Page Setup

Creating Metric Drawing Sheets with Imperial Page Sizes

Although imperial measurements remain the prevalent standard in the U.S., a growing number of projects are indeed utilizing metric measurements. This combination of both imperial and metric measurements creates a unique challenge for many architects and engineers. After all we’re taught paper space (layouts) should always be 1:1, yet using a standard imperial paper size

Maximize the Power of Page Setups by Importing

Continuing the topic of using Named Page Setups (started with my last post titled “Name That Page Setup and Win (Save) Money”) to help you more efficiently manage plotting I wanted to take a look at how you might implement their use in the real world. The true versatility in Named Page Setups is found with the ability of importing them from one drawing to another. Here’s a look at how to import page setups from one drawing to another:

Automate Sheet Setup with Named Page Setups

image During my time at Autodesk University 2009 this year, I had the chance to sit down with Heidi Hewett and record some videos for the AutoCAD Exchange.  Among the topics, we discussed were Named Page Setups inside AutoCAD.  Despite their time-saving potential, Named Page Setups seem to be one of those features that’s been in the software forever, and is often overlooked. So if you find yourself overwhelmed with the endless array of plotting options inside AutoCAD, have a look at this quick video.

In the video, I’ll show you ways to capture all the settings inside the AutoCAD PLOT command in a way you can configure the dialog once, and use it again and again. In addition to the time Named Page Setups can save you, they also ensure each of your sheets is setup in exactly the same way; so your title block will plot in the same location on every sheet.

Georeferenced DWF Files

I have come to rely on my power users.  Just the other day one of my power users (Michael Elander) came to me asking about georeferenced DWF’s.  To be frankly honest my knowledge of georeferenced DWF’s really extended no further than a flier I picked up at AU or something on Design Review 2008.  The concept I understood, but how to create one, I just hadn’t invested the time to figure it out.

The whole reason Mike wanted to pursue the topic was because he was asked to share some drawings with a third-party who was not our client.  They needed to be able to reference our drawing, but we didn’t want them to be able to manipulate our drawing.  As many have discovered over the years, locking down a DWG file is easier said than done.  Sure there are some third-party apps out there, but what about the tools we already had installed?

That’s where the idea of the georeferenced DWF came up.  Since AutoCAD 2008 we can Xref a DWF, snap to the linework contained within it, and provided we enable them, turn layers on/off.  Translation: it’s essentially a DWG which the third-party can’t modify – perfect!

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