I tried posting this question as an add on to the "rotating canvas" thread under the feedback section of the forum but I haven't received any responses yet so I thought I would try posting it in this part of the forum.
I'm new to HighDesign - just trying to figure things out. I would love to know if there is a way to draw a plan in the sheets with sections and elevations rotated around the plan in a fixed position and then be able to change the 'ucs' (as in AutoCAD). I don't want to have to move and rotate the elevations and sections (i.e. re-position them for layout/printing purposes)if there is a way around this. And I see that in R5 you are able to rotate the viewports so that's great. The only step I'm missing is how to rotate the drawing space easily as I work in the sheets. I couldn't see the attachment that seemed to clarify this issue from the "rotating canvas" thread under the feedback section of the forum.
Am I just trying to replicate AutoCad too closely or is there a better way to do things in HighDesign that allows for a way to keep plans/sections/elevations lined up all the time?
Does anyone know if the R6 version will have any new features that would help with this?
There is no way to do what you are asking. For simple residential projects I have always set up the elevations around the plan. My work flow has always been to get the existing conditions or first iteration of a design to a satisfactory level before then copying them to a new sheet for laying out. I was very much hoping that the rotating viewports in RC5 (or whatever...) would in some way alleviate this limitation, but sadly for me anyway there were so many issues with texts and dimensions not displaying properly that I had to abandon use of it.
Thanks very much for your response. I'm just curious, for the purposes of understanding work flow - if viewports in R5 or R6 functioned as you desired how would you change your work flow?
I noticed back in 2009 there was some discussion on the forum around using the "object" function to simulate what an xref would do. I'm wondering if anyone has further experimented with that idea since then.
Touw wrote: ↑Tue Feb 09, 2021 9:28 pm
I'm just curious, for the purposes of understanding work flow - if viewports in R5 or R6 functioned as you desired how would you change your work flow?
I would be inclined to leave my sections and elevations rotated around the plan and rotate them on the page/sheet/layout (whatever it is called now).
Touw wrote: ↑Tue Feb 09, 2021 9:28 pm
I noticed back in 2009 there was some discussion on the forum around using the "object" function to simulate what an xref would do. I'm wondering if anyone has further experimented with that idea since then.
I have experimented with this - both with groups and objects. I encountered enough difficulties to abandon it pretty quickly. It's been a while, but two of the chief problems were: the treatment of layers within groups and objects (couldn't control visibility of individual elements), and strange behaviours within groups where a move (or transfer) command would move individual elements within the group different distances.
One of the new features planned for the next updates are Underlays: in a drafting sheet, you will be able to insert an underlay from another sheet and rotate or resize it, so it can be used for reference, tracing or to create sections and elevations. For example, you will be able to create an "Elevation East" sheet, attach an underlay from the "Plan 1" sheet and rotate it 90°.
That is great news! Will these underlays be linked to the "live" drawing (i.e. if changes are made to the "Plan 1" sheet will they appear automatically on the underlay within the "Elevation East" sheet)?
Touw wrote: ↑Wed Feb 10, 2021 2:11 pmWill these underlays be linked to the "live" drawing (i.e. if changes are made to the "Plan 1" sheet will they appear automatically on the underlay within the "Elevation East" sheet)?
Yes, they will be live drawings. Any changes made to the original sheet will be immediately visible on the underlay.