Elevation pipe Label

[poczatekb]

Hi All

How can I create a label to so Center line Elevation of pipe?

Thnaks in advance.

[info]

Where is the problem:

The "Z-Position" value is the elevation of the center line.

Take it from the property set and put it into a label.

It works pretty godd for normal pipes, if you're using slooped pipe, yozu have to think different.

[Keith.Brown]

Here are a couple easy steps on how to create a quick pipe centerline tag.

1.  Go to the dwg where you want to store the tag.

2.  Create a quick text item with non annotative text with height set to 1".  Your annotative scale should be set to 1:1 also though it shouldnt matter.  The text can be one word and say anything.

3.  Go to your home tab on the ribbon, click on the annotation drop down panel and choose create tag.

4.  Give the tag a descriptive name like Center of Pipe tag.

5.  Change the Type to Property.

6.  For Property Set choose PipeObject.

7  For Property Definition choose  CenterofPipe  NOT the Z elevation.  The reason why is the CenterofPipe property set already has the text in it to say COP: x'-x".   If you want your tag to look different then you will have to create a new property definition.  (This would be a different forum post. 🙂 )

8.  Hit Ok.

9.  Choose an insertion point.  I would recommend Center Left of the text.

10.  Then drag the resulting tag to your tool palette.

The tag is now ready to tag your pipes with your centerline elevations.

Here is a tip.  If you tag your pipes in your xrefs and not your actual model, then make sure that you add the pipeobject property set to your pipes in the model before tagging.  Otherwise, the xref will have to open the model for every tag and add the property set individually to the object.  This will save alot of frustration.  To do this, select all of your pipes in your model, Go to properties and on the extended tab at the very bottom there will be a button called Add Property Sets.  Click this and then add the PipeObject Property Set.  Save your model and then regen your xref and you should be good to go.

I hope this helps.  I did this from memory so although the individual steps as a whole is accurate, one or two might be a little off.  The entire process is very easy so it should go well.

Do a search on you tube for AutodeskMEPTechs.  They did a four part video series on property sets, schedules, tags, etc that will make you an expert after viewing.

video one can be found here:   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QfgesH1dJr0&feature=related

[info]

wow @advmech_kbrown,

great description!!!

for me, it wouldn't be possible, to explain these steps with such a few words, great job....

to explain the difference in my post: seems to me, that the DACH Version of MEP (Germany, Austria and Switzerland) has some differences to the US version: In our version the "z-position" value is listed as a number, not as a text, so we can use it directly... look at the pic

But at the end: I have one off topic question: Where can I change my name from "info" to "joeycool"?

[Keith.Brown]

well, i didnt mean to imply that the z-value was text only.  I only meant that it was unformatted.  Meaning it is just a raw number.  The CenterofPipe property defination is already formatted to display  "COP: X'-0".  The z-value would just display a raw unformatted decimal number unless you changed it which i wouldnt recommend doing because other property sets use this defination in their own definition.

I am not sure if you can change your forum name.  You might have to create a new account.  But if you could, it would be under the Edit Account Information link at the top of the screen.

[poczatekb]

Hi,

Thanks for the help!

Ok I got this to work, well allmost, I can not get it to put in feet and inches, ie: 10'-8" shows up as 128.00000

What am I doing wrong?

thanks in advance!

[Keith.Brown]

open up your model drawing and go to your style manager.  You can find the button on the manage tab.  Once in your style manager expand documentation objects and then Property Set Definitions.  Scroll down to pipe objects and select it.  Look in the right pane at TopofPipeCalc and scroll to the right until you see the column Format.  Here you can select a predifined format.  In the US version by default it is set to Unit-distance-Feet-Inches - No Comma.  You can set the format to any ones shown and if you prefer, or you can go back to the left pane and expand Property Data Formats, copy an existing style and then customize it to what you want.  There should be one there that you can use though. 

I would make sure that your label is reading the TopofPipe propertyset and not TopOfPipeCalc propertyset.   The TypeofPipeCalc is the just the number where the TopOfPipe property set is formatted to display some extra text.  If you wanted to change what it said, this is where you would change it.

[Anonymous]

Okay.  I've followed this tag generation procedure.  I ca get center of pipe tags to work.  However, creating tags for bottom of pipe leaves the elevation in decimal with 8 digits of precision.  Since my intention is for hanger steel done by hand, I'd rather get architectural measurements with 1/8" of precision.

What must I do to the Property Definition to get fractional/architectural tags?

[Keith.Brown]

You need to change the format of the property definition.

[Anonymous]

Gotcha covered.  The tag's text formatting needs to be tweaked.  At first my tags read as the FORMULA used to calculate the tag point's elevation, not the RESULT of the formula.  So I dug in.  Here's what I got:

1. Open up the model drawing and go to the Manage tab on the ribbon, then click Style Manager.
2. In the left pane, expand Documentation Objects, and then Property Set Definitions.  Scroll down and select Pipe Objects.
3. In the right pane, use the BottomOfPipeCalc row, and scroll to the right until you see the Format column.
4. Select predefined format:  "Unit-distance-Feet-Inches - No Comma"

The default format does not show any precision tighter than solid feet and solid inches.  This precision setting can be changed to suit:

1. In the Style Manager left pane, click on Documentation Objects, then click on Property Data Formats.
2. In the right pane, click on the Formatting tab.
3. On the right side in the Real Numbers box, go to the Precision pulldown, and select the desired precision value, for example 0'-0 1/8" for architectural measurements accurate to 1/8 of an inch.

Images attached for clarification.