Customize Pipe Labels and Pipe Sleeve Labels
- Pipe Label Customization: Overview
- Lasso or No Lasso
- Background Mask (Default) or No Background Mask
- Using Our Old Label Styles Without Background Masks or Text Boxes
You have several options for customizing your lateral and mainline pipe size labels, as well as your pipe sleeve labels.
We've updated all pipe and sleeve labels to be multileaders (Mleaders), so the labels are created on the fly in each drawing. More information on MLeaders
Pipe Label Customization: Overview
Our default pipe and sleeve labels consist of four parts:
- A lasso, which functions like the leader and arrow in our other callouts
- A number
- A unit marker (such as " to indicate inches)
- A background mask
We offer a global selection for whether your pipe labels have a lasso, an option that's available in the Irrigation Preferences.
Lasso or No Lasso
You can decide whether you want your labels to include a lasso that points to the pipe. This feature is available from the Irrigation Preferences.
If you want your pipe labels to have a lasso, select the Pipe callout lasso option under Pipe Size Options in the Irrigation Preferences.
If you select this option, pipe labels you place in the future will have a lasso, as pictured to the left.
If you do not want your pipe labels to have a lasso, leave the Pipe callout lasso box unchecked.
If you select this option, pipe labels you place in the future will not have a lasso, as pictured to the left.
Background Mask (Default) or No Background Mask
By default, our pipe labels come with a background mask (or text box), as pictured to the right. The mask gives your labels extra legibility when placed within ojects such as hatches.
Don't want your pipe labels to have a mask or text box, as in the example to the left? Follow our steps to use the old label styles without a background mask or text box.
Using Our Old Label Styles Without Background Masks or Text Boxes
Our software pulls our updated label styles automatically unless an older style has already been defined in a drawing. The quickest way to use the old label styles is to download them using the link below and save them into the system.
Download and Define the Old Label Style
1. Right-click the download link below, select Save as or Save target as from the menu, and save the file to a location where you can find it easily, such as your desktop or Downloads folder.
2. You'll now have a zip file named LAFX-PIPE-ANNO-NOMASK.zip in the location where you downloaded it. Double-click that file to unzip it.
Right-click this file, and select Extract all from the menu that opens. Extract the folder to your desktop.
3. Locate the extracted folder on your desktop, and open it. You'll see three items inside: a DWG file of our old label style's source block, as well as corresponding XML and SLD files.
Copy these three items into the folder LandFX\Blocks\discipline_graphics\95-user_defined.
Your LandFX folder won't have a specific folder for pipe labels. We recommend using the User Defined section of our Discipline Graphics library because it's a good central location for blocks you've customized that don't fit anywhere else. Want to customize the old label style further? You can do so by opening the source block file in this location and making your edits there.
Don't have a 95-user-defined subfolder within the discipline_graphics folder? Just open our Discipline Graphics tool and place any block from the User Defined section in any drawing. The folder will download automatically.
You can then delete the block you just placed.
4. Now that you've saved the source file for our old label style in the folder LandFX\Blocks\discipline_graphics\95-user_defined, that style will need to be defined in a drawing before the system will recognize it as the label style to use when you size your pipes.
In a drawing where you plan to use these label styles, open our Discipline Graphics tool and place the PIPE-ANNO-NOMASK block from the User Defined section.
You can choose to place this block in:
- Your drawing template, which will define it automatically in any drawing you create based on that template (recommended), or
- In each new drawing you create where you plan to use the old label style
The old style will be defined in the drawing, and the system will use it each time you size your pipes or place a pipe label or pipe sleeve label.
What if you've already labeled a plan using the updated label style but you want to use the old style? Here's what to do.
Use the Old Label Style in a Plan You've Already Labeled
If you've already sized the pipes or labeled pipe sleeves in a drawing, the label style you see is the one that's been defined in that drawing.
The example to the right shows a label with the updated style, which includes a background mask and text box.
If you want to use the old label style in a drawing where the pipes are already labeled, you have two options:
1. Delete all pipe labels and pipe sleeve labels from your plan.
2. Type PRG in the Command line and press Enter.
This step will purge the updated label style from your drawing.
3. If you haven't already, follow our steps to download and define our old label style.
4. Use our Discipline Graphics tool to place the old label style in the drawing that contained the updated label style.
5. Size your lateral pipe and mainline pipe again. If you've labeled pipe sleeves, label them again.
The labels will follow the old style, without background masks.
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If you don't want to delete the labels for the pipes and pipe sleeves in this drawing, you can also modify the block for each label size you've used.
1. Select a pipe or pipe sleeve label you want to edit.
We'll remove the box from a pipe sleeve label for this example, but these same steps apply to lateral and mainline labels as well.
2. Type BEDIT in the Command line and press Enter.
3. Select the label style in the Edit Block Definition dialog box.
In our example, we'll select the style LAFX-SLVE-I2.5 for the 2 1/2-inch sleeve we want to change.
4. Select the MText in the label box, then open the Properties panel by typing PROP in the Command line and pressing Enter.
5. In the Properties panel, change the Text frame option to No.
6. Close the Block Editor, and save the changes.
Each label with that same size will be updated. Repeat these steps for each label size block you have in your drawing.
Don't want to have to complete these steps in every new drawing? Follow our steps to download and define the old label style.
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