Family/Part Centerline Linestyle Mix-up

ABD SS5 - 08.11.09.747
Drawing Extractions - Generate Centerlines

Has anyone ever seen a mix up with centerline linestyles upon extracting a file?  The image below shows an example of our firewall linestyles.  One diamond represents a 1HR wall and two diamonds represents a 2HR wall. 

If I start a new file, they extract fine.  On one problem file, when extracting the plan with generate centerlines in the cut plane tab, the linetypes are reversed - one diamond for 2HR and two diamonds for 1HR.  All I can think of that is different is I changed the family/part settings after the walls were created in the file.  I tried reapplying the part settings and the information shows everything is fine.  However, the extration result does not.

Parents
  • Sounds like that BV is looking UP and not down so reversed.
    Try re-cutting the BV and throw the other away

    Ustn since 1988
    SS4 - i7-3.45Ghz-16 Gb-250/1Tb/1Tb-Win8.1-64b

    Eric D. Milberger
    Architect + Master Planner + BIM

    Senior  Master Planner NASA - Marshall Space Flight Center

    The Milberger Architectural Group, llc

  • The image is only an example. The cut direction is not my issue.  The wall with a 1Hr rated linestyle is cutting with a 2Hr linestyle value and vice versa.  I can't reproduce it on a new file.

    Mark Mates - BIM Manager - Mason & Hanger

  • @Tom, Yes.  I thought the same thing and tried deleting the extraction file early on.  The centerlines go to a different level than the wall outlines and the linestyle is not ByLevel.  I also tried creating a new blank master model and referenced in the 3D110.dgn (interior walls).  I set up a new extraction definition and group model generating centerlines and the results were more baffling.  The 1HR wall centerlines were coming out with “acid” linestyles.

    I did find a workaround though.

    • I opened the 3D110.dgn model file where the walls exist.
    • I used Select By Attributes to select the 1HR fire rated wall components which are part of an wall assembly.
    • I applied a different part to the walls.
    • Compressed everything out of the file.  I’m not sure if this was necessary, but I did it anyway.
    • I used Select By Attributes to select the 1HR wall components again.
    • I applied the 1HR fire rated wall part to the walls again.
    • Compressed the file again.
    • Opened the master model and extracted the file and it worked.

    Thank you all for your help.

    Mark Mates - BIM Manager - Mason & Hanger

    Answer Verified By: Steve Cocchi 

  • When we were using DEM, we had a similar issue with elements being extracted to wrong levels.
    This became especially annoying when elements had bylevel properties which would result in
    changing of linestyle, color, and weight.
    Not sure it this is still the case, but we traced it to levels that are added to file for building views.
    It seemed to screw up level extraction logic.
    Therefore right before we extracted any file, we compressed it to remove these unwanted levels
    and at the time it seemed to help.
    If you are not using and don't plan on using dynamic view for this project, I would look into setting
    BB_DVDATASETELEMENTS = 0 which keep these levels from being copied into file.
    However, this is required to be set to "1" if you are using dynamic views.
    Try it as a test and see if it helps with your issue.

    This is a summary of what this variable does.
    #--------------------------------------------------------
    # The following variable enable the scans for cut/forward/reflected levels defined in the Family/Part system.
    # Levels that are not present in the active design file Are copied into the active file, but do not appear as
    # being Used in Level Manager. By default BB_DVDATASETELEMENTS is enabled (1). This is done to support Dynamic
    # Views. If you are not using Dynamic Views, you can disable(0) this functionality.
    #--------------------------------------------------------
  • hmmm, there's a chance your on to something and maybe compressing the file had more to do with resolving our issue. BB_DVDATASETELEMENTS is now set to 0 for us, but this project began with dynamic views and has since changed to drawing extractions. I checked an old bad extraction result and the 1HR centerline resulted with the 2HR linestyle not ByLevel or 1HR linestyle.

    Mark Mates - BIM Manager - Mason & Hanger

  • I'd like to read that and maybe we can help. I am far more productive with BV's than a DEM. Partially because my BV's generate almost 100% of any elevation or Plan and 95% of most Sections. anything I add are annotations and maybe some heavy lines for readability. I fight alot for good stuff and against bad. the BV is a good thing and better than DEM.

    Ustn since 1988
    SS4 - i7-3.45Ghz-16 Gb-250/1Tb/1Tb-Win8.1-64b

    Eric D. Milberger
    Architect + Master Planner + BIM

    Senior  Master Planner NASA - Marshall Space Flight Center

    The Milberger Architectural Group, llc

  • @Eric, how many people/disciplines work with AECOsim BD in your office on a typical project?

    Mark Mates - BIM Manager - Mason & Hanger

Reply Children
  • I have my own office and also work for NASA.
    At My office - Just ONE - Me and my Structural is V8i and my PME is Autocad Mechanical and Electrical

    At Nasa we have all disiplines and all have it - but I don't see full use of it yet. Partly because most data we receive is from ACAD teams and we have not tackled ABD fully yet, let alone without trying translations.

    That being said - I assume your next question would be the communication between others and your ABD and especially BVs

    So my process takes that into account. As I mentioned for my small office, I have worked with DEM/BV over the last 10 years or so. I transitioned stubbornly but then found the magic.

    I use BVs for everything that is to be viewed at 3/4" and smaller. My work during the day.
    These are all stand alone dgn files. (ex. Section A - Overall Section North through Lobby.dgn)
    And daily or as needed my BV files are saved as 2d files. In reality this is the manual DEM process, just is the BV world.

    So my speed while designing, is improved as I am WYSIWYG immediately and not in between constant DEM creations.
    But I can also have a DEM/2d at any time and automatically on schedule.

    I actually realized that I was not typically turning stuff over to Engineers even weekly. So the 2d creation was typically a manual one to create these all once very few weeks.

    Ustn since 1988
    SS4 - i7-3.45Ghz-16 Gb-250/1Tb/1Tb-Win8.1-64b

    Eric D. Milberger
    Architect + Master Planner + BIM

    Senior  Master Planner NASA - Marshall Space Flight Center

    The Milberger Architectural Group, llc