Absolutely.
Rhino still bitterly lags behind in this regard, despite many efforts.
In this post, I tried to convey the idea of a new 2D space between model and layout space, to adress the problem: where to put 2D extracts = Clipping Drawings of the 3D scene?
(However, the post was with regard to VisualArq’s ‘plan view’ and ‘secton view’ and how to export to DWG, but it boils down to the same thing).
- Put 2D extracts / ClippingDrawings in model space:
you potentially clutter your scene, and thus have to mess with layer visibility to work around this. Gets complicated pretty quick. A totally uninteresting organizational effort has to be made. Not ideal. - Putting 2D in layout space:
– option 1: the 2D extract is seen through a detail view, which means the 2D stuff has to reside in model space again - same problem as before. Also, when putting annotations on top of a detail view, they can break all too easily when the model is changed.
– option 2: the ClippingDrawing goes onto the layout (paper) directly, as some sort of entity that can be moved as a whole and has a scale parameter. That would be nice, but it doesn’t exist yet.
Well, it does, with VisualArq’s “plan” and “section view” objects, which are blocks that can be refreshed, but they weren’t designed to be put in layout space. Asuni pushes for a detail-view-based workflow.
I’m aware that ClippingDrawings can be moved by a command, but it would be much simpler for the user to move it simply like a block. I was disappointed about the way the Section tools were implemented in this regard.
Best solution: a dedicated new (boundary-less) 2D space that shows the resulting projection of a clipping plane (because these can be placed nice and free), with an update automatism, should the model change. Annotations, text and all other 2D stuff goes in there, too.
This 2D space could then be placed into layout space, and given a crop area and a scale.
That’s how Archicad or Revit work. Even better, the scene objects can be manipulated in this 2D space, as well as in 3D space (ok, that’s something I would not insist on having in Rhino).
Even more, the 2D projection engines of these applications are powerful enough to show not only section colors, but also colors of non-sectioned objects, as hatches.
And all of this 2D goodness can then be exported to DWG quite simply.
No, we are not there yet, by a long shot.