The Detail Scale text function is something that I’ve been wanting for quite some time. Yay!
However, I find its current implementation a bit clunky for my workflow. Having to manually link a detail to its Text object for every single drawing is tedious, and takes more mouse clicks than just manually typing in the scale.
Ideally I’d like the ability to make a text annotation object once (set+forget), that can be copied throughout a file. An annotation object that would update itself based on certain conditions.
I’m not sure if there is any way to implement this, but a way to automatically link Text fields to objects (other than selecting them in the dialog), would be really handy:
If a text field updated based on objects close to them
If a text field updated based on objects it was grouped to
Or a text field that could collect information from multiple objects on a layout/model space.
For the time being, none of that is possible.
We will certainly look into the complete workflow at some point but for now I can only recommend that you look into either one of the following or a combination thereof:
Instead of having to create a new text field, pick the correct text function from the list, and then select a specific detail, you can point the text function to a named detail by selecting the “Use detail attribute name” option in that text field dialog box.
You will have to name your details in the properties panel
You can then fill in that name when you edit a copy of that text:
You could use the Attributed Block functionality that was added to Rhino 7
You can define a block with text fields and geometry as needed and when you insert that block, you will be prompted to define the contents of the text fields:
You will still have to manually pick the applicable text function and object for each text field
If you know that you will never change the scale of the details, static text will probably be faster in any case… The whole point with the text functions is that they dynamically update when changes occur.
-wim
Thanks for those options. Bock Attributes are great, and something I have missed for a long time since moving to Rhino from Autocad.
I do like the idea of dynamically updating text and it’s one of the main reasons I see to use text functions over simple text. The chances of making errors are greatly reduced. However, in a busy production environment when one is creating masses of Details and Layouts, having to individually select each detail as currently implemented with so many keystrokes and mouse clicks, is a hinderance to use the tool. I have found I’ll just type in the text because it’s quicker and I want to move on, even though I know it’s not the best practice.
Here’s hoping the implementation gets better to make this awesome functionality much more user friendly.
