What format do you issue your drawings in?

[hyposmurf]

When issuing your drawings,what format do you issue your drawings in?For instance DWG DWF OR PDF etc.Do you send the hole package (pack n go) or do you find this just confuses the client too much?Too much data and too much confusion for the client!Also to get a better picture,which indusrty are you in?Enough questions? :)

[f700es]

When issuing your drawings,what format do you issue your drawings in?For instance DWG DWF OR PDF etc.Do you send the hole package (pack n go) or do you find this just confuses the client too much?Too much data and too much confusion for the client!Also to get a better picture,which indusrty are you in?Enough questions? :)

Depends on who is getting it. If non CAD users then .pdf all the way.

[fuccaro]

Yes, for non CAD users PDF. For others: DWG but with a protection. I can not remind where I learned from, but the MINSERT command is great. Open a new DWG and type MINSERT. When prompted point the drawing you want to send. Insert two blocks, for example 2 rows and 1 column, and IMPORTANT: distance between rows = zero. Save the resulted drawing and send it. It is impossible to explode the MINSERT-ed blocks. It is true, others can append new elements to the drawing, but this protection is better than nothing.

[gcp310]

Yeah, PDFs. they look crap on screen,but when you print them out, they look like they were plotted from autocad with all the correct line types and thicknesses.

G

[hyposmurf]

I see I've always looked at a PDF with an AutoCAD drawing in and thought thats awful,not very proffessional!

[hendie]

I always use DWF.
that way the user can manipulate layers if required but can't change my drawing


as an aside:
anyone been having difficulty with cadtutor recently ?
the last couple of times I've been in (including today), the site has been horrendously slow.
I posted a couple of replies this morning and just discovered that they haven't shown up on the forum :?: :?:

[f700es]

I see I've always looked at a PDF with an AutoCAD drawing in and thought thats awful,not very proffessional!

Depends on the settings I guess. If I lower the dpi when I print to a .pdf then it can look "crappy". Never used one of the free .pdf creators but Acrobat usually makes a good looking file. I guess some people don't care about the look of the file as long as the informationh is there. Our engineers are like that, they use about 3-8 different layers and the default font in AutoCAD and their .pdfs look pretty bad as well.

[f700es]

I always use DWF.
that way the user can manipulate layers if required but can't change my drawing


as an aside:
anyone been having difficulty with cadtutor recently ?
the last couple of times I've been in (including today), the site has been horrendously slow.
I posted a couple of replies this morning and just discovered that they haven't shown up on the forum :?: :?:

Seen a few here too. Sometimes the page will not load after clicking on a message and such.

[hyposmurf]

I always use DWF.
that way the user can manipulate layers if required but can't change my drawing


as an aside:
anyone been having difficulty with cadtutor recently ?
the last couple of times I've been in (including today), the site has been horrendously slow.
I posted a couple of replies this morning and just discovered that they haven't shown up on the forum :?: :?:
Yeh Ive been having problems with CADTutor too,I got a critical error message come up 3 times and lost one of my posts.It doesnt seem to be apparent on the main home page just the forum.

[CADTutor]

In my experience, drawing formats for drawings distributed to project team members are agreed at the start of any project and not left to the individual. I would imagine that most project teams will be issuing drawings in 2000 DWG format for a while or until all project team members are able to work with 2004 DWG files.


anyone been having difficulty with cadtutor recently ?
the last couple of times I've been in (including today), the site has been horrendously slow.
I posted a couple of replies this morning and just discovered that they haven't shown up on the forum :?: :?:

I'm following up your comments. There have been some problems with the host server recently and they're obviously not yet sorted out.

[Flores]

I issue drawings via PDF. This way, I can send drawings over the internet without problems, and almost everyone can open PDF's and doen't need to install new software since most computers already have it. If not, we send them hard-copies. We never send them the .dwg's though.

Flores

[fuccaro]

Flores
You never worked for clients expecting the DWG file? I assume that Fort Worth is a wonderfull place!

[f700es]

Flores
You never worked for clients expecting the DWG file? I assume that Fort Worth is a wonderfull place!

I don't know...I have been turned down a few times trying to get CAD files of existing buildings. They (suppliers/owners/etc..) are more than wiling to deliver hard copies but they feel that the .dwgs will put them in some legal jeapordy so they refuse. It does not happen often but it happens.

[Flores]

Flores
You never worked for clients expecting the DWG file? I assume that Fort Worth is a wonderfull place!
Very rarely have we given dwg's to clients, only to partners who help us when the load gets too heavy. It is usually a hardcopy, but this has bitten us in the butt before because we have had subcontractors build projects for us, and whenever we ask for the dwg, we only get a printed copy. Some even charge extra for the drawing and call the charge a "drawing package."

Flores

[Bloke]

Yes, for non CAD users PDF. For others: DWG but with a protection. I can not remind where I learned from, but the MINSERT command is great. Open a new DWG and type MINSERT. When prompted point the drawing you want to send. Insert two blocks, for example 2 rows and 1 column, and IMPORTANT: distance between rows = zero. Save the resulted drawing and send it. It is impossible to explode the MINSERT-ed blocks. It is true, others can append new elements to the drawing, but this protection is better than nothing.

Excellent tip fuccaro - every little helps, especially when working on older versions of AutoCAD.

[andywilliams]

I usually issue drawings as DWG. We use AutoCAD 2004 but have had to set it to save drawings as 2000 as no-one else we use has got it. PDF files go to people without CAD. Sub-contractors get issued the drawing in hardcopy form.

We have had an instance where we wanted a DWG and the client has tried to charge us for it, all we did was phone round the other contractors of the job and got it of them instead.

[hyposmurf]

Fair enough charging for the drawing,its still a comodity,but its still quite shocking as you normally don't expect that and most companies wouldnt allow for that in their fees.Probably likely to put alot of people working for a client if they are that tight fisted :).