I'm not sure which version it started with but C3D 2011 has a new way of inserting a image file. Instead of using Map or "mapiinsert" you use the Task Pane>Data>Add Drawing Data>RasterImage and create a relationship between the image and the drawing.
It doesn't seem to actually place the image in the drawing or on a specific layer but does create a image directory in the xref manager.
I had this working OK but I ran into a problem with placing the image under the drawing and with turning off the aerial image.
Seems that you use the draw order in the Display Manager and order the display however you want same as with point group properties and display and you can uncheck the image which is supposed to turn it off. The problem is when you reopened the drawing or regen it always brings the image file to the current layer, turns it on, and places it on top, then you have to go through the process of reordering etc.
Does anyone have any experience with this and am I doing something wrong. For now I have gone back to using "mapiinsert" on a aerial layer using "Display Order" to move the image to the back. I am OK with it this way but I expect at some point in the future Acad will do away with the map insert command.
Shooting from the hip since I don't have cadd open, but I always use the xref to overlay the image and the layer I xref the image to is typically called Image. Then I can simply freeze the layer if I want to turn the image off, or Unload the image in the xref manager. With the display order, I think that is always a constant battle. Something I typically finalize before plotting.
The Task Pane stuff is actually a Map feature. I've used it a bit because, unlike MAPIINSERT, it can reproject an image to a different coordinate system.
But like you, I've had undesirable behavior when it comes to display order. Although I usually seem to have a different problem... For me, the image will sometimes start appearing in the front while I'm working in a drawing. Closing and reopening the drawing makes it stay in the back again, at least until I start working on the drawing a bit.
Don't really have much to offer in the way of a solution... The Map forum on the Autodesk site seems to have a number of threads where people are complaining about draw order problems. Hopefully it will work better in 2012.
Thanks for that info Sinc, for some reason it is always nice to hear when someone else is having similar problems.
We should be getting 2012 soon so I guess it will be back to being a guinea pig and beta tester for awhile.