invisible dims in autocad 2013

i'm trying to produce a layout using solview and soldraw in autocad 2013, but have come across a very frustrating problem, autocad lets me create the top, side and front view no problem, when i start to dimension the views the dimensions in the top and side view are fine but the dims in the front view are invisible, the command works as normal but no dims are visible, i have checked the freeze/thaw for all views but to no avail, the only other thing i can think of is that autocad has created an incorrect view and i'm dimensioning something that i simply can't see, if this is so how could i get around it.

any help would be very much appreciated.

many thanks

Welcome to the forum.

If you are using 2013 I find it hard to understand choosing to use SOLVIEW and SOLDRAW.

Have you tried the VIEWBASE functionality yet, which has been appreciably upgraded since it was introduced in 2012?

Can you post a drawing that's having this problem?

(use the "Go Advanced" under the Quick Reply window to access a more advanced reply window)

thanks for the welcome and the rapid reply, i haven't used viewbase what is its function? is it similar to the sol commands?.

thanks for the welcome and the rapid reply, i haven't used viewbase what is its function? is it similar to the sol commands?.

Associative 2D views of 3D model. (solx commands are one-shot deal)

thanks for the welcome and the rapid reply, i haven't used viewbase what is its function? is it similar to the sol commands?.

These took me about a minute to do with VIEWBASE.

I have always been a big fan of SOLPROF, and yes this is meant to be an easy and quick way to generate any of your standard 10 perspectives (6 orthogonal and 4 isometric) of a 3D object in modelspace.

Lots of options, sections and details included. No viewports required.

Images are generated in paperspace.

As JD very rightly points out they are ASSOCIATIVE, and self updating. This sort of function is old school for Inventor, but new to Autocad in 2012, and enhanced in 2013.

Should you wish to import an INVENTOR model you would have even more representational options available in the command than with a lowly Autocad model.

Base View explained....http://heidihewett.blogs.com/my_weblog/2011/04/creating-drawing-views-in-autocad-2012.html

Base View explained....http://heidihewett.blogs.com/my_weblog/2011/04/creating-drawing-views-in-autocad-2012.html

Who wants to read, I'm making some popcorn and topping up my soda, in the hopes that nestly's video is in the works!

That is a good link, but it describes it in 2012, which is a good starting point. 2013 added some niceties like details and sections, and selecting what you want shown in your views, all of which are good things.

This link is to the 2013 viewbase functions

She has a couple of others for sections and details too.

I may have done a video in the past, but I'm not really a big fan of Viewbase yet because the output can't be shared electronically.... only printed.

Viewbase and Flatshot are good alternatives, but I'm more interested in the original problem of invisible dimensions.

I may have done a video in the past, but I'm not really a big fan of Viewbase yet because the output can't be shared electronically.... only printed.

 

Viewbase and Flatshot are good alternatives, but I'm more interested in the original problem of invisible dimensions.

Fair enough, I guess we'll just have to watch reruns for the time being .........this is a real nice one on the new section options.

Yeah, reading is so boring. From now on all responses to threads should be in the form of videos. nestly is going to be very, very, busy! LoL

hey, thanks for the viewbase tip i cant believe that i haven't used this before it's MUCH easier, i'm laying out a mechanical 3d part and i now have top, front, side and a 3d view, is there any way of changing the 3d view from wireframe to any of the other visual styles, but still keeping the three other plan views in wireframe.

I have been teaching myself autocad now for about 4 months and this method is sooo much easier, i should of joined a forum earlier.

again many thanks

Double click on the view you want to change and the Ribbon should change to the Viewbase contextual menu where you can change the "Appearance" in that view.

...or

select the view then Right Click > Edit View > Hidden Lines

hey, thanks for the viewbase tip i cant believe that i haven't used this before it's MUCH easier, i'm laying out a mechanical 3d part and i now have top, front, side and a 3d view, is there any way of changing the 3d view from wireframe to any of the other visual styles, but still keeping the three other plan views in wireframe.

I have been teaching myself autocad now for about 4 months and this method is sooo much easier, i should of joined a forum earlier.

 

again many thanks

You are very welcome.

One important thing to understand about VIEWBASE generated images is the fact that they are not retro-compatible.

If one tries to open a drawing which contains these VIEWBASE entities in an earlier version of Autocad, they will not be able to see them,

UNLESS they have downloaded (free from the Autodesk website) DWG TrueView 2013, or if they were created in 2012 then DWG TrueView 2012 could display those also.

Another thing to be careful of, is the fact that 2013 introduced a new 2013 file format for drawings. Meaning that if you are sharing drawings with older versions of the software you might want to

adjust your default save as file type, or on an as needed basis you can save any drawing as an older format.

As long as any recipients of your 2013 files have downloaded DWG TrueView 2013 though, that would not be necessary.

Did you watch that sectioning clip I attached? It is very well done, and there are what, 130 odd videos available on that channel?

There is also a CadTutor youtube channel with lots of good videos, and the tutorial section on this site is very good.

Have you discovered the PRESSPULL command yet for modeling?

Good luck teaching yourself the program, plenty to learn, but no reason you can't do it if you are motivated to do a little research and ask questions when you need some help.

I just watched another of these videos which will give you a very good foundation for the use of the VIEWBASE functionality, and addresses your question about editing visualstyles quite nicely.

Here is the link

hey, thanks for the viewbase tip i cant believe that i haven't used this before it's MUCH easier, i'm laying out a mechanical 3d part and i now have top, front, side and a 3d view, is there any way of changing the 3d view from wireframe to any of the other visual styles, but still keeping the three other plan views in wireframe.

I have been teaching myself autocad now for about 4 months and this method is sooo much easier, i should of joined a forum earlier.

 

again many thanks

You can do this in Autodesk Inventor. In my opinion if yo udo mechanical work then your time might be better spent learing Inventor in this century.