Invert visibility

Isolate / hide commands are very helpful for working with large models, huge drawings. A small set of isolated objects is much easier to twist and do not get in the way of extra snaps. However, CAD developers overlooked the need to edit the list of visible objects. You must turn on everything, choose again and isolate again. This is the problem that the Invert plugin gracefully solves.

When you work in a large drawing isolating a small fragment, the Invert command can be very useful to you, which will allow you to add objects to the visible ones without dropping the set of isolated objects. Calling Invert will swap visible and invisible objects. You will see everything that was hidden. Then you can select new objects and call Invert again. Now in your set of isolated objects will be added those that were selected before calling the Invert command.

The first time you invoke the Invert command with selected objects, when there are no hidden objects, it works just like the Isolate command. But unlike the Isolate, you can call Invert when nothing is selected! In this case, the program will hide all objects of the model or the current sheet. And a repeated call will show them all back.

In addition, the command will help you quickly hide all annotations on the sheet (layout) so that you can see clean drawings in the viewports. And then quickly return the visibility of annotations by clicking on the same Invert button.

Read about downloading and installing the program here.

You can download, activate and use the program for free. If the program really helps you, please donate a small amount. 

The Invert command is included in the collections A>V>C> Kit and A>V>C> Pro.

AutoCAD Demo: https://autode.sk/2Rsu0Wh

You can get full control over the visibility of each drawing object using the Drawing Tree and the AVC Properties Palette.

Known Issues

Unfortunately, full interaction of plugins and commands for hiding objects is impossible due to the lack of an API. I, in my programs, do not have access to the list of objects that are hidden by the usual commands _IsolateObjects and _HideObjects. I have to go roundabout ways and this leads to some surprises.

• • The Invert command can turn on the visibility of hidden _HideObjects only if you switch AutoCAD | BricsCAD to store the visibility of objects in the vfc file. Therefore, the Invert command first switches the ObjectIsolationMode system variable to 1 (or 3 if BricsCAD had 2). After that, you will not see hidden objects, even by restarting the drawing or program. Visibility is now stored in a file. Engineers on other computers will not see hidden objects when they open your file. It might come as a big surprise if you don't warn them about using the Invert command.

  • The Invert command will not show hidden objects if they were hidden before the first call to Invert, when visibility was not yet maintained in the drawing (ObjectIsolationMode was 0)

  • The regular Show Entities (_UnIsolateObjects) command cannot show hidden objects if the Invert command has hidden them. To work around this problem, I intercept the call event of the _UnIsolateObjects command and make all objects visible. However, this will not work if the plugin is not installed. It turns out that no one will ever be able to make visible the objects that you have hidden with the Invert command. This can only be done by other A>V>C> plugin users.

  • When invoked from paper space, the Invert command will hide all objects drawn "on paper", including viewports. But! The invisible viewport will continue to display the model normally. You will not see only its frame. So this is actually not a problem.

  • Based on the described problems, I strongly recommend using the Invert command only for the entire engineering department at once, And you instruct all engineers in detail about the possible presence of hidden objects in the files.