Can't see objects when moving, scaling, etc.
ubai
Newcomer
Hello,
I am having a lot of trouble with CC3 right now because I can't see an object when I am trying to move it, scale it, or do anything that changes it size, shape or location. I tried going into the editing options and trying all the different settings there, but nothing works. Holding the Tab key doesn't help either.
Essentially I will see the outline for a split section before it disappears but then it will only appear sporadically, making any efforts at editing very frustrating. Is there any way to fix this?
Thanks!
Comments
Try just hitting the tab key once. Don't hold it down.
I am assuming that you are moving vector objects, which are shown as outlines rather than solid objects when they are being transformed. The tab key toggles the visibility of that outline.
Thanks for the reply! I tried both, but no luck. The outline keeps disappearing.
Which kind of object is it? Symbol, polygon? Does it happen in all map styles, or just in your current map? (Try starting a new map in a completely different style and test)
There is one specific quirk in CC3+ that makes this happen. The outline when moving is drawn using an XOR against the background. This basically means that the outline color always will be the exact opposite of the background behind it. But, if there are two entities stacked exactly on top of each other, then you get the reverse of the revers, which means it gets drawn the same as the background.
No luck yet. The entities I am using are from Cosmographer, I used the ship hull tool to make them, and they are grey with a black outline. I tried changing the background color to green, but that didn't help. I tried copying them to the clipboard and pasting them into a different, non-Cosmographer file, but that didn't help either. I tried both color and black and white templates, but the issue persists.
Edit: it is worse when trying to move a combined shape, like a dungeon room or a ship hull than it is for a simple polygon. That doesn't help much, as I would prefer to move things together.
Edit 2: There must be a way to fix this, otherwise every entity with an outline has to be moved separately. That can't be right.
If this is indeed related to the issue Monsen pointed out (i.e. outlined shapes or basically anything where you're actually moving 2 entities with the same shape that are "stacked" on top of one another), then I remember dealing with this myself a long while ago (and I made a post here about it too, and learned of the "quirk" in question). You can of course test if this is indeed the problem by creating a shape that ISN'T 2 entities stacked on top of each other, but just a single entity, and try to move it - I bet it will remain visible throughout the operation.
I'll share my solution for getting around this problem (which, if I remember correctly, was suggested to me BY Monsen way back when I made my own thread about this however many years ago, lol) - a 2nd outline. Whatever it is you want to move, add a 2nd outline (so, a 3rd entity) which also follows the same shape (just trace the existing entities), in a distinctive, hard-to-miss color (to differentiate them as "tools" for aiding your mapping, and not actual entities that are supposed to be visual parts of the map. I use bright green). When there are 3, instead of 2, entities stacked together, this problem is gone; everything is perfectly visible. Obviously it's a bit of a pain to have to do this extra step before moving (or scaling, or rotating, or etc.) things, but well worth it to be able to see what you're doing. Because I knew I'd be using this a ton once I realized it worked, I even made a whole specific sheet and layer for these entities to go, and a new drawtool to make them so they'd always have the same properties and I can make new ones as needed quickly/easily.
I don't even delete these 2nd outlines once I've moved the object - I leave them be so that if I ever needed to move that same object again, the 2nd outline is already there (and this is the other reason to give them their own sheet/layer: you can quickly hide all of them when you need them out of the way or want to do an image export, etc.).
ubai,
Is the object you are moving a vector object with an even number of parts? If so, edit it so it has an odd number of parts. That should solve the problem.