 Customizing the Block Library System |
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Contents
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Creating or modifying an action for a cell in a menuFirst use the PLANBLKS or ELEVBLKS command and navigate to the menu that you would like to customize. When using the block library you may create
or modify the action for any of the 40 cells in each menu screen by selecting
the
Each cell already has an action assigned to it (some are just set to "None"). So for any cell you select you will be editing the action for that cell. When a cell is selected you will see the following dialog:
The current action assigned to the cell will show selected. In the example above a blank cell was selected so the "None" action is selected. If you had selected one of the sinks in the above menu the "Insert a block" action would have been selected. If you would like to change the action for the cell select the new action. When the action type for the cell is what you would like it to be press "OK" and you will be taken to the configuration for the action type selected. (If "None" is selected, the above dialog will close and you will be taken back to the menu above) If you have changed the action for a cell (except a change from "None") the following dialog will appear:
Any time you change action for a cell, the type and quantity of information is often very different so you may lose information from the original action type. If the actions are similar as much of the information will be carried across as possible but generally speaking the information from the original action will be lost. You are now taken to the areas that define and configure the action type selected above. Select the action type below for more information.
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Changing the Title of a menuWhen in the "customize" mode the title of the menu will appear in the "Menu title" box.
The current title of this menu is "Elevation Block Library - Toilets". Edit the text for the title as needed. Back to top
Changing the background image for a menuThe background image for a menu is simply a slide taken of a drawing. Most of the time you will be changing or adding to an existing background drawing but should you create any new submenus you may need a new drawing for the background image of your new submenu. Below are some sections that explain various tasks that need to be done to create or modify a background image.
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Adding to or changing an existing background imageThe drawings used to make the default slide backgrounds are included with the software and can be found in the "Support" folder.
These have been included to make it easier for you to add to or modify the existing setup of the block libraries. The filenames for the files are as follows:
Since the drawing names are the same as the slide name for the default slide drawings you can also look in the customization screen for the name of the drawing file to edit for the current menu.
In this example we are in the "Toilets" menu in the ELEVBLKS block library and we pressed the "Customize" button at the bottom of the dialog. When the dialog changes to the customize mode the current slide file being used will appear in the "Slide background file:" box. If the "Use default slide" box is checked it will display the standard file's name inside the parenthesis "APS(ETOIL)" in this case the drawing we would be looking for is "etoil.dwg". If the current menu is not using the default slide file, the path and name of the slide file being used will be displayed. Once you have found the drawing that you would like to edit open it in AutoCAD. Example: We will add a special symbol that designates changes in floor materials to the architectural symbols. The drawing file for the architectural symbols is called "arcsm.dwg" and is in the "Support" folder. Open it in AutoCAD.
It should look similar to the drawing above.
Turn all the layers in the drawing on so that we can see the 8x5 grid. Now we'll decide where to put the new symbol. Since it doesn't really "fit in" with the symbols at the top we'll put it in the bottom right corner.
Zoom in to the cell that you would like to have the new symbol in and draw, insert text, or create some sort of graphic to indicate that this is the floor change symbol. The image that you draw here does not have to be perfect. The goal is to let you know what you will get when you click here. Get creative if you like. For more on adding graphics to a cell see Adding blocks & images to a background slide drawing. It's a little hard to see in the image above, but you may note that we have added a white "X" in the middle of our graphic like those found in many of the other symbols in this drawing. This is to show where the insertion point is for our new symbol. The white X's shown with each symbol are there to help you to understand more about the symbol prior to inserting it. When the symbol shown is simply inserted in the drawing the X shows the insertion point. In the case of leaders (like the keynote symbol) the X lets you know whether the command starts by drawing the arrow first or the symbol (if it starts with the symbol, it shows the insertion point of the symbol). In the case of the section cuts, it shows both that the insertion point is at the center of the "bubble" and that the "bubble" is the first object drawn. With the rectangular area callout command the two X's show you that the rectangle is specified first. And so on... These X's are not required just recommended. Usually the more you know about how something works prior to inserting it the easier it is to insert.
When we zoom back out we see our new symbol relative to the other graphics. Add to, or change any of the other cells as needed and when done save the drawing. You are now ready to create the slide file from this drawing. Go to Making the slide file. Once the slide has been made the command or block that we are adding needs to also be configured to use this cell. This way when you press the new graphic something happens. See Creating or modifying an action for a cell in a menu above. Back to top
Creating a new drawing to be used for a background imageTo create a background slide for a menu you must first create the background drawing. You may do this by copying an existing background drawing and erasing the content or you may create a new drawing from scratch. Here's how to create a background drawing from scratch:
To make the framework for a background drawing start by creating a square (height equal to width). The size you make it does not matter (1"x1" or 25'x25' or whatever) as long as it is a true square.
Next copy the square seven times until you have eight in a row as shown above.
Now copy this row four times up or down until you have a grid measuring 8 x 5. This is the grid used for the menu system. If you don't want to see the grid lines in your background you may want to change the squares to a layer that can be turned off when you create the slide. Now you are ready to add graphics to the cells. See Adding blocks & images to the background slide drawing below. Back to top
Adding blocks & images to the background slide drawingWe will assume that you have your 8 x 5 grid laid out in your drawing (if you are modifying an existing menu background drawing and the grid is not visible turn all of the layers on and it should appear, if there is no grid in your drawing see above). Locate which cell you would like to place the graphic for your block or command and insert or create your graphic for the cell. Most of the time this will mean inserting a block but with some commands or submenus you will need to create a special graphic or use text to show what you will get when you select this cell. This is another area where you may get creative. To see some (very limited) examples of what can be done you may open the drawings used to create the default slide backgrounds in the "...\APS\Support" folder. (This is also where you go to modify any of the default slide background drawings) For this example we will show some of the steps for inserting a block in to our drawing.
Depending on the size of the squares in your background drawing the blocks and images you bring in may be too big or too small.
Since this drawing's sole purpose is to create a background slide file we can scale our images by whatever it takes to fit them in our squares. Scale does not matter here.
The next thing that we can do (and this is optional) is remove some unnecessary detail from the image. Since this is just for the slide background we don't need every little line in our block shown. We can remove some of the detail and the slide file will be smaller and will load quicker. Some even take this to extremes, which is OK since all we are trying to do here is show enough so that you will know which block it is you are going to get. Add blocks in this manner, draw graphics, and/or add text to as many of the 40 cells as is needed. Once all the graphics for your background have been drawn you are ready to make the slide file for your background. See Making Slides for the APS System and then make sure the slide is referenced below in Setting which slide shows in a menu. Back to top
Setting which slide shows in a menu
If you are in one of the menus that has already been set up for you and would like to use the "standard" slide file for the menu check the "Use default slide" box. The correct slide for the menu will be shown. This applies only to the menus that come set up when you install the APS software for the first time. Any other menus must have a slide file defined for them, see below.
For the menus that came set up with the APS software, if you would like to show a background slide other than the "standard" one, UNcheck the "Use default slide" box and "Browse..." for the slide file that you would like to use. For all other menus since there is no "default slide" you must "Browse..." and locate the slide file that you have made for the background for this menu. Back to top |
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button at the bottom of the menu. When this button is pressed the current menu
changes to the "Customize" menu and is divided into it's 40 cells as
shown here:
