We are very excited that our Auto Balloon feature has now landed! With this tool, you will be able to balloon your drawings in seconds, instead of creating each balloon individually.
To gain access to our Auto Balloon tools, please reach out to [email protected].
Auto Balloon Notes
In GroundControl, we have two separate modules for our automated ballooning capabilities.
Auto Balloon Notes is designed specifically with the structure of note sections in mind, specializing it to highly accurately break down a block of notes.
To use Auto Balloon Notes, enable it from the toolbar above your drawing in Form 3.
This will open a side panel with all the tools you need to utilize our Auto Balloon feature.
Navigate to the Notes tab and you will be prompted to select between two options. You can choose whether you would like sub-notes to be captured in the same balloon as the parent note, or if you would like sub-notes to be ballooned separately. Select the right option for your use case and click continue.
If you chose to separate sub-notes, you will also have the option to use whole numbered balloons for sub-notes, or to include them as sub-balloons under the parent balloon.
To start ballooning, simply click and drag over your notes section with the Auto Balloon panel open. Make sure to capture the entirety of the notes section.
It will take a few seconds to process, then your balloons will automatically be placed, and your notes will be parsed and pulled into your Form 3 spreadsheet.
As simple as that, your notes have been ballooned!
Auto Balloon Dimensions
The other Auto Balloon module in GroundControl is used to balloon the dimensions on your drawing. This module is designed specifically to understand the structure of your part diagrams, instead of notes sections.
To use Auto Balloon, enable it from the toolbar above your drawing in Form 3.
This will open a side panel with all the tools you need to utilize our Auto Balloon feature.
When you open Auto Balloon, you will notice that each dimension on your drawing has a balloon outline on it. These are proposed suggestions for dimensions to be ballooned.
With our Auto Balloon tool, we offer suggestions instead of ballooning the whole drawing at once. That way, you can make any necessary edits before applying all your balloons, instead of having to add or delete balloons after the fact.
Every now and then, you will come across some suggestions that are not quite right. In this example, this surface finish was read as two different dimensions.
You can combine the two balloons by selecting them one-by-one, then clicking "Combine".
This will combine the two balloons and their corresponding boxes into one.
If you want to add a balloon to the list of suggestions, you can click the "+" button, and click and drag just like you would when creating a balloon outside of Auto Balloon.
Balloon position and boxes can also be adjusted before finalizing your balloons.
Once you are happy with the suggested balloons, you can now finalize them.
Simply click and drag over the area you want to Auto Balloon, select the order you want them ballooned in, select the starting point of your balloon order, and click Accept.
It will take some time to parse the information in each balloon and transcribe it to your Form 3 spreadsheet. However, you do not have to wait for it to finish before moving on. Feel free to go to the next view on your drawing and Auto Balloon it, and those balloons will be added to the queue to process while you sit back and relax.