Prevent loss of AutoCAD selections?

Questions and answers about 3Dconnexion devices on Windows.

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mbonk
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Post by mbonk »

Hi gnbisanz,

Ok, I got it:

The mouse based pan and zoom tools notice that the model space viewport is locked and automatically switch to the paper space viewport (same as the PSPACE command) before panning/zooming and then back to the model space viewport when finished (same as the MSPACE command).

The 3dxautocad add-in simply moves the model space because that happens to be active :( although it should be moving paper space as above.

This has been logged as bug 4250 and should be included in the january release.

Again, thank you for the valuable input.
wvbesien
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Re: AutoCAD regen issues

Post by wvbesien »

Tim McAvinney wrote:I would like to concur with the "regen" issue in AutoCAD. I use Civil3D and Map 3D 2007. I purchased the Space Navigator mostly so that I could do my 2D Pan/Zoom with the other hand, and leave the mouse for AutoCAD buttons and object selection.

Looking at my screen, AutoCAD may not actually be doing a "regen". What I think is that whenever I touch the Space Navigator, AutoCAD is switching from the 2D wireframe visual style to the 3D wireframe style and back to 2D. I'm basing this on the tell-tale change in the UCS icon. This really makes the Space Navigator useless compared to the mouse, as there is a 2-3 second lag there that does not exist with the mouse pan/zoom. I was hoping for improved workflow here.

What I was hoping for with my purchase was to do the pan and zoom functions that are currently being done with the scroll wheel/middle button. At the moment, 90% of my time is spent in the 2D environment where this is all that is needed. The more I use Civil3D though, the more I need to look at my work in 3D and orbit around it. The Space Navigator works great when the "orbit" command is used. It does not, however, work with the "object viewer" command, which I use frequently.

Can we get this fixed? Can the Space Navigator be set so that when you're in 2D mode in one of the orthogonal plane views (top, bottom, front, back, right, left) you get the much more "transparent" scroll wheel/middle mouse button zoom and pan?

Sincerely,

Tim McAvinney
Mebane, NC
Will there be a solution for this problem in the next driver release?
ngomes
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Re: AutoCAD regen issues

Post by ngomes »

Hi wvbesien,
wvbesien wrote:Will there be a solution for this problem in the next driver release?
Please refer to my post of Dec 21st earlier in this topic.
wvbesien
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Post by wvbesien »

OK, sorry, I didn't see that post.
Tim McAvinney
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Re: AutoCAD regen issues

Post by Tim McAvinney »

mbonk wrote: This indeed seems very long. We are not able to reproduce anything as long as that at the moment: We have tried the 3d house.dwg in 2D wireframe and the top and front views: both under a second. Is this model too simple or do you also have a 2-3 second delay with that? I would really appreciate some more feedback on this.
The file I was working with was a 15MB Civil3D file, so that may have been a factor. The 2-3 second figure probably is an exaggeration for a smaller file.
mbonk wrote: Indeed it does create a 3D view, but does not you background turn gray as well, or did you have a previous version of the plug-in installed?
The color is really irrelevant. It's going to depend on your background color setting for the 3D wireframe view style. I believe the default for 2007 is grey, but you could make it pink if you wanted. I noticed that it was going from 2D wireframe to 3D wireframe and back to 2D because I have my UCS icon set to display one way for the 2D environments and in another style for the 3D environments.

Anyway, I don't think the plug-in version has anything at all to do with what color a user's background changes to when they use the SpaceNavigator - that's all an AutoCAD thing based on what your plug-in is asking AutoCAD to do. (but I was using the latest version that you had out in December when I originally wrote the message)

Tim McAvinney
Mebane, NC USA
wvbesien
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Post by wvbesien »

I installed the new drivers, but it still doesn't work like it should.
I think it works OK for people who draw only in 3D. But in 2D it is slow.
Every time when I navigate, the screen turns black. With small dwg files, that is only for a very little time (1/10 sec?), but when working on large files, the screen turns black during several seconds.
I think the screen turns black because AutoCAD switches from 2D view to 3D view. I can see that because lines are drawn different: anti-aliassed, and curved files are drawn in segments. The difference with the previous driver is that the screen doesn't turn grey when switching to 3D mode. But it still switches to 3D mode!
For people who draw in 3D, it is probably nececary that AutoCAD is in 3D mode, but it would be nice if AutoCAD stays in 2D mode when tilt/spin/roll is switched off.

Have other people with AutoCAD2007 / ADT2007 still the same problems?
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Post by mbonk »

I have made an 18MB dwg file by copying and pasting the 3d house and want to confirm that what I am now seeing is the issue that is being reported.

My workspace is 3D Modeling. The drawing is being display in 2D Wireframe.

Using the 2D mouse:
If you activate the '_pan command there is no flashing when the command is activated and no regen at the end.
Same applies to the '_zoom command.

If you activate the '_3dswivel command, the display switches to what looks like a 3D wireframe view. Still no flashing, though. When you start to swivel, the screen goes temporarily black. This is less than a second on the test machine, but no doubt one can increase this by increasing the size of the file.
Exiting the command causes at least one regen before the view is switched back to the 2D Wireframe view.

Using the 3D connexion device the effect is the same as with the '_swivel command. The flashing that is being reported is when the view erases the background.
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Post by wvbesien »

It works well (without delay) when I choose for 3D wireframe in the AutoCAD settings (view>visual styles>wireframe). And since, for me, there are no drawbacks in the 3D wireframe setting, everything works fine now, for me.
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Post by ngomes »

Hi wvbesien,
wvbesien wrote:everything works fine now, for me.
Glad to hear it but if there is anything in your opinion that we should be aware, please make sure to post it here.
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