Turn Annotation Cells Into Graphic Cells

Question

Hi, 
 Mstn V8i SS4 v08.11.09.829 running on a Win7 machine. 
 I have read all about making cells to be Annotation cells. I want to go in reverse - I want to make annotation cells be plain, graphic cells. ESRI ArcMap no longer recognizes annotation cells as points (no problems with graphic cells), and all of our mapping goes into the GIS, so it's an issue. 
 I'm not an expert mstn user, so if you can keep it simple in explaining how to "remove annotation" from cells, that would be good. 
 
 thanks

Tim Hickman · Answer

Changing the cell in the cell library will only affect cells being placed going forward, it will not change the existing cells in the design files. You could possibly update the cell in the cell library and then use the replace cells tools and update or replace the existing cell in the design file with the changed cell in the cell library.

George A. Martin · Answer

You can also find the cells that had the Annotation Scale setting and once it is switched to Off you can scale them by their insertion point (Element Center) by the scale factor that the Annotation Scale set (i.e. 40x). This should get them to the proper size but what Tim suggested, I think should also work. Were the cells placed with Annotation Scale set to True (Point/Graphic types?) Could be that Point Cells are used and that is what ArcGIS is having a problem with so you would also have to convert the Point Cells to Graphic cells. They may have been Shared Cells too! 
A small Sample of what you are dealing with would be helpful along with the Software & software version you are using (i.e. MicroStation V8i (Ss3)). You can attach a sample file using the "Advanced Reply Editor"

Lorys · Answer

Unknown said: 
 (Please visit the site to view this file)Tim & George, 
 The cells, from the cell library, are of type Graphic. they are "Annotation Cells", as per the top line in the properties dialog. They were placed with annotation on. For testing, I created a *point* cell, had it placed as an annotation cell (Model properties), but ArcGIS doesn't see it. so it seems that the key is that it cannot be annotation. 
 I hesitate to change the cell library, but it's important to get the data into the GIS. Most of our drawings are done at 40 scale, so maybe it won't be too drastic. 
 I'll attach the dgn - the green water valve cell is simply a graphic cell, the red are annotation graphic cells. Only the green one shows up in ESRI. it is not specific to this cell, but all annotation cells. 
 I could use a tutorial on how to edit an existing cell library. I think I know how to create a new one. 
 I've got the question posed on the ESRI groups as well. 
 thanks.

find which library.cel file has all the cells you want... 
 make a copy and rename it no annotation 
 now open the new cell.cell file as if it were a dgn 
 its just now a series of sub models 
 from the model tool the blue box like icon click on the second tick under Annotation scale icon 
 and turn it off next click on the file model name and open the cell 
 now measure how big the original cell is , determine the desired size and scale up centered accordingly 
 
 There are better more efficient ways to do this but I prefer to be cautious and leave the original as it was and tackle a copy... 
 this way you cant hurt any thing... 
 I think you can just have option to use annotation or not use annotation but if you want annotation on for text and linestyles but not cells then you best have two cell libs plus you never know how big to change your cell at placement time and for consistancy its better to decide or learn what size they are or will be by default 
 I like to make cells at 1m or 1 mm or 1 master unit ( not always possible ) then at placement I can just use multiples for attach at X times and would know ahead what the final size will be....

Tim Hickman · Answer

Just create a copy of the cell library. 
Open this copied cell library. 
Go to the models dialog. 
Select all the cells and uncheck annotation. 
Open your design file. 
Attach the copied cell library and use it to update/replace the needed cells.