Revision Triangles Missing

[Chris Rogers]

I can't seem to locate the revision triangle tool in 2019. Did it move? Combine with some other function? Thanks!

[Kevin McAllister]

I think the new Data Tag Tool is intended to replace it.

 

(Its been moved to the Recent Changes> Vectorworks 2019>Removed Tools (Legacy) folder in the Tool panel of the Workspace editor. You could add it back to your workspace manually.)

 

Kevin

[Chris Rogers]

Thanks! I added it back until I have time to figure out how the Data Tag Tool thing works....(hopefully it works well.)

[Chris Rogers]

Reporting back that the new Data Tag Tool is not very flexible.....or I'm using it wrong.

 

[JeremyLondonRMLA]

Hi Chris.

 

You've probably mastered the Data Tag by now. I've just had to work this out myself, so am posting my findings here for anyone who needs it.

 

*Edit - there are default revision marker objects available in the Vectorworks Libraries, see comments below. Thanks E|FA for pointing this out. Read on if you're interested in learning how to create your own*

 

To re-create a triangle revision marker with the Data Tag tool:

 

1) Place a Data Tag object on the page

2) Un-check Use Leader in the Object Into Palette

3) Click Edit Tag Layout...

4) Place a Text object centered on the insertion point, with a capital letter or digit in your preferred font & point size (eg. 8 pt), with Horiz. Align and Vert. Align both set to Center. * see note below

5) Place a triangle around the text object using the Regular Polygon Tool with Number of Sides set to 3. (for 8 pt Arial font, a 5mm wide triangle with its centre point aligned with the centre of the text object seems to work well)

6) Select the Text object, tick Use Dynamic Text in the OIP, and click Define Tag Field...

7) Change Field Label to 'Revision Letter', 'Revision Number', '#' or whatever you prefer (this is what will appear in the resource browser preview, so # looks tidier because it fits inside the triangle)

8) Click User-entered field near the bottom of the window (which disables the Calculated field option above)

9) Leave Field Type: set to Text, or change it to Integer, and next to Default: enter the letter A or number 1

10) Click OK (the text will change to whatever you chose as your field label in step 7)

11) Click Exit Tag Layout Edit in the top right corner of your screen (the text will change to the default value you entered in step 9)

12) With the newly created Data Tag selected, in the Object Info Palette choose New Plug-in Style from Un-styled Plug-in from the Style: drop down menu

13) Select or create the destination folder where you want to save the new resource, and click OK

14) Beside Style Name: enter a name for the resource, eg. 'Revision Marker', leave all other settings and click OK. The new resource will appear in your resource browser, and you can add it to your library files.

15) When placing an instance of the revision marker, it will appear with the default value entered in step 9. To change the revision letter/number of the placed instance, click Edit Tag Data... in the OIP, and enter the required value.

     

* If you use a lettering system, make the text object in step 4 a capital 'M' to ensure that the triangle created in step 5 fits all possible letters of the alphabet. If you use a numbering system, you'll need to decide if you want to accommodate double digits with your triangle, or create separate larger revision marker resource for revisions 10 and up. The same goes for revisions beyond Z in a lettering system, which typically start again with double letters.    

 

Hope this is useful to someone

Edited November 13, 2019 by JeremyLondonRMLA

[E|FA]

From memory, I think if you use the data tag on a revision cloud one of the default tag options is a revision triangle. 

[JeremyLondonRMLA]

You're absolutely right. There are a number of default revision markers available in the Vectorworks library, if you select Replace... in the Style: dropdown menu on the OIP and navigate to the Data Tag > Revision Marker.vwx file. I must confess I didn't even look for any presets, as I was taking the opportunity to learn how the Data Tag worked. I'm not sure if these presets are connected to revision cloud objects in any way, they seem to be independent. Thanks for the info!     

Edited November 13, 2019 by JeremyLondonRMLA

[Boh]

Thanks @JeremyLondonRMLA for the great Data tag tips. I'm learning how to use this tool myself. It's a bit of a learning curve but so far I'm using it on Title Blocks and equipment schedules.

 

In addition to your suggestions for revision clouds a slightly more advanced customised version is to place the revision clouds on different classes depending on what revision it is. The Revision Data tag can then be customised to use the class description as a calculated field. Changing the class of the the revision cloud would automatically change the tag to the new revision number.

 

See vid for explanation...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0piGg5cweX

 

The important bit not to miss is to make sure your revision classes have the revision number as the class description. So a class called "Revision A" would have "A" for a description. "Revision B" class would have "B" etc.