ABS2007 Help with an elevation Property Set for a Mass Element

[stelthorst]

Hi All,

This should be simple but I can't figure out how to add an elevation property to a mass element property set. Since I don't see it as an option for an automatic property I'm assuming I need to create a formula based property.

Any help will be appreciated.

[Steve_Bennett]

Have a read of this thread to see if it points you in the right direction: http://forums.augi.com/showthread.php?t=41317

[stelthorst]

Thanks Steve,


The sad part is I was signed up for the ATP course David suggested in the other thread but never had time to follow through with it. I guess I'll have to take the time to read it.

[dkoch]

Thanks Steve,


The sad part is I was signed up for the ATP course Davis suggested in the other thread but never had time to follow through with it. I guess I'll have to take the time to read it.
Not that you should not take a look at the ATP course material, but you will not find a specific example of what you want there. If I recall correctly, the thread to which Steve linked was part of a conversation that also took place, in part, in the Autodesk Discussion Groups, where the conclusion reached was that while you can retrieve defining points stored in the object model in a Formula property, extracting the coordinates does not appear to work. I never received a response to this post in the Autodesk Architectural Desktop Customization Discussion Group (http://discussion.autodesk.com/thread.jspa?messageID=5223727), which uses a Wall object and tries to determine the Z-value of the Location property. That post shows the code used to get the object and the Location property. You might have a different experience using 2007 [rather than 2006] and/or with a mass element [rather than a wall].

[dkoch]

Not that you should not take a look at the ATP course material, but you will not find a specific example of what you want there. If I recall correctly, the thread to which Steve linked was part of a conversation that also took place, in part, in the Autodesk Discussion Groups, where the conclusion reached was that while you can retrieve defining points stored in the object model in a Formula property, extracting the coordinates does not appear to work. I never received a response to this post in the Autodesk Architectural Desktop Customization Discussion Group (http://discussion.autodesk.com/thread.jspa?messageID=5223727), which uses a Wall object and tries to determine the Z-value of the Location property. That post shows the code used to get the object and the Location property. You might have a different experience using 2007 [rather than 2006] and/or with a mass element [rather than a wall].
Another option, for certain object types, would be to use a manual property and insert a field that gives the desired property. A quick look in ACA2008 reveals that Mass Elements to not have any field properties that would yield an elevation or Z-value. Sorry to be of no help here.

[stelthorst]

Another option, for certain object types, would be to use a manual property and insert a field that gives the desired property. A quick look in ACA2008 reveals that Mass Elements to not have any field properties that would yield an elevation or Z-value. Sorry to be of no help here.Hi David,

Thanks for the ideas. Could you expand on that one you just made. Maybe give me an example of a field inserted in a PSD.

The thing that drives me crazy is that if you select a mass element and view its properties, elevation is one of them. You would think that if elevation is already part of a mass element that you could extract it in a PSD. All I want to do is create a PSD that says "Hey, you already know what your elevation is why don't you tell me." I tried typing that sentence into my PSD and it didn't give me the elevation. I guess I should have added "please". :)

[dkoch]

Hi David,

Thanks for the ideas. Could you expand on that one you just made. Maybe give me an example of a field inserted in a PSD.

The thing that drives me crazy is that if you select a mass element and view its properties, elevation is one of them. You would think that if elevation is already part of a mass element that you could extract it in a PSD. All I want to do is create a PSD that says "Hey, you already know what your elevation is why don't you tell me." I tried typing that sentence into my PSD and it didn't give me the elevation. I guess I should have added "please". :)
I should warn you that I am no expert on fields; they do not exist in 2004, which we use at work. I had thought that adding a field as the "default" value would make it report the value of each object to which it was attached, but it turns out that the property initially remains linked to the first sample object you pick when adding it as the default. You can double click the value on the Extended Data tab of the Properties palette to link it to the object to which the PSD is attached, but that is more work than an automatic property, so that would be useful only for those items not available as an automatic property. The sample file attached uses the Volume property in the field, which is available as an automatic property. If you select one of the mass elements, open the Properties palette, go to the Extended Data tab and double click on the value in the SamplePropertyWithField property [the only property there], you will get Field dialog, which shows the available field properties [which do not include elevation] along with the select object button, which would be used to link the field to a specific object.

I agree that more data should be exposed. I would settle for being able to extract the X, Y and Z coordinates of a point retrieved from the object model, provided there was an easy way to translate those values to actual World UCS [or perhaps current UCS] coordinates.