Display dimension associativity

Tekla Structures
2019
Tekla Structures

Display dimension associativity

You can change the dimension point associativity to avoid incorrect associativity, or to simply make the associativity selection distinct. Each dimension point associativity anchor shows a list of objects that have locations available for association. You can change the dimension point associativity in straight dimensions only.

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.

Change dimension point associativity

  1. Select the desired dimension or dimension set.
  2. 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.

  3. 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. This makes it easy for you to to check if the selected rule refers to the object you want.

  4. You can also do the following:
    • Open a 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.

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

    • You can alter associativity rules by scrolling the mouse wheel while 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.

    • You can control the maximum number of shown rules in the rules list 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.

  5. Click the drawing background to close the rule list.

Rules list

  • 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 guarantee which object will be followed during the dimension update.

    • Display dimension associativity with 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.

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