Column Bubbles in the Reflected Display Configuration

A question on how to get column bubbles to display in the Reflected Display Configuration [DC] came up recently in the Discussion Groups, and I thought the procedure was worth recording here. The instructions below are predicated on the use of the default StandardGridBubble Multi-View Block [MVB] as the column bubble; if you are using another MVB or are trying to adapt these instructions to another MVB and/or DC, you will need to substitute the names of your MVB and view blocks as well as the names of your DC and the Display Representation [DR] to which you want to add a view block.

First, a brief review of MVBs. If you are an MVB expert, skip down to the next paragraph. A MVB is a collection of one or more "standard" AutoCAD blocks, each of which is assigned to one or more DRs and one or more view directions. For a given DC and view direction, there will be an active Display Representation Set [DRS] that lists what DRs are turned on for each object type. A given MVB will display the view blocks assigned to it which are assigned to both a currently turned on DR and the current view direction. For example, if the out-of-the-box Medium Detail DC is set current in a Top view, the Plan DRS is active and both the Plan and General DRs for MVBs are turned on. So any view block assigned to the Plan and/or General DR that also has the Top view direction checked will be displayed. If a particular MVB Definition has no view blocks assigned to either the Plan or General DRs -OR- if the blocks assigned to those DRs are not set to display from the Top view direction, MVBs of that type will not be seen.

Architectural Desktop will generate the StandardGridBubble MVB if it does not already exist in the drawing and you do not specify another MVB when you first label a column grid in a drawing. The MVB Definition generated does not have a view block assigned to the Reflected DR. To add one, so that the bubble will be displayed when the Reflected DC is current, either edit the StandardGridBubble MVB definition through the Style Manager, or set a DC current in which the bubbles display [such as Standard or Medium Detail], select one of the bubbles, right click and select "Edit Multi-View Block Definition..." from the context menu.

On the View Blocks tab of the Multi-View Block Properties dialog, note that the General and Model DRs have the BubbleDef view block assigned, but not the others. Select the Reflected DR in the left edit box, then select the Add... button. Pick the BubbleDef block from the list box and click on OK. With the Bubble Def block still highlighted for the Reflected DR, uncheck the Front, Back, Left and Right view directions, if you like, to match the setup for the General DR.

Select OK to save the changes to the StandardGridBubble MVB and then change your DC to Reflected. You should be able to see the grid bubbles and your ceiling grids simultaneously.

Because the StandardGridBubble MVB will be generated automatically if it does not already exist in a drawing file, you should copy the revised StandardGridBubble MVB definition to all of your template files if you want to have the bubbles display in the Reflected DC in all your drawings.