Split view

[PeterJ]

I think of the splittable crop region as being a presentation tool rather than a working tool so here is something that I want an alternate means of overcoming:

I have a long narrow building and I want to see both ends of it at once without the central area. If you use Word there is a bar that you can drag down the scroll bar and it splits the window into panes, similar I think in Excel and other MS packages - that is the functionality I need, otherwise I end up switching on and off the crop region for work then printing purposes and it becomes messy and I become forgetful.

[LRaiz]

May I ask what is wrong with existing split views from you point of view?

Do you think that split views do not behave according to customary drafting practice? If yes then can you list the shortcomings? Or do you simply express your preference for split window style of UI even though it would not produce views similar to those that people traditionally use in their drawings?

[chukarov]

You can achieve this by resizing view crop region.
Open view properties. Check “Crop region” and “Crop Region Visible”
This will make a “frame” around you view. Click on this frame and you’ll see crop marks on it. By clicking on one of them will delete the center portion of your view. Resize the remaining two crop regions to you taste.

[PeterJ]

May I ask what is wrong with existing split views from you point of view?
Leonid, thanks for the response.

The split crop region is a fine tool and I make use of it quite a bit I use it for presentation purposes, say a section too large to fit on a sheet at the prefered scale.

In the current instance I have a long building (a refurb with new end blocks) which I can show in a single plan view on an A1 sheet at a suitable scale so I do not need the split crop region for presentation, however, to work on this plan at a suitably comfortable screen scale I cannot see all the plan, a common situation, but I have enough information which references both ends of the sheet but not the central area and which I want to see at once or quickly, including detail items and text so it seems that a split view for working as opposed to presentation would fit my needs. I have been doing some site planning for lots of several acres recently too and such an option would have been very helpful then. At present I either print to paper or keep duplicating with details and then deleting the duplicate views.

Alternate solutions might be a 'super pan' tool or 'goto named screen view'. To take the latter idea to its logical conclusion a tool that remembered specific view sets, i.e. a tiled arrangement of two plans and a section and the actual viewable area of each, project browser on or off and so on, would be the paradigm solution and for dual monitor users such as myself might be an ideal move forwards to dual monitor support if that is not expressly on the horizon.

[Steve_Stafford]

What about two "working" views (don't end up on sheets) that are cropped for each end of the building? You just switch between the two and/or tile the windows?

[Dimitri Harvalias]

So what you're asking for is a 'split pane' not splitting of the view itself?

I've often feel that once a view is split or cropped for placement on a sheet the fact that those settings are lost once the crop region is removed can be a nuisance. You can't work outside the crop region without duplicating the view or wasting time re-setting the crop region.

[PeterJ]

What about two "working" views (don't end up on sheets) that are cropped for each end of the building?
Steve

I have done this and it works up to a point, in that it is fine for modelling work. My comment is that I have detail items, text, dims and so on included and this is why I have sometimes resorted to duplicating with detailing to go along the path you describe. That is a bit of a pain but works okay, now tell me how I do the same thing quickly with elevations?

I think Dimitri understands what I am getting at.

[LRaiz]

Peter,

Do you know that Windows | New Window command will open a new window showing the same view? Except being a bit more wasteful with screen real estate it is very similar to a split frame window that you described. Would opening multiple windows showing the same view but zoomed/paned into different areas address your need?

[Dimitri Harvalias]

That's a neat trick Leonid. I'm sure I'll use it frequently. One of those things that you look at a hundred times and think 'what does that do' and never bother to try it.

It still doesn't solve the problem of having the crop region block the display of the information in the middle of the view. Duplicating the view creates the same problem too. The split pane windows convention would be a useful tool.

[PeterJ]

Do you know that Windows | New Window command will open a new window showing the same view? Except being a bit more wasteful with screen real estate it is very similar to a split frame window that you described. Would opening multiple windows showing the same view but zoomed/paned into different areas address your need? I didn't know that at all. It goes a long way to addressing my needs. Thanks for the tip.



I've moved this on to Tips and Tricks. PJ