CREATESECTIONVPORTSAUTOZ / REFRESHSECTIONS

CREATESECTIONVPORTSAUTOZ creates viewports for all Z sections (height cuts, for example plans at different floor heights) in one go and lays them out neatly on the sheet, with a label per viewport. REFRESHSECTIONS then updates all existing section viewports when you have moved a section block or changed the thickness of the cut.

Starting

Type CREATESECTIONVPORTSAUTOZ or REFRESHSECTIONS on the command line, or use the buttons in the ribbon:

• SCAD Data / Export tab, Modules panel (CREATESECTIONVPORTSAUTOZ and REFRESHSECTIONS)

Preparation

You first create the sections themselves in model space with INSERTSECTION, using axis Z. It first asks for a zero height (Select zero height (enter for 0)) and then you click the height of each cut (Select section position). Each section block gets its height above that zero height in metres as its name, for example 3.5m. The thickness of the cut comes from the SLICEDIKTE attribute of the section block.

How CREATESECTIONVPORTSAUTOZ works

1. Go to a layout (paperspace) with one viewport on it. That viewport is the template.
2. Type CREATESECTIONVPORTSAUTOZ. There is no dialog and no prompt.
3. The command copies the template viewport as often as needed, one per Z section, and fills the sheet. How many fit on a sheet depends on the border polyline around the template viewport (without a border it assumes 372 × 271). If not all sections fit on the sheet, the layout is copied to <layoutname>-1, <layoutname>-2 and so on.
4. Each viewport is set to a cut at the height of its section block, with the thickness from SLICEDIKTE, and brought into view. The sections run from low to high.
5. A label with the name of the section is placed at the top of each viewport, for example Section 3.5m.
6. Each layout is renamed to the prefix plus the first and last section on that sheet, for example D 3.5M-10.5M. The layout you started on is renamed this way too.

How REFRESHSECTIONS works

1. Move a section block or change its SLICEDIKTE attribute.
2. Type REFRESHSECTIONS. The command goes through all layouts and updates each section viewport to the current state of its section block. No viewports are added or removed. Each updated viewport is also brought into view again. Afterwards the drawing returns to the layout you started on.
3. The command reports Refreshed N section viewport(s). If some viewports could not be matched to a section, this is added: ; M viewport(s) could not be matched to a section.

A viewport is matched to a section block by its viewing direction and the label inside the viewport, which is why it keeps working after you have moved the section block. REFRESHSECTIONS works for all sections in the drawing (X, Y and Z). If the drawing has no section blocks at all, you get No section blocks found.

Settings

Both commands use the settings you last filled in the section window of CREATESECTIONVPORTS:

Setting	Default	Purpose
Section Label	Section	The word before the section name in the label.
Layout Prefix	D	Prefix of the renamed layouts.
Layer for text and section symbols	091-SN-Text	Layer the labels are placed on.