portions of my model that are touching, but want to make it easy to turn them off and on for views and visualising things. I am glad I found this since I kept reverting back and not saving my file since things kept on changing when I didn't want it to

[Tobias_Hathorn]

I think this is a question of best practices more than anything else. I tend to model things as groups (individual walls, floors, windows etc) so that they don't get 'stuck' together (which is the default behavior). Once I have everything as groups - then it is quite easy to turn them on and off with layers - I can organize the model by type of element if desired... or by floor... or by design option... or so I can just get a wall out of my way and see inside.

It sounds like you've got geometry that is 'stuck together' and you'd like to be able to turn part of it on and part of it off. This is where I'd use a technique to 'separate' the geometry from each other - then group them as separate objects - and control them individually. See the video I just screencast showing this...

This might not be the ideal scenario you were expecting, but it is how the system is set up today. If I misunderstood your point, then please try again! Maybe with a video? Thanks for posting and using FormIt! Groups are the key to success, IMO!

Tobias

[Anonymous]

It makes sense now. It just wasn't clear up front that it did this. I was doing it from an Adobe standpoint instead of an Autodesk revit standpoint. I got it to work with a bunch of messing with it, but it works now. This definitely helps. I just have never experienced  that type of thing happening before. Thank you very much.

[Anonymous]

More in-depth video tutorials of these types of things would be AMAZING! I am part of the team that is actually test driving FormIt for my firm to see if we want to use it over SketchUp. I am for it, but tutorial videos are definitely beneficial for things

[tvollaro]

As Tobias mentioned earlier in this thread, We have a bunch of videos like this on our YouTube channel. FormIt Friday: long form webinar videos that go through entire workflows https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLqumTDi1CVHM7rCHJs83Yb2FyadmuQsiH FormIt Snippets: short videos that focus on one feature: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLqumTDi1CVHPYm8E9gJg9WNWxeNoSDFkx and we are always posting more!

[Anonymous]

Must be a long day. I read that and completely got sidetracked. Thank you very much. I will say, I love it better than SketchUp, for sure. Keep putting things up front and not hidden for sure. That is my favorite thing about this. It doesn't have everything hidden in tabs and in the 'Windows' Tab.