Level Defaults

Used to set default reinforcement levels to section bars, stirrups, range bars and annotations.

Accessed from:

Ribbon: Concrete > Drawing Production > Rebar Defaults > Level Defaults

The Level Defaults control the levels on which you create new reinforcing elements - for example, main bar elements, bar labels and dimensions. Items beneath each of the three Tabs require you to input level names and other parameters associated with level symbologies and settings etc.

Reinforcement Tabs

Select either the Rebar – Top or Rebar – Btm tabs and the Level Defaults selection changes - similar to the one shown below. This category of levels is devoted to the reinforcing bar elements created during a detailing session. Of course, new elements are only created in the Master File. A reference file selection is invalid and not available.

2D Rebar defines a Layer as a bar attribute specifying the level, the label abbreviation and symbology used for the bar.

Note: There are three groups of levels assigned to new reinforcement elements, each of them enclosed by a Group Box – Default, Top/Near Face, and Bottom/Far Face which is located in the 2nd reinforcement tab, Rebar - Btm. While each group is associated with a specific set of reinforcement "layers", the layering convention is purely arbitrary. In fact, there are no rules whatsoever concerning how the 25 reinforcement layers are used. You could even elect to use just one level for all reinforcement, i.e. assign all 25 layers to the same level. You can place top reinforcement in the default layer or bottom layer group if you wish, or vice versa.

Layer Label

As well as the Level number (which appears in the left-hand column), each Layer also has an associated Label. The Label field accepts a text string of one or more letters (or numbers) you might want to include in the bar label. For example, if you were to assign a bar to the first layer in the Top/Near Face group (shown above), the layer label would appear as A in the label you attach to the bar during bar placement. You must include the Preset Text code $LL in the bar label text for the layer label to appear (refer to sections ??? for further information regarding Preset Text codes). Then later, if you moved the bar to Layer 2 in the Top Face group, the bar label text would immediately update to include B instead.

Layer Symbology

The third item assigned to each bar Layer is Symbology. The color, line style and line weight of a bar is normally defined in the Main Bar Defaults dialog box. In using Main Bar Defaults, you control the color, weight and style of your reinforcement independently of the level symbology you might predefine in Level Manager dialog. 2D Rebar ignores level symbology settings when the Symbology toggle button is off (unchecked). As soon as you activate the toggle, reinforcement assigned to that Layer inherits the symbology specified in the Level Symbology tables. Bars appear with the color, weight and style of the level the next time they are redrawn.

Although other Layers may use the same level, 2D Rebar controls the application of Layer symbology.

Note: By definition, the Overrides option within the Level Symbology dialog indicates whether or not OpenBridge Modeler applies the color, line or style specified in the table. In other words, you normally need to check the Override options before they take effect on your drawing. When Bentley Rebar reads the table, it ignores these override settings. It is not necessary for them to be activated for the settings to be applied.

Listing Layers

The Levels Defaults dialog box sets up the attributes for all layers you might call upon within the current DGN. You select the actual reinforcement layer on which a bar resides during placement of the bar. Although you can define as many as 25 layers, this number of layers may not always be required. In the Level Defaults dialog box above, the List toggle button disables those Layers not required. If the toggle button is ON (checked), the Layer is available for selection. If the toggle is OFF, the Layer can never be selected while placing a bar. Note the Default Layer is always active.

On the Misc. Tab you have the Bar Annotation group which relates to levels on which bar label lines and text is placed. Three options are available within the Mode pull-down menu:

Use Default Annotation Level ONLY
Use Default, Top, Bottom Annotation Levels
Use Related Reinforcement Levels

The level input field named Default is activated when you select Use Default Annotation level ONLY. All reinforcement label elements are created on this level.

All three Bar Annotation levels are active when Use Default, Top, Bottom Annotation Levels is selected. In this mode, reinforcement labels are created on the level corresponding to the layer on which the main bar elements are assigned. For example, if a bar is placed on any of the five Top/Near Face levels (described in the previous Section), its labels are automatically assigned to the Top Layer annotation level. If you place a bar on any of the Bottom/Far Face layers, the labels are created on the Bottom Layer annotation level.

The third option Use Related Reinforcement Levels forces label elements to be assigned to the same level the main bar reinforcement is placed on. In this case all three input fields are inactive – the level numbers are obtained from those specified in the Reinforcement Tab of the Level Defaults dialog.

Key-in: REEBAR LEVELDEFS

Active Reinforcement Levels

You may require different types of reinforcement to be placed on different reinforcement Layers (which might related to separate levels). For example, normal section reinforcement (bars you detail in a Section view - 2, 3, 4 legged bars etc) might be placed on the Default Layer. On the other hand, you might normally save bar ranges to Layer 1 of the Top/Near Face layer group. During the course of a detailing session, you could set the current Layer for a bar many times as you moved back and forth across the drawing, switching from section bar placement to bar range placement.

To minimize the effort required to set and reset the bar Layer, the Level Defaults dialog box provides three options in the Active Reinforcement Levels group box. Each pull-down menu sets the default Layer used for Section Bars, Stirrups/Ties and Bar Ranges respectively. The Layer selection is installed automatically as placement as each new bar is created. Of course, from that moment, you can interactively change the Layer setting (in the Level Attributes dialog) if required.