Colour Coding Pipes

[JohnHolder]

This has been in the back of my mind for a while now.

Inside <Project Setup> <Plant 3D DWG Settings> <Layer and Color Settings>

I have the <Piping settings> to assign colour according to the service

RS ( recirc supply ) is blue

RR ( recirc return ) is green

etc.

I also use alot of custom blocks since the sch 40 library is lacking.

Native pipe fittings always change colour but the custom fittings always remain white.

is there a setting that I can change?  or what is going on.  It's not a huge issue, the drawing

sets are done in B&W but for 3d DWF's clients like the coloured pipes because it helps them 

understand the water flow much easier and it's a wee bit annoying having a bunch of white fittings 

inbetween nicely coloured pipes.

any suggestions?

and enjoy your weekend people!

[dgorsman]

Custom content color BYLAYER or BYBLOCK?  Or hard-coded color?

[dave.wolfe]

You have to set the objects color to byblock

[JohnHolder]

Ok, in the active drawing, changing the parts to <byblock> did nothing

I selected one fitting - changed it to <byblock> then went into the <Data Manager> and changed the service group to force a line colour change - nothing.  Then went into <Bedit> to check that fitting which was already <byblock>

also doing the same as above to bylayer of course did nothing.

I also noticed if I select the part, it is a service <RR> line, the colour is blue.  I change it to <byblock>

force the line colour change in the <Data Manager> it reverts back to the colour and not <byblock>

So where do I need to be changing it?  Do I have to go back to the original file where I created the blocks change it there then update each block in the spec editor? - asking first before attempting this since it is a large job.... 8(

John.

[dave.wolfe · Accepted solution]

You should set it to ByBlock before you created the part. After that, you can edit the block definition in the drawing that contains the part, or in any of the models it is used in (for existing components).

[PatrickByrne]

It also depends on what your Layer and Color Settings are.

I have mine set up to Assign layer by Spec and Assign color by Layer. This helps later on if I want to change the color of the model in the xref assembly.

I have also put a request in the 2014 wish list so that you could set up the layer color in the project properties.

[PatrickByrne]

To add to the above, my custom blocks are then set to Bylayer

[dave.wolfe]

If you want the block to assume the layer and color automatically from the settings, you should set it to by block before creating the custom part.

http://docs.autodesk.com/PLNT3D/2013/ENU/filesPCR/GUID-E40E4CF9-B900-4599-A987-641F1FFF33C2.htm

[JohnHolder]

Ok got it working.  When I was testing it, what happened was the True union ball valve was a block in a block - I did not notice it right away.  when I exploded the inner block then set it to <by block> it worked.  takes a few minutes per drawing... but looks like I will have to have a look at my spec again and correct this so it doesn't happen again.

Thanks