Fill Settings

Hi,

I turned on fill in View Settings because an opaque shaded area I placed was not showing its fill, nor was it letting me turn it on in Element Properties. Fine, that much worked. But now every time I place a closed SmartLine it creates an opaque fill. Then I have to select every one, go to properties, remove its fill.

Is there a setting that I can use so that fill is not automatically created for closed SmartLines, shapes, whatever? Or is all that extra work normal?

thanks.

Parents
  • When you use smartline, it should prompt you or change the tool settings to reflect a closed shape when you finish. When it does this it will list the options for this shape. This is where you have the "opaque" option selected, change this setting (my guess is fill - none) and it will not make the shape opaque.

    Timothy Hickman

    CADD Manager | CADD Department

    timothy.hickman@colliersengineering.com

    Main: 877 627 3772| 

    1000 Waterview Drive Suite 201 | Hamilton, New Jersey 08691

  • I did check the SmartLine settings and saw nothing, but not as I was closing the shape. I do need closed shapes so that I can use them to place "difference" hatching. I will take a look. thanks, Tim.

    ok, I see that dialog opening when I hover over the last, closing point. But how do I change the settings? as soon as I move my cursor from the last point the dialog disappears. I can tab through the options and use Enter to toggle?

    I did use Tab, Enter and the arrow keys to get fill set to None, and it's defaulting to None now (good), but is there a better way than using keys to change these settings? It's not intuitive to use a keyboard with a visual dialog, so I feel like I'm missing something.
Reply
  • I did check the SmartLine settings and saw nothing, but not as I was closing the shape. I do need closed shapes so that I can use them to place "difference" hatching. I will take a look. thanks, Tim.

    ok, I see that dialog opening when I hover over the last, closing point. But how do I change the settings? as soon as I move my cursor from the last point the dialog disappears. I can tab through the options and use Enter to toggle?

    I did use Tab, Enter and the arrow keys to get fill set to None, and it's defaulting to None now (good), but is there a better way than using keys to change these settings? It's not intuitive to use a keyboard with a visual dialog, so I feel like I'm missing something.
Children
  • If you go to place a shape (block, circle, etc...) it should use these same options. These are file specific (yes one of those strange areas where it is file instead of user specific). Open any of these tools (block, circle, etc...) change the options to what you want and save settings. From this point on, when you close the shape with smartline, it should use these settings.

    Timothy Hickman

    CADD Manager | CADD Department

    timothy.hickman@colliersengineering.com

    Main: 877 627 3772| 

    1000 Waterview Drive Suite 201 | Hamilton, New Jersey 08691

  • Hi David,

    Next to Tim's suggestion:
    Instead of using a Datapoint (Left Mouse Click) to close the shape and accept whatever the current setting for the closed area is, you can also place a Tentative Snap using your mouse at that point that would close the shape.
    When you have not changed your mouse buttons, you should press your Left and Right mouse button at the same time when your crosshair is close/on the point where the shape closes.
    By doing so, the SmartLine Tool Settings window will expand with the additional settings for the closed area and you will be able to make the changes you need.
    Once you have set the area type, fill type, etc. you can just use a Datapoint (Left Mouse Click) anywhere in your view to complete the shape.

    hth

    Henk

  • thanks Henk, that is what I was wondering - how to access that dialog without it disappearing when I moved way from the end point.
  • Don't forget that if you want to change the fill of an existing closed shape, all you need is the Change Element Fill Type tool.

    If you change the Fill settings here it will go across all the tools from that point until you change it somewhere.

    I Hope This Helps Someone Reading This!  (Intergraph>PseudoStation>MicroStation user since 1980's)