Creating A New Display Configuration For Walls

This article is based on a response I made in the Autodesk Architectural Desktop 2005 Discussion Group. It addresses the procedures for creating a new Display Configuration that will display walls differently than the way they are displayed in any of the out-of-the-box Display Configurations. The example in the tutorial starts with the out-of-the-box Medium Detail Display Configuration and creates a new one for a roof plan. This tutorial does not address the larger issue of making any customizations you make to the display system in Architectural Desktop consistent and coherent. Before diving into your office standard template and making changes, you will want to first think about the types of displays you need and how each of the various objects should display within them. You will want to come up with a plan that

• outlines your needs;
• identifies which, if any, of the existing display system components meets each need;
• identifies which new components are needed to meet any unmet needs [along with which existing component comes closest to meeting that need];
• and, finally, indicates how the existing and new components are to be combined.

Getting familiar with how the display system works is an essential precursor to being able to do the above, and one of the nice things about Architectural Desktop is that each file's display system is its own universe, so you can experiment to your heart's delight in a new file and, should worse come to worst, only lose the time you put into that file. That is a two-edged sword, as it can make updating existing files to new standards tedious. But it does allow you free rein to play around while you are learning, without fear of turning valuable files to toast. So clear thirty or so minutes in your busy schedule, start a new drawing file using your favorite template, and dive in! A sample file created as I wrote the tutorial can be downloaded from the Discussion Group post noted above. That file and this tutorial were done using Autodesk Architectural Desktop 2004. I believe it should work for the 2005 release as well. Anyone using the 3 or 3.3 release may find some things do not work as described, due to improvements made in the later releases, and you will also not be able to open the posted file.

This tutorial makes the following assumptions:

• Both viewports will use the same view direction, and that view direction will be a plan - or Top - view.
• You have an existing Display Configuration that will suit the display needs of one of the viewports. I am going to use Medium Detail, substitute the name of your Display Configuration, and the name of the Display Representation Set assigned to the Top view in your Display Configuration, if you are using a different Display Configuration.
• The display of other objects is to be the same in both viewports - only the Walls will be different. You can change the display of other objects, by repeating the process for each object type to appear differently.
• There is not already a Display Representation for walls that displays them the way you want, and there is not a Display Representation Set that displays walls and other objects the way you want them to appear in the second viewport. This is always something to check out before diving in - you can save lots of time by starting with an existing Display Representation and/or a Display Representation Set that is closest to your final goal.
• You understand the basic relationships of Display Configurations, Display Representation Sets and Display Representation Set in the ADT display system. You can find an excellent, brief description of this in the Nov/Dec 2004 AUGI World magazine, in an article by Doug Broad. You can find details on obtaining a PDF of that issue, should you not already have it, at this link.

Enough of the prattle, let's get started:

1. Set the Medium Detail Display Configuration current and look at your drawing from a Top view [while on the Model tab, or in Model Space on a Layout tab].

2. Open the Display Manager and expand the Configurations folder in the left pane. Note that the Medium Detail Display Configuration is in bold type - that is because it is the active Display Configuration [in the active viewport].

3. Select the Medium Detail Display Configuration in the left pane, and, in the right pane, note that the Plan Display Representation Set is assigned to the Top view direction. We will need a new Display Representation Set to replace the Plan Display Representation Set in our new Display Configuration.

4. Expand the left pane tree by clicking on the "+" sign to the left of "Medium Detail" [still under Configurations]. You will see a list of the Display Representation Sets used by the Medium Detail Display Configuration. Select the Plan Display Representation Set and the right pane will display a matrix - object types on the rows and Display Representation Set in the columns. For each object type, a small box appears in the column of every Display Representation that is currently available for that object type, and a check mark appears in that box for the Display Representation[s] that are currently turned on in the Plan Display Representation Set, if any. [You can see this same matrix under the Sets folder in the left pane. If you are comparing different Display Representation Sets, without regard to the Display Configurations, or creating a new Display Representation Set, you can expand the Sets folder. Since we are concerned with a specific Display Configuration, I chose to view it through the Configurations folder.]

5. In the right pane, scroll down until you can see the Wall row [second from the bottom, just above Window]. Scroll across, if necessary, examine all of the Display Representation Set that apply to Walls, and note that the Plan Display Representation is the one that is active in the Plan Display Representation Set. We will need to create a new Display Representation for walls to replace the Plan Display Representation for our new Display Configuration.

6. The Display Representation is what tells an object how to display itself. [Which Display Representation or Display Representation Set are active at any given moment are determined by which one[s] is[are] checked in the active Display Representation Set. Which Display Representation Set is active is determined by the current view direction and which Display Representation Set is assigned to that view direction in the current Display Configuration.] Right click on the checked box on the Wall row and Plan Display Representation column and choose Edit... from the context menu. The Display Properties dialog will appear, showing you the Drawing Default display settings for walls in the Plan Display Representation. Examine the settings if you like, then hit Cancel to close the dialog without making any changes.

7. So far, we have examined our "starting point" Display Configuration and identified the components we need to replace in our new Display Configuration, in a "top down" manner. Next we are going to build the new components we need, in a "bottom up" procedure. We will need to have our new Display Representation before we can add it to our new Display Representation Set, and, likewise, will need to have our new Display Representation Set before we can add it to our new Display Configuration. Begin by expanding the Representations by Object folder, scrolling down and selecting Wall, in the left pane. This will display a matrix in the right pane that lists the Display Representation Set available for Walls on the rows and the Display Representation Sets in the columns. A check mark in one of the boxes that appear at the intersection of each row and column indicates that the Display Representation listed on that row is turned on in the Display Representation Set of that column.

8. In order to create a new Display Representation for walls, we need to copy one of the existing Display Representation Set. You can examine the settings on each Display Representation by selecting its name in the left column of the right pane, right clicking and choosing Edit Drawing Default... from the context menu. If you are not familiar with the settings in each of the current Wall Display Representation Set, now would be a good time to look. As mentioned above, if one of the existing Wall Display Representation Set meets your needs, you can save yourself work and future coordination problems by using it for your Display Configuration. I am going to assume that none do, and that the Plan Display Representation is our best starting point. If you can not use one of the existing Display Representation Set, you may choose to start with a different one if it is closer to your desired result. Select the Display Representation to be copied, right click and choose Duplicate from the context menu. A copy of your chosen Display Representation is made, and a space with a number in parenthesis is added to the temporary name. Type in a unique name to identify your new Display Representation - I am going to use Roof Plan as my name.

9. Note that there are no check marks on the Roof Plan Display Representation row - all that means is that your new Display Representation is not currently assigned to a Display Representation Set. Note also the icon to the left of your name, and that the icon includes an arrow in the upper left corner. This indicates that your new Display Representation is a custom Display Representation, and as such, can be deleted. Display Representation Set without the arrow are "predefined" and can not be deleted. Some of the out-of-the-box Display Representation Set are also custom Display Representation Set and are able to be deleted. Right click the Roof Plan name and choose Edit Drawing Default... from the context menu. Make whatever changes you need so that walls appear the way you would like them to in your new Display Configuration. On the Layer/Color/Linetype tab, I am going to turn off the display of all of the Below Cut plane component, along with all of the component Boundaries and Hatches, and change the Shrink Wrap component to color 240 [to make the change very obvious on the screen], lineweight 0.18 mm and plot style Fine. You would want to make your changes consistent with your office standards for on-screen graphics and plotting. You may also want to make changes on the other tabs; I am going to leave them as is. When you are done editing, click on OK to return to the Display Manager.

10. If you are certain that you want to keep those changes, click on the Apply button at the lower right of the Display Manager. That way, if you make a major error in the next step, you can Cancel without losing your new Display Representation. If you are really concerned about losing work, you may want to click on OK to exit the Display Manager [saving your changes] and then save the drawing file. [Clicking Apply puts the changes into the drawing file in your computer’s memory, but does not save the file to disk. If ADT and/or your computer should crash before you save the file, you would still lose the new Display Representation.] If you close the Display Manager to save the file, reopen it.

11. Expand the Sets folder in the left pane. A list of the available Display Representation Sets in the drawing will be displayed below the folder; the currently active Display Representation Set will be listed in bold type in the left pane. In the left pane, select the Display Representation Set that was used by your "starting point" Display Configuration [this should be the bold one, if you made no changes to the current Display Configuration]. This is the Plan Display Representation Set in my example. Right click on the name and choose New from the context menu. This will create a new Display Representation Set with all the same Display Representation assignments as the Display Representation Set you selected. [Should you ever want to, you can create a new Display Representation Set with no Display Representation Set assigned by selecting the Sets folder, right clicking and choosing New from the context menu.] Type in a unique name for your new Display Representation Set; I am going to call mine Roof Plan. Select the Roof Plan Display Representation Set in the left pane and select the General tab in the right pane. You can rename a Display Representation Set and change the description here. I am going to set my description to "Medium display detail for roof plan".

12. Select the Display Representation Control tab; this will show the now familiar matrix of objects and Display Representation Set. Scroll down to the Wall row and, if necessary, across to the Plan Display Representation column. Select [left click] the checked box to remove the check mark from the Plan Display Representation column, then find your new Display Representation column - mine was Roof Plan - and click on the box to add a check mark. Your new Display Representation Set will now display walls using your new Display Representation, and everything else just like the Display Representation Set you copied. Notice that the Roof Plan Display Representation column only has a check box on the Wall row. That is because we only added this Display Representation to Walls. If you also want to have other objects display in a unique manner for the same plan type, I would recommend using the same name for the Display Representation you add to those object types, both to make it easy to associate them with each other, and to prevent your drawing from having large numbers of Display Representation Set that apply to only one object type. For the purposes of our example, we are now done with the new Display Representation Set.

13. OPTIONAL: Go back the the Representations by Object folder and select Wall in the left pane. Note that there is now a new Display Representation Set column, and your new Display Representation has a check mark in that column.

14. If you are now satisfied with the changes made so far, click on Apply [or click on OK, save the file and reopen the Display Manager]. We are now in the home stretch, with just one task left in the Display Manager, and that is to create a new Display Configuration and assign our newly created Display Representation Set to its Top view direction. Expand the Configurations folder in the left pane, to display all the Display Configurations in the drawing, if it is not already expanded. Select the "starting point" Display Configuration [it should be the one in bold type], right click and choose "New" from the context menu. Rename your new Display Configuration; I am calling mine Medium Detail Roof. You can also create a new Display Configuration by selecting the Configurations folder in the left pane, right clicking and choosing New from the context menu. This will create a new Display Configuration with Plan assigned to the Top view direction and Model assigned to the Default view direction. The setting in the Default view direction is used for any view not parallel to one of the six listed above it, as well as for any of those that do not have Display Representation Set assigned. [You can create a Display Configuration that always uses the same Display Representation Set no matter what view direction is current by setting the Display Representation Set for the first six view directions to *NONE* and setting the desired Display Representation Set as the Default. The out-of-the-box Diagnostic Display Configuration is set up this way.]

15. Select the new Display Configuration in the left pane and choose the General tab in the right pane. As with Display Representation Sets, you can rename or change the description of a Display Configuration on this tab. I changed my description to "Medium scale roof plans (1/8"=1'-0")". Click on the Configuration tab and note that the Display Representation Sets assigned to each view direction match those of the one chosen when we created the new one. Change the Top view direction Display Representation Set by clicking on the name of the currently assigned Display Representation Set and choosing the new name from the Display Representationop down list - in my example, changing Plan to Roof Plan.

16. We have now created our new Display Configuration. If you wish to make it current in the active viewport, you can right click its name in the left pane, under the Configurations folder, and choose Set to Current Viewport on the context menu. If you wish to assign it to another viewport, you can do so back in the drawing. If you do set it current in the Display Manager, note that your new Display Configuration’s name is now bold in the left pane, as are any visible instances of your new Display Representation Set [assuming your current viewport is still in a Top view]. Select OK to save the changes to the drawing and close the Display Manager. Save your drawing file if you are satisfied with the changes you made.

17. Examine the effects of changing from your "starting point" Display Configuration and the new Display Configuration. In the file posted to the Discussion Group, I have set up two viewports on the Work layout tab. The one on the left uses the Medium Detail Display Configuration - my "starting point" - and the one on the right now has my new "Medium Detail Roof" Display Configuration, so you can see the differences between the way the two Display Configurations show the same wall.