CAD Management- Space planning help? Sarah

[sgrant]

Hi,

I need some help and advice in setting up CAD standards/ cad management from scratch for a furniture/ space planning company.

Does anyone have any sample space planning CAD standards, blocks, drawing templates, conventions etc.

Any advice in block naming, layers, managing files etc

Any advice/ samples will be greatly appreciated. Any tips and tricks in increasing productivity e.g dynamic blocks.

Thank you guys.

Sarah. x

[sgrant]

Come on guys anyone able to help me please !. Thank you

[Strix]

there are members who have shared cad standards before, but I don't think we have any other space planners here as regulars to be able to be so specific for you

[ReMark]

I recently posted a link to a website that had blocks it said were for space planning. It could have been as recent as Saturday. I remember the guy was using Inventor but was looking for 2D architectural blocks.

Re: CAD standards. Something generic to start with then adapt to your company's specific tastes. Include such things as text styles, linetypes, dimension styles, plus layering conventions. Stykface was working on a set of standards (he works in the MEP field). I bet he could give you some good advice. Cadalyst magazine has a CAD Manager series of articles a couple of which dealt with CAD standards.

[Ryder76]

Take a look at this thread.

http://www.cadtutor.net/forum/showthread.php?t=26530

[CJJ]

My two cents:

Naming Conventions

Block Naming: Be as specific and detailed as possible. "TBL-LH2" doesn't mean much, but "End Table-Left Hand-2ft" does.

The same goes for layers. I hate seeing drawings where all of the layers are just numbered, or are named based on the colors or lineweights or something else. I'd rather see descriptive layer names that actually relate to the content of the layer. It's okay to use shortcuts sometimes, like "P" for proposed and "E" for existing, or something like that, but always remember that people may be looking at your drawings who don't work for your company, or that someone may need to open this file many years after you and everyone you know has retired.

You might want to address drawing filenames, as well. This is something that is typically left out of people's standards, but I think it's a big deal. I always put the project number in my file name, not only so it will turn up in a search of your entire fileserver in case it gets placed in the wrong directory, but also because you may be doing external references or something and you don't ever want two drawings to have the same name.

Templates

Always a good idea. Go ahead and set up a template with the layers you'll be using, and put your title block on a paperspace tab. You might want to do a tab for each different size title block you use, or do a different template for each title block.

Set up your dimension styles, text styles, leader styles, and whatever else styles you're going to use. This is important for consistency if you have multiple people working on a single project, and will help to give your drawings a "look-and-feel" for branding or whatever.

Store your templates on a network drive (if possible) and block write/edit/delete access to that drive so nobody will accidentally mess up, replace, change, or do something worse to your templates.

You can modify your file paths in AutoCAD to specify what template gets opened by default (QNEW) to save time, as well.

Blocks

Store these on a network drive also, and block user access. I'd definitely go with using tool pallets for these, since it's much easier to manage, modify, append, etc. than any of the other methods that I've seen.

As far as which blocks you use, I don't really know. You can download/purchase libraries all over the place, or just make your own. You might want to go ahead and make a procedure for your drafters to add their own blocks as they create them, or to add libraries for clients that want to see specific symbols.

[CJJ]

This thread is somewhat related, might give you some food for thought while you're writing up your standards...

http://www.cadtutor.net/forum/showthread.php?t=46114

[CJJ]

Also, from some other thread somewhere else...

Another thought about standards: Get everyone involved in the creation process. Your draftsmen will never be able to claim ignorance if they were there during the meetings and were helping you write up your documents. It will be easier to get people use your standards if they all agree on them and understand the reason WHY you're doing it that way. Also, they will be much happier following rules that they helped write than rules that have just been forced on them.

[sgrant]

Thanks CJJ. I have never used a tool pallette. How does it work for blocks?

[CJJ]

http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet...linkID=9240815

Simple tutorial on setting up tool pallets using the design center. This should explain everything enough for you to get started.