Balloon insert question

[Anonymous]

We are currently using 2011 Acade and will upgrade soon to 2013.

Have there been any insert panel balloon improvements?

Attached picture shows our typical subpanel layout...we are required to indentify ever panel part with a balloon.

It takes a lot of clicking to insert these...is there any drawing wide auto insert for this?

Thanks for a response.

[dougmcalexander · Accepted solution]

There is no auto balloon insertion. I think Autodesk would have a difficult time guessing where to place them. The item numbering automation had been improved and it back annotates the related schematic component symbols.

[Anonymous]

Thanks Doug,

We were hoping for an improvement.

One thought is to make the P_ITEM attribute visible and skip the insert balloon process.

I will have to play around with that.

Dave

[dougmcalexander]

Perhaps consider drawing the balloon into the footprint block and placing the P_ITEM attribute inside of it.  No leader of course.  Hard to predict where to position it, since the part could be placed in different places within the panel.  That's why some places I visit just make the P_ITEM attribute visible within the footprint block.

[mathalekar · Accepted solution]

Automatic balloon placement is something difficult to exercise due to drawing component placement. Secondly the representation methods / Locations of the balloon is something a user dependent or more or less per company specific.

[Anonymous]

I agree it would not work with every block...but any reduction of the balloon insert will save us time.

I tried to attach an image...doesn't seem to work.

[dougmcalexander]

Exactly! Everyone has their own style of ballooning.  If Autodesk tried to guess a method of balloon placement it would probably not please everyone, and would most likely open a huge can of worms.  Just improve the automatic item numbering so it assigns alphabetically by manufacturer as it was supposed to.  It currently assigns alphabetically by manufacturer but from panel drawing to panel drawing, thus the same manufacturer can be split up on the BOM, when sorted by item number, according to how many panel drawings they appear in.

[Anonymous]

I understand the issue...everybody has their own methods...but understand our issue with this.

I think the approch we will take is to display the P_ITEM with a circle around it...placed on a layer that can be turned off if there is location issue then use the insert balloon.

[Anonymous]

I like the idea of doing this, but how do you handle multiple catalog items? For example, prox switch and mounting bracket. I added P_ITEM01 and the item number will not populate. We use the Per-Part Number Basis configuration in our projects. Any ideas?

thanks

jason

[dougmcalexander]

Jason, you would have to add all P_ITEM attributes you would anticipate needing.

I prefer ballooning with the balloon tool so my balloon locations are established. With the project set to assign item numbers on a per-part-basis the software will add as many balloons as needed or take away balloons if you edit and remove one or more of the multiple catalog entries.

I'm probably going to use the same panel layout again anyway as a seed for another project. So when I run the item resequence utility against the new project it will add or remove balloons to adjust to my new variation of the panel.

[dougmcalexander]

I am glad to report that AutoCAD Electrical now truly assigns item numbers project-wide by manufacturer and catalog number. I use it all the time. It can assign item numbers to the whole project before I can even get to the coffee pot for a refill. I usually let automated functions do their thing while I grab coffee.

[Anonymous]

Doug,

in this situation adding a circle and using the P_ITEM tag would be quicker for me, I think. I have 30 pages of roughly 56 similar items per page to add balloons to. I thought this would be easier but i am having no luck. I tried adding the P_ITEM01 and P_ITEM02 to my block. It doesn't add the item number to the tags. I even tried to add MFG01, MFG02, CAT01 and CAT02 to the block also. By the way I am using Autocad Electrical 13. 

any thoughts on this

Jason

[dougmcalexander]

I'm not sure what you mean by adding item numbers to tags. As long as your project properties are set to per-part-basis the software should he able to assign data to the MFG01, CAT01, P_ITEM01 combination. If you use the Multiple Catalog approach to build assemblies so each subassembbly part gets its own item number, the software will store this information as xdata unless attributes are present. If you want the data to be visible there must be an attribute for the data, otherwise it us stored in the block as xdata.

[Anonymous]

Doug,

sorry to confuse on my wording, i do have the project set as per part basis. if i use the balloon tool sometimes multiple balloons are not in a straight line. This is one of the reason i thought that adding the attributes for P_ITEM01 and P_ITEM02 and making them visable would work for me. The Item for P_ITEM will display but the number for 02 and 03 will not populate the fields. I have attached some screen shots to show my block and what does not happen.

thanks for your help on this matter.

Jason

[dougmcalexander]

The balloons will be at the same angle as the leader. Keep the leader straight and the balloons will be straight. Ortho is your friend.

[Anonymous]

Doug,

okay, that will work. I was just picking a point and starting the balloons since i didn't want a leader. I found this thread when my balloons would not insert on straight line and thought this would be helpful for what we do here. here is a sample of 1 of my 30 pages that will contain the same blocks but maybe in different locations.

Thanks

Jason

[Anonymous]

Any Idea as to why, when inserting a balloon, it inserts per picture? We are using AutoCAD 2017 Electrical.  This just started to happen on one of the engineers at work. I have never experienced this issue on my machine. The engineer who is experiencing this issue, has said that restarting ACAD Electrical resolves this issue, only for a few balloon inserts then it reverts back to the picture. 

Any help greatly appreciated. 

[rhesusminus]

Turn off OSNAP when inserting the balloons. It might make a difference.

[Anonymous]

rhesusminus - Thanks. Turning off OSNAP seemed to fix the problem. After looking into the Object Snap Settings, there were multiple snap points not selected (wish I would have taken a screen shot). I had the engineer select all the Snap Settings and then turn OSNAP on. The balloon still inserted correctly.  

[email2dineshpawar]

@dougmcalexander, @rhesusminus, @Anonymous.

Hello all,

I am done some of AutoLISP project in plane AUTOCAD, I am always read your post here they are very helpful,  I am new to AutoCAD Electrical I am facing, some of the issue with to automate entire AUTOCAD Project. can you suggest any good source to learn AutoCAD Electrical automation?

right now I am facing problem "HOW to resequence AutoCAD electrical project with AutoLISP?". and "How can put BOM in AutoCAD electrical with AutoLISP?"

I really appreciate your help,

Thank you.