Tekla Structures – Displaying and hiding objects

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Object visibility The visibility of objects in views depends on the following settings:

•     work area

•     view depth

•     view setup

•     view filter

•     object representation settings

Work area and view depth are like two virtual boxes. Objects which have their center line partially or totally inside both boxes are visible. Newly created objects are visible also outside the view depth but never outside the work area. Redrawing a view only shows the objects inside the view depth (for redrawing)

To define which objects are visible and how they are displayed in a view:

1.    Double-click the view.

2.     In the View properties dialog box, click Display…. The Display dialog box appears.

3.     Set the visibility and representation for different object types and for components.

For information on advanced view settings and different display options, see Display in the online help.

and for information on hiding selected parts, see

To create customized presentation of objects, use object representation settings. For more information on using the Object representation dialog box,

To more precisely define which objects are displayed in a view, use the view filter:

1.    Double-click the view.

2.     In the View properties dialog box, click Object group….

3.     Use the Object Group – View Filter dialog box to define which objects are displayed in the view.
Object representation
Filtering objects
Object representation settings
Use object representation settings to modify the color and transparency of objects in the model view and create customized presentation of defined object groups.

For example, the following images show the same model with different object representation settings:
TEKLA STRUCTURES 14.0 143 Settings and Tools

 

MJ Standard object representation:

f2J Only parts with profile name starting with IPE* or HEA* are visible: /Ts Objects with user-defined attribute Planned erection date set to 01/05/
Topics 2006 are displayed in blue, while all other parts are 90% transparent.

Creating object representation settings

To create new representation settings:

1. Click View > Representation > Object representation….

The Object Representation dialog box has the following buttons:
Button Description

Add row, Delete row

 Use to specify the coloring and visibility of several object groups.
144 TEKLA STRUCTURES 14.0 Settings and Tools
Button Description
Move up, Move down Use to change to order of the rows.

If an object belongs to several object groups, the coloring and visibility of the objects defined on the top row is applied to that object.
Object group Click to open the object group of the selected row in the object group dialog box.
2.     Enter the name of the setting in the text box next to the Save as button and click Save as. The object representation setting is saved in the model’s attributes folder.

3.     Click the Add row button to add a new row.

4.     In the Object group column, select a predefined object group from the list box. OR Select Create new group… to create a new object group.

5.     Select coloring for the objects in the object group, in the Color column.

6.     Select the Transparency setting.

7.     Use the Add row button to add more rows.

8.     Click Save to save the object representation settings.

9.     Click Modify to preview the settings in the views.

10.   Click Apply and OK.
If you click Modify, Apply, or OK, Tekla Structures adds a row All to lowest down, if the object representation settings did not contain the group All.

The default values for row All are Color by class and Visible.

Colors

To define the color of some model objects, click View > Representation > Object representation….

The Color settings are:
Option Description
As is The current color is used.

If the object belongs to one of the object groups defined in the following rows, its color is defined by the settings that the object group in question has on that row.
Colors Select color from the list.
Color by class All parts of the model are colored according to their Class property.
Color by lot Parts belonging to different lots get different colors..
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Option Description
Color by phase Parts belonging to different phases get different colors.
Color by analysis type Displays parts according to the member analysis type. See also Member analysis type in the Analysis Manual.
Color by analysis utility check Displays parts according to the utilization ratio in analysis. See also Viewing analysis results in the Analysis Manual.

Color by attribute

 Displays parts in different colors according to the values of a user-defined attribute.
Transparency

The Transparency settings are:
Option Description
As is The current visibility.

If the object belongs to any object group for which the visibility and color settings have been defined, the settings will be read from that object group.
Visible Object is shown in the views.
50% transparent Transparent in rendered view.
70% transparent
90% transparent
Hidden Does not show in the views.
Object representation files

Tekla Structures saves object representation settings with filename extension *.rep in the current model’s attributes folder.

•      You can copy the object representation setting file to another model’s attributes folder.

•      To make the object representation setting available to all models, copy the file to the system folder.

Tekla Structures searches for the object representation files in the standard search order. For more information, see Folder search order in the online help.

Object groups

Object groups are sets of rules with which you can group objects by selected properties and conditions. Use the object groups:

•      In view filter, to define which objects are displayed in the selected view.

•      In select filter, to define which objects can be selected.

•      In the Object Representation dialog box, to control the transparency and coloring of objects in all views.
146 TEKLA STRUCTURES 14.0 Settings and Tools
Topics • In the Project Status Visualization tool. Creating object groups

To create a new object group:

1.     Click View > Representation > Object Representation… to open the dialog box.

2.     Select Create new group… in the list box in the Object group column, and the Object group – representation dialog box opens.

3.     Enter the name of the object group and click Save as.

•       The object group you create is saved in the model’s attributes folder.

4.     Click Add row to define a rule.

•        Rule is based on selected Category, Property, Condition, and Value.

.

5.     Use the Add row button to add rows for more rules. Use the Delete row and Delete all buttons when needed.

6.     When the set of rules is ready, click Save.

7.     Click Close.

8.     The new object group is shown in the Object representation dialog box.

Object group files

Tekla Structures saves object group representation files with filename extension *.PObjGrp.

Tekla Structures has three different object group types: view filter, selection filter, and object representation. All these use different object group files, so you cannot, for example, use selection filter object groups in the view filter.

Object group filename extensions depend on the purpose the group was created for:
Filenames
Filename extension
Filename exten-sion Created in dialog box
*.PObjGrp Object group – representation
*.VObjGrp Object group – view filter
*.SObjGrp Object group – select filter
File location              Object groups are saved in the current model’s attributes folder.

•     To make an object group available in another model, copy its file to the attributes folder of the destination model.

•     To make an object group available in all models, copy its file to the system folder.

You must restart Tekla Structures to apply the changes.

Tekla Structures searches for the object group files in the default order. For more information, see Folder search order in the online help.
TEKLA STRUCTURES 14.0 147 Settings and Tools
■s A consistent naming policy for created object groups is important, as handling the object group files is done manually in the model, project, firm, and system folders.
Deleting an object group

See also

 To delete an object group, delete the object group representation file located in the attributes folder.

Object group rules

In the object group dialog box, you can add, delete, and modify the rules on which the object group is based.

The object group rules include the following options:
Column Options Description
Checkboxes Select the checkbox to include the row in the rule. By default each new row is disabled.
Parentheses •     empty

•     ( )

•     (( ))

•     ((( )))

 Use parentheses to create nested rules.
Category •     Part

•     Component

•     Bolt

•     Weld

•     Reinforcing bar

•     Assembly

•     Load

•     Object

 Use the Object category with user-defined attributes or, for example, if you need to create a selection filter based on ID numbers.
Property Various properties, depending on the selected category. You can use most of the available properties in the object group rules. All user-defined attributes are selectable too.
Condition Various conditions to define the rules. Numeric, textual, and date properties all have different set of conditions.
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Column Options Description
Value Enter the value manually. Enter the value to define the rule. You can use wildcards in the Value column.
Select from model… Select the value from the model by picking the object.

For example, if you chose Part as Category, and Name as Property, by clicking a part in the model, you get its Name property in the object group rule.
And/Or •      empty (= And)

•      And

•      Or

 Use the And/Or column when you create rules with several rows.

An empty field is the same as if it had the And option selected.
To add a rule:
1.     In the object group dialog box, click Add row.

2.     Select Category from the list box.

3.     Select Property from the list box.

4.    Select Condition.

5.     Enter the value in the Value column, or select the value from the model.

6.     Add more rows and use And/Or column and parentheses to create more complex rules.

Using dates in the object group rules

To use date rules in the object groups:

1.     Open the Object group – representation dialog box and add a row to the group.

2.     Select, for example, Object in the Category column.

3.     Select, for example, user-defined attribute Actual erection date in the Property column.

4.     Select Condition. With date properties, you can use the following conditions:

•       Equals

•       Does not equal

•       Later than

•       Later than or equal

•       Earlier than

•       Earlier than or equal

5.     In the Value column, click Select date… to open the Select date dialog box. The dialog box includes the following options:
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Option Description
Date Select a date from the calendar.
Review date The date defined by the computer running Tekla Structures.

This is the same as Review date in the Project Status Visualization dialog box.
day(s) before the review date Define the number of days before/after the review date.
day(s) after the review date
6. Select the date option and click OK.

Object representation example

In this example, we create a visualization for parts with different value for the user-defined attribute Planned erection date. The parts will have the following colors:

•      Blue if the planned date is earlier than the review date.

•      Green if the planned date is the same as the review date.

•      Yellow if the planned date is one day after the review date.

•      Red if the planned date is two days after the review date. This is how the model looks with standard object representation settings:
To create object representation settings and object groups that define which objects should get the coloring defined above:

1.    Click Setup > Object representation… to open Object representation dialog box.

2.    Name the empty object representation, for example, as plan_test. By default, the object representation dialog box includes an object group All. Do not delete this group, but keep it last in the list.

3.     Click Add row to add a new row.

4.     Select the newly added row, and click Create new group… in the Object group list box. The Object group – representation dialog box opens.
150 TEKLA STRUCTURES 14.0 Settings and Tools
5.    Enter a name for the group, for example, plan_before_review_date.

6.    Click Save as.

7.     Modify the rule. This rule includes objects that have user-defined attribute Planned erection date set earlier than the review date.

•        Select Object in the Category column.

•        Select Planned erection date in the Property column.

•        Select Earlier than in the Condition column.

•        Click Select date… in the Value list box and select Review date in the Select date dialog box and click OK.

8.    Click Save and Close.

9.     In the Object representation dialog box, select blue in the Color list box of the plan_before_review_date row and check that the object group is set to Visible.

Repeat steps 3 to 9 and create three more object groups with different rules:

•       Object group plan_review_date, with the following rule: Object Planned erection date Equals Review date.

•       Object group plan_one_day_after, with the following rule: Object Planned erection date Equals 1 day(s) after the review date.

•       Object group plan_two_days_after, with the following rule: Object Planned erection date Equals 2 day(s) after the review date.
10. When all object groups are created, set the color and visibility of the object groups, in the Object representation dialog box, to be the following:
11.   Select Hidden in the Transparency column for the All object group and check that it is last in the list.

12.  Click Save and Modify. The model is now shown with the defined colors:

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