Advance Concrete provides options to create plan views for the current floor. Two of these options are "Create a top / bottom view" and "Create a plan view" on the "Advance Model" and "Advance Drawings" toolbars.
These two options have similarities and differences. When we create a plan view using "Create a plan view" we must choose the level for which we want to create the view.
The plan view will look exactly like the drawing found in the "Model" workspace but we will be able to use "Advance Views", therefore we will be able to use different dimensions, reinforcement elements, etc.
For example, we will use dimensions on a plan view for level 1; when we create the next level (level 2), Advance Concrete will ask us if we would like to copy the visual elements.
If we choose to use the "Y" (Yes) option, once the new level is created, Advance Concrete will also create a new plan view (for the 2nd level) which will have the same visual elements (dimensions / annotations) as the 1st level plan view. If we create some different structural elements at the 2nd level (or just edit the existing ones) the plan view will be automatically updated (it is not necessary to use the "Activate and update" function). From the plan view's properties page we can view the impact of the upper level.
Using this dialog window we can set the parameters that highlight the impact of the upper level (line style, hatch style, scale, line color).
In the figure you can see the blue elements from the upper level.
If we create plan views using "Create a top / bottom view" Advance Concrete allows us to customize it by editing a lot of parameters. This way we can get different types of plan views depending on our needs (we can keep or add different hatches for structural elements, we can set what symbols we want for the reinforcement or for the formwork, etc.). In the following drawing we can see that the structural elements have different colors as follows: cut visible edges are red, structural elements with uncut structural edges are green while hidden objects are red dotted lines.
A significant difference between these two types of plan views is that when we modify the structure (from the "Model" workspace), and we want to see the changes in the "Drawings" workspace, we need to use "Activate and update" (if the plan view was created using the "Create a top / bottom" option).
Also if we create a top/bottom view in which we will use visual elements, when we create the one for the next level, we will not be able to automatically copy the visual elements.