Merge marks

Tekla Structures
2019i
Tekla Structures

Merge marks

You can merge marks to reduce the number of marks in the drawing, and to make the drawing cleaner. You can merge marks if their content matches. You can merge marks automatically before creating a drawing, in drawing properties of and open drawing, and manually in the final drawing.

For more information about automatic merging, see Merge marks automatically.

For more information about mark properties, including merging settings, see Mark properties - Content, General, Merging and Appearance tabs.

Merged part marks

A merged part mark means that you have only one part mark for similar parts in a drawing, instead of a separate mark for each of the parts. Merged part marks indicate the number of included parts, and contain the defined part mark contents, and the near side and far side information. The marks are merged only in X direction of the main part.

Tekla Structures merges marks for visible parts in drawings if:

  • The secondary parts are welded or bolted to the same main part.

  • The parts are on the same line.

  • Distances between the parts are equal.

  • The parts have the same part position.

  • Distance between parts is not more than what is set for the advanced option XS_​PART_​MERGE_​MAX_​DISTANCE.

  • There are at least as many parts in the array as it has been set for the advanced option XS_​MIN_​MERGE_​PART_​COUNT.

Limitations

  • You cannot merge part marks (assembly marks) that are not part of the same assembly.

  • Tekla Structures does not merge neighbor part marks.

Advanced options in merging marks

In merging part marks, you may find the following advanced options useful:

XS_​MULTIPLIER_​SEPARATOR_​FOR_​MERGED_​PART_​MARK

XS_​NSFS_​POSTFIX_​FOR_​MERGED_​PART_​MARK

XS_​NS_​POSTFIX_​FOR_​MERGED_​PART_​MARK

XS_​FS_​POSTFIX_​FOR_​MERGED_​PART_​MARK

XS_​PART_​MERGE_​MAX_​DISTANCE

XS_​MIN_​MERGE_​PART_​COUNT

Example

In the example below, the part marks are merged in X direction of the HEA300 beam (main part).

In the example below, the leftmost part marks are not merged, because they are too far from each other.

In the example below, the marks in the Y direction are not merged, because the marks are merged only in X direction (which in this example is horizontal).

Merge part marks or bolt marks manually

  1. Open a drawing in which you want to merge part or bolt marks, and ensure that the marks are visible.
  2. Select the marks that you want to merge.

    Marks need to have the same content. Note that you can only merge bolt marks that have not been merged already.

  3. Right-click and select Merge.
  4. If you want to change leader line settings, double-click the merged mark.
  5. On the General tab, select one of the options in the Merged marks list:
    • One leader line to group : Creates one leader line for a group of parts.

    • One leader line per row : Merges the marks and creates one leader line for a row of parts.

    • Parallel leader lines : Merges the marks and creates parallel leader lines.

    • Leader lines to one point : Merges the marks and draws all leader lines to one point.

  6. Select the leader line type and the arrow to be used.
  7. If needed, you can split the merged marks by selecting the marks to split, right-clicking and selecting Split.

If merging part marks fails for some reason, an error message is displayed in the status bar: "Mark properties do not match, could not merge all marks".

In the following example, Leader lines to one point has been selected, and a leader line is going from the mark frame to each part it is related to:

Tip:

You can also modify the part mark merging settings before merging: To do this, on the Drawing tab, click Properties > Part mark. Adjust the properties as required on the General tab, and click OK.

Merged reinforcement marks

Tekla Structures can automatically merge similar reinforcement marks of bars, and you can also merge reinforcement marks manually. Merged reinforcement marks may include several blocks, and additional information. Blocks combine similar single marks .

To merge reinforcement marks in drawings, the reinforcement must be attached to a concrete part or cast unit in the model.

Tekla Structures merges marks for visible reinforcing bars in drawings if:

  • The bars belong to the same concrete part or cast unit.
  • The direction of the bars is the same.
  • The bar marks are identical.
  • The bars are close to each other.
  • A straight line can be drawn through all the bars.

Merge reinforcement marks manually

  1. Open a drawing in which you want to merge reinforcement marks, and ensure that the marks are visible.
  2. On the Drawing tab, click Properties > Merged reinforcement mark .
  3. Modify merging properties as required and click OK.
  4. Select the reinforcement marks to merge in the drawing.
  5. Right-click and select Merge from the pop-up menu.
  6. If needed, you can split the merged marks by selecting the marks to split, right-clicking and selecting Split.

If merging of rebar marks fails due to settings that are not compatible with merging, or to some other errors in settings, a new error message is displayed: "Could not merge all marks, please check the applied merged rebar mark settings".

Note that when you merge several reinforcement marks, and the mark text is very long, an error message is displayed, and the marks will not be merged.

Merge marks by adjusting drawing properties

In a final drawing, you can merge marks also by adjusting the drawing properties.

To activate merging through drawing properties:

  1. Open a drawing.
  2. Double-click the drawing background to open drawing properties.
  3. Do one of the following depending on the drawing type:
Drawing type Adjust mark visibility settings

Cast unit drawings

  1. Click View creation in the options tree on the left, select the view and the properties that you want to change, and click View properties.

    The merging needs to be set view by view separately.

  2. Click a mark type in the options tree. For example, click Part mark.

  3. Go to the General tab, and set Merge marks to On.
  4. In Merged marks , select one of the following:

    • One leader line to group : creates one leader line for a group of parts.

    • One leader line per row : Merges the marks and creates one leader line for a row of parts.

    • Parallel leader lines : Merges the marks and creates parallel leader lines.

    • Leader lines to one point : Merges the marks and draws all leader lines to one point.

  5. Select the leader line type and the arrow to be used.
  6. To merge reinforcement marks, click Reinforcement mark in the options tree, and go to the Merging tab.

    • In Identical marks in same cast unit , select one of the following:

      • One leader line to group creates one leader line for a group of reinforcing bars.

      • One leader line per row : Merges the marks and creates one leader line for a row of reinforcing bars.

      • Parallel leader lines : Merges the marks and creates parallel leader lines.

      • Leader lines to one point : Merges the marks and draws all leader lines to one point.

      • No merge : Marks are not merged, an individual leader line is created for each mark.

      • If you select No merge , you still need to define the mark content for the marks that Tekla Structures automatically merges on the Merging tab.

    • In Preferred direction of merge , if there are several possible merge directions, select Merge horizontal or Merge vertical.

    • In Available elements / Elements in mark , Select the contents to be included in the merged reinforcement marks.

      To ensure that merged reinforcement marks appear in the drawing, always include Symbol separating blocks in mark as the last element in the reinforcement mark. To omit the separating symbol, leave this box blank, but still include the element in the mark.

  7. Select the leader line type and the arrow to be used.
  8. Click Save to save the changes in view properties, and then click Close to return to drawing properties.

  9. Click Modify.

General arrangement drawings

  1. Click a mark type button in drawing properties. For example, click Part mark....

  2. Go to the General tab, and set Merge marks to On.
  3. In Merged marks , select one of the following:

    • One leader line to group creates one leader line for a group of parts.

    • One leader line per row : Merges the marks and creates one leader line for a row of parts.

    • Parallel leader lines : Merges the marks and creates parallel leader lines.

    • Leader lines to one point : Merges the marks and draws all leader lines to one point.

  4. Select the leader line type and the arrow to be used.
  5. To merge reinforcement marks, click Reinforcement marks... in drawing properties and go to the Merging tab.

    • In Identical marks in same cast unit , select one of the following:

      • One leader line to group creates one leader line for a group of reinforcing bars.

      • One leader line per row : Merges the marks and creates one leader line for a row of reinforcing bars.

      • Parallel leader lines : Merges the marks and creates parallel leader lines.

      • Leader lines to one point : Merges the marks and draws all leader lines to one point.

      • No merge : Marks are not merged, an individual leader line is created for each mark.

      • If you select No merge , you still need to define the mark content for the marks that Tekla Structures automatically merges on the Merging tab.

    • In Preferred direction of merge , if there are several possible merge directions, select Merge horizontal or Merge vertical.

    • In Available elements / Elements in mark , select the contents to be included in the merged reinforcement marks.

      To ensure that merged reinforcement marks appear in the drawing, always include Symbol separating blocks in mark as the last element in the reinforcement mark. To omit the separating symbol, leave this box blank, but still include the element in the mark.

  6. Select the leader line type and the arrow to be used.
  7. Click OK.

  8. Click Modify.

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