AUGIWorld Magazine - January/February 2008 - (Page 13) Figure 5: Units Dialog Now drag this Multiview Block into a tool palette. I have created a new palette called My Tags. While dragging, do not hold to the grip of the Multiview Block. Instead, drag by holding to the geometry itself. Now, try to add a few spaces into the drawing. Be sure to name them differently. Please note that the Style name of the space is different from the property Name of the space. You can create Space Name Definitions (Also called List Definitions) or select each space and give it a different name using the properties palette. If you have already worked with space styles, try to create different space styles with different color fills. Once done, click the tag in the tool palette which you have just dragged in. At the Select object to tag: prompt, select the spaces one by one. Here is a snapshot of the spaces I have created and tagged. Figure 6: Annotation Size etc. Don’t stop with just two properties; rather, try to extract and display many properties. In the previous article, I asked you to attach the PSD to the object manually. However, in the above example, the PSD is attached to the object automatically the moment you place the tag! Cross check this by selecting the space and clicking the Extended Data tab of the Properties Palette. After placing the tag, try to change the name of the space and also grip edit the space to alter its size. See how the tags update dynamically. Now, we just need to fine-tune the way the area is displayed. For example, I need a prefix GA: and a suffix Sqm for the area. To do this, we need to create a Data format Style and replace the default Standard Data Format Style assigned to the properties inside the PSD. From the Document menu, select Scheduling – Data Format Styles. In the Style Manger, right-click Property Data Formats and select New to create a new style. Name it Room Area. In the Formatting tab, type GA: for prefix and Sqm for suffix. Refer the figure below: Figure 8: Spaces Figure 7: Tag Tool Refer to the figure above. After the tag tool appears in the palette, right-click the tool and select properties. The Tool Properties dialog will open up. Concentrate on the highlighted areas. Note that you can use this tool in any drawing. However, take care that you do not move or delete the drawing containing the PSD and tag. You can keep this drawing containing the PSD and the tag in a central location. Also you can create all the other PSDs and tags inside this drawing, which can be dragged and dropped into the tool palette. Close the Tool Properties dialog box. Tip: From the tool palette, you can drag and drop the tags into the Catalog Library – Autodesk Content Browser. Jan/Feb 2008 There are a few things to be noted from what we have done so far. At the Select objects to tag: prompt, if you try to select any object other than a space, you will get the message, Selected entity must be of type: Space. This is because the PSD you are using applies only to space objects and automatically filters out other objects! Figure 10: Data Format Edit the PSD style you have created earlier. (Refer to the previous article.) For the GrossArea property, select Room Area under Format. Refer to the highlighted portion in the above image. Click OK to close the Style Manager. Perform a regen to update the existing tags. If the tags are not updated, use the command ‘aecobjrelupdate’ which is a super regenerate command for ACA. Keep exploring. And, wait a second, all of you: Ready… Get Set…Properties! Tharakesh Ananthakrishnan is the Technical/Project Manager in the Computer Aided Engineering Division of OMNIX International in Dubai. He is the first Autodesk Certified Professional in the Middle East. In addition, Tharakesh is an Autodesk Authorized Instructor and has taught AUGI ATP courses. Contact him at a.tharakesh@gmail.com. 13 Figure 9: Data Format Using the above example, try creating various tags for various objects such as walls, doors
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