Notes, Record Fields, Worksheet cell limitations

[CADD Nark]

our firm uses a lot of Construction Notes and i'm trying to figure out a way to use either the General Notes / Keynote Tool, text in a Record Field, or cells in a Worksheet to standardize our note and numbering system.

The problem i'm running into with the General Notes / Keynote Tool is the automatic numbering doesn't allow the use of a suffix or subset. Plus, the Callout Tool doesn't have "Circle" as a marker type....

Record Fields are limited because the limit is 256 characters....

Worksheet Cells have the same 256 character limit...

So, so far i'm stuck with using Text Blocks and my own Symbols that are not linked because of these limits which is a pain.

Does anyone know of a workaround for these limitations?

[CADD Nark]

bump

[Guest]

A callout can use a custom marker - any symbol you create.

You could create a symbol of a small circle with the desired pen weight/color.

When placing the callout, go to the preferences and set the marker style to custom and then select the circle symbol.

[Guest]

I have VWL.

In my version the Callout Tool has within the drop down box Marker Style in the OIP - No Marker, Solid Arrow, Hollow Arrow, Open Arrow, Dot, Circle, Slash, Cross, Lasso and Symbol - so VWA one would think would be at least the same - so it should have a Circle. If it does it also should also have Marker Size also in the OIP. I use it often.

A limitation though is if Call Outs are placed within a Design Layer and a Viewport for a Sheet Layer is created with a different scale to the Design Layer the Call Out marker size changes in proportion to the Call Out itself.

Also in the OIP when a Viewport is selected, in Advanced Properties when the Text Scale is changed the Callout Itself does not scale.

I only use Call Outs on a Design Layer if I only create Viewports that will be the same scale as the Design Layer - or within the Viewport - Edit Annotations or on the Sheet Layer itself if the Viewport scale is different to the Design Layer Scale.

[CADD Nark]

I wasn't clear in my post, sorry.

I'm talking about the Bubble type (rounded rect, cloud, etc)... a Circle should be an option.

In my experience, here in the U.S., 90% of the keynotes i've seen have been Circles or Ovals... and i have never seen a "Cloud" used. To go with that, 90% of the time i've seen Rectangles used, it has been for demolition.

To revisit, the Auto Numbering of Keynotes should be able to be tuned off. this will allow the users to use any numbering scheme.

The limitation of 256 characters in Record Fields and Worksheet Cells has hindered us for a long time. I thought Keynotes would be the solution to keep from having to use Text Blocks...

Again, sorry for the confusion.

[Christiaan]

The limitation of 256 characters in Record Fields and Worksheet Cells has hindered us for a long time.

Same here.

[bclydeb]

The problems CADD Nark has are part of the limitations of the tool. For many keynote systems - Construction Specifications Institute (CSI) USA & Canada, Fred Stitt - Guidelines Publications, articles I have written on the subject for CSI in the early 90's, etc.; the better architectural keynote systems use one or two (max. 3) character prefixes. (e.g. C for conc., FN for foundation, M for masonry, W for wood, etc.) Nemetschek does not seem to understand the need for these to appear in the keynote notes list.

As for the symbol - Katie has pointed out a good feature. We have been using rounded rectangles for our keynotes and no one has mistaken them for some other type of information (like demolition). Again the keynote system limitation is that our keynote symbols can have the prefixes, but the notes list cannot and that makes the system very awkward to use.

We like the auto numbering feature. It works well for us as we have a growing set of databases for keynotes and gives us dynamic renumbering when we lose a keynote because of a change in something the keynote referred to.

Another keynote limitation is that if you use them in a layer or in a viewport, you can only use one type of notes in that layer or viewport. So If you have a combined Mechanical, Electrical & Plumbing Plan you have to be real careful to have separate layers for each sub contract so the all the electrical notes are in one list, all the HVAC in another, the plumbing in another, etc.

Our work around for the lack of prefixes in the notes list is to title the list with a keynote symbol example next to the title of the list. this clues the contractors as to which list the EL 20 note refers to. Awkward and often leads to a long explanations to the contractors as to which keynote goes to what.