Asset Tags and Annotations

It is common practice in industry to assign an identifier or "brass tag" to a corporate asset. Inventor Factory provides the ability to assign such a tag using the Asset Tag command. An asset tag is applied to a published asset or an imported model/assembly after it has been placed into a 3D factory layout. The asset tag is represented with this icon

Inventor Factory also provides the ability to add a descriptor using the Descriptor command when authoring and publishing an asset in the Asset Builder environment. A descriptor can contain additional information about an asset; such as type, part number, flow rate, etc. A descriptor is represented with this icon . To learn more, see the Inventor Factory Help topic: Annotations - Descriptors.

Both asset tags and descriptors can contain multiple lines of alphanumeric text and their visibility may be toggled on or off. The Search command helps you locate all assets or placed components with specific asset tag or descriptor character strings.

Set the annotation text font, height, and placement options on the Annotations tab of the Factory Options dialog box. For more information, see the Inventor Factory Help topic: Set factory options.

What happens to asset annotations in AutoCAD Factory?

Once a 3D layout is synced to AutoCAD Factory, annotations appear as block attributes in a separate text style called Factory_Annotation. The asset tag and descriptor are each assigned their own separate AutoCAD layer. The layer names are Factory_AssetTag and Factory_Descriptor, respectively.

You can use the standard AutoCAD block attribute editing commands like EATTEDIT, -ATTEDIT, and BATTMAN to edit the asset annotations. Control the visibility of the annotations with the ATTDISP command, or by turning layer visibility on/off or freezing the appropriate attribute layer. Use the FIND command to help you locate asset tag and descriptor text in the AutoCAD graphics window.

Note: For more information about syncing to AutoCAD and other Factory Design Suite workflows, see the Inventor Factory Help topic: Suite Workflows.

What happens to asset annotations in Navisworks Factory?

Asset annotations in Navisworks Factory use the same icons as Inventor. You can change the icon visibility from the Factory tab. Click the Quick Properties icon on the Home tab to display the annotation information when the cursor is over the asset.