Wish: display modes in layouts etc

Rhino
1

Hello!
Layout space supports display modes. This is well and good, because the only way to place an image/picture in a layout is via a textured nurbs surface, and thus a shading mode displaying textures must be available.
However, the available display modes are missing in the viewport menu. The only way to change it is via command “SetDisplayMode”, or a keyboard shortcut.

  • 1, wish: Please show display modes in the viewport menu of layouts:

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  • 2, wish: Please also show display modes in the viewport properties panel of model & detail space viewports! More obvious this way than just via the viewport menu.

  • 3, wish: The command “SetDisplayMode” does not show a list of the available display modes like e.g. “SetObjectDisplayMode” does. You need to know the name of the mode and type it in.
    For consistency’s sake, this list should be shown in the command.

  • 4, wish: These toolbar icons
    image
    don’t seem to work in layout space, whereas keyboard shortcuts do. There’s even an error message “Only model views can be rendered. Please change to a model view.”, which is obviously wrong.
    Can you please make these icons work, too?

  • 5: the command “SetObjectDisplayMode” is missing certain available display modes.
    I guess this is due to technical reasons of the display pipeline, which cannot mix, say, artistic, and wireframe etc.?
    However, my custom display modes “ConstantByMaterial” and “ConstantByObject” don’t show up in the list, too.
    ConstantByMaterial.ini (12.9 KB)
    ConstantByObject.ini (12.9 KB)
    Can you please tell me what’s so special about them that they cannot be mixed with other display modes?

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Thanks!

2

Pictures should work just fine in layouts without any display mode adjustments.

3

You are correct! When I d&d a picture into a layout, a surface is created, and it’s texture (with a ‘Picture’ shader) displayed.

But still…
Out of interest, I created a plane by hand next to the picture in the layout, and assigned the exact same picture material to it - the texture is not shown. Just the wireframe of the surface.

I turn on ‘shaded’ mode via shortcut (which definitely shows textures in model space), the plane is shaded in white, but still the texture does not show up.
image

Why? What’s the magic behind the d&d-ing in a picture?
Does some object displaymode get set automatically for the object? If yes, which one?

4

You can select the surface and SetObjectDisplayMode to Rendered.

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https://docs.mcneel.com/rhino/7/help/en-us/index.htm#commands/picture.htm?Highlight=layout%20picture

1 Like
5

Okey… (should’ve read the f’in manual… also, I should get into the habit of browsing youtrack).

I just learned that in model space ‘display mode’ parameter is exposed in the properties, on object level, as well as for the viewport itself. Very nice!

For details, there’s a youtrack entry already.
Still I wonder why for layouts, it is not. What’s the policy here? Users are not supposed to use display modes for the whole page, even if it’s working already with a trick (keyshort)?

6

In general it is best if users do not use alternate display modes for layouts. This allows the page geometry to be output as vector when printed while the details can be a mix of vector or raster based on the display mode of the detail.

1 Like
7

Duh… that even makes sense. =}