Layers not controlling visibility of items in assemblies

[201181]

Hi,

I am currently working with NX 8.5 at a large company in Denmark. I have used NX for a couple of years, and in that time I have used layers to control the visibility of datums, sketches, surfaces etc. Normally, I would use the standard layer catagories already in NX.

Where I am currently working, I have noticed that when in an assembly, even if the csys is for example on layer 41, and layer 41 is turned off, the csys is still visible (but not selectable). This is also the same for sketches, surfaces etc. So basically, I cannot turn the visibility of the objects I want to hide with layers. I have no problems controlling visibility of items via layers when working at part level, only with assemblies.

Could anyone help as to why this is happening? I have never had this before.

Any help would be most appreciated.

 

[JohnRBaker]

When you add Components to these Assemblies, what are they choosing in the 'Settings' section of the 'Add Component' dialog for the 'Layer Option'? Are they choosing the option 'Original' or 'Work'? If they're using the 'Work' option, then all the contents of the Component are being moved to the Assembly's Work later, which could be what's causing this behavior.

John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Engineering Software
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Digital Factory
Cypress, CA
Siemens PLM:
UG/NX Museum:

To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.

 

[201181]

Hi John,

Just did a quick test. The option is set to 'Original', and in the small component preview window, I can see that no datums, csys etc are showing. As soon as I place the assembly though, the datums become visible, and cannot be turned off using layer control. I have to use the show/hide command to turn off all layers, sketches etc.

Another thing I have noticed to. All parts I create have the csys already on layer 41, and I turn layer 41 off (plus any other layers that contain datums, sketches etc) when saving/finish the part. When in an assembly, and I make a component the work part, the datums, sketches etc suddenly become visible, even if the layers are turned off.

Is there some strange setting somewhere turned on/off that stops layer settings from controlling visibility in assemblies?

Thanks in advance.

 

[cowski]

Reference sets are a good way to control visibility of part geometry in an assembly context. However, when you make a component the 'work part' in context of an assembly, the NX default is to load the 'entire part' reference set which tends to make all the geometry visible. When you are done working on that particular part, make the assembly the work part and switch the component back to the MODEL ref set (or whatever ref set you prefer). Also note that there is an option in NX that will prevent the automatic change to the entire part ref set. For existing parts, go to Preferences -> Assemblies and turn off the 'display as entire part' option. In the customer defaults, it can be found at Assemblies -> general -> work part -> display using 'entire part' reference set.

www.nxjournaling.com

 

[jerry1423]

I have a feeling that there are some Layer Visible In View issues here.
Go into your model space.
Layer -> Visible in View -> Reset to Global

 

[cowski]

If it is a subassembly, perhaps synchronizing the layers would help.

www.nxjournaling.com

 

[201181]

Thanks for the replies to all. For now, it looks like there was a 'visible in view' issue, as resetting to global has made all datums & sketches now disappear, and I can see that their respective layers have not been set to invisible. Thanks jerry1423

 

[201181]

OK I spoke to soon. It seems that there must be something else somewhere that is controlling the visibility of items on hidden layers. Since resetting the 'layer visible in view' option to 'reset to global', it just makes the datum and sketch layers invisible (in the 'visible in view' dialog, these layers are not marked as visible). And then, when trying to turn on/off each layer group in the 'layer settings' dialog (ctrl + L), the items on the layers cannot be made visible.

So, in the 'layer visible in view' dislog, I set all layers to be visible, and now I am back to the problem I had before, that even if I turn on of layers in the 'layer settings' dialog, the items on the respective layers are still visible (but not selectable).

Please note, this is still only applicable when in assemblies. If I have a part as the displayed part, layers control the visibility of items correctly. But when in an assembly, turning layers on/off has no effect on item visibility.

Any help would be most appreciated.

 

[ewh]

If you have layers turned off, resetting to global then hitting OK will keep those layers turned off in the view... and visa-versa. Before you Reset to Global, set all layers to visible, then you Reset to Global and hit cancel instead of OK. Now the layers should behave as you expect.

“Know the rules well, so you can break them effectively.”
-Dalai Lama XIV

 

[jerry1423]

Now after reseeting to global, does the view need to be saved ?
I don't remember !

 

[ewh]

I don't think so.

“Know the rules well, so you can break them effectively.”
-Dalai Lama XIV

 

[cowski]

Sounds similar to a weird problem I ran into recently:
thread561-369959

The suggestion of using the visible in view "reset to global" didn't work for us. However, when I used 'replace view' (right click in the view and choose 'replace view' -> any canned view), the layer visibility then worked as expected. We could then 'replace view' back to our original view and layer visibility would work there too.

www.nxjournaling.com

 

[ewh]

The only time I have problems with it is when I hit OK instead of cancel. That locks the visibility as set, but if Cancel is used instead it just resets the view to the current settings, with no layers locked... at least it works that way for me (I have yet to see it in the documentation anywhere).;-)
Of course, the OP's issue may be a bit more convoluted.


“Know the rules well, so you can break them effectively.”
-Dalai Lama XIV

 

[201181]

Many thanks for the latest suggestions (especially to ewh). Layer visibility is now back to normal!

 

[ewh]

You're welcome!

“Know the rules well, so you can break them effectively.”
-Dalai Lama XIV

 

[cowski]

Usually, but not always, the term "undocumented feature" is a nice way of saying "software bug".

www.nxjournaling.com

 

[ewh]

Whatever works! If it is a "bug", I hope that they document it as a proceedure instead of eliminating it.

“Know the rules well, so you can break them effectively.”
-Dalai Lama XIV