Grid Z axis visibility

Hi!

I regularly hide/show X and Y axes with F6 or F7, but the Z axis stays visible.

Is there a way to hide the Z axis together with the other axes, simply with _Grid _Show Grid Axes ?

Best,
Aurèle

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hi @Aurelius

this seems to be a bug in Rhino 8
RH-85495 Z axis stays visible when turning off grid

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The only way this can be done properly is if we add another option to the Grid command (i.e. “ZAxis”).

Why? Because for those who don’t want or use the Z-Axis (which is probably over 98% of all users), toggling the grid settings (F7) should not automatically turn the Z-Axis on when toggling the grid settings back on… I know you’ll say “But V7 does it”, but actually it only gets it right in one very specific case… when ALL grid options are in use… change one, and F7 does not and will not give you what you’d expect… For example: Turn Grid ON, Z-Axis ON, and CPlane Axes OFF in V7… Now toggle things pressing F7. Is that a bug? Yes. Can it be fixed? Not really, not without additional changes to the Grid command.

The change made in V8 was to decouple the Z-Axis toggling altogether from the Grid command so that users who don’t want or use the Z-Axis don’t inadvertently turn it on when using the F7 key…something they’ve been doing for a long, long time.

Having said that, even if we add a new option to the Grid command, F7 will still only toggle the grid and cplane axes (i.e. we’re not going to change the F7 shortcut to include the new option for the exact same reasons I mentioned above). Which pretty much puts us right back where we are now in V8 (F7 does not affect the Z-Axis)… only now there would be a way to specifically toggle the Z-Axis…

Given all of that, I will look into getting V8 to work similar to V7 (for the very specific case)…assuming it can be done without breaking all the other grid and axes combos that exist.

Why an option was never added to the Grid command years ago… I have no idea…but I will look into doing that as well.

-J

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The Z axis visibility is a bit different from the X and Y axes in most setups. The standard grid commands usually don’t control the Z axis visibility. However, you can try adjusting your viewport settings or using layers to manage visibility more effectively.

I know nothing about Rhino’s code under the hood so I shouldn’t even be attempting to comment on this. And I’m sure there’s a tangle of legacy code that makes my oversimplification just completely meaningless…but on the off-chance it could help, given that there is a check-box per viewport mode that turns the z axis on or off for that mode…this is how it should be in my mind. (If it can’t be that simple, I get it).

# run after pressing F7
ToggleAxesInActiveViewport():
    if the grid is on:
        HideGrid()
    else:
        ShowGrid()

HideGrid():
    hide the grid
    hide the X axis
    hide the Y axis
    if Show Z-Axis is checked for this viewport's mode:
        hide the Z axis

ShowGrid():
    show the grid
    show the X axis
    show the Y axis
    if Show Z-Axis is checked for this viewport's mode:
        show the Z axis

Also fix so the Z-axis is correctly visible or obscured by 3D objects between the Z-Axis in 3D (through the Origin) and the Camera position in 3D. Currently it is working awfull so you need to turn it off.

You’re not taking into account what “Hide the axis” is doing. The grid settings are not objects in rhino, they don’t have the same state settings that objects do… Everything is taken from the display mode settings… So in order to hide something, you must change that setting accordingly… once changed, you have no idea what (if any) the “initial” state was.

-J

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It sounds like you just need to change Grid Appearance setting to “Show grid on top of objects”… If not, then I don’t have any idea what you’re talking about, and would need an example/image/screenshot.

-J

I would prefer the zaxis become part of the xaxis and yaxis technologies.

While I used to prefer seeing the grid with xyz often, like in V5, now due to the bugs since I only use it maybe 30% as much as before.

Here’s where I left off, last time I put attention into this matter:

I get the sense that things are continuing to improve, but I feel that the GUI still could use some revisions relative to ‘location’ of x,y, and z settings/options etc.

Also, some of the nomenclature, last time I checked, still is very confusing imo relative to the display characteristics.

This sounds familiar, although I’m imagining it mostly from the options/properties dialogue. While this does sound very encouraging and I look forward to experiencing some more options. :slightly_smiling_face:

I do not want to use or see the Z axis line.

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This is what I was referencing in my mind with that statement:

Under this scenario, theoretically you could have that turned off to achieve exactly that. :beers:

Key words in context being “if only the grid and the axes were treated separately”, and each axis given the users the options to show them or not, etc.

The main thing I like when I imagine a scenario of this matter (bug free) is a ‘transparent’ option where I can see the grid and the axes, but only up to a particular ‘magnitude’ of ‘apparency’. :face_holding_back_tears:

I like to see the grid, when I want to see the grid, but only I’d like to see through the axes and the grid. Cause I like to see whats behind it and also even what lies exactly on it, say like if a planar surface resides exactly in the same space.

I like similar things like on a surface when I have the control points visible, sometimes I prefer to see through the surface if I’m editing points of that surface that may reside behind it or coincident ot it. :beers:

But when there’s bugs or confusing nomenclature workarounds, etc. then I just turn it off and dream of a day when the GUI is improved. :slightly_smiling_face:

In the meantime maybe this is a more clear iteration:

Maybe I forgot ‘visibility’ at the time :face_holding_back_tears:

RH-85495 is fixed in Rhino 8 Service Release 16 Release Candidate

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Lovely! Thank you for the very quick reaction!!

In my very specific and rare case, it doesn’t affect much, but it seems that the Z-axis is coming with both ‘Show Grid Axes’ and ‘Show Grid’.

Many thanks again and best,
Aurèle

1 Like

Hi Aurèle -

As Jeff writes in RH-85495, this now works like it did in Rhino 7, and will fail in the same manner as it did in Rhino 7.

The Z-axis is a display mode feature that doesn’t have a document grid setting to refer to.
-wim

All right, thanks!

Why not.

Changing document settings turns the 3dm format into a new format, that cannot be read by older versions of Rhino and is not something that is done at each swing in the road.
-wim

Ahh, I see. Hmm that requisite/constraint seems to be holding Rhino back then all these years.

I can understand the parameter of wanting older version compatibility, but there’s got to be a pile of ideas that could take Rhino into a direction that I probably don’t have words for.

At any rate, Rhino still the best CAD imo. Someday if Rhino becomes incompatible with older versions I think I’ll still be ok with that. :face_holding_back_tears:

Sorry to come back again, but it does not seems to hold here…

When I open .3dm files created before the update, it somehow doesn’t work on any new file.

I don’t know if that was already the case but I now don’t know how to make it work again.

Hi Aurèle -

You didn’t post such .3dm file, so I’ll have to guess that “Show grid axes” is turned off in those documents.
-wim