Dimensioning improvements

Tekla Structures
2019
Tekla Structures

Dimensioning improvements

There are some important improvements in drawing dimensions. For example, you can now drag dimension points from handles, and display and change the dimension point associativity.

Dragging dimension points

  • Straight (linear) dimensions in drawings can now be modified by dragging the dimension points from dimensio point handles.

  • Dragging in single dimension lines: If you try to drag a dimension point to a new position that is located behind an existing dimension point, the selected dimension point will be deleted from the old position and recreated in the new, preferred position. If you try to drag the point to the same coordinate position where the existing point is already located, the dragged dimension point is dropped back automatically to the initial position.

  • Dragging in dimension sets: If you try to drag the dimension point into the area between two points of neighbor dimension line, the selected dimension point will be deleted from the old position and recreated in the new, preferred position. If you try to drag the point to the same coordinate position where the existing point is already located, the dragged dimension point will be deleted from the old location and will be combined with the existing one, after dropping to the new location.

  • Dragging a dimension point with a zero coordinate in running dimensions allows you to change the coordinate of the start dimension point without running the Set dimension start point command.

  • Note that if Drawing drag & drop switch in the Settings section in the File menu is activated, the dimension point handle can be dragged without selecting the handle first.

Display dimension associativity

Dimensioning points created in Tekla Structures are associated to the objects where the dimension points have been added. This allows the dimensions to update automatically when the objects are changed during modeling.

Sometimes the dimension point locations may be unclear due to orthogonal projection. A dimension point might be not be associated to the desired object because there are various other objects in the same point location. In drawing update or cloning, this may lead to unwanted dimensioning values or associativity.

To avoid incorrect associativity, or to simply make the associativity selection distinct, there is now a new feature that allows you to check and change the dimension associativity rules in all types of drawings. This feature works only with straight dimensions.

  • To change the dimension point associativity rule, select the desired dimension or dimension set. Next, click a dimension point associativity anchor. This displays the dimension associativity rule list, which shows the objects where the dimension point can be associated. The Default associativity rule is automatically selected by Tekla Structures. Click a rule in the list to select it and associate the dimension point to a new object. When you click the rule, the corresponding object is highlighted in the drawing. The corresponding grid lines are also highlighted. Click the drawing background to close the rule list.

  • You can open several dimension associativity rule lists at a time by holding down Ctrl or Shift and clicking dimension point associativity anchors, or holding down Alt and using area selection.

  • To open all associativity rules related to a selected dimension set, click the dimension set and select Show dimension associativity rules from the contextual menu.

  • You can change associativity rules by scrolling the mouse wheel while the mouse cursor hovers over a rule list.

  • To select associativity rules related to same object types in all opened rule lists, double-click the desired rule. Selected rules will be highlighted with yellow color in all opened rule lists.

  • The maximum number of shown rules in the rule list can be controlled with the advanced option XS_INTELLIGENCE_MAX_RULE_COUNT. If the needed associativity option is missing from the rule list, increase the number of the shown rules by changing the XS_INTELLIGENCE_MAX_RULE_COUNT value.

  • The following attributes are shown in the rule list for the following building objects:

    • Steel parts: "NAME", "PART_POS", "PROFILE"

    • Concrete objects: "NAME", "PROFILE"

    • Polygon cuts: "NAME", "PROFILE"

    • Reinforcement: "NAME", "REBAR_POS"

    • Bolts: "NAME"

    • Grid: Grid "NAME"

    • Intersection of grid line and building object side: Grid “NAME” or the label of the building object:

    • Intersection of grid lines: Grid “NAME”/”NAME”:

    • Pour units: Pour object "POUR_TYPE", # "POUR_NUMBER"

    • If the Default option is selected, the dimension point will automatically select which object to follow during the dimension update based on the new position of the objects. Note that there might not be any rule in the rules list that would correspond the behavior of the Default option. Selecting another option than the Default option makes it possible to control which object will be followed during the dimension update.

  • Display dimension associativity with the Clone and Clone selected commands:

    • Changing associativity rules in selected dimension points allows you to achieve more accurate results in cloning dimensions in drawings. An associativity option selected in a rule list will be preserved in the cloned dimension if the selected rule corresponds to a similar object in a cloned drawing or in a target selection in a GA drawing. Objects are not considered to be similar if they have been modeled by using different commands, such as steel beam, steel plate, reinforcement, or bolt. When an appropriate object is missing in the cloned drawing or in the target selection in a GA drawing, the dimension point will be associated to an object that is located in the same coordinate points. In this case, the associativity rule in the point in question will be returned to the Default option.

    • Note that when the drawing is cloned automatically due to renumbering, the associativity rules are recomputed from scratch and any preferred rules set by the user are lost.

Other dimensioning improvements

New option for placing dimensions inside a cast unit, assembly or part

  • In view-based dimensioning, in the Dimensioning rule properties dialog box, there is a new setting Place dimensions inside for the dimensioning type Filter dimensions. When you select this setting, the dimensions can be placed inside a cast unit, assembly or part.

    Example of the Place dimensions inside setting:

Radius dimension mid point associativity anchor

  • There is now a associativity anchor drawn for radius dimension mid points. The mid point has always been associative, but previously, the associativity anchor was not drawn.

Curved dimension lines working with radial rebar set groups

  • Curved dimension lines now work also with radial rebar set groups, similarly as with radial rebar groups.

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