Color by Phases: Change standard color representation of phases

Tekla Structures
Not version-specific
Tekla Structures
Create phase colors
different color phases
phase colors
phase filters
object representation
phase representation
Environment
United States (Imperial)
United States (Metric)
Question:  In my model, two phases of similar colors are adjacent to one another. Is there a setting to adjust these colors? I want to set up the Color by Phase View property Representation to have different primary colors to avoid having related colors near each other.

Image
PhaseColor.jpg


Answer: To assign personalized colors to phases, you must create your own Object Representation settings in the model (including phase Filters to assign colors to those specific phases). Here are the steps:

1. Double-click on the background of your model's 3D View to get the View Properties dialog box shown in the image above. 
2. Change the Representation of the Color and transparency in all views to Color by Phase. Then, click on the Representation tab. 
 
Note: You can click Modify to view the current colors of your phases. In this exercise, we will be changing the color of phases 1, 2, and 15. 

Image
PhaseColor1.jpg

 
3. In the Object Representation window, click Object group... This will open a new, simultaneous window. 
4. In the Object Group - Representation window, click New filter and, subsequently, click Add row.
5. Set your row as follows:
 
Category: Part
Property: Phase
Condition: Equals
Value: One of the phase numbers under the Number column in the Phase Manager dialog. 

Image
PhaseColor2.jpg

6. In the Object Group - Representation window, Save your filter as under a unique name.
7. Repeat steps 4, 5, and 6, for all the phases which colors you wish to set as your own (you can also simply change the Value to the other phase numbers and Save as under different names). 
 
Image
p1.jpg
 

Image
p2.jpg
 

Image
p15.jpg


8. Close the Object Group - Representation window.
9. Back in the Object Representation window, highlight the current row, and click Add row once for each row (in this case each phase) that will have a representation filter.

Because I want to add my own representation to three phases, I will click the button three times.

Image
PhaseColor3.jpg

 
Note: We are highlighting the first row so that the other rows inherit the same setup. An extra row (in this case a fourth one) with the original properties must remain so that any other phases which color will not change can remain represented using the default Color by phase settings.
10. Starting with the uppermost row, under the Object group column, click on the downward arrow to look for the properties from the Object Group - Representation window that were Saved as.
11. Under the Color column, click on the downward arrow to look for a preferred color.

You can choose from the existing list of colors, or you can scroll down and click Choose color to define a custom RGB or HSL color. 

Image
PhaseColor4.jpg

12. Once all colors have been set, click Apply and also, Save these settings as under a unique name. Then, click OK
 
Note: Be sure not to click Modify at any point during this process. 
 
Image
PhaseColor5.jpg

By clicking OK, the representation of the Color and transparency in all views will automatically be set to the Object representation filter that you saved last. In this case, it will be set to MyColorbyPhase.

13. Now, while the model view is active, click Modify from the View Properties dialog box and your colors should change.

Image
PhaseColor6.jpg


Since every property that you Save as in a model will be stored in the attributes folder inside your Model folder, you can look for all settings under the names that you saved them and copy them into a Firm folder if you want to use them in all models. 

Related Articles

Change the color and transparency of model objects by using object representation
Use object groups in object representation and in filters
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