Saved Views - 3D

Hi,
I'm probably missing something very basic here, which probably already exists in blender, but I cannot figure out how to save a view including the objects hidden in the viewport. I found how to save a view but it just restores the position of the camera, I would also like to save the objects that I turned on or off.

Coen

Comments

  • This is a very good question, I would also like to know.

  • Just googled it, found this very useful add-on:

    https://docs.blender.org/manual/en/latest/addons/3d_view/stored_views.html

    I think it does almost what you want

    Also could not find anything with filtering of meshes enabled unfortunately :(

    BedsonAce
  • Exactly, that is very close. Unfortunately it doesn't save/restore objects turned on or off.

    Bedson
  • This would be a really cool feature to integrate with the new release of the spreadsheet add-on filtering by the way. Then it would store the filtering and camera view in Blender.

    Bedson
  • Hehe that's a topic that takes me a while back :)
    I've played around that feature some time ago.

    https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/243459/how-can-i-store-and-restore-a-3d-view-per-view-layer
    https://github.com/Gorgious56/stored_views_advanced/releases

    It's pretty much abandoned and has never received any love since I've released it, but if there is some traction around it I might be able to work on it at some point, and help integrate it in the BlenderBIM addon if need be. I remember it's needlessly complicated but it (might) work without crashing to a pulp. No guarantee :)

    Cheers

    CoenBedsonAceChubbyQuarkSigmaDimensions
  • edited March 2023

    It's pretty much abandoned and has never received any love since I've released i

    @Gorgious Let's revive it then :-D
    I have installed the add-on but I don't see Stored View appearing in View Layer Properties. Have I missed a step maybe?

  • This would be a great addition to Blender, I was looking for something similar a while back but didn't find the addon Gorgious had already released. It would be immensly useful as a standalone Blender addon, integrating/synching it with BB drawings would be even better.

    theoryshawAce
  • edited March 2023

    I know the devs changed the API for cycles settings recently, might be why the addon doesn't work anymore on recent versions, I should troubleshoot that. Is there an error printed in the console ? Window > Toggle System Console.

  • @Gorgious
    might be why the addon doesn't work anymore on recent versions, I should troubleshoot that. Is there an error printed in the console ? Window > Toggle System Console.
    Can't see any errors in the System Console.

    Modules Installed () from 'C:\\Users\\cclaus\\Downloads\\stored_views_advanced_1.0.0.zip' into 'C:\\Users\\cclaus\\AppData\\Roaming\\Blender Foundation\\Blender\\3.4\\scripts\\addons'
    reloading addon: stored_views_advanced 1679646359.9369097 1679646689.0876646 'C:\\Users\\cclaus\\AppData\\Roaming\\Blender Foundation\\Blender\\3.4\\scripts\\addons\\stored_views_advanced\\__init__.py'
    

    I'm on Blender 3.4.1

    I clicked initialize on the Stored Views add-on but nothing shows up on the View Layer Properties panel like on your screenshots from this thread:
    https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/243459/how-can-i-store-and-restore-a-3d-view-per-view-layer

  • edited March 2023

    @Gorgious I wish I'd known about your 'advanced' add-on, it works well, reminds me of Goto views in CAD programs Spirit & DataCAD. Is there a maximum number of saved views? It does ortho and perspective views, nice! It would be nice if it could remember the Viewport Shading status too?

  • @Coen Ok So I might have misled you a bit, the github addon and the steack exchange Q&A I linked offer two different functionalities, the former lets you remember outliner visibility, etc, while the BSE Q&A lets you save a view per view layer.

    Remember though for it to work you must first (!) enable the regular Stored Views Addon, THEN, my addon.

    Coen
  • edited March 2023

    If the filtering would be IFC specific, is there a way to retrieve the GlobalIds from the 3D View?
    If the end user makes a filtering in Blender, a guid list could be stored somewhere to filter the objects visibility?

    Some related python code for inspiration.

        def filter_IFC_elements(self, context, guid_list):
    
            outliner = next(a for a in bpy.context.screen.areas if a.type == "OUTLINER") 
            outliner.spaces[0].show_restrict_column_viewport = not outliner.spaces[0].show_restrict_column_viewport
    
            bpy.ops.object.select_all(action='DESELECT')
    
            for obj in bpy.context.view_layer.objects:
                element = tool.Ifc.get_entity(obj)
                if element is None:        
                    obj.hide_viewport = True
                    continue
                data = element.get_info()
                obj.hide_viewport = data.get("GlobalId", False) not in guid_list
    
            bpy.ops.object.select_all(action='SELECT')
    
    
  • edited March 2023

    Not for viewport visibility control but the collections manager addon is analogous to a layer manager in other software. Could be useful as UI inspiration for an IFC visibility control and filtering.

    https://docs.blender.org/manual/en/latest/addons/interface/collection_manager.html#:~:text=This add-on adds new functionality for the management,and go to Preferences then the Add-ons tab.

    CoenAce
  • @Gorgious Very excited about your plugin.

  • Anyone know what the difference between View and POV is?

  • edited May 2023

    They're basically the same thing. A view is supposed to be a POV + other things (I assume view layer state and 3D viewport shading settings). The addon code is in a commented WIP state, and AFAIK it has been for at least a few years so maybe the creator had a plan at first but never went through with it.

    I initially set out to bring the addon to life with my sub-addon but didn't get too far because after some time I didn't have the need for it anymore. It can be revived, though !

  • Hi @Gorgious the idea of stored view app reminds me of CAD programs Datacad & Spirits GotoView. That saved layer on/off camera settings, print settings/scale and so much more. I would love to be able to do this in Blender.

  • This functionality has been something I have really missed in Blender. @Gorgious what made you not need it anymore? Is there similar functionality baked into Blender Bim I haven't noticed?
    To continue the conversation about the plugin here are some different ways I have experienced similar functions in different programs:

    QGIS has Themes that save the visibility state of the layers and because each Layer can have more then one style it also saves the style of each layer that is used at the time. Themes can be selected in the main map viewer and can also be associated with a layout map frame. QGIS also has Spatial Bookmarks that take you to a specific place.

    AutoCAD has Layer States that allow you to save the visibility settings of layers. It also has Saved Views which I have never used.

    Sketchup has Scenes that allow you to save a large number of settings including location, layer state, and style. One thing I like about scenes is that you can choose and edit which settings you want to be saved.

  • I'd say it is mostly available in Vanilla Blender through hoops. Viewing location can be saved via placing a camera at a specific place and angle. It also lets you render the scene from this location. Collection exclusion state can be saved with different View Layers (available from the top right of the outliner). I agree though that managing a great number of view layers is a pain. You also can't natively reorder them once created.

    You also can have different Scenes entirely in a file where you can link objects and collections between each other, but due to how addon devs are forced to store data in Blender, it's pretty much not supported to use more than one scene if you're using an addon.

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