• Replies 2 replies
  • Subscribers 89 subscribers
  • Views 4309 views
  • Users 0 members are here

Enable Auto Annotations

NigelPDavies
Offline

Excuse my dumb question, but could someone confirm what "Enable Auto Annotations" actually does? It doesn't control DataGroup annotation as that is controlled by the rules assigned to the Dynamic View. What does it control, and would setting BB_AUTOANNOTATE_ONCREATE = 0 and BB_AUTOANNOTATE = MANUAL help with speeding up view creation?

Thanks

  • Offline

    Nigel,

    Not a dumb question at all.  If fact, this confuses a lot of users.

    The Enable Auto Annotations option in the Building Designer Menu only has an effect when BB_AUTOANNOTATION is set to USER (see below)

    There are 2 configuration variables that influence DV annotations:  BB_AUTOANNOTATION and BB_AUTOANNOTATION_ONCREATE

    BB_AUTOANNOTATION

    Determines when DV Rule-Based Annotation Tags recreate the Datagroup annotation that is specified in the DV rules.

    You have 3 options: (MANUAL, AUTO OR USER)

    MANUAL = The user must select the Refresh Automatic Annotations tool to see any DV generated annotation.

    AUTO = Refreshes when drawings/sheets are opened/referenced. (can cause performance delays when opening drawing/sheet models)

    USER (default) = Users toggles the Building Designer > Enable Automatic Annotations menu item, to determine AUTO or MANUAL behavior

    BB_AUTOANNOTATION_ONCREATE
    Determines if the DV Auto-annotation is going to be generated when a new Drawing or Sheet is opened.
    You have 2 options: (1, 0)
    1 (default) = Opening a new DV Drawing/Sheet initiates Auto-Annotation (generates rule-based annotation in Drawing models)
                           This happens no matter what the of value of BB_AUTOANNOTATION is set to.
    0 =  Annotations not created in new DV Drawings/Sheets
            If BB_AUTOANNOTATION = AUTO or USER (w/ the Auto-Annotation option enabled) annotations will still be created.
    If you are not using dynamic views, set this variable to zero (0) to disable the DV auto-annotation.
    To Answer your final question:
    If you know that the data that your annotations are utilizing is not going to be correct or complete when you initially generate your views(and most of the time it is not) and therefore you don't care about seeing the annotation at initial DV creation, then having BB_AUTOANNOTATION set to Manual or AUTO or USER (w/ the Auto-Annotation option disabled) and BB_AUTOANNOTATION_ONCREATE set to 0, could speed up your initial view creation.  You will not see any annotation until you manually select the Refresh Auto Annotations tool.
    This would require some training of the users so that they understand the requested behavior and do not assume that the product is broken and not producing auto-annotation.
    -Noel



  • Offline in reply to Noel Page

    Thanks Noel

    The bit that was confusing me is that those settings don't appear to make any difference to annotation generated before changing the config values, hence it appeared that it "wasn't working". I'd set the configs but door annotation was still updating if I change the door number. As far as we can work out this only applies to new elements, correct?

Communities
Support and Services
Training and Learning
Social Media