Standards

[chulse]

Anyone care to discuss standards?
Post your work?

I am currently a solo act in a large company just beginning to create cad products. Looking forward, I need to create a set of standards. We work with civil land plans provided by others to create "Tree Preservation Plans" for government review. So as you can imagine I am always struggling with the multitude of ways varoius firms work.

Any thoughts? :lol: :lol: :lol:

Thanks for the insight...

[ZenCad1960]

I work for a large Civil firm. There has been much debate over the national cad standards actually becoming a reality. Some firms have moved in that direction already. Our firm is not one of them. I can certainly understand the need for them in certain circumstances but not in civil for the most part.

Our philosophy is following the concept of KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid). What is the one gripe heard by most CAD Managers when it comes to Standards? The biggest one I have experienced in the few firms I have managed was how cryptic the layering system was. You have to have a code book. I am sure the intentions were good , and I am also sure this was born out of the old school way because of the limitations of layer name sizes. Why any firm that doesn't have to stick with this is still using this 'old school' concept is beyond me.

When you hire someone, what is the immediate goal for that employee? Get them up and running as fast as possible to minimize the learning curve, right? So why not generate your layer name conventions to make this nothing if not simple to understand? If the person you hired is a CAD Guru, then learning a new layering system is not even a concern. If this is a new EIT or new cad tech, then you can rest assured that the layer naming conventions are NOT the reason they are slow to begin with. It is more focused on the discipline in which you work.

Don't even get me started on palette. These are a great way to introduce and enforce standards all the while the techs and designers love the fact they can really fly on drawing if they use your custom company palettes...but that is another thread for another time....

Just my 2 cents worth.

[rustysilo]

I agree. Keep it simple. I've seen many a file with some really strange layering conventions that really just don't make much sense at all.
Use whatever standard you find is most efficient for your use.