Creating and Editing View Filters

You can specify view filters that let you modify the visualization of elements in a layout design view. View filters include "explicit" filters and the standard object filters (formerly named PLM filters).

This task shows you how to:

Access Layout View Filters
Define View Filters
Edit View Filters
Edit the Object Filters of the View or a Favorite Context

Before you begin:

Open a 3D shape representation containing a layout.
From the View section of the action bar, click Display Backgrounds as Specified for Each View .

Access Layout View Filters

You can access the Layout View Filters dialog box within the layout window.

Select Me

> Preferences > Layout View Filters.

Note: The Layout View Filters dialog box, you can:

Click Display filter... to create a display filter.
Click Mask filter... to create a mask filter.
Click New from... to create filter from an existing filter.

By default, only the Default filter that specifies the layout must be hidden from the 2D background appears in the dialog box. In any view, you can only see both the view content and the 3D background.

Define View Filters

You can define either display or mask filters and perform various operations on view filters.

For this scenario, create a display filter.

Click Display filter... in the Layout View Filters dialog box to create a display filter.
The 2D layout and the 3D area shape are automatically tiled. An immersive dialog box appears at the top of the screen that allows you to enter the name of the filter. Simultaneously, the Edit Filter dialog box appears which displays the list of Object Filters and Explicit Filtered Elements. The Visualization Chooser appears at the upper right corner of the screen displaying the current visualization mode.
Select an element to filter in the work area.
A context toolbar appears to show the available visualization properties.

By default, the Display selection is applied to the selected element. The selected element appears in the Explicit Filtered Elements list in the Edit Filter dialog box. The mouse pointer changes to auto copy mode. With this, you can apply the current visualization property to the next selected element.
Optional: Select another element.
The element gets the same visualization property as that of the earlier selected element. The context toolbar appears. You can change the visualization property if required.
For more information, see About Editing View Filters.
Optional: Click anywhere in the work area to stop the auto copy on the selections.
Optional: Add the object filters using the following steps:
1. Click Click here to retrieve filters related to your context in the Object Filters area.
  The Search - Filters related to XXX dialog box appears. Where XXX represents the name of the product in the current session. It displays the list of Embedded filters and All filters (if any) associated with the product.
2. Click to select the filter in the All filters list.
  The filter is added to the list of Object Filters along with the suffix _3dm, indicating that the filter is now embedded in the current product.
  Note: You can click Refresh in the Search - Filters related to XXX dialog box to retrieve the embedded filters list.
3. Click Close.
  The Search - Filters related to XXX dialog box is closed.
The object filters are added in the list.

Enter the name of the filter in the immersive dialog box or keep the default one and click

The filter is created and listed in the Layout View Filters dialog box.

Important: Each filter must have a unique name in a layout. Clear the No name check option (see Checking Operation When Renaming) to verify the uniqueness of names for filters. If a filter with the same name already exists in the layout, the previous filter name is restored, and an information message is displayed.

To modify the properties of the filter, click Edit.
The Edit Filter dialog box appears.
To delete unused filters, click Clean Up.
To delete a filter, select a filter and click Delete.
To sort the filters alphabetically except the default one, click Sort A-Z .
To sort the filters automatically according to the views order except the default one, click Sort by tree.

The filters are created.

Edit View Filters

Editing filters involves populating the filter with elements, specifying the visualization mode for these elements, and execute filters (for object filters only).

The Edit Filters dialog box outlines the actions required to configure filter options and execute object filters. It consists of the two dedicated tables for filters (object filters in the upper area and explicit filters in the lower area), options to specify visualization properties, and a check box to tile the 2D and 3D areatabs automatically.

Select a filter in the Layout View Filters dialog box and click Edit.

Tip: You can right-click the view and select Filter > Edit Filter .

The Edit Filter dialog box appears to display the filtered elements in the Explicit Filtered Elements list.
Select the required elements from the Explicit Filtered Elements list.

Note: You can also select the elements directly in the 3D area. In this case, the row containing the corresponding element is highlighted in the list of Explicit Filtered Elements.

The selected elements are highlighted in the 3D area. The context toolbar appears. You can now change the visible properties of these elements.
Change the visualization properties by selecting the required properties in the context toolbar in the 3D area or in the Explicit Filtered Elements list in the Edit Filter dialog box.
Change the visualization mode in the Visualization Chooser.
The filtered elements are displayed in the chosen visualization mode and are referenced in the current filter.
Click Populate filters according to product references filter information.
If a product occurrence contains uncut properties, this option provides the number of uncut items to be added.
In the case of complex product structures, this option does not provide any number of the expected uncut items.

The product nodes are added to the filter.
Select the Tile automatically 2D and 3D tabs check box.
The 2D and 3D areatabs are tiled automatically.
Click OK.
The filter is edited and ready to be used. At any time, you can change the visualization mode for elements in a specific filter.

Edit the Object Filters of the View or a Favorite Context

Select Me > Preferences > Object Filters.
In the Object Filters dialog box, you can see the following:
- The name of the relevant product. You can select the product to view the filters aggregated under it.
- The filters aggregated under the selected product with their status. A filter can have the following statuses:
  - : The filter is referenced in the current representation.
  - : The filter is referenced, but not used because of the compatibility issue. For example, the visualization filters in 2D Layout for 3D Design have a different favorite context.
  - : The filter is referenced, but it is not modifiable. The filter object may be locked by another user or the current user has no suitable authoring or editing permission.
  - : One or more locked views use this filter.
  - : The filter is not synchronized because of no or multiple filters that match.
Select a filter in the list and click one of the following:
1. Upgrade selected filters to upgrade the filters to the new specifications of the original filter (the one that is listed in All filters section of the Apply a Filter dialog box and has no _3dm suffix after its name.)
  The new specifications are copied from the original filter.
2. Replace selected filters to replace with a different filter.
  You can now select the Click here to retrieve filters related to your context to display the Search - Filters related to: XXX panel again. From this panel, select the filter to replace the existing filter.
Both upgrading and replacing are manual operations. The standard synchronization mechanisms such as Update, Links & Relations do not synchronize the filters.