text styles

RE: text styles

Kelly Hickox — Tue, 24 Jun 2014 18:52:41 GMT

Ok Thanks for all the answers and advice. I think I will keep doing it like I have been doing it.

RE: text styles

Tim Hickman — Tue, 24 Jun 2014 18:27:55 GMT

yes - mwlong is correct. Anticipating how the text will be at different scales is the whole issue with annotation. You want to try and minimize what text is shared thru files and scales,,,,if possible it would be best to put as much annotation at the top level (sheets) as possible but this is not always the best choice. This is the dilema that has plauged projects for years.

RE: text styles

Tim Hickman — Tue, 24 Jun 2014 18:22:19 GMT

If you want one text (or one file) and this text is needed at different scales, then annotation scale is what needs to be used. Otherwise you end up doing what has already been suggested, or you are already currently doing.There is no wrong way of doing this, it is a matter of how much maintenence you want to do, or where you want to maintain it.

RE: text styles

mwlong — Tue, 24 Jun 2014 17:24:37 GMT

In a perfect world we would only need to change one file. I would love to be able to have one file that encompasses all situations. The problem I see with annotation scale is depending on the justification you will need to move the text around which creates problems in other files.

RE: text styles

Kelly Hickox — Tue, 24 Jun 2014 17:06:31 GMT

That is exactly what i am doing now. Well kind of. I am creating two files, with the text in question, at two different sizes. I was just trying to get around that and have just one file in case changes need to be made, and in that case just to one file instead of two.

RE: text styles

mwlong — Tue, 24 Jun 2014 16:47:37 GMT

Working in roadway design also, we normally create our main design files at the most common scale (usually 25:1) and the design files are created at 1:1. The design files are referenced into a blank file and then the border is referenced in also. The border is created at 1:1 scale and then the border is scaled up when referenced into the files (ie border ref is scaled to 25:1 for 25 scale plan). All other references remain 1:1. When we assemble our front sheets (Title, Index, General Notes) we use anything from 50:1 to 2640:1. In these instances we copy in the text from the design files and change the scale of the text. We do not have a lot of text to copy in and 98% of it is existing information and is usually set at the beginning of the project. The only exception for this is our baseline file for our index sheet. We create 2 baseline files. One at the common scale and 1 at the index sheet scale.

We have not messed with annotation scale and do not plan to.

RE: text styles

Eric Milberger — Tue, 24 Jun 2014 16:30:05 GMT

Now for Now I am assuming a 2d drawing of a section through a building with a Left wall and a Right Wall

I work within this drawing until it is complete

It has all annotations and drawings

Then I create my sheet drawing

I reference this section twice

reference-clip each - on e on the left side and one on the right

I now see two reference files and I will move one towards the other.

I can then add the breaklines. But any change I make to one is changed to the other when "ACTIVATED"

I will never have to correct one then the other . They are the same file just different windows into the same file.

I can scale text but find it to be a bad practice as only in a rare case would I want the same text scaled from one drawing to another.

A text drawn at 1' in a model of 1/3"=1'-0" will SCALE correctly into a 1/8" scaled text drawing but NOT into a 3/4" or a 1/64"

The text will be way to big or way to small.

So Unless my text is scale ONLY between two drawings of near scale you are up the creek

Always you need to start with the most appropriate scale.

Then you can use scale OR just another version of the annotation.

email me and we can talk as this is just to hard to explain in text.

eric.d.milberger@nasa.gov

RE: text styles

Kelly Hickox — Tue, 24 Jun 2014 15:44:30 GMT

tim

references are full size and my sheets are the ones that are scaled. I do not use annotation scale. Have heard good and a lot of bad stories about it. I do use text styles.

RE: text styles

Kelly Hickox — Tue, 24 Jun 2014 15:42:33 GMT

eric

i am somewhat new to microstation and not yet proficient with it. The two different drawing models, are these models of the same reference file?

To elaborate a bit more on my problem. I am a roadway designer in ga. I am in the process of plan production. I have reference files such as a main, required, topo, border, and several more. To make my sheet files, I just attach all the reference files that I need, turning on and off the levels that I want shown. My plan sheets are at a 50 scale. My overall cover sheet is at a 400 scale. My problem is that I need some text in the main file to show at L150 50 scale for my plan sheets and then for my cover sheet, I need that same text to show up at L150 400 scale. Which works out to be a text height and width of 7.5' and 6', respectively for 50 scale and 60' and 48' respectively for my 400 scale cover sheet.

Will the two drawing models do this?

RE: text styles

Tim Hickman — Tue, 24 Jun 2014 15:27:05 GMT

It depends on how your files are set up in relation to one another. Eric's way is certainly one way of doing it.

How are your files referenced to each other ? What is your normal workflow when it comes to referencing files ?

IE: Are references left full size and the sheets scaled to match the plot size needed ? OR are the sheets full size (24x36, 36x42in, etc,,,) and then the references scaled to fit ? Do you use annotation scales ? do you use textstyles ?

all these come in to play with the final result you are looking for. So a bit more info is needed to elp with this.

RE: text styles

Eric Milberger — Tue, 24 Jun 2014 15:19:10 GMT

All depends

But yes

If you have an original drawing set with text (Let us say 1' tall

And the other two drawing reference your file and different scales

And you have scale off then they will come it at different sizes

If one is referenced with ref scale on and one is with scale off then yes

You can also have two different "Drawing Models" which are truly annotation drawings

One uses one scale and the other another. Then this can be even more flexible. (preferred) When referenced onto your sheet.