Has anyone, anywhere (in our universe or it’s parallels) been able to figure out:
How to make a leader display an object’s name with 3 to 4 clicks like Sketchup and other programs? It takes 9-10 clicks to make a leader with an object’s name in Rhino. It’s almost 2025, and I may be way off base, but this seems like a very basic drafting/layout/drawing feature. This like reaching for a hammer, then remembering “Oh yeah”, I got to get the wood for the handle and shape it, hammer out the head with another hammer, put them together, now I have a hammer.
Why is it (according to every other post on this subject) so difficult or click consuming to make a leader display an object name in Rhino? What is the thing that is holding this back? Do other companies somehow have a patent on this elusive technology?
Can this be made into a script that you can slap into a tool bar? I would think so, but I don’t know how to access/callup/point to the text fields > object name.
With out dragging out Grasshopper and trying to make some convoluted definition (all the posts I have seen with folks trying to make it work with GH, the results are not ideal and still clunky), is there a Rhino or GH plugin that would accomplish this easily and 3-4 clicks?
Orrrr… is the answer so simple I am not seeing it?
I am truly baffled by this. I would like to work with someone on this if anyone can help.
It’s almost 2025, who is still doing drafting? Sorry, but I know I assumed in the 90s that by now that stupid task would be dead and buried. It was probably the assumption when Rhino development was started. I literally do not care about this feature, you’re probably the first person to get so hilariously agitated about it.
The concept of “objects” in Rhino is nebulous. There is only “geometry.” The whole basis of Rhino is that it’s for the situations where putting your model in a big tree gets in the way. Trying to impose that THIS group of geometry is an “object” that has a certain name that is maintained through editing is…well good luck with that.
It could certainly be scripted up easy enough, just a matter of getting an objects’ name and feeding that into the Leader command. Lemme see what I can do…
Hmm okay so that’s about what I was going to do…I’d have to look into what would be needed to get it to work in layout…that would require some heavier-duty programming…after a few minutes of looking I see a possible way forward, but not right tonight!
Yeah, it’s about night night time for me too. Well thank you Jim for looking into it. You would be the hero to a lot of people if it works well.
Another weird thing that I experience, that may influence your thought process on this:
for any detail that is NOT top/plan view and is NOT locked(detail is NOT enabled, just working in paper space), when ever I do a leader (jump through the hoops to make it read object name) the view flips to top/plan view on its own and I think centers the view over 0,0,0. Detail is now worthless. No rhyme or reason that I can determine.
I can dimension and leader w/ manual typing entry of what ever I am trying to describe, all day long with no problems. test leader name.3dm (1.4 MB)
I have previously tried to solve this using a Grasshopper definition with the new Rhino tab in Rhino 8. Basically, you can create or copy any Leader in Rhino and place it to point at the object in question. Then, Grasshopper finds the nearest object for each Leader line start point and gets its properties such as a Name, or any user-text attribute. This can be used to modify the Leader name and using the content cache “pushing” in Rhino 8, you can update your initial dummy Leader with the updated one with your own data in it. You can store your leaders into Rhino layers, for example having all the Leaders of the second floor beams in a multi-story building on their own layer. Rhino Layout can then be customized to show only geometry and objects from certain layers. Creating Leaders directly into layouts seemed to be a struggle, at least a couple of service releases back, because the objects in the layout don’t have the same coordinates as the model itself - something like that. So I ended up having all the information like dimension lines and leaders in the model and only some layout-specific stuff like title-blocks and texts in the Layouts directly.
This of course, can be turned into a GH Player function, or can be programmed into a Grasshopper/Rhino plugin so that it is only component/button that does the thing. With GH Player, this can be used like a Rhino command. But I did not go there, since I like having Grasshopper around and it is basically the same thing.
But yes, I see the frustration, but also that there are numerous options how to deal with it.
Depending on how one counts, it takes “only” 4 extra clicks to create an annotation with the object’s name over creating a leader with manual text. But, yes…
The DimArea, DimCurveLength, and DimVolume commands are relevant examples of how this can be more streamlined.
I’ve put the feature request on the list as RH-84789 Annotation: Object Name Request
-wim
I guess we have this on the list as RH-55283 Working with text field syntax is awkward
We will gladly review specific and detailed feedback on how to improve things.
-wim
Hi @erikratliff,
We have that feature in our software.
I can automate your drafting work
We do have leader text with automated annotations, custom materials, types etc.
We can automate the entire drafting process for you.
This can be adapted to your workflow farouk.serragedine@gmail.com
Farouk
Thank you very much for taking the time to look into this.
I couldn’t program my way out of a wet paper bag and have no idea what it takes to make changes and updates (especially to make sure the changes don’t conflict with something else), but I really appreciate McNeel’s community engagement and support.
I am imagining a button that has a leader symbol and N, or Obj Name. Something quick and easy.
or maybe a way to use the command switches/options (what is the correct term? I have those represented as A B C D) to select what the leader will show, could even show multiple text fields like name, volume, attribute user text perhaps. That way we could set up a macro and our own tool bars to make it quick.
Thank you for looking into it.
As far as just using that script as is, no it does not. That is not a leader, doesn’t work in paper/layout space. All the solutions that I have seen might be fine to use if you were just creating a fun model for yourself, didn’t have to update anything, weren’t being paid to do a job and were fine with a bunch of junk in the model.
Maybe I need to record/animate what I am talking about to be more clear.
All I am looking to do is:
run a leader command (toolbar, alias, keyboard shortcut)
click the geometry/object
click where I want the end of the leader/text to be
and then we have a leader that shows the object name
3 to 4 steps, not 9 to 10.
Am I trying to do something that basically no one that is using Rhino ever has to do for their work? Where I am, I have to tell people what things are on a drawing.
I am definitely not the sharpest crayon in the knife drawer, and just feel like I’m doing this all wrong.
I think it’s perfectly clear. There will be an extra click between your 2. and 3. though. You will need to click where to place the start of the leader. That’s also the way the DimArea , DimCurveLength , and DimVolume commands work.
-wim
If you create your leader in model space, referencing the object name, then change the leader into layout space via the command ChangeSpace, does it retain the name and its attachment to the object?
If, by “attachment”, you mean the text field reference, then yes. The GUID of the object that is referenced doesn’t change. Placement location history of the leader is broken, though.
-wim
If it has to work the same as Dimarea etc., then yes. But if we can just have it act like a regular leader where the start point is where you pick the object, that would be ideal. Seems like we should be able to run the command, click on the object (and that is the starting point of the arrow’s point), then click where ever you want the text (4 being optional if the leader is going straight).
Dale, I think you have done it. This works in model & paper space. If someone needs another click to control the leg of the leader (curved leader or jogging it around things in the scene) then maybe some more effort could be put to that, but I think this does it. A user could have their text aligned with the leader or horizontal. Love it.
I can use the script as is, but further refinement could be done with other folks input/needs
I also really like that it will only select named objects.
