Hide Intersecting Entities

Menu: Top > Specials > Line Operations > Hide Intersecting Lines

  • What
  • Creates intelligent objects which can hide the objects under them. The term “hide” must be interpreted according to the terminology used in mechanical drawing. An object hidden by another has the invisible lines set with the hatched linetype. These lines can also be omitted.
  • Why
  • Gives the tools to create and manage the operation “hide”. An outline identifies the covering object and a group of curves part of the object to cover. The module displays the hidden curves with a specific linetype set by TOP or makes them invisible.
  • How
  • To hide a selected entity, select a point in an outline closed in the project The command can automatically identify the curves under the covering object, cut them and change (or hide) the linetype.

There are two operating modes: “basic” and “interactive”. In the basic mode, the command hides the entities, but does not give any tool to modify the entity. In the interactive mode, the command can update the “hide” context when the user brings some modifications as: stretch, move, etc…

The original entities are displayed each time the user interacts with the drawing to bring a modification.

Top_HideEnt operates only on AutoCAD curves, thus, entities as texts and dimensions are not subject to the command. Any operation on blocks are also not supported.

The command cannot combine more than one hide operation: The hidden entities cannot be used for another context.

The hide operation is automatically cancelled when the outline of the covering object is erased or when all curves managed by the hide option are erased.

Example  98. Hide Intersecting Lines

Command: Top_HideEnt
           <ENTER>