Sequence in which elements print

Task area Layout Editor

You need to distinguish between the sequence in which elements within a document print and the sequence in which documents and other elements in a layout print. The settings you make for the printer or the Windows driver also affect the sequence.

Printing sequence within a document

• Sequence in which elements are created or modified: By default, elements are drawn based on the sequence in which they were created or modified. The element you created or modified most recently is always on top, hiding the other elements with the same sequence value.

  Tip: To bring an element to the top: Move the element and specify the same point for from point and to point. Allplan then ‘re-creates’ the element, placing it on top of the other elements.

• Display sequence: You can define the display sequence of elements by entering a value between -15 and +16. The elements appear on the screen in accordance with the value set: The greater the value, the further up the element. In other words, the element with the greatest value is on top of all the other elements. If several elements have the same value, the display sequence depends on the sequence in which the elements were created or modified. You can generally place surface elements in the background.
  New elements are given fixed default values, which you can define in the Options - Desktop environment page - General area - Sequence defaults button. You can modify these values. To do this, right-click an element and choose Format Properties - Sequence on the shortcut menu. As an alternative, select Modify Format Properties - Sequence in the Change task area.
  Elements from V2003 with the Always on Top format property get the value +12.
• Surface elements (hatching, patterns, fills, bitmap areas, OLE elements, XRefs): You can specify whether surface elements behave like other elements (that is, printing based on creation sequence or display sequence) or whether they are to stay in the background.
  In the latter case, the creation sequence or display sequence defined controls only the sequence of the surface elements themselves.
  Make the following settings if you want to print surface elements in the background so that they are hidden (covered) by design entities:
  • To print straight from layout editor: Select the Print Layouts tool and open the Printer tab. Go to the Selection area, click the button beside Elements to print and select the Surface elements in background of each document option.
  • To print with Print: Open the Show/Hide tool and select the Surface elements in background option.
• Scanned images:
  • To print straight from layout editor: Scanned images always print in the background (within a drawing file).
  • To print with Print: Scanned images print in the foreground or background depending on the setting in Show/Hide.

Printing sequence with several documents

• Documents are printed in the sequence in which they have been added to the layout. In other words, those placed first are printed first and are hidden (covered) by the documents added later. To place documents with fills and scans in the background, you must place them in the layout first.
• When placing drawing files as a fileset: The drawing files print based on their numbers; that is, drawing files with a higher number hide those with a lower number.
• You can use the List Layout Elements tool to change the document sequence later. Documents that appear at the top of the dialog box hide those below.

Printing sequence with documents and other elements in the layout

First, the program prints the contents of the documents and then the elements you placed directly in the layout (title blocks, symbols, fills). In other words, these elements placed directly in the layout hide the contents of the documents.
To avoid this, you need to save these elements in a separate document.

Note: Display on the screen and PDF export consider the display sequence of elements. Documents placed get a value of -13, which cannot be changed. Consequently, documents placed in a layout cover elements with a display sequence of -14 and 15, which are placed directly in the layout. The Surface elements in background and Surface elements in background of each document options do not affect elements placed directly in layouts.

Settings at the printer

The settings vary depending on the printer you use (for example, HP, Océ). Please refer to the documentation that came with your printer. To optimize the results, you might have to change the settings several times.

Example (HP DesignJet 650C): Pen parameters - Overlay
Example (HP DesignJet 800): Setup menu - HP-GL/2 setting - Overlay

• Off: (default setting): Elements hide one another in accordance with rules 1-3.
• On: Elements blend (fills will become mixed colors; lines will be visible in fills). Rules 1-3 do not apply!

Example (Océ 9700, Job Director): Data format - Language-specific settings - Controller

• Overlay: Elements hide one another in accordance with rules 1-3.
• Blend: Elements blend (fills will become mixed colors; lines will be visible in fills). Rules 1-3 do not apply!

Settings you can make for the Windows driver

Most Windows drivers (for example, for HP DesignJet 650C) automatically deactivate certain printer settings (for example, the Overlay function). In most cases, you cannot use the driver to control these functions.
Use output channels instead.