Creating Annotation Rules

You can create an annotation rule to create annotations automatically during the creation of a view.

You can create the annotation rule from a 3D object or a 2D view, using the knowledgeware script, or using the placement strategies.

This task shows you how to:

Before you begin:

Annotation rule scripting uses the standard EKL (Engineering Knowledge Language). For more information on EKL scripting and knowledge types, see Knowledge Packages and Reference Library: Enterprise Knowledge Language Reference Guide.

See Also
About Annotation Rules
About Placement Strategies

Create an Annotation Rule from a 3D Object

You can create an annotation rule during the creation of a new view from a 3D object.

  1. From the Smart View section of the action bar, click Create View .
  2. In the Smart View Panel dialog box, click the View Update Rule tab.
  3. Click New Annotation Rule to add a new annotation rule.
  4. In the Annotation Rule dialog box, specify the required parameters.

Create an Annotation Rule from a 2D View

  1. From the Smart View section of the action bar, click Create or Edit Rules .
  2. Select a view from the drawing.
  3. In the View Update Rules dialog box, click New Annotation Rule to add a new annotation rule.
  4. In the Annotation Rule dialog box, specify the required parameters.

Note: Annotation rules cannot be created through context menu on a view rule node or from another rule. It cannot be instantiated from the catalog.

Create Annotation Rule Using Object Selection or Knowledgeware Rule

You can create an annotation rule by selecting an object from the view or by using a knowledgeware script.

  1. From the Condition list, select one of the following:
    • Object Selection: Select an object or an item from the generated view.
    • Knowledgeware Rule: Click Editor and add a knowledgeware script.
  2. Under Annotation, select an annotation type from the Type list.
    1. Click Edit next to the list.
    2. In the Annotation dialog box, select a template.
    3. Specify required parameters.
  3. Select a placement strategy.

    Note: This option is available for selection only if the parametric annotation type is selected.

Create an Annotation Rule with a Placement Strategy

You can specify the following placement strategies: Main and Recovery.

Placement strategies are provided only on annotation rules working with parametric annotations.

  1. Under Annotation, select Parametric Annotation from the Type list.
  2. Click Edit to edit the reference annotation.
  3. In the Annotation dialog box, select a template and specify the required parameters.
  4. Under Placement Strategy, from the Main list, select any one of the following:

    • Component Center
    • Outside View
    • Along Item
    • On Item
    • Along Segment
    • Component CoG
    Important: Selecting a main placement strategy is mandatory to finalize the creation of the annotation rule.

  5. Optional: Click Edit to edit the strategy parameters.
    1. In the Placement Strategy dialog box, specify the required parameters.
    2. Optional: Select a success condition and an optimization strategy.

      For more information, see About the No Overlap Success Condition and About the Along Curve Optimization Strategy.

  6. Optional: From the Recovery list, select a strategy.

    Notes:
    • The option selected in the Main list is not available in the Recovery list.
    • Only one main strategy and one recovery strategy is supported.

Note:

While updating a view, the root product is processed to retrieve the children to participate in the 2D and symbol generation. But the root product itself does not participate in the 2D and symbol generation.

For creating annotations, the annotation rule is processed on each object during the symbol generation. As the root product is not called for symbol generation, the annotation rules created on the root product are not processed and annotations are not created.