Point Offset Label Style AddOns

MoreCompetency released a major Point Offset Label Style update for the Release 8 Framework for Civil 3D 2021 and Civil 3D 2020 Jump Kit Style Libraries. Thousands of useful Point Label Style variants are included and work out of the box to meet the many demands of production work in Civil 3D.

Civil 3D Point Offsets Labeled Your Way

Jump Kit product customers for Civil 3D 2021 and Civil 3D 2020 for both the NCS 6 and AIA flavors may now download the Point Offset Label Style AddOn from the respective download pages.

In-depth Documentation in PDF format for the Label Style Expression Set resources is included with the Point Offset Label Style AddOn download packages.
Register, login and view the on-line Documentation and Help for the new Point Offset Label Style Expression Set tools for Point Labels.

Point Offset Label Style AddOns

The Point Offset Label Style AddOns supply a much-improved Point Offset Label Style library. The new integrated resources of Framework Expression Sets and Point Offset Label Style collections support multiple forms of Point Offset Label Styles with built-in Expression Set based scaled offset and other common rotated results.

What is a Label Style Expression Set?

A collection of Expressions and a managed Label Style library that employs them.

An Expression Set includes one or more collections of Label Style Expressions that work together in a managed and systematic manner to make the productive use of Label Styles easier for Civil 3D users to employ and Civil 3D customizers to manage in production Templates in both classic Civil 3D Templates and Civil 3D Reference Template forms.

Label Style Expression Set Requirements

The Civil 3D Object Model requires we must maintain separate and different Label Style Expression Sets and Label Style collection resources.

All integration practically requires a Label Style Expressions Set tuned and matched to the Civil 3D Feature and Type of Label Style we want to address.

All of the related Label Style Expression Set resources should have consistent naming conventions and Label Style behaviors that can span the many potential Civil 3D Features and span multiple Label Style Types that reference elevation data (for example) and are derived from the standard output of the Civil 3D Feature data behind.

All the supplied Label Style resource Parents and Child Label Styles should honor and obey Civil 3D Label Style Defaults, hierarchy rules, and appropriately resolve Label Style Parent component inheritance in Child Styles.

The Point Offset Label Style AddOn is the latest of many upcoming Label Style Expression Set AddOns and upgrades for the Framework for Civil 3D.

Point Offset Label Style Expression Set AddOn Choice

What if someone managed to help you produce more consistent, robust, adaptive, and standardized Offset Label Styles in Civil 3D?

That might make the annotation of Plan and Profile sheets a whole lot faster and improve readability at the same time. No way. Oh. Yes way.

The Label Style and Expression Set approach is to select from multiple Label Style Library choices exactly what a project demands and still allow for the diverse preference demands of production work, QAQC display requirements, and multiple publishing display representations. Each such selection may differ.

Point Offset Label Style AddOn Resources:

• None of the new resources overwrite or replace any previously supplied resources
• Parent and Child Label Style resources for Existing Point labels
• Parent and Child Label Style resources for Proposed Point labels
• Parent and Child Label Style resources for Current Layer Point labels
• Parent and Child Label Style resources for NoPlot Layer Point labels
• Parent and Child Label Style resources for in-line, split-line, and stacked Label Style formats
• Child Label Styles collections for each supplied Parent Label Style employ
  the 8 standard forms of rotational representations
  in 45-degree increments (0,45,90,135,180,225,270, 315)
• Support for 8 levels of scaled Offset display
• Supplied Parent and Child Label Styles honor Civil 3D Feature and Label Style Type Label Style Defaults, Civil 3D hierarchy rules, and Parent Child component inheritance
• Separate stand-alone +ALWAYS IMPORT OFFSET Expression Set Style resource drawing to easily allow the construction of customized Label Style resource drawings
• Separate Point Offset Expression Set documentation in ASCII text files
• Separate example Point drawings are supplied for testing of Style resources drawings

Framework Expression Set Label Style collections assume most customization will include the standard practice of deleting unwanted Parent and/or Child Styles in production and publishing templates.

Point Offset Label Style Type Codes

Register and see the on-line Documentation and Help >> Labels in Civil 3D section for Label Style Expression Set naming conventions for details.

Point Offset Label Style Conventions

Label Style collection resource drawing names and Label Style names include Condition type (Current, Existing, Proposed, NoPlot), Offset Type and Level name. Many common Point Label Style variants of the above are supplied.

All supplied Label Style collection resource drawings are supplied in the typical Framework Style collection STB format. Label Style resources may be employed in CTB templates and drawings without issues.

The Label Style name convention for NOPLOT versions is intentionally different
(These include a (Qa) and NP separator to make user Label Style identification easier)

Label Style collection supports Point Number, Elevation, and both Raw and Full Description codes in various offset Point Label formats. The Raw and Full Description codes may be based on any customer, client, or project requirements.

The Label Style Layer routing conforms to common Current (CL), Existing (Ex), Proposed (Pr), and NoPlot (Qa) NCS 6.0 Layer Standard Label defaults (e.g. NODE-LABL). These Layer routing defaults also support the AIA large-building layer scheme.

Layer routing for Label Styles can be easily modified and customized to other Layer Standards by the AutoCAD Rename command or by an applied Rename Script.
See the Framework Layer Standards Spreadsheet Tools and help found in the Members section on the website.

Label Styles may be supplied that include visible Markers (-M). These may be employed to reduce the number of Styles assigned to Point Label by setting the Marker Style to <none>.

All Parent Styles may be easily modified to turn OFF Line display in Child Styles. By default, a visible Line is drawn from the insertion point to one end of the Offset Point Label. Stacked Text is employed for Dragged States.

All the supplied Rotated Child Styles employ modified component structure arrangements to produce consistent readability results for those Child Styles that employ one Label Style Text component.
Marker components are employed to location the Label resolution appropriately.
If you copy and edit the Parent Styles, be careful to check and update the structures of the rotated Child Styles for the appropriate behavior and readability.

Offset Expressions

A set of 8 Expressions control the Offset distance from the Point location to the Text component in the supplied Label Style collections.
Adjustments are automatically made for the current Annotative Scale by the Offset Expressions.

The 8 supplied distance adjustment values are based the Golden Ratio (phi) and are therefore a selected list of appropriate Fibonacci numbers.
If you find the values and scaling to be inappropriate, the supplied distance adjustment values can be customized by editing the supplied Offset Expressions,

A choice to employ even or odd numbered Label Styles with Offset Expressions produces two separate three level standards of offset from the entire range.