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Work with tags and schedules.
Type:
Tutorial
Length:
8 min.
Transcript
00:03
What we're going to do now is create a
00:06
tag that's going to report on the foundation's length,
00:09
width and thickness.
00:11
So you may remember one of the big benefits of using shared parameters is the
00:15
fact that we can tag schedule and export these out to open database connectivity.
00:20
So let's now go ahead and create our custom tag.
00:24
Of course, this is a new family. So we'll begin by selecting the file ribbon
00:29
will pause over you
00:31
and select family
00:34
in the new family's dialogue.
00:36
Let's open up the annotations folder.
00:40
So in the annotations folder,
00:41
we have all of the two dimensional family templates to help
00:44
us create things like symbols and tags and so on.
00:48
And in this case here, we're going to use generic tag dot RFT,
00:53
just go ahead and click open.
00:58
So now that we're in the family editor for the tag,
01:01
you'll see that we have two reference planes.
01:03
These two reference planes now are fixed in place. You can see that they are um pinned
01:08
notice here, of course, that they define the origin.
01:12
So this is essentially the insertion point of our tag.
01:15
And we also have some red text here,
01:18
this red text is just a note to us to say, well,
01:20
because we're using a generic category,
01:23
we will need to set the correct family category.
01:26
This is quite important
01:28
if I'm going to use this for structural foundations, then of course,
01:31
the category of the tag must match what I'm trying to tag in the project.
01:36
So based on that, I can then delete that text.
01:39
And the very first thing we'll do is set that family category
01:43
to do that. We can select the create ribbon
01:45
and on the create ribbon, we'll click family category and parameters.
01:50
Notice as we've said, we've got generic model tags active at present.
01:56
So we need to go down and make sure that we are selecting structural foundation tags.
02:02
We've got an option down here. You'll notice we've got rotate with component.
02:07
I'm not gonna have that switched on.
02:08
But if you think about structural framing, if you draw a beam at an angle,
02:12
you may want the tag to be parallel to that beam.
02:15
In which case you'd want this option checked.
02:18
So in this case, we can click. OK.
02:21
And now by setting that category,
02:23
all of the parameters for structural foundations will now be available to us.
02:28
The next step is to create a label.
02:31
So on the create ribbon, I'll go ahead and select label
02:36
in the properties pallet. You can see that we already have a type set up.
02:40
If I review these settings, I can click edit type.
02:43
And in here you'll notice that we've got our text font, our text size,
02:47
the color and so on.
02:49
If I wanted to create additional types, of course,
02:52
I can click duplicate and then create some new types if I wanted.
02:55
But I'm quite happy with this. So I'll click. OK.
02:59
And now I'm going to place this label down
03:02
at the approximate intersection of these two reference planes.
03:07
Notice now in the edit label dialogue,
03:10
I can actually see all of the parameters relating to structural foundations.
03:15
However, my shared parameters are not available in this list.
03:19
What I'll need to do here is add those parameters in.
03:22
So let's go ahead and select add parameter
03:26
because shared parameters are the only parameters that can support tagging.
03:30
That's the only option we've got available. So I'll click, select
03:36
we'll begin by bringing in F length,
03:39
I'll click. OK. And OK again. And you can now see this parameter is available.
03:44
Let's go ahead and do the same for the two remaining parameters.
03:49
So that's going to be F width
03:53
and also
03:54
F thickness.
03:58
So those three shared parameters are now available
04:01
to add them across to the right hand side.
04:03
I can simply double left click or I can use this tool here. Add parameter to label.
04:09
So we'll do the same thing here for the remaining two types that I want width
04:13
and thickness.
04:14
So I've held the control key down there and then I can just add those together
04:19
if they're in the wrong order, which they are at the minute,
04:21
we can just select one of these here and we can
04:23
use these tools here to move the parameter up or down.
04:27
So of course, I want the length, the width and the thickness,
04:33
we'll then notice that we have a sample value.
04:36
So the sample value is representative of what we'll see in the project environment.
04:40
So I'm gonna put in some numeric values here. So we might have 60
04:46
perhaps 48.
04:48
Now, if we think about how we want this tag to be presented in the project,
04:52
we're going to want the length by the width by the thickness.
04:56
I want all of this on one line and I want each value separated by an X.
05:02
So I'm going to go into the suffix area here,
05:04
press space
05:06
type in lower case X and in space again, I'll do the same here. Space X space.
05:14
If I wanted these on separate lines, I could use break
05:18
and you'll see here, we have a column that allows us to define spaces,
05:21
they're set to one by default.
05:23
So I'm just going to remove those and set that to zero in here
05:28
and there are parameters defined.
05:30
Now,
05:30
another thing we can do is we know that the
05:32
project units are set to feat in fractional inches.
05:36
I might want the size of these foundations purely to be reported.
05:40
In fractional inches.
05:41
So what I can do here is select one of these values
05:45
and then I can use edit parameters, unit format button down here.
05:49
And if I select this,
05:51
I can uncheck use project settings
05:53
and I can override that and say, well,
05:55
actually here we're going to use fractional inches.
05:59
We'll do the same thing for F width.
06:02
So again, uncheck fractional inches
06:05
and the same thing for the thickness
06:09
and that will again be fractional inches.
06:14
Let's go ahead and click. Ok. Now,
06:16
and we can then zoom in and just check that this looks good, which it does
06:21
will come up and click this save tool.
06:24
This one's going to be called pad foundation
06:28
tank.
06:30
I'll click save
06:32
and now we're ready to use this in the project.
06:35
So notice on the context ribbon, we have load into project and close.
06:39
So we'll select that
06:42
and now you'll notice that we're in the
06:44
tag tool already because we've loaded that in.
06:46
That's now the active family on my cursor.
06:49
So of course, you'll now see as I move over these foundations,
06:53
we can now preview the tag.
06:55
You'll see at the minute that the tag is being positioned with a leader.
06:58
Um I don't want the leader.
06:60
So again, on the options bar here, I can just turn off the leader option
07:04
and then we can just go ahead and place down our tags.
07:12
Ok? So what would happen if you wanted to change the size of this foundation.
07:16
Well, if you go ahead and select one of these foundations
07:20
on the properties pad, you can then click edit to type
07:25
in the type properties dialogue.
07:27
You'll see that we have our various different dimensions relating to the length,
07:31
the thickness and the width.
07:32
So in this example, here we might set our
07:36
length to 5 ft.
07:38
Perhaps the thickness is going to be 18 inches.
07:43
Perhaps the width would also be 5 ft.
07:46
If I go ahead and click apply,
07:48
you can then see that all the foundations have changed.
07:50
And of course, more importantly, all of the tags have updated.
Video transcript
00:03
What we're going to do now is create a
00:06
tag that's going to report on the foundation's length,
00:09
width and thickness.
00:11
So you may remember one of the big benefits of using shared parameters is the
00:15
fact that we can tag schedule and export these out to open database connectivity.
00:20
So let's now go ahead and create our custom tag.
00:24
Of course, this is a new family. So we'll begin by selecting the file ribbon
00:29
will pause over you
00:31
and select family
00:34
in the new family's dialogue.
00:36
Let's open up the annotations folder.
00:40
So in the annotations folder,
00:41
we have all of the two dimensional family templates to help
00:44
us create things like symbols and tags and so on.
00:48
And in this case here, we're going to use generic tag dot RFT,
00:53
just go ahead and click open.
00:58
So now that we're in the family editor for the tag,
01:01
you'll see that we have two reference planes.
01:03
These two reference planes now are fixed in place. You can see that they are um pinned
01:08
notice here, of course, that they define the origin.
01:12
So this is essentially the insertion point of our tag.
01:15
And we also have some red text here,
01:18
this red text is just a note to us to say, well,
01:20
because we're using a generic category,
01:23
we will need to set the correct family category.
01:26
This is quite important
01:28
if I'm going to use this for structural foundations, then of course,
01:31
the category of the tag must match what I'm trying to tag in the project.
01:36
So based on that, I can then delete that text.
01:39
And the very first thing we'll do is set that family category
01:43
to do that. We can select the create ribbon
01:45
and on the create ribbon, we'll click family category and parameters.
01:50
Notice as we've said, we've got generic model tags active at present.
01:56
So we need to go down and make sure that we are selecting structural foundation tags.
02:02
We've got an option down here. You'll notice we've got rotate with component.
02:07
I'm not gonna have that switched on.
02:08
But if you think about structural framing, if you draw a beam at an angle,
02:12
you may want the tag to be parallel to that beam.
02:15
In which case you'd want this option checked.
02:18
So in this case, we can click. OK.
02:21
And now by setting that category,
02:23
all of the parameters for structural foundations will now be available to us.
02:28
The next step is to create a label.
02:31
So on the create ribbon, I'll go ahead and select label
02:36
in the properties pallet. You can see that we already have a type set up.
02:40
If I review these settings, I can click edit type.
02:43
And in here you'll notice that we've got our text font, our text size,
02:47
the color and so on.
02:49
If I wanted to create additional types, of course,
02:52
I can click duplicate and then create some new types if I wanted.
02:55
But I'm quite happy with this. So I'll click. OK.
02:59
And now I'm going to place this label down
03:02
at the approximate intersection of these two reference planes.
03:07
Notice now in the edit label dialogue,
03:10
I can actually see all of the parameters relating to structural foundations.
03:15
However, my shared parameters are not available in this list.
03:19
What I'll need to do here is add those parameters in.
03:22
So let's go ahead and select add parameter
03:26
because shared parameters are the only parameters that can support tagging.
03:30
That's the only option we've got available. So I'll click, select
03:36
we'll begin by bringing in F length,
03:39
I'll click. OK. And OK again. And you can now see this parameter is available.
03:44
Let's go ahead and do the same for the two remaining parameters.
03:49
So that's going to be F width
03:53
and also
03:54
F thickness.
03:58
So those three shared parameters are now available
04:01
to add them across to the right hand side.
04:03
I can simply double left click or I can use this tool here. Add parameter to label.
04:09
So we'll do the same thing here for the remaining two types that I want width
04:13
and thickness.
04:14
So I've held the control key down there and then I can just add those together
04:19
if they're in the wrong order, which they are at the minute,
04:21
we can just select one of these here and we can
04:23
use these tools here to move the parameter up or down.
04:27
So of course, I want the length, the width and the thickness,
04:33
we'll then notice that we have a sample value.
04:36
So the sample value is representative of what we'll see in the project environment.
04:40
So I'm gonna put in some numeric values here. So we might have 60
04:46
perhaps 48.
04:48
Now, if we think about how we want this tag to be presented in the project,
04:52
we're going to want the length by the width by the thickness.
04:56
I want all of this on one line and I want each value separated by an X.
05:02
So I'm going to go into the suffix area here,
05:04
press space
05:06
type in lower case X and in space again, I'll do the same here. Space X space.
05:14
If I wanted these on separate lines, I could use break
05:18
and you'll see here, we have a column that allows us to define spaces,
05:21
they're set to one by default.
05:23
So I'm just going to remove those and set that to zero in here
05:28
and there are parameters defined.
05:30
Now,
05:30
another thing we can do is we know that the
05:32
project units are set to feat in fractional inches.
05:36
I might want the size of these foundations purely to be reported.
05:40
In fractional inches.
05:41
So what I can do here is select one of these values
05:45
and then I can use edit parameters, unit format button down here.
05:49
And if I select this,
05:51
I can uncheck use project settings
05:53
and I can override that and say, well,
05:55
actually here we're going to use fractional inches.
05:59
We'll do the same thing for F width.
06:02
So again, uncheck fractional inches
06:05
and the same thing for the thickness
06:09
and that will again be fractional inches.
06:14
Let's go ahead and click. Ok. Now,
06:16
and we can then zoom in and just check that this looks good, which it does
06:21
will come up and click this save tool.
06:24
This one's going to be called pad foundation
06:28
tank.
06:30
I'll click save
06:32
and now we're ready to use this in the project.
06:35
So notice on the context ribbon, we have load into project and close.
06:39
So we'll select that
06:42
and now you'll notice that we're in the
06:44
tag tool already because we've loaded that in.
06:46
That's now the active family on my cursor.
06:49
So of course, you'll now see as I move over these foundations,
06:53
we can now preview the tag.
06:55
You'll see at the minute that the tag is being positioned with a leader.
06:58
Um I don't want the leader.
06:60
So again, on the options bar here, I can just turn off the leader option
07:04
and then we can just go ahead and place down our tags.
07:12
Ok? So what would happen if you wanted to change the size of this foundation.
07:16
Well, if you go ahead and select one of these foundations
07:20
on the properties pad, you can then click edit to type
07:25
in the type properties dialogue.
07:27
You'll see that we have our various different dimensions relating to the length,
07:31
the thickness and the width.
07:32
So in this example, here we might set our
07:36
length to 5 ft.
07:38
Perhaps the thickness is going to be 18 inches.
07:43
Perhaps the width would also be 5 ft.
07:46
If I go ahead and click apply,
07:48
you can then see that all the foundations have changed.
07:50
And of course, more importantly, all of the tags have updated.
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