View frames are created automatically when you use the Create View Frames wizard. View frames are always associated with a parent view frame group.
View frames are created based on an alignment in the drawing, and on a designated plan view or profile view viewport in a template. When you choose to create sheets that will contain profile view data in addition to plan view data, you must also have a profile in the drawing.
Most of the view frame object information is derived from the viewport information specified in the template. For example, the view frames you create get their size and scale from the viewport in the template. Similarly, the sheet layout is also derived from the referenced template. Viewports in the referenced template must have the Viewport Type property specified, depending on the type of data you want that viewport to display. Although you can move or rotate view frames, you cannot change the size of a view frame. This is because the view frame’s size is based on the size of the viewport it references in the associated template.
Like other AutoCAD Civil 3D objects, you can edit certain properties of a view frame. For example, you can change a view frame’s object name, description, object style, or the layer on which it is displayed. The properties of the view frame are saved in the drawing in which you create the view frame.
View frames can include a label. For example, you may want your view frame labels to identify the area along the alignment it is displaying, or reference more specific data from that area.
How view frames are displayed is controlled by a view frame style, a view frame label style, and choices made on the Create View Frames wizard.
View frame objects are displayed in the Prospector tree, and you can control their default style and labeling from the View Frame collection in the Settings tree.
View frames persist in a drawing as objects with the name AeccViewFrame.
The view frame style controls the appearance of the view frame. You can set typical style characteristics, such as visibility, layer, color, linetype, linetype scale, and lineweight.
View frames have only one display component, the border, which is visible only in plan view.
You can specify a label style and a location for the label that will be displayed on each view frame. Set the defaults for this view frame label behavior using the View Frame Group Settings dialog box.
You can choose from a variety of locations around the view frame to place the view frame label. For example, you can choose to place view frame labels at the top left, top center, middle right, and so on. You make this choice in the Create View Frames wizard. You can change this location later, after it has been created by right-clicking the label and selecting Edit Label.
A view frame group manages a group of view frames that are created while using the Create View Frames wizard. Each view frame group manages the view frames and match lines for a single alignment.
On the third page of the Create View Frames wizard—the View Frame Group page—you specify the object creation criteria for the view frame group object. For example, you enter a name for the view frame group object, and you can select the layer for the view frames.
After view frame groups are created, you can edit certain properties of the view frame group, or delete it. You can also insert a new view frame in to an existing view frame group. You can also create a reference to an existing view frame group data shortcut.
You can change a view frame group’s object name, description, or the style of the view frames and match lines, as well as the layers on which they are displayed.
The following restrictions apply to editing view frame groups:
After a view frame group is created, you can delete the alignment from which it was created, if you need to. Labeling functionality, such as the ability to display the sheet number in labels in the view frames, is still maintained even if the original alignment from which the view frame group was created is deleted.
View frame groups persist in an AutoCAD drawing as objects with the name AeccViewFrameGroup.