Placing areas on a drawing

[Malcolm Woodruff]

I can place engineering properties of a polygon on a drawing but I just want to place the areas on a drawing with a large number of polygons. This is so basic I must be missing how it is done. Help please!

Ideally of course I should be able to choose any of the the engineering properties but I cannot see how to do this.

[Tom W.]

Use a Data Tag inserted using All Eligible Objects mode

[Malcolm Woodruff]

Thank you but I have tried creating a data Tag but there are no properties listed for a simple polygon. Am I doing something wrong?

[Tom W.]

Just use =AREA

I am on phone not computer so can't demonstrate...

[Malcolm Woodruff]

Here a screenshot of what I get. I have tried adding AREA where the Q is but no luck

[Tom W.]

You are better taking one of the stock VW Data Tags + adapting it rather than using the 'Create Data Tag Style...' command:

1. Activate the Data Tag tool, click on the 'Data Tag Style' drop-down + go to Dims_Notes > User-Defined.
2. Select the 'User-Defined Text' tag. Place a tag in the drawing then right-click on it + select 'Edit Plug-in Style'.
3. In 'Display' tab click on 'Edit Tag Layout' button. Double-click on the text block to open the 'Define Tag Field' dialog.
4. Select 'Calculated Field' then select 'Object Function' for the Data Source + '#AREA#' for the Function then hit 'Replace Current Definition'.

 

[Malcolm Woodruff]

Tom,

Thank you very much for a clear instruction which worked well.

 

Pat

I still think it should be possible to choose what Engineering Properties are placed on the drawing, without having to invent your own Data tags.

[Pat Stanford]

You should submit a wish in the Wish List forum then.  

 

Have you looked at Engineering Properties?  Puts way more than you want, but does include area.

 

There are about 1,000,000 VW users.  If 1% of them had a need that they though needed to be added to the program then you would have 10,000 extra tools/menu commands you would need to scroll through to find what you need.

 

The customizability of VW, the fact that you can configure the Data Tag to show what you need, or to write a script or a marionette or a plug-in object to meet your specific need if one of it's greatest powers.

 

And in reading almost everything ever posted on the Forum (and the email list that was the predecessor), I think your is the 2nd or maybe third request I can remember looking to write the Area of an object onto the drawing. While it might be critical for your needs, it does not seem that critical to the majority of users.

 

Another possibility might be to use Space Objects instead of polygons. They have the ability to automatically write their Name and Area onto the drawing. But as of VW2024 they are using Data Tags to do that.

[Pat Stanford]

And by using Data Tags to put the information you need on the drawing, you can format it (Font, size, attributes) exactly as you want them. A pre-built solution would probably have limitations that the Data Tag (because it is a general purpose object) has already minimized.

[Tom W.]

And you can use Data Tags inside viewports: you're not committed to placing them on the design layer like you are with the Engineering Properties label.

[Malcolm Woodruff]

Thanks Pat and Tom. Understood.