Question regarding RFA import of structural connections.
I'm trying to import rfa files from Peikko, those are fastening plates. The RFA importer assigns them to discipline Architecture. I would like to have them assigned to Structural instead, but that isn't possible.
No idea what kind of implications that has, anyone else with an idea?
Andreas,
the discipline option only has an effect on Mechanical/Plumbing objects that have connection points in them. The ABD mechanical tools differentiate between objects that are mechanical and objects that are plumbing. We can tell most MEP RFAs from one from the other by what kind of connector they have in them.
Some RFAs have both types of connectors, so we offer the option to pick one. We also offer an option to make it architectural, which strips off the connectors and places the RFA through Place User Defined.
Which brings us to structural. Structural RFAs are kind of a weird hybrid in their authoring application, requiring both the RFA and placement information (especially the element length) from their placement tool (beam, column, truss, etc). As strange as it might sound, the "length" property of the RFA does not directly control the length of the element, nor does it contain any analytical information. The placement tool applies the structural analytical information when the beam/truss/column is placed into the model.
Between the oddities of how structural RFAs are handled in their authoring application and it differences with way ABD creates structural elements, we couldn't find a way to integrate them into the placement tools as well as we could for Architecture or into a new placement tool like we did for Mechanical/Plumbing.(which is really a key-in generator based on bmech place).
-Tom.
I'm struggling a bit to get it working, would be nice if you could have a look at the attachment.
It includes a zipped folder with a rfa file and some xml definition files (don't know if they are necessary), and a .xsd and a .xml file which I have created. I would like to map the variables from the rfa file to variables in my definitions.
Problem now is that the importer hangs after select files - "Waiting for Data Groups initialization to complete..".
Apparently my .xsd or .xml files are faulty.
Adding your XSD and XML files to my workspace seem to cause the Wizard to hang at that spot but I don't see anything wrong with your files. I'll have the development team take a look and see if the problem is in the Wizard so we can get it fixed for commercial release.
Answer Verified By: Andreas Zieritz
Thanks a lot, I appreciate that.
Andreas, we found two workarounds that should get you going for now:
Your XSD file has two sections to it instead of one. Joining them together helps get past the Wizard hanging (let me know if you need help in doing that).
Your XML file has a : in the name. Removing the : will get you past the crash at the end of the Wizard.
On our end, we made the Wizard able to handle both situations for the commercial release.