MvPart Display

[Anonymous]

I posted this to the ABS newsgroup back in December and it was never
resolved so I will submit it as a wish.

I created a block of an Air Handler with each section as a separate
solid. I ran _aecbMvPartConvert (Convert to MvPart) to convert it to an
MvPart. The problem is the lines separating the sections don't show in
plan view but show correctly in all other views. I cannot edit the top
view block? I think at this point they are anonymous blocks and are
uneditable.

The Convert to MvPart tool needs a place to specify or edit the view blocks.

Sample image is attached.

[Anonymous]

Sample image.

[Anonymous]

Andrew,
You can get around this solids behavior by "Etching" the solid. Don't
slice the overall solid into multiple, but maintain the body as 1 piece
and use the Etch feature. In the past, I did this myself to designate
the duct connections as supply & return X & Y.
J (Autodesk)

AndrewT wrote:
> Sample image.
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the tip. What exactly are you using to etch the solid?

I've been using the workaround of making every other section slightly
taller than the others. For instance, sections 1, 3, 5 would be 45"
while sections 2, 4, 6 would be 45.001.


J [Autodesk] wrote:
> Andrew,
> You can get around this solids behavior by "Etching" the solid. Don't
> slice the overall solid into multiple, but maintain the body as 1 piece
> and use the Etch feature. In the past, I did this myself to designate
> the duct connections as supply & return X & Y.
> J (Autodesk)
>
> AndrewT wrote:
>> Sample image.
>>
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>

[Anonymous]

No need to raise any edges off the solid face by .001 or fake it out.
There is a solids edit toolbar with a bunch of goodies that has been
there for a long time in plain Acad (Probably little known in our
industry, maybe well known by manufacturers who design solids all the
time). On this toolbar, is a command to "Imprint" the solid surface. You
draw a primitive like a line, arc, circle, etc on the surface of your
solid...it must be exactly on the plane of the surface...then hit the
Imprint button and it will "scratch" Imprint the surface of the solid.
J (Autodesk)

AndrewT wrote:
> Thanks for the tip. What exactly are you using to etch the solid?
>
> I've been using the workaround of making every other section slightly
> taller than the others. For instance, sections 1, 3, 5 would be 45"
> while sections 2, 4, 6 would be 45.001.
>
>
> J [Autodesk] wrote:
>
>> Andrew,
>> You can get around this solids behavior by "Etching" the solid. Don't
>> slice the overall solid into multiple, but maintain the body as 1 piece
>> and use the Etch feature. In the past, I did this myself to designate
>> the duct connections as supply & return X & Y.
>> J (Autodesk)
>>
>> AndrewT wrote:
>>
>>> Sample image.
>>>
>>>
>>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>
>>>

[Anonymous]

Thanks J, that works great. I can even draw access doors, etc. on the side!

Andrew

J [Autodesk] wrote:
> No need to raise any edges off the solid face by .001 or fake it out.
> There is a solids edit toolbar with a bunch of goodies that has been
> there for a long time in plain Acad (Probably little known in our
> industry, maybe well known by manufacturers who design solids all the
> time). On this toolbar, is a command to "Imprint" the solid surface. You
> draw a primitive like a line, arc, circle, etc on the surface of your
> solid...it must be exactly on the plane of the surface...then hit the
> Imprint button and it will "scratch" Imprint the surface of the solid.
> J (Autodesk)
>
> AndrewT wrote:
>> Thanks for the tip. What exactly are you using to etch the solid?
>>
>> I've been using the workaround of making every other section slightly
>> taller than the others. For instance, sections 1, 3, 5 would be 45"
>> while sections 2, 4, 6 would be 45.001.
>>
>>
>> J [Autodesk] wrote:
>>
>>> Andrew,
>>> You can get around this solids behavior by "Etching" the solid. Don't
>>> slice the overall solid into multiple, but maintain the body as 1 piece
>>> and use the Etch feature. In the past, I did this myself to designate
>>> the duct connections as supply & return X & Y.
>>> J (Autodesk)
>>>
>>> AndrewT wrote:
>>>
>>>> Sample image.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>>
>>>>

[Anonymous]

J,

I just got around to really testing this and isn't working as expected.
I am attaching a basic example. Could you take a look at it? I made a
solid box 24" cubed and etched a circle in the top. After the MvPart is
made, the circle shows in iso view but not in top view. I made sure the
circle is exactly on the top view plane. Any idea what I am doing wrong?

Andrew

AndrewT wrote:
> Thanks J, that works great. I can even draw access doors, etc. on the side!
>
> Andrew
>
> J [Autodesk] wrote:
>> No need to raise any edges off the solid face by .001 or fake it out.
>> There is a solids edit toolbar with a bunch of goodies that has been
>> there for a long time in plain Acad (Probably little known in our
>> industry, maybe well known by manufacturers who design solids all the
>> time). On this toolbar, is a command to "Imprint" the solid surface. You
>> draw a primitive like a line, arc, circle, etc on the surface of your
>> solid...it must be exactly on the plane of the surface...then hit the
>> Imprint button and it will "scratch" Imprint the surface of the solid.
>> J (Autodesk)
>>
>> AndrewT wrote:
>>> Thanks for the tip. What exactly are you using to etch the solid?
>>>
>>> I've been using the workaround of making every other section slightly
>>> taller than the others. For instance, sections 1, 3, 5 would be 45"
>>> while sections 2, 4, 6 would be 45.001.
>>>
>>>
>>> J [Autodesk] wrote:
>>>
>>>> Andrew,
>>>> You can get around this solids behavior by "Etching" the solid. Don't
>>>> slice the overall solid into multiple, but maintain the body as 1 piece
>>>> and use the Etch feature. In the past, I did this myself to designate
>>>> the duct connections as supply & return X & Y.
>>>> J (Autodesk)
>>>>
>>>> AndrewT wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Sample image.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>>>
>>>>>

[Anonymous]

I just created a test block to make sure I knew the steps and got it to
work. Not sure how you are making your MvPart. Here's what I did:

1. Create your solid & Imprint your surfaces.

2. Make that solid into a plain old block using the Block command. The
block will be used later.

3. In 2007, the content builder is under the CAD Manager menu, you can
get it out of "pulldown" in the Windowns menu.

4. I maneuvered to the catalog where I want the MvPart and clicked the
create a "New block based MvPart" button (I'm not too familiar with the
parametric stuff yet).

5. Assign a category, layer key, subtype etc. Click Next.

6. On this next screen, everything starts out grayed. There is a
dropdown for the symbol block, find your block in here.

7. Everything is still grayed. Click the little button where the
tooltip says "Add Part Size."

8. The Model Block dropdown pops open, scroll down and find your block.

9. Now hit the generate button and Ok out of the dialog that pops up,
click next.

10. I switched my "Assign a preview image" from Select a previously
drawn to generate from block...and generated my preview image. Click
next.

11. Create any connectors you want, next...I rarely touch the edit
properties, click Finish. And we should be finished.

Add MvPart, find the part and give it a whirl.

The Imprints show up on mine.

Let us know if this helps.

J (Autodesk)



AndrewT wrote:

J,



I just got around to really testing this and isn't working as expected. 

I am attaching a basic example.  Could you take a look at it?  I made a 

solid box 24" cubed and etched a circle in the top.  After the MvPart is 

made, the circle shows in iso view but not in top view.  I made sure the 

circle is exactly on the top view plane.  Any idea what I am doing wrong?



Andrew



AndrewT wrote:

  

Thanks J, that works great.  I can even draw access doors, etc. on the side!



Andr

    

ew

  

J [Autodesk] wrote:

    

No need to raise any edges off the solid face by .001 or fake it out.

There is a solids edit toolbar with a bunch of goodies that has been 

there for a long time in plain Acad (Probably little known in our 

industry, maybe well known by manufacturers who design solids all the 

time). On this toolbar, is a command to "Imprint" the solid surface. You 

draw a primitive like a line, arc, circle, etc on the surface of your 

solid...it mus

      

t be exactly on the plane of the surface...then hit the 

  

Imprint button and it will "scratch" Imprint the surface of the solid.

J (Autodesk)



AndrewT wrote:

      

Thanks for the tip.  What exactly are you using to etch the solid?



I've been using the workaround of making every other section slightly 

taller than the others.  For instance, sections 1, 3, 5 would be 45" 

while sections 2, 4, 6 would be 45.001.





J [Autodesk] wrote:

  

        

Andre

          

w,

  

You can get around this solids behavior by "Etching" the solid. Don't 

slice the overall solid into multiple, but maintain the body as 1 piece 

and use the Etch feature. In the past, I did this myself to designate 

the duct connections as supply & return X & Y.

J (Autodesk)



AndrewT wrote:

    

          

Sample image.

  



------------------------------------------------------------------------





            

[Anonymous]

So this works for creating an MvPart from the Content Builder. My
original post refers to the problem I encounter is with
_aecbMvPartConvert (Convert to MvPart). Follow your steps to either
imprint the block or make each AHU section as a separate solid. When
the Convert to MvPart is complete, notice the 3D view of the AHU is
correct but the plan view is not. The program isn't generating the top
view correctly, and there is no way to redefine it. For some reason,
making every other section .001 taller, gets the correct display.


J [Autodesk] wrote:
> I just created a test block to make sure I knew the steps and got it to
> work. Not sure how you are making your MvPart. Here's what I did:
> 1. Create your solid & Imprint your surfaces.
> 2. Make that solid into a plain old block using the Block command. The
> block will be used later.
> 3. In 2007, the content builder is under the CAD Manager menu, you can
> get it out of "pulldown" in the Windowns menu.
> 4. I maneuvered to the catalog where I want the MvPart and clicked the
> create a "New block based MvPart" button (I'm not too familiar with the
> parametric stuff yet).
> 5. Assign a category, layer key, subtype etc. Click Next.
> 6. On this next screen, everything starts out grayed. There is a
> dropdown for the symbol block, find your block in here.
> 7. Everything is still grayed. Click the little button where the tooltip
> says "Add Part Size."
> 8. The Model Block dropdown pops open, scroll down and find your block.
> 9. Now hit the generate button and Ok out of the dialog that pops up,
> click next.
> 10. I switched my "Assign a preview image" from Select a previously
> drawn to generate from block...and generated my preview image. Click next.
> 11. Create any connectors you want, next...I rarely touch the edit
> properties, click Finish. And we should be finished.
> Add MvPart, find the part and give it a whirl.
> The Imprints show up on mine.
> Let us know if this helps.
> J (Autodesk)
>
> AndrewT wrote:
>> J,
>>
>> I just got around to really testing this and isn't working as expected.
>> I am attaching a basic example. Could you take a look at it? I made a
>> solid box 24" cubed and etched a circle in the top. After the MvPart is
>> made, the circle shows in iso view but not in top view. I made sure the
>> circle is exactly on the top view plane. Any idea what I am doing wrong?
>>
>> Andrew
>>
>> AndrewT wrote:
>>
>>> Thanks J, that works great. I can even draw access doors, etc. on the side!
>>>
>>> Andr
>>>
>> ew
>>
>>> J [Autodesk] wrote:
>>>
>>>> No need to raise any edges off the solid face by .001 or fake it out.
>>>> There is a solids edit toolbar with a bunch of goodies that has been
>>>> there for a long time in plain Acad (Probably little known in our
>>>> industry, maybe well known by manufacturers who design solids all the
>>>> time). On this toolbar, is a command to "Imprint" the solid surface. You
>>>> draw a primitive like a line, arc, circle, etc on the surface of your
>>>> solid...it mus
>>>>
>> t be exactly on the plane of the surface...then hit the
>>
>>>> Imprint button and it will "scratch" Imprint the surface of the solid.
>>>> J (Autodesk)
>>>>
>>>> AndrewT wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Thanks for the tip. What exactly are you using to etch the solid?
>>>>>
>>>>> I've been using the workaround of making every other section slightly
>>>>> taller than the others. For instance, sections 1, 3, 5 would be 45"
>>>>> while sections 2, 4, 6 would be 45.001.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> J [Autodesk] wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>> Andre
>>>>>>
>> w,
>>
>>>>>> You can get around this solids behavior by "Etching" the solid. Don't
>>>>>> slice the overall solid into multiple, but maintain the body as 1 piece
>>>>>> and use the Etch feature. In the past, I did this myself to designate
>>>>>> the duct connections as supply & return X & Y.
>>>>>> J (Autodesk)
>>>>>>
>>>>>> AndrewT wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Sample image.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>