Customizing Irrigation F/X

(note: The following catalog of content in this webinar is time stamped to allow you to follow along or skip to sections of the video that are relevant to your questions. You can also search for content on this page using the FIND command in your browser (CTRL + F in Windows, Command + F in Mac OS).

 

Contents:

• Intro/TOC
• Customizing Irrigation F/X
• Customizing Schematic Irrigation
• Customizing Valve Callouts
• Color Conversion
• Irrigation Defaults and Features
• Adding Custom Spray Symbols
• Customizing a Drip Hatch

 

0:00 – 2:30 Intro, TOC

 

2:31 – 6:40 Customizing Schematic Irrigation

Accessing the Schematic Irrigation feature by clicking the Schematic Irrigation button in the Irrigation preferences (2:40)

 

Why use Schematic Irrigation? To develop estimates of numbers such as costs and flow totals (2:55)

• Adding custom fields to the Schematic Irrigation Zones dialog box (3:10)
• Click the New button in the Schematic Irrigation Zones dialog box
• Select a color in the HATCH TRUECOLOR IRRIGATION dialog box
• Add information such as Title, Notes, Precipitation Rate, Pressure, and Cost in the New Schematic Irrigation Zone dialog box
• Clicking the OK button creates the new Schematic Irrigation zone, or area

 

Placing the new custom Schematic Irrigation area (4:30)

• Draw a closed area in the drawing, such as a rectangle or closed polyline
• Click and highlight the new custom area in the Schematic Irrigation Zones dialog box
• Click the closed area in the drawing to place the schematic area

Note: Custom Schematic Irrigation areas created in Imperial units will not show up in Metric. This is because Schematic Irrigation classes will only apply to the preference set of the project. (5:10)

 

Question: Do I have to choose a color for my schematic area? (6:00)

Answer: No, you don’t. You can also assign it a hatch pattern.

 

6:40 – 15:05: Customizing Valve Callouts

In Irrigation Preferences, click the Valve Callout box to open the Valve Callouts dialog box. (6:53)

 

The Valve Callouts dialog box shows the available valve callouts. (7:00)

 

Accessing the valve callouts using Windows Explorer (7:10)

• Navigate to Computer > LandFX > Blocks > Graphics > Callouts
• The valve callouts are listed in this folder with filenames that start with VALVECO
• Open a valve callout file by double-clicking it. The valve callout will appear in your open AutoCAD drawing.

 

Adding a screenfill to the back of a valve callout (8:00)

• Create a new layer in the Layer Manager (click the New button)
• Specify a color for the layer, and make the layer active
• Draw a closed line or polyline around the perimeter of the callout (not necessary, but helpful in ensuring you are working in the correct layer)
• Type HATCH in the Command line to open the Hatch and Gradient dialog box
• Select a hatch or solid color, then click the Add Select Objects button
• Click the perimeter of the valve callout or closed polyline, then press the Enter key to fill the valve callout perimeter with the color or hatch you selected.
• Finally, send the color or hatch behind the text in the valve callout by selecting the colored or hatched area, typing DRAWORDER in the Command line, then selecting Back.
• Zoom Extents, then save the custom valve callout by pressing CTRL + S

 

A valuable shortcut for editing the remaining valve callouts by giving them the same screenfill (10:10)Type HATCHGENERATEBOUNDARY in the Command line to ensure the hatch from the custom valve callout’s screenfill has a boundary

• Select both the boundary and the fill, the press the keys CTRL + SHIFT + C to copy from a basepoint
• Select a common basepoint
• Open another valve callout from Windows Explorer as described above
• Click the same basepoint on the valve callout you just opened
• Paste the screenfill by pressing CTRL + V
• Send the screenfill behind the textin the valve callout by selecting the colored or hatched area, typing DRAWORDER in the Command line, then selecting Back.
• Save the valve callout.

 

Finding out the type of valve a callout is specifying by creating an Attribute Definition (11:45)

• Type ATTDEF in the Command line to open the Attribute Definition dialog box
• Type “VALVE TYPE?” in the Prompt field
• Click OK. The word TYPE will appear in the drawing. Place it off to the side of the valve callout.
• Ensure that the word TYPE is on the same layer as the text in the valve callout.
• Save the callout.

 

Suggestion:If you do not want to use the default Land F/X valve callouts, we recommend editing an existing valve callout rather than creating your own. The files are already there, so you can just save over the filenames. It’s simply easier. (13:30)

 

Question:Can I scale valve callouts and make them smaller/larger? (14:30)

Answer:Yes. Just be careful to scale them relative to the insertion point.

 

15:06 – 22:07: Color Conversion

Copying a valve several times in the drawing (15:15)

Checkboxes for Color code sized pipe and Pipe callout lasso in Irrigation Preferences (15:28)

Placing spray heads in the drawing (15:40)

Drawing and sizing pipe with the Color code sized pipe andPipe callout lasso options checked (16:30)

• Note that when we size the pipe that the pipe appears in a couple of different colors and is referenced by pipe callout lassoes (17:30)

 

Placing equipment and drawing pipe with the Color code sized pipe andPipe callout lasso options unchecked (17:50)

• Note that when we size the pipe that the pipe appears only in magenta and is not referenced by pipe callout lassoes (18:50)

Changing the size of the pipe using the View Data button on the F/X Irrigation ribbon (19:28)

• When we change the size of pipe drawn with the Color code sized pipe and Pipe callout lasso options checked, the pipe’s color changes and the number in the callout lasso also changes to suit the new size. (19:48)

 

Note: Even pipes that appear in different colors in Model Space will still plot in the same color. (20:24)

 

Location of the list of Land F/X Irrigation Line Colors: LandFX > Administration > LFX Pens (20:50)

 

22:08 – 26:35: Irrigation Defaults and Features

Metric Flow and Pressure Units options in the Irrigation Preferences (22:18)

 

Schedule Defaults (accessed by clicking the Schedule Defaults button in the Irrigation Preferences, which opens the Irrigation Schedule dialog box) (22:31)

• Overview of the possible settings in the Irrigation Schedule dialog box. These settings determine the information that will appear in the Irrigation Schedule, which prevents the need to specify each setting each time we generate a schedule (22:37)

 

Pipe Data Defaults (accessed by clicking the Pipe Data Defaults button in the Irrigation Preferences, which opens the Pipe Data dialog box) (23:07)

• The Lateral Line Pipe Category and Mainline Pipe Category pull-down menus in the Pipe Data dialog box allows you to specify the different types of lateral and mainline on a project. (23:10)
• The Minimum Lateral Size and Minimum Mainline Size pull-down menus allow you to set a minimum lateral and mainline size, respectively, for a project. (23:30)
• The Size List buttons, available for both lateral and mainline in the Pipe Data dialog box, allow you to add and remove lateral and mainline pipe sizes to/from the project. (23:43)

 

Using the Command line to switch between the sizes of pipe to lay when drawing lateral and mainline (24:00)

• Typing C to switch pipe Classes, or Categories when drawing lateral line (24:30), and …
• … when drawing mainline (25:45)

 

26:36 – 48:09: Adding Custom Spray Symbols

The primary turf spray and shrub spray symbols – listed under Spray Symbols in the Irrigation Preferences (27:00)

 

Overview of spray symbol families, shown in the dialog box that opens when we highlight one of these symbols and click the Edit button (27:10)

 

Location of the irrigation spray symbols:LandFX > Blocks > Graphics > Irrigation > spray (27:15)

• Note: If you don’t see the spray folder, it’s because Land F/X does not automatically install with the irrigation spray symbols (they have an excessively large file size and thus take up too much space to allow for a quick and smooth download). (27:32)

 

If you don’t have the above-mentioned folder and want to add the spray symbols to Land F/X, select the Check for Updates option from the F/X Admin menu, or, on any of the ribbons, click the down-facing arrow beneath the Help button and select the Update option from the pull-down menu. (27:40)

• If you select this option and subsequently see a dialog box that tells you that you have the latest version of Land F/X, it will also ask, “Would you like to view a list of recovery options?” Click the Yes button. (28:00)
• The Restore Options dialog box will open. Check the box next to Installs default library of irrigation blocks, overwriting any existing files. Then click the OK button. (28:05)
• ThePassword dialog box. The password for the irrigation blocks is evilmonkey. (Type evilmonkey in the dialog box and click the OK button.) The irrigation symbols will download to your computer, which will take 2 to 3 minutes. (28:14)

 

Back in the spray folder (LandFX > Blocks > Graphics >Irrigation > spray), note the list of files. These are the files of all the irrigation spray symbols. (28:59)

 

Locating the list of irrigation symbols in the Land F/X documentation (either go to Landfx.com/docs or go to Landfx.com and select the Documentation option under the Support tab). (29:20)

• To access the symbol list, select Customize Land F/X > Customize Irrigation > Irrigation Symbols > Irrigation Symbols: Basics (note: We are constantly updating the Land F/X documentation. This is the location of the irrigation symbol list as of September 2014.) (30:28)
• Find, and click the link http://landfx.com/shadow/administration.irrigation%20symbols.dwg – the first link in the text on this page. (Note:This filename may change as we update the irrigation symbol library.) This action will download the file containing the list of Land F/X irrigation symbols. (30:38)
• Open this file with F/X CAD. We encourage you to save and print this drawing for reference. (31:02)
• The blue text above to each symbol is the filename of that symbol. To access that symbol’s file, find the corresponding filename in the spray folder. Open the file to access the raw  .dwg drawing containing the drawing of the symbol as well as that symbol’s data. (31:50)

 

A reminder: If you want to edit a symbol or create your own, we recommend saving over an existing Land F/X symbol rather than creating a new one.(33:08)

 

Note: Land F/X irrigation symbols are always drafted in inch units as they will appear in Paper Space.Therefore, always draft your irrigation symbols how you would like them to appear in Paper Space. (33:30)

 

Editing an existing spray symbol (33:50)

• Open a new drawing, and place a spray symbol to see how it appears in the drawing. (34:00)
• Open the Irrigation Preferences and find the slides under Irrigation Symbol Scaling. Use these slides to scale the symbol. In this case, slide the Spray Heads slide to your desired scale. (example: 2.0, or twice the original size) (34:15)
• Click the OK button, then place the symbol again. The symbol will appear in the new scale you’ve just set – in this case, twice its original size. (34:25)
• Place the symbol at different scales, open Paper Space, and plot/print. This will allow you to see the actual size at which the symbol will print. (34:50)

 

Note: We recommend printing each sheet of irrigation symbols for a quick reference.(36:20)

 

Note: In Land F/X – and in block creation in general – it’s always easier to edit and save over an existing block rather than creating a new one. This is because, in general, the insertion points and other technical specs have already been created for you. This will save you time and eliminate confusion.(36:59)

 

Family X– the user-defined family of irrigation symbols (37:20)

• The existing irrigation symbols have the same general size. We recommend staying close to this size when creating your custom symbols. (37:30)
• Note that all Family X symbols point to the right. This is because some of these symbols rotate and others do not. When creating your custom symbols, remember to always face them to the right (due east). (38:05)

 

Opening and editing a symbol file (39:00)

• Deleting the non-plot layer containing the text (39:25)
• Setting a layer as active, then performing the edits (39:30)
• Saving the edited symbol by pressing CTRL + S keys (40:38)

 

Note: When you edit a symbol to customize it, you will nothave to edit the same symbol as it appears in the Irrigation Schedule. However, if you do want to edit the schedule symbols for a symbol you’ve edited, you can follow the yellow dashed line from that symbol in the symbol list drawing to find the 5 to 7 corresponding Schedule symbols. You can then edit the files with these names if desired. (41:00)

 

Selecting a family for the customized symbol (43:30)

• Open Irrigation Preferences (43:30)
• Go to the Spray Symbols list, and select the symbol you just edited and saved (in our example, Turf Spray), then click the Edit button. (43:35)
• The dialog box showing the symbol families will appear. Select the User Defined family. (43:40)
• Click the OK button in the Irrigation Preferences dialog box. (43:50)

 

To update the symbol to respect your new preferences, you’ll need to open the Irrigation Manager, delete the piece of equipment it represents, then add that piece of equipment to the project again. You may also want to use the PURGE command (type PRG in the Command line) to purge any existing blocks from the project. You can also start a new project. (44:30)

 

Specifying and placing the customized symbol (45:20)

 

Note:We’ve provided the above steps for a spray head, but you can also perform the same customization steps on equipment such as valves. (46:06)

 

Demonstration of calling out a piece of customized equipment (46:30)

 

48:10 – end: Customizing a Drip Hatch

(Note:The following instructions show the correct steps for this process, updating the steps in the webinar.)

 Type DELETEHATCH in the Command line.

• In the HATCH DETAIL dialog box, select the hatch you want to edit and customize. Click the OK button. The hatch will be deleted.
• Draw a closed bounding line, and place a hatch to overwrite (in most cases, a solid hatch) within that line. (50:05)
• Select the Save Hatch function, then select the hatch. (50:55)
• The Save Hatch As dialog box will appear. Select the DRIP option, then click the OK button. (51:02)
• In the dialog box that appears, give the hatch a name IN ALL CAPS, and click the OK button.  (51:05)