| Product(s): | OpenBuildings Designer | ||
| Version(s): | CONNECT Edition, V8i | ||
| Area: | Annotation | ||
| Subarea: | DataGroup Annotation |
This example is a useful illustration of the general steps required to modify a DataGroup Annotation Cell.
Please Note: Some of the steps in this may require administrator access to the dataset files involved or may be a task restricted to your CAD/BIM Management team.
The text fields used by DG Annotation Cells must have a specified length (like many text strings used in computing).
If the room number that is entered when a space is created exceeds the specified number of characters in the DG Annotation Cell selected for use by Auto Annotation the room number will be displayed as a string of hash characters (just like Excel does when the column is too narrow to display the values, there's a clue!).
You might ask why does the Space tool allow me to use a Room Number String that is longer than the DG Annotation Cell can accommodate? Well, it helpfully avoids a hard constraint at the placement stage, the Annotation Cells can be changed downstream to accommodate the requirements of the design. The Space label artefact will display the Room Name in the 3D model at placement independently of the Annotation Cell that is used downstream:
To change the label used by Auto Annotation on your 2D sheets first identify the DG Annotation Cell that has been set as the default for your project or company dataset. Open the 'Annotate Tool Settings' dialog:
Expand the DataGroup Annotation item and scroll down to Spaces:
The Cell Name currently assigned to Spaces will be shown. Keep this dialog open.
Next pick 'Manage Annotation Cells'.
This will open the DG Annotation Cell library and the Manage Annotation Cells dialog, when you finish by clicking the Close button, the library will close and your previously active file/model will open:
Here you can see all the cells available in the library listed in the Current Annotation Cell menu.
You can choose to modify an existing cell, copy an existing cell for modification or create a new cell.
I'd recommend copying and modifying an existing cell.
Use the Copy Current Model tool to do this:
Here I've copied Advanced Space Label-Metric:
and renamed it accordingly in the same way as any other model would be renamed.
The existing Number label only contains 4 characters:
Delete this existing label.
Scroll down the DataGroup Information list, select Space Number, change the Length to the required value:
Click the Place Text button; the text string 'Space Number' will be at the cursor for placement:
NoteS:
'Space Number' = 12 characters so there are no trailing underscores. The Label fields are longer so show training underscores for each additional available character in the string length.
The symbology of the various elements in the cell can be set just like any other cell, so for instance, if you wish to display Room Numbers separately from the rest of the data in the cell, change the element levels as required.
The cell name and description can be edited as required for both existing and new cells as long as any existing cells are reassigned in Annotate Tool Settings
When finished click the Close button to return to your active file/model.
Go back to the Annotate Tool Settings dialog and change the cell to 'Advanced Space Label-Metric 2':
If you are not sure which property each field in an annotation cell is linked to, this can be found in the Building Element Info, right-click the text (1) open Building Element Info (2), click More Info (3) > Attributes tab (4), the DataGroup property name will be shown (5):
Click OK.
The processing of Auto Annotation can be controlled from the Place Annotation group, note that it is a good idea to toggle OFF the Auto Annotations button * unless you actively need the annotations to be constantly refreshed, leaving it on constantly can detract from application performance due to unnecessary Auto Annotation processing:
See Drawing Rules, Auto Annotation and performance for more information on this aspect.