Catalog reference for fixture group, group leading

Since PLANBAR 2020 there has been a Group leading option for defining non-dynamic fixture groups. In a non-dynamic fixture group with the Group leading option, all fixtures in Allplan are active together. They are no longer deleted or moved individually. All related fixtures are deleted, moved, etc. All fixtures belonging to the group are linked to the same element and, if applicable, to the same precast element layer, even if individual parts lie geometrically in another precast element or another layer.

The new version Allplan 2023 how also offers the option to individually assign a catalog reference to group definitions. As a result, it is possible to evaluate and treat the group itself as a fixture. The individual parts can then, depending on the setting, also be evaluated or omitted. Since the fixtures of a leading group are always linked to a single layer, even if they lie geometrically in another layer, it is not possible to calculate the respective page (S1, S2, U1, …) and this is no longer written for those fixtures.

• If a non-dynamic fixture group with the Group leading option is installed without reference to an entry in the Fixture catalog, all fixtures of the group are linked to the leaf in which the reference point lies. Geometrically, however, they lie in different leaves. The surface labels in the table on the element plant are created in the leaf to which the fixtures are linked. Since the group definition has no fixture reference here, the individual fixtures continue to be handled as before.
• If the non-dynamic fixture group with the Group leading option assigns a reference to an entry in the Fixture catalog, this affects the labeling in the table on the element plan. Now the name of the group is written first before the fixtures contained in the group.
  
  If individual parts of the group are not listed in the table, this must be adjusted in the Fixture catalog. The Surface labels in the table option on the Element Plan 1 tab must be disabled on the corresponding parts.
  
  If a dynamic fixture group appears several times with the Group leading option, the number of groups is summed accordingly and written to the table on the element plan. The number of fixtures contained in the group is, however, only written by one group. Groups are combined when all components of the group, which are displayed in the table, are identical. If only the group is displayed (without the individual components), only the groups are compared. If only one component of the group is displayed, the group and the components are compared.

A dynamic fixture group with the Group leading option is listed in the List Generator in addition to the parts of the group (according to the settings in the Fixture catalog). In other words, the group and the individual components are recorded in the lists. If multiple elements exist, both the groups and the individual parts are summed, unlike in the element plan. If individual parts have no catalog reference, these are not listed. This is the simplest way of suppressing individual parts in the lists. However, the results may be unwanted in other modules.

Note: If individual components or the entire group are not listed - in the Fixture catalog on the Logging tab in the Logging group for Invoicing Customer and/or Invoicing Factory - a Logging formula can be used that returns 0 as the result when calculating the value for the individual fixture. As a result, the parts without effects on other modules can be filtered accordingly.

Attention: Since structuring of the outputs is not planned in any of the returned standard lists, the output occurs on one plane and possibly in another sequence. This is justified by the fact that the fixtures are sorted by list and therefore no longer have any correlation. Moreover, fixtures are also recorded separately by type on the lists (symbol, line or surface fixture or formula fixture).

If a catalog reference is saved with the Group leading option for a non-dynamic fixture group, only the group is still transferred as the individual fixture when creating the production data with Production Data, NC Generator in the file for the NC generator and the PXML file. However, this fixture can display multiple geometries depending on the settings in the Fixture catalog on the Production tab.

• Only the geometric attributes are evaluated on selected parts of the group, such as how the individual part is to be presented (Presentation such as CAD Foil, replacement symbol, etc.).
• All other settings such as Consider projection or Additional information depend on the catalog reference of the group
• If an individual part has no catalog reference or if Create fixture data = no has been set, the geometry is “passed” to the group.
• When choosing a substitute symbol and selecting Calculate max. expansion, only the geometry of the part is considered for each part of the group. If a substitute symbol is set for the entire group, however, and Calculate max. expansion is set, the min-max box of all parts is taken into account.
• The No - Presentation such as CAD Foil option is only possible on individual parts. If this option is set for the group, data is presented by 3D solids of the transferred geometries of the parts (if applicable).
• A reference point of all parts with the lowest XY coordinates, as a reference point for the group.

Non-dynamic fixture groups with the Group leading option, which are exported in link with precast elements in the IFC, are exported automatically as IfcElementAssembly. The ifcElementAssembly is automatically given the list text set in the catalog as the name. The attributes written on the group fixture are exported to this assembly. The fixtures installed in the group are output in the IFC also as parts of the assembly.

Note: For the special scenario of an Iso basket as a non-dynamic fixture group with the Group leading option, nothing has been changed for reasons of compatibility. This means that here no catalog reference to the group definition should be saved, as special treatment occurs in the annotations for the Iso basket, which would no longer pass.

Should you have any further questions on this, please contact your personal sales engineer or our technical support team in Puch.