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.
Ah... now I see. The object does behave parametrically for me when changing the Height or Length properties via the Modify tool, but from DataGroup Explorer those same values seem to be "disconnected". A little more investigation is required...
Edit: the GM Ladder from the other RFA thread is behaving in a similar fashion, so I'm guessing there's a connection between the two...?
AECOsim SS6 + CONNECT U4, Windows 7 Pro, 64Bit, Intel Xeon E3-1275 v5 @ 3.6GHz, 32GB RAM, NVIDIA Quadro P1000
Hi Joey,
OK, it looks like the properties are not being mapped:
If you reimport the RFA and map these properties to valid DataGroup Properties (I used Height and Width) does the cell report correctly for you in DataGroup Explorer? FWIW, I had to run the keyin TFREBUILD on it after making changes in order for the graphics to update.
All of my tests were done using the delivered UK dataset. I've attached a DGN file with both the GM_VerticalForm and GM_Ladder placed, along with the two XML files from the project's DataGroup Catalog\ folder and the Landscape mapping file (I randomly chose Landscape as the Type) XML files from project's Settings\RFA Wizard folder.
RFA Import Test.dgn
Project-DataGroup Catalog folder.zip
Project-Setting-RFA Wizard folder.zip