Dimensions: Modification of Text Output

Good morning bloggers!
Here is just a helpful tip...some of you may know this already, but some of you may not. I come from the old school of learning that involved typing commands. I remembered there was a way to force a dimension to enter to the next line thereby creating 2 lines of text for a dimension. Since I began my ABS path I have not had to do 2 lines or more of dimension text. It turns out that "\X" still works, however I had the unique situation of needing 3 lines of text. To get this I learned that you type in "\P" at each point that you want a new line created. Here is the more specific run through of how to modify and create multiple lines of text in a dimension. Keep in mind if you are wanting to keep the dimension that is measured type this in: "<>". By the way, the capitalization of the "P" and the "X" is important.

Dimensions: Modification of Text Output:
If you want to modify the information that is in a dimension click once on the dimension to select it.
Go to the Properties palette.
Scroll down to the "Text" section.
Under "Text override" you can type in anything you want.
If you need 2 lines you can type in the information for the first line then type "\X" and then type in the next line.
If you need more than 2 lines, type in the info for the first line then type "\P" at the beginning of each new line.
You can use the "\P" for a double line as well if you would like instead of the "\X".
Then just hit "enter" once you have everything typed in there.
You may have to hit "esc" to unselect your dimension text.
You may need to move/align your dimension text.

Eccentric Duct Transitions & Round Taps (Not Shoe/Beveled)

As I have mentioned my company has a set of standard ways they want to see their ductwork represented. OOTB the ductwork drops in with concentric (centered) fittings, our company uses eccentric. Also OOTB shoe-taps/beveled taps show up automatically for round duct. Our company likes to use spin fittings. While I have not found an acceptable spin fitting in the catalog yet, for the time being I have chosen to change the fitting that is automatically dropped in to a round duct straight tap. This way my people can just draw a line to represent the other portion of the spin fitting symbol we typically use until I can create one. I have listed below the steps that I took to accomplish these settings.

For Round Duct:
Click on the "Add duct" button on the Duct palette.
Choose Round duct.
Under Justification set Horizontal to "Left", keep Vertical set to "Center".
Go to the black down arrow at the bottom of this pop-up and click it once and WAIT.
Under "Takeoff" make sure "Round duct take off US imperial" is checked.
Under "Transition" make sure "Eccentric round duct transition US imperial" is checked.
Then draw a couple of ducts to make sure this setting stuck.

For Rectangular Duct:
Click on the "Add duct" button on the Duct palette.
Choose a Rectangular duct.
Under Justification set Horizontal to "Left", keep Vertical set to "Center".
Go to the black down arrow at the bottom of this pop-up and click it once and WAIT.
Under "Takeoff" make sure "Rectangular duct take beveled tap US imperial" is checked.
Under "Transition" make sure "Rectangular duct eccentric transition US imperial" is checked.
Then draw a couple of ducts to make sure this setting stuck.

Object Inspect Tool & Autosnap Setting

The object inspect tool a great tool, if you can get it to work. I have been challenged recently to get this to work. Here is what has been going on. On some people’s computers it works, on others it does not. It could be working on someone’s computer for awhile and then just quit working. It is independent of the profile, the template, and whether or not you are using ABS 2007 or ADT 2007. Due to those tests that I ran I had a hunch it was a system variable or some toggle somewhere under the Options/Drafting tab, aka it was specific to the individual computer.

What I mean by not working: you could select the object inspect tool and hover over an item, but no text balloon would show up with the information, but the command was active.

Thanks to some help from the people on AUGI I have found out what the toggle/system variable is that affects it. AUTOSNAP. This was a variable that I had never heard of. OOTB it should be set to 63.

From the help section here are the settings for Autosnap: 0 = Off all, 1 = marker on, 2 = snap tip on, 4 = magnetic cursor on, 8 = polar tracking on, 16 = object snap tracking on, and 32 = tool tips for polar and object snap tracking on.

Now if you add all of these together (0+1+2+4+8+16+32) it equals 63. Interesting.

I went around to various computers and found these numbers for autosnap: 1, 5, 17, 39, 47, and 55. I know that my users do not know about this system variable, nor do they know how to directly change it’s setting. Interestingly enough anyone who had a number above and including 30 the object inspect tool worked on their computers.

If you turn on and off items such as osnap or otrack the autosnap value will change.
So how do you insure that you always have a high enough number for your autosnap setting in order to keep the object inspect tool working? I just don’t know yet. I’ll update this post with new information when I find out!

Also just to note…I verified that in the Options/Drafting tab the following were all checked/selected: Marker, Magnet, and Display Autosnap tool tip.

File extension Names

So if you are new to customizing a CAD system and you are just learning the ropes there are some basic file extension names that you will want to know what they are used for. I have put together a small list and their "definitions" that I have found handy.

File Extensions and What They Mean:
.dsd = batch plot sheet set listing, holds the sheet names to access
.dwf = image of a drawing, does not update when drawing updates
.dwg = drawing
.dwt = template, used to create your new drawings with the settings previously configured
.exe = executable file, can be used for a self-extracting zip file
.pdf = image file, non-editable by CAD, typically used with Adobe
.txt = text file
.zip = zip file

Turning Off Pipe Fitting Connectors

If your company is very specific on what can or can't be shown on your drawings some of the OOTB features for ABS are not desired. One of these particular items for my company is the connectors on pipe fittings for 1-line representation. Here is how to turn those off. Rest assured that the rise/drop/tee fittings still show up, this is just the connectors that come before/after the fitting.

Open up your template drawing.
This will take care of all future issues started off of the template, but you will have to open up any existing individual drawings and amend these settings as well.
Go to modelspace.
Go to Format/Display Manager/Representation by Object/Pipe fitting/
In my case the Display configuration I always use for piping is "Plan", so I will select "Plan".
Turn OFF the "connector", "connector-graphical", and "connector-hidden".
Also you may need to go under /Representation by Object/Pipe custom fitting/ as well.
Turn OFF the "connector", "connector-graphical", and "connector-hidden" here also.
Click "Apply" and then click "OK".

You may need to tweak this for your situation, but now you know where those pesky connectors are so you can turn them off if you need to.