When to use the mask
On a services drawing the heating, cold water and fire pipework all run through the same corridors, and once they are marked the markers overlap just as the lines do. The mask fades the drawing and every marker that is not in a chosen group, so one service, or one pipe size, can be checked on its own. It is also where pipe sizes, the Split chip and coverage discs live, so most of the linear tidy-up work starts by entering the mask.
The mask is purely a view. It does not hide, delete or change any marker, it is not exported, and it is not saved with the drawing: reopening the drawing shows everything at full strength again.
Three ways in
The header button
The button sits in the drawing header between the detection engine button and the paper size pill. Its tooltip reads Enter mask view. Clicking it fades the whole drawing straight away, background and every marker including the Live Legend, and the mask bar appears at the bottom of the canvas with nothing chosen yet. The button is unavailable only when the drawing has no groups with markers in them.
Ctrl+click a group row
Hold CTRL+CLICK (CMD+CLICK on a Mac) anywhere on a group's header row in the sidebar. That group joins the mask and, if the mask was not up, it comes up. Ctrl+click the row again to remove it. A masked row keeps a highlighted background so you can see at a glance which groups are in the mask, and a plain click still works the row's own controls: the name, the collapse arrow, duplicate, delete and the menu all stay usable.
The group menu
Open on a Detection, Linear, Area or Count group row and tick Add to mask. The same item reads Remove from mask once the group is in. It is greyed out for an empty group, and Annotation groups have no mask item because they cannot be masked.
The mask bar
The bar is a rounded card at the bottom centre of the canvas. Left to right:
| Control | What it does |
|---|---|
| Mask: and the group picker | An outline button showing the first masked group's name, a +2 count for any others, and a . Reads Select a group while nothing is chosen. |
| Opacity slider | Fades the masked-out drawing between 0% and 100%. Bring the drawing back far enough to trace a run against its background. Your setting is remembered as a preference. |
| Radii switch | Shows or hides all coverage discs at once. Greyed out with No coverage radius set on the selected groups until a radius exists. See Coverage view. |
Ø size badges and | Every pipe size found on the drawing, plus any you add. Drag one onto a masked run to file it under that size. Greyed out until a linear group is in the mask. See Pipe size badges. |
| Split chip | Drag onto a run to cut it at a reducer, or onto a cut to rejoin it. See Splitting and joining runs. |
The group picker
Click the picker to open the Groups in mask menu, which opens upwards from the bar. Groups are listed under their Service, each Service with a small mask all link that adds every group in that Service, which turns into clear once they are all in. Each row shows the group type icon, colour dot, name and marker count; tick or untick a row to add or remove it. Empty groups are greyed out. The last item is Exit mask view.
Checked Detection and Count rows also carry a coverage radius field; see Coverage view.
What fades and what stays
- Fades: the drawing background, every marker in a group that is not in the mask, the Live Legend, and zones and AoIs.
- Stays at full strength: every marker in a masked group, the pipe size badges along masked runs, and coverage discs.
Detection, Linear, Area and Count groups can all be masked, and you can mix types: a sprinkler Detection group and its pipework Linear groups together, for example. While the mask is up, dragging from the bar suppresses panning so a badge or the Split chip lands where you release it.
The toolbar stays live in mask view. New Takeoff, Actions and the keyboard shortcuts all work, so you can draw a missing run or count a symbol while looking at just the service concerned.
Leaving the mask
Any of these exits and clears the chosen groups:
- Click the header button again (tooltip Exit mask view).
- Choose Exit mask view at the foot of the group picker.
- Press Esc with no marker selected. If a marker is selected, the first Esc deselects it and a second exits the mask.
Removing every group from the mask does not exit it: the drawing stays faded with Select a group on the bar until you pick another group or leave.
Common issues
The header button is greyed out
There are no groups with markers on this drawing. Count or measure something first, then enter the mask.
A group I deleted is gone from the mask
The mask drops a group as soon as it is deleted or emptied. If it was the only group in the mask, the mask stays up with nothing chosen.
Ctrl+click on a Mac opens a context menu
ZeroCount blocks the browser menu on a Ctrl+click over a group row, so use CMD+CLICK or CTRL+CLICK; both toggle the mask. A plain right-click on the row still works as before.
Next steps
- Pipe size badges — file masked runs under the right diameter.
- Splitting and joining runs — cut a run where it changes size, or join two into one.
- Coverage view — draw coverage discs around the masked Detection and Count groups.
- Grouping marker groups into Services — give the picker's Service buckets something to list.
- Keyboard shortcuts — the full list, including the mask toggles.