Learn how to change the visibility and graphical appearance of elements in a view.
The visibility and graphics settings of a view define whether elements and categories are visible in the view and their graphical appearance (color, line weight, and line style). The Visibility/Graphics Overrides dialog lists all categories in the model. Some examples of categories are furniture, doors, and window tags. The visibility status and appearance of each category can be modified for each view in the model. Use the context menu (right-click an element in the drawing area) to modify the appearance and visibility of individual elements.
Terms and Concepts
| Term/Concept | Definition |
|---|---|
| Categories | Classifications or groupings of elements. Some examples of categories are doors, walls, and window tags. You can change the visibility and graphics for each category of element, in each view, in the Visibility/Graphics Overrides dialog. The changes made to the visibility and graphics settings in a view apply to the currently-active view. A view template can be used to make visibility and graphic changes to more than one view, or the object styles of the model can be modified if change is required in all views. |
| Visibility/Graphics Overrides Dialog |
Used to control how each category in the view will display. The dialog has tabs to organize the categories into logical groupings: Model Categories, Annotation Categories, Analytical Categories, Imported Categories, and Filters. The lists of categories under each tab can be further filtered by discipline: Architecture, Structure, Mechanical, Electrical, and Piping. |
| Reveal Hidden Elements Tool | Enables a mode where all of the hidden elements in the view are visible and highlighted. The Reveal Hidden Elements tool ( ) is accessed from the View Control Bar. In this mode, you can select hidden elements and specify to "unhide" them to make them visible in the view. Click Reveal Hidden Elements to turn this mode on and off for the current view.
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| Visibility Override | Method used to change the visibility status and graphic appearance of individual elements. Select the element in the drawing area, right-click, and apply a visibility override from the context menu. The visibility override has priority over the visibility settings applied to the category in the view. This override allows you to display individual elements as needed in a view. For example, a single door could be set to display as "halftone" while all other doors are displayed as normal. |
Video
- Open the Visibility/Graphics Overrides dialog.
- Hide and unhide objects or categories in a view.
- Apply a graphic override to an element.
Transcript
This video demonstrates how to change the visibility and graphical appearance of elements in a view.
To make a change to the visibility and graphics of a view, begin by making sure you have nothing selected in the view, and then click Visibility and Graphics on the Properties palette. You can also type the keyboard shortcut VG to display the Visibility and Graphics dialog.
In the dialog, the tabs show how element categories are grouped into Model Categories, Annotation Categories, and Imported Categories. If you are using imported CAD files, the visibility of the layers of the CAD files are controlled here.
To turn off the visibility of a category in a view, clear the checkmark for that category. You can also turn off a category's or element's visibility directly in the view. First, select the element or category. Then, right-click, and select Hide in View.
To see which elements and categories are hidden in the view, click Reveal Hidden Elements on the View Control Bar. In this mode, you can select elements and categories and use the context menu to make them visible.
Another way to change the graphics of a category or element is by using the visibility overrides. First, select an element in the view. Then, right-click, and select Override Graphics in View to open the Override dialog and make changes to the appearance of the element.
You can change the visibility status and the appearance of each category and element in each view of the project.