I've got a crazy-mad desire to label all my duct, pipe, and plumbing elevations with DG annotation cells, and stop using the auto, rule-based annos. Where will I find the DataGroup values for duct and pipe elevations in a manner that can be used with annotation cells? (Those hint labels are a damn tease! :) I may need some additional assistance with the Catalog Editor.
Thanks,
Jeff
Not the answer you want but, not all of the mechanical attribute data is exposed to the DataGroup system and therefore accessible to the DataGroup annotation. The properties that are based on position and slope: Top, Center, Bottom, Slope Value, Invert Level(Start) and Invert Level(End) are only available through the mechanical rules for drawing annotation. I agree that it would be great to label based on those properties.
Most firms I work with use the DataGroup Annotation for labeling duct and pipe sizes since it gives them more control over where the labels are placed and which ducts/pipes are labeled. If you want to see some of those labels that are only available in the rules, consider using criteria sets/grouped criteria sets to narrow down which ducts and pipes receive those labels. i.e. select only ducts longer than x.
Go ahead and file a service request to have those properties exposed to the DataGroup system and maybe we will see them in a future version.
-Noel
Crumbs, but thanks for the reply. I will file a service request. Do you have any suggestions for best results on a request?
In the meantime, will you help with the rule-based issues I've got with elevation labels??
Issues with Rule-based elevation labels:
1. Regularly, an arbitrary 7-8% of elev labels are not generated even after refresh. Some ducts and pipe, of any length, part/family, etc, just get overlooked. I'll then experiment and investigate everything about the component that was overlooked; I've never found anything different than the components that got elev labels. I've even copied the overlooked duct/pipe parallel to itself 6"-7" away( , - ,- ,, ,,- etc ), and the copied duct/pipe will display the elev label..., just not at the coordinates I need it. The hint labels always still work for the "overlooked", and all is well within "the volume".
2. Only a single elev label gets generated per duct/pipe regardless of length (with exclusion of Invert: Start & Stop). On long runs of straight duct/pipe, it's necessary to label elevs at more than one location. Also, if that duct/pipe spans two or more sheet pages, then only one sheet will have an elev label to display. The first logical solution would be to copy the one label as needed, but attribute labels cannot be copied without first being dropped, or, as with Top & Bottom, grouping the two. Of course dropping isn't good, and grouping suspends association. Will the Criterion Sets/Groups allow labeling in incremented lengths? (eg. ...every 30'-40'?)
3. Text styles assigned to elevation labels are fully obeyed by the rule except for "color". I'll then need to modify the text style (like selecting "bold"), save the style, then undo the change, and save the style again. The labels will then follow the proper color as defined by the text style. When I inspect the rule, the color check-box does grey-out when a text style is selected, and the name of text style's color is displayed next to the greyed-out check box. Still, only modifying the style after generation and every refresh is necessary. (This actually applies to every attribute label).
4. http://communities.bentley.com/products/building/building_analysis___design/f/5917/t/94328.aspx Presently I've got a work-around that does alright for this. ...and here is where the topic begins to overlap in a loop.
Whew, I can't help but think that the programmers will have an easier go at exposing the attribute data to the DataGroup than I did with 1-4! :)
Great, thanks Jeff!
...just a quick work-note I added to the Elevation data SR:
(This is slightly cross-topic, but is still relevant as it pertains to Mechanical elevation data):
Please include "Center-Line" elevation as a hint label in the Mechanical Systems preferences.
In the Drawing Model, all Piping elevations are labeled with Center-Line. However, the hint labels for that same Piping can only be Top and Bottom.
We need the hint labels to read the same as the Drawing Model labels.
Hi Jeff,
I'll file an Enhancement for the calculated elevation values from the existing SR.
But for the centerline part... are you still referring to DG annotation or is it just the flyovers for this case? These are two different features - DG annotation vs. Flyovers - so a separate enhancement may be needed.
Edit: I forgot to add.... for long HVAC runs, if you break the duct into individual segments you should get a series of labels, one for each segment. I'd imagine this would also better represent the real-world construction?
Hi Steve,
Yeah, it's the fly-over I'm referring to. Since they're the same elevation values, I thought I could squeeze it into 'this' SR. Repetition is good tho. I'll certainly do a separate SR.
On the long duct runs, labeling appears on just the first and last segments, -none in-between. (Tho depending on the contract, we don't always do segment breaks).
Soon I'll post a couple of before/after pics that show most of these issues. I'd like to discuss them more to learn and develop concise SR's.
Thanks...
Great, thanks Jeff. Since the coding for drawing annotation and Flyovers are separate items we would need a CR for each. Just include any detail regarding what you'd like see in the Flyover for the new SR.
Interesting twist on the long runs... Would you mind starting a new thread for that part? I think it's definitely warranted in this case since it's somewhat independent of the request and may require troubleshooting of its own.