Section Tools - Copy Detail = Hatches Disappear?

Plug Ins
1

I’m having an inconsistent issue where, after creating a section using SectionTools (and editing the hatches to be the correct patterns), I pop over to a layout tab and start drafting. Let’s say I’ve created your standard views; a plan, a front elevation, and a right section. I’ll create the detail views for each of them, set the scales, etc. Then I’ll make the section SEC_00 visible in the right view for my section view. Then, let’s say I want another right section view, let’s say for a zoomed-in detail. I copy the right section detail view and - all the hatches disappear. (Actually, in some cases, they’ll actually appear in the layout view instead). I really don’t understand.

The only way I’ve found that fixes this issue is to delete the SEC_00 layer and do all that work over again, which is EXCEPTIONALLY frustrating when the section is more complex.

I’ve uploaded a file here that picks up at the step RIGHT before I make the section visible in the first view.
Before Detail stViewSections.3dm (2.5 MB)
Pick up where noted, if you’re testing…

Here’s my steps:
For demo purposes, I’ve created a 24" cube out of 3/4" material (we’ll say MDF) over an 18" cube of 3/4" material (we’ll say plywood).

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I stCreate the section using the following settings.

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I stViewSections to see the section I just created, set it to print as Dark Grey at 0.13mm (our office’s hatch standards). Then I unlock the layer SEC_00 and edit the hatches from solid to the appropriate patterns, relocking the layer when I’m done.

I’ll pop over to my layout view and create a right view. (Test file picks up here) Then I’ll stViewSections inside that view to see the section cut/hatches.

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Then, I want to create a detail view of the bottom right corner of that view, let’s say, so I’ll go to copy the detail and then…

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All the hatches are gone! I have yet to find a SectionTools command that fixes this. That black line on the left? That’s all the hatches/surfaces/curves that ST created, now in my layout tab.

Am I doing something wrong?

2

Other details, if they help:
Version 6 SR31
(6.31.20315.17001, 10-Nov-20)

“SectionTools version is: Jul 29 2019 09:44:01.”

3

If I copy the detail BEFORE enabling SEC_00, then (just to be sure) make sure only one detail is visible at a time when I enable them both, it seems to work then. But that’s a pretty odd workaround.

5

Thanks for the report. I’m looking into it.

1 Like
6

Thank you for all the details. Your file seems to have an issue recognizing hatch patterns, so I started from scratch using Rhino 6 SR31 and SectionTools Jul 29 version to match yours.

Note that in Rhino new file, the hatch patterns are not loaded until used, so a workaround might require you to create sample patterns on the side, then delete.

In this example I did the following:

  • Use stCreate to create the 2 section (SEC_00 and SEC_01) to cut through the 2 objects and assigned different pattern scale and rotation.
  • After creating the sections, I assigned different materials per section in the layer table.
  • If need to change the hatch pattern, scale or rotation, run stEditSections command.
  • In layout, I selected the view, ran stViewSections to clip.

Does that help?
SectionToolsInLayoutSample.3dm (176.6 KB)

image
image762×1246 147 KB

7

(Edit to add - Thanks for following up, Rajaa; I really appreciate you taking the time to investigate this issue)

I’m not 100% sure I’m following - so I need to run stCreate multiple times in order to create the same section through multiple objects, if they’re going to have a different hatch pattern? And the same would be true for different hatch angles? For example, if that outer box was made of plywood, I’d normally use the DOLMIT hatch pattern with the longer lines running in the direction of the ply layers.

We do have a “legend” on our cover pages that has all the applicable hatches, so they are loaded as soon as I create a new Rhino file from our template.

This is the end result of what I try to create (screenshot from the resulting PDF):

image
image913×867 130 KB

Note the different ply directions, as well as patterns for ply (DOLMIT), MDF (ANSI 31 or equivalent), and the solid surface tops/cladding (AR-CONC). Presumably then, I’d need one section for the ANSI 31 hatch, one section each for each plywood direction, and one section for the solid surface?

Generally, to do this, I’ve created the section where I want it, unlocked the layer, manually edited the hatches, then relocked the layer, so that the entire section shown above is on SEC_00. The next section I create (through the next cabinet, let’s say) would follow the same procedure and be SEC_01. If I understand you correctly, this is an incorrect way of using SectionTools? I’d need 2+ SectionTools sections per cabinet in order to correctly hatch all the materials?

I’ve opened your file and had a look - I just copied the top-right detail over, and had the same result as before: all hatches from SEC_00 disappear from within the detail views, and appear in the layout tab as so:

image
image1469×677 22.8 KB

I don’t appear to have problems if I create an entirely new detail and re-enable the sections.

Also strange that in my files, no HPattern option appears in the stEditSections command, but in yours, it does. Any possible reason why SectionTools might not be recognizing the hatches?

8

Hi,
If we had a per object hatch property, then it would become possible to assigning different hatches to different cuts dynamically and this is why a section is needed for each hatch pattern. However if you do not need dynamic update, then you can use stNestLayout to extract a static copy of your layout and you can change your hatch patterns as you need at that point.
The reason why you are not recommended to unlock and edit your hatch patterns after they are created is that the dynamic update (when run stUpdateAllSections) will remember only one hatch style and reapply to the section.
The reason why you did not see the HPattern is perhaps because no valid value was stored to start with. I’ll have to investigate this one further.
I hope this helps.

9

@ssommerv Testing the “HutModel_Rhino7.3dm” example file, this is how I’m able to correct the disappearing sections problem:

  • Enter the model space by double-clicking into the detail
  • stUpdate

Also, @rajaa Thanks for the great tool! Regarding the “HPattern” issue described above, did you ever resolve this one? On my end, the HPattern option is available when using stCreate, but not stEditSections

ST version: Apr 30 2021, Rhino Version 7 SR9 (2021-08-10)

HutModel_Rhino7_svTesting.3dm (692.0 KB)