IsaacB Posted June 3, 2011 Share Posted June 3, 2011 I am creating a dynamic block for our PPart (production parts) callouts on our drawings. It's an arrow with a line, a bubble on top of the line, and text inside that will say P62, P50, etc. etc. This is my first attempt at dynamic blocks. From the top quadrant of the bubble to the bottom tip of the arrow I've assigned a Polar Stretch parameter so that way when it's inserted you can grab the grip at the top of the bubble and stretch it in any direction it's needed and it rotates around the arrow point. My question is if there's a way to keep the text inside the bubble to always be horizontal. I guess it would need to rotate in the opposite direction as the bubble when it's being moved around? Or would I have to set it to be perpendicular or parallel to some point maybe? Any ideas? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbroada Posted June 3, 2011 Share Posted June 3, 2011 If I understand you correctly the way I have tackled this in the past is to put a point in the bubble. This can be rotated etc. with the buble. I then added a move action to the text so that it followed the point. (All from memory so subject to errors). Can you post what you have already? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IsaacB Posted June 3, 2011 Author Share Posted June 3, 2011 If I understand you correctly the way I have tackled this in the past is to put a point in the bubble. This can be rotated etc. with the buble. I then added a move action to the text so that it followed the point. (All from memory so subject to errors). Can you post what you have already? Thanks for the reply. I've attached a PDF. You can see the bubble on the right as been rotated and the text is always perpendicular to the line. The only way I've found to fix this is to double click on it which opens up the attribute edit box, go to Text Options, and change the rotation to 0. I'd really like to avoid having this step in there though to save time. These things will be getting moved around all the time because our drawings get pretty busy and packed. Is there a way to have the rotation ALWAYS be fixed at 0? BUBBLE.pdf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbroada Posted June 3, 2011 Share Posted June 3, 2011 I missed out one stage, you need to ensure the move has chain actions set. try this blob.dwg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IsaacB Posted June 3, 2011 Author Share Posted June 3, 2011 I missed out one stage, you need to ensure the move has chain actions set. try this [ATTACH]27987[/ATTACH] That works perfect!! Thanks!! I will see if I can get it figured out with what I've got. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IsaacB Posted June 3, 2011 Author Share Posted June 3, 2011 Ok, your kung fu is obviously stronger than mine. I still can't get mine to work. I noticed on your drawing that you have constraints set up for alignment, horizontal, and vertical. Is this assigned to the text you have in the bubble? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbroada Posted June 3, 2011 Share Posted June 3, 2011 actually I don't have any constraints - I am using 2008 which never had such luxuries so I am jealous of you. one thing that may help you see what I have done is to highlight the position and change "no of grips" from 0 to 1 using your properties palette. If you move the text away from the centre of the circle while you are playing it might all become a bit more obvious. Fianlly, make sure the text is only in the "move" group, not in the "polar stretch" group. Of course using constraints may be the way to go but I really dont know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IsaacB Posted June 3, 2011 Author Share Posted June 3, 2011 I've got it set up just like yours as far as I can tell. My point isn't moving with the center of the bubble though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbroada Posted June 3, 2011 Share Posted June 3, 2011 the point parameter must be included in the polar stretch group and must have chain actions set to yes. can you save your block to 2007 as post it here for me to have a look at. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IsaacB Posted June 3, 2011 Author Share Posted June 3, 2011 Aha!! That did it, thanks so much!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbroada Posted June 3, 2011 Share Posted June 3, 2011 glad to be of help - it would appear my memory is not as bad as I thought it was Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IsaacB Posted June 3, 2011 Author Share Posted June 3, 2011 It's greatly appreciated. I would have never thought of something like that with being so new to Dynamic Blocks. It gives me lots of ideas for more improvements here to help speed things up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IsaacB Posted June 3, 2011 Author Share Posted June 3, 2011 You wouldn't happen to know how to have the Attribute Editor Box pop up when this is inserted do you? Right now I insert and the prompt is down in the command line. Is there a way to have the box pop up after you pic your insertion point like when you do a DDEDIT? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbroada Posted June 3, 2011 Share Posted June 3, 2011 check that ATTDIA=1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IsaacB Posted June 3, 2011 Author Share Posted June 3, 2011 Sweet!!.... if I ever come to Sussex I'm buying you a beer!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IsaacB Posted June 3, 2011 Author Share Posted June 3, 2011 Maybe I can stump you on this one :-) Is there a way to have ENTER close the box instead of having to click OK every time? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbroada Posted June 3, 2011 Share Posted June 3, 2011 stumped on that one though. I haven't found a way yet. I live in Surrey/London though so you don't have to get all the way to Sussex. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IsaacB Posted June 9, 2011 Author Share Posted June 9, 2011 ok I've added a move command to this block and got it working (it's what I sent you a private message about) but there's always a grip at 0,0 as well as the grip at the tip of the arrow on the block.... the Number of Grips is set to 1 but even if you turn it to 0 it keeps the one at 0,0 and turns off the one at the base of the arrow.... any way to get rid of that grip at 0,0? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbroada Posted June 10, 2011 Share Posted June 10, 2011 Is the grip at 0,0 the normal insertion point grip that you get on any block? You need that grip to place your block so there is no way of removing it. As for the PM, I don't know is the only answer I can give although DBs have changed between our versions so you may be lucky. And it is far better to start a new subject rather than asking by PM. That way you get the benefit of more potentially people contributing to your problem and pther people doing a search at another time also see previous discussions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IsaacB Posted June 10, 2011 Author Share Posted June 10, 2011 yeah I got it figured out on the move and the grip. Still working on trying to figure out if pick boxes can be added or not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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