Procedure for modifying basic electrical 2d representaion?

[Anonymous]

Hello,

Back in version 9 I had modified some basic electrical items 2d representation. So, basically I have an electrical symbols legend that needs to be brought up to now. Rather than trying to load basic electrical item 9 into AC18, I thought I would just modify the parts again. Having said that, I either don't remember how to do it or they have made some changes in there.
Working in AC18 could someone give me the procedure for editing the 2d representation only please?
When I did it before, I remember selecting the item and opening the library part, going to the 2d view making the changes with the 2d drawing tools and fills and then file, save.
I just tried to do this in 18 and I get a lot of windows with nothing in them and when I do get the 2d view of the part it's not editable.

Thanks, Jon

[Karl Ottenstein]

Both. 😉 You forgot that it is the "2D Symbol" that you edit... and they changed how fragments - now treated as layers - are handled in the UI.

See the attached screenshot.

As you convert your 9 objects... which was before subtypes as I recall... click the Select Subtype button on the Details panel and choose "Drawing Symbol" as shown in the example of a 2D element in the USA library. This just helps group things better at worst, and at best, it adds common default parameters for particular subtypes. It isn't essential that you do this for your objects. If your electrical items have a 3D representation, then the subtype should instead be Model Element > Electrical Equipment > etc

Cheers,
Karl

[Anonymous]

Karl,

Okay I'm there, but there is no 2d symbol in the window?
I found a window with the 2d symbol, but it is (read only)

Karl wrote:
Both. 😉 You forgot that it is the "2D Symbol" that you edit... and they changed how fragments - now treated as layers - are handled in the UI.

See the attached screenshot.

As you convert your 9 objects... which was before subtypes as I recall... click the Select Subtype button on the Details panel and choose "Drawing Symbol" as shown in the example of a 2D element in the USA library. This just helps group things better at worst, and at best, it adds common default parameters for particular subtypes. It isn't essential that you do this for your objects. If your electrical items have a 3D representation, then the subtype should instead be Model Element > Electrical Equipment > etc

Cheers,
Karl

[Karl Ottenstein]

Jonathan wrote:
Okay I'm there, but there is no 2d symbol in the window?
I found a window with the 2d symbol, but it is (read only)

Your screenshot is of an AC 18 object that generates the 2D via GDL Script. There is no 2D Symbol in that case. You would have to open the 2D View window to see what the script generates... but you cannot edit it visually... you'd have to change the script.

Your first post said that your AC 9 objects were drawn by hand using 2D tools after opening the object. That means that your AC 9 objects were drawn in the 2D Symbol window. You'll have to open one of them to check it out.

Cheers,
Karl

Edit: I just looked at that object... and it is scripted via a macro called from the Master script, so the 2D script is empty. A weird obfuscation, but net result still as above. It is not a drawn symbol, but a scripted one.

[Anonymous]

Karl,

I edited the basic electrical items that came in the AC9 library many years ago, probably in AC9. I have been using them ever since then along with all kinds of other objects that were set up in previous versions going back to AC6. Each job has become a "template" of sorts for the next job and as you saw the other day when I posted a jpg of my library manager it's why there are so many duplicate parts in my library. When I received AC18 the other day I made an archive of my current job and opened it in AC18 and chose the extract to a folder option. This reduced the duplicates big time, but I still had to load the AC18 library which brought the duplicates back up to ridiculous like my screen shot a few days ago.

So, I guess I should settle for out of the box electrical items on my electrical plan until I figure this out. Need to start reducing the number of old parts in newer versions of AC.

I think maybe graphisoft is trying to figure this problem out because AC18 install asked me if I wanted to do some kind of automated library migration thing, where AC17 did not. It was a manual process in 17.

I know it's a monster as far as lines of code and complexity, but I can imagine a day many years from now when people won't even know this library thing was an issue.

Karl wrote:

Jonathan wrote:

Okay I'm there, but there is no 2d symbol in the window?
I found a window with the 2d symbol, but it is (read only)

Your screen shot is of an AC 18 object that generates the 2D via GDL Script. There is no 2D Symbol in that case. You would have to open the 2D View window to see what the script generates... but you cannot edit it visually... you'd have to change the script.

Your first post said that your AC 9 objects were drawn by hand using 2D tools after opening the object. That means that your AC 9 objects were drawn in the 2D Symbol window. You'll have to open one of them to check it out.

Cheers,
Karl

Edit: I just looked at that object... and it is scripted via a macro called from the Master script, so the 2D script is empty. A weird obfuscation, but net result still as above. It is not a drawn symbol, but a scripted one.