What is this "Frozen" bit?

[Vagulus]

What does this button do?

What does Frozen mean?

[nestly]

Here's my #1 tip for getting answers about anything related to AutoCAD.

 

Open a browser, go to Google, type the word "AutoCAD" then type your question as if you were asking an Autocad expert sitting right next to you.

 

[Vagulus]

It may seem that I have nothing better to do than ask heaps of dumb questions, but in truth I come to this forum when I can't find what I want elsewhere.

 

I gave up when I read this

http://forums.autodesk.com/t5/AutoCAD-2013-2014-DWG-Format/New-Layer-VP-Frozen-In-All-Viewports/td-p/3428565

 

I can't make head or tail of it.

 

I spent years in heavy industry and I have a dread of pushing buttons if I don't know what will happen (or won't happen) if I do. So I tend to ask questions. This is one of the few forums where people can give beginners an answer without swamping them with jargon and expecting them to have understandings way beyond their experience level.

 

Sorry if this is a pain, but I don't do this lightly.

[JD Mather]

Are you using layers?

Are you using Layouts?

 

If so, post a file here and I will demonstrate with your file what that button does.

It will probably make the most sense using one of your files.

[nestly]

I didn't post the Google thing lightly... I posted it because it's what I use most often answer my own questions. I reviewed the Google search results and determined the first result provided a comprehensive overview of "frozen" layers (as well as direct answer in the 3rd section) BTW, files at docs.autodesk.com are actual Help files for Autodesk products.

[rkent]

To freeze a layer simply means the objects on that layer are not displayed or plotted. You go to the layer manager and pick on the frozen symbol to thaw it, then anything on that layer is displayed again.

[f700es]

I didn't post the Google thing lightly... I posted it because it's what I use most often answer my own questions. I reviewed the Google search results and determined the first result provided a comprehensive overview of "frozen" layers (as well as direct answer in the 3rd section) BTW, files at docs.autodesk.com are actual Help files for Autodesk products.

 

Well by that logic CadTutor shouldn't even be here

Just saying.

[JD Mather]

Around here my users think I am some kind of guru even though I never have time to answer their questions.

The reason I don't answer their questions directly is because I don't know the answer. I tell them I'll get back to them when I get a chance and then do as nestly suggests. Of course they could have done the same thing, but because they haven't developed efficient search techniques - they just come to me.

 

To me the value of CADTutor is the exposure to how others might solve the same problem. Sometimes we get set in our ways when we have found a solution (like asking before searching) that we miss better solutions.

 

I have never, ever used the tool that is the topic of this OP's question.

But if the OP attaches a file - I will figure it out and then explain my experimental results.

[nestly]

Well by that logic CadTutor shouldn't even be here

Just saying.

 

Not at all. Google is simply a tool to collect a myraid of answers from many sources. Cadtutor is always among the top results for any Google query containing the word "AutoCAD" (4th in this instance)

[mikekmx]

Not at all. Google is simply a tool to collect a myraid of answers from many sources. Cadtutor is always among the top results for any Google query containing the word "AutoCAD" (4th in this instance)

 

 

so your advice is to google it and err........end up back here?

[nestly]

so your advice is to google it and err........end up back here?

 

If by "here" you mean a Google result that links to an existing Cadtutor thread or Cadtutor tutorial that explains what "Frozen" means, then YES.

[f700es]

I am with JD, I think the ability to get multiple answers opens you up to new ways of problem solving. Thus making here better than "just googling it" or looking in the manual.

[nestly]

I am with JD, I think the ability to get multiple answers opens you up to new ways of problem solving. Thus making here better than "just googling it" or looking in the manual.

 

You're not wrong, and I did not intend to suggest otherwise.

[Vagulus]

. I reviewed the Google search results and determined the first result provided a comprehensive overview of "frozen" layers (as well as direct answer in the 3rd section).

 

 

I am sorry, but I cannot see any answers that are useful to me. One of the things they hammered into me at university is that you cannot provide a comprehensible explanation of jargon using the same jargon. That is what is happening here. I assume that you know what they are talking about. That is a massive advantage over someone who has no idea what they are talking about.

 

Take, for example the use of the terms VP, xref, and VISRETAIN. You've lost me in three quick moves. (I did enter VISRETAIN at the command line and it shows a value of 1.)

 

I note that the first post at that link includes the line, "If my understanding of this feature is correct, it has never worked as advertised."

I hope that is not the epitaph for the button.

Edited July 29, 2013 by Vagulus
My mistake

[nestly]

"Frozen layers are invisible. They are not regenerated or plotted. In the illustration, the layer showing terrain has been frozen in one viewport."

 

"Thawing the layer restores visibility. The easiest way to freeze or thaw layers in the current viewport is to use the Layer Properties Manager. "

 

Source

[f700es]

You're not wrong, and I did not intend to suggest otherwise.

 

I know that I am just giving you a hard time.

[Vagulus]

The easiest way to freeze or thaw layers in the current viewport is to use the Layer Properties Manager.QUOTE]

 

I hope that drawing is of a house on a hill. It wouldn't have much of a view from a valley! Some house, BTW!

 

Hopefully this is the last question in this thread:

Here is my Layer Properties Manager for a drawing with layers.

Here is what I see in my Drawing Area.

 

Why can I still see windows and doors etc.?

[nestly]

Although I can't tell from the drawing area, all indications are that you're currently in Modelspace, in which case, "VP" properties do not apply. VP settings are only used in Layout tabs, where each Layer display can be controlled differently for each viewport (as per the house plan above)

 

To Freeze/Thaw layers in Modelspace, use the "snowflake" between the "lightbulb" and the "Lock" icons. The icons at the far right of your screenshot are a "snowfake" on top of a "Viewport"

[Vagulus]

Great!:D:D

That's what I was looking for.

IPOF I located similar functionality in the Layer Propertied Manager. I expanded a column and found it to be Freeze and that did the job. Your way is slicker, and quicker, and all that stuff.

 

We made it!

Thanks for hanging in on the search.

People who are trying to do this solo rely on you folk more than your could imagine.

[danellis]

The button you initially asked about will create a new layer that is thawed (i.e. visible) in model space but frozen (invisible) in all existing viewports.

 

The freeze button you found is used to freeze (or thaw) an existing layer everywhere.

 

I'm not sure from your posts how likely it is that you understand viewports - I'll leave it like this for now but am happy to explain them if you want me to.

 

dJE