Managing Title Blocks and Cross-References


You've just seen that at a basic level, you can use the Sheet Set Manager to keep track of files in a set of drawings. But there are other features that can help reduce the time it takes to create and maintain sheets. In this section, you'll look at some of the more advanced sheet set features by creating a sheet set that is based on an existing one.

The Sheet Set Manager can use specially designed template files to automate the creation and management of your sheets. You can include fields (see Chapter 6 for more on fields ) that are "sheet set aware," enabling the Sheet Set Manager to automatically update text whenever there is a change in the sheet set. In addition, the Sheet Set Manager can use blocks with field attributes to automate the process of adding drawing titles and reference symbols, called callout blocks in the Sheet Set Manager. These templates and callout blocks can be customized to fit your particular style of drawing and method of organization.

Creating a New Sheet Set Based on an Existing One

To see firsthand how the Sheet Set Manager can help you manage title blocks and cross-references, you'll create a new sheet set based on an existing sample sheet set already created by Autodesk. You'll use a sample sheet set that is found in the user template folder for new AutoCAD 2005 installations. This sample sheet set uses a template file that has the title block and callout blocks already set up and available for use.

Just as before, you'll start by opening the Create Sheet Set Wizard. Follow these steps:

  1. If it isn't already open , click the Sheet Set Manager tool in the Standard toolbar.

  2. Click the drop-down list at the top of the palette and select New Sheet Set. The Create Sheet Set Wizard appears.

  3. Make sure that the An Example Sheet Set radio button is selected and click Next . The Sheet Set Example page appears. Here you can select from the standard sheet set examples provided by Autodesk, or if you have a custom sheet set or sheet sets from a third party, you can use the Browse To Another Sheet Set To Use As An Example option.

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  4. Make sure the Select A Sheet Set To Use As An Example radio button is selected. Then select Architectural Imperial Sheet Set from the list box and click Next. The Sheet Set Details page appears.

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  5. Enter My Sheet Set in the Name of New Sheet Set input box. You also have the opportunity to add a description of the sheet set in the Description box. The Store Sheet Set Data File(.dst) Here option lets you determine where the sheet set data file is stored. You can see the current location by placing the cursor over the input box. A tool tip appears, displaying the path to the location.

  6. Click the Browse button to the right of the Store Sheet Set Data File input box and browse to the location of the sample files for this chapter. Typically, this location is C:\AutoCAD 2005\ Projects\Chapter 22\Sheet Set Sample 2 .

  7. Back in the Sheet Set Details page of the Create Sheet Set Wizard, click Next. The Confirm page appears. This page lets you review the settings before you confirm the creation of your sheet set. You've seen this information in the Sheet Set Properties dialog box.

  8. Click the Finish button to create your new sheet set.

Now if you check your sample file folder, C:\AutoCAD 2005\Projects\Chapter 22\Sheet Set Sample 2 , you'll find the My Sheet Set.dst file that you've just created. As you've seen in prior steps, this file holds the information regarding the location of the files and custom settings for your sheet set. You haven't actually created any sheets yet.

In the first sheet set you created, you created a sheet set from drawings that already had Xrefs and views set up for the sheets. The next section shows you how to use the Sheet Set Manager to create a sheet from scratch including views and Xrefs.

Building a Set of Drawings

The sheet set you just created is like the framework of your set of plans. It is not the actual set of drawings, but rather a structure onto which you can start to build your set of drawings. The Sheet Set Manager manages the coordination and continuity of the set as you add sheets to the set.

To see how these drawing components are managed by the Sheet Set Manager, you'll create some sheets from existing Model Space files. Start by adding a couple of floor plans to the sheet set.

You'll use the resource drawings that you saw in the first set of exercises in this chapter as the basis for the new sheets.

Setting Up Some Views

The Sheet Set Manager uses drawing views to help simplify the creating of viewports within a sheet, so you'll start by creating some views in a plan drawing. These views will define the areas and layer settings that will be needed later when you create the plan sheets. Follow these steps:

  1. Open the Plans.dwg file from the Chapter 22\Sheet Set Sample 2\Resource folder. You see two plans of the house. The top plan is a site plan, and the lower plan is a combination of a floor plan and site plan.

  2. Click the Layer Properties Manager tool.

  3. Click the Layer States Manager tool in the upper-left side of the Layer Properties Manager dialog box.

  4. In the Layer States Manager dialog box, select Plan_site from the list box and then click the Restore button.

  5. Click OK in the Layer Properties Manager dialog box.

You've just restored a layer state that shows all the appropriate layers for the site plan. Next you'll save a view of just the site plan, which you will use a bit later when you create the site plan sheet:

  1. Choose View   Named Views to open the View dialog box.

  2. Make sure the Named Views tab is selected. Then click the New button on the right side of the dialog box.

  3. In the New View dialog box, enter Site Plan for the View name. Then in the Boundary group , click the Define Window radio button. The dialog box temporarily closes to enable you to select a window to define the view area.

  4. Place a selection window around the area shown in Figure 22.1.

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    Figure 22.1: Selecting the view area

  5. Back in the New View dialog box, make sure that the Store Current Layer Settings With View option is turned on; then click OK.

  6. Click OK at the View dialog box to close it.

    Tip  

    If you need to adjust the view area, open the View dialog box again, select the view name from the list box, and click the Edit Boundaries button. The dialog box will temporarily close, and the drawing will display with the view area highlighted. You can then re-select the view area with a selection window.

You've just created a view for the site plan. Now create another view for the floor plan:

  1. Click the Layer Properties Manager tool again. Then click the Layer States Manager tool in the upper-left side of the Layer Properties Manager dialog box.

  2. In the Layer States Manager dialog box, select Plan_finish from the list box; then click the Restore button.

  3. Click OK in the Layer Properties Manager dialog box to close it.

  4. Choose View   Named Views to open the View dialog box.

  5. Make sure the Named Views tab is selected. Then click the New button on the right side of the dialog box.

  6. In the New View dialog box, enter Floor Plan for the View name. In the Boundary group, click the Define Window radio button. Then place a selection window around the area shown in Figure 22.2.

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    Figure 22.2: Selecting the view area

  7. Back in the New View dialog box, click OK. Then click OK at the View dialog box to close it.

  8. Choose File   Save to save the changes you've just made, and then close the Plans.dwg file.

If you know that you want to use other views for your sheets, you can continue to define more views. But for this exercise, let's move onto actually creating a sheet from the views you just created.

Creating a Sheet

Now that you have some views defined, you're ready to create a sheet for those views:

  1. If it isn't already open, click the Sheet Set Manager tool in the Standard toolbar.

  2. Select Architectural from the list; then right-click and select New Sheet. The New Sheet dialog box appears.

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  3. Enter A1 in the Number input box. This defines the sheet number that will appear in the lower- right corner of the sheet. Notice that as you type, your entry appears in both the Number input box and the File Name input box.

  4. Enter Site Plan and Floor Plan in the Sheet Title input box. Again, notice that as you type, your entry appears in both the Sheet Title input box and the File name input box.

  5. Click OK. AutoCAD creates a new file called A1 - Site Plan and Floor Plan , and you see the new drawing name appear as a subhead below Architectural in the Sheet Set Manager.

  6. Double-click the A1 - Site Plan and Floor Plan listing. The sheet appears in AutoCAD.

If you look closely, you'll notice that the sheet number is already in place in the lower-right corner of the drawing. The Sheet Set Manager was able to apply the sheet number you entered in step 3 to the new sheet because the template uses a field for the sheet number text. You'll learn how to add such a field to your own title block later in this chapter. For now, you'll add the views you created in the Plans.dwg file to this new sheet.

Adding Your Views to the New Sheet

You've created views in your Plan.dwg resource drawing and you've created a new sheet for the Plan views. The next step is to insert those saved views into the sheet.

Start by adding the resource drawings to the sheet set:

  1. Select the Resource Drawing tab and then double-click the Add New Location listing in the Locations list.

  2. Browse to the \Chapter22\Sheet Set Sample 2\Resource folder and open it. The files in the Resource folder appear in the list of resource drawings.

With the resource files added to the Sheet Set Manager, you can add a view to the A1 sheet from the Plans.dwg file you worked on earlier:

  1. Click the plus sign next to the Plans.dwg listing. The list expands to show the Site Plan and Floor Plan views you created earlier in this chapter.

  2. Select Site Plan from the list; then right-click and select Place On Sheet. As you move the cursor over the A1 - Site Plan and Floor Plan layout, you see the Site Plan view of Plans.dwg along with a title bubble, all following the cursor. You can also click and drag the Site Plan view from the list into the sheet to get the same result.

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  3. Right-click in the Layout view. A list of drawing scales appears.

  4. Select 1 / 8 ² = 1 ¢ from the list.

  5. Place the view in the top half of the layout and click. The Site Plan view is placed in the layout along with a title bubble, drawing scale, and view title.

  6. Back in the Sheet Set Manager, select Floor Plan from the list; then right-click and select Place On Sheet.

  7. Right-click in the Layout view and then select ¼ ² = 1 ¢ from the list.

  8. Place the view in the lower half of the layout and click. The Floor Plan view is placed in the layout along with a title bubble, drawing scale, and view title.

  9. Zoom in to the title bubble for the Site Plan view. Notice that it already has the proper view name and scale.

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In the preceding exercise, the Sheet Set Manager performed several steps that you could have done "manually" with much more effort. It imported the Plans.dwg file as an Xref into the A1 - Site Plan and Floor Plan layout. It then created a viewport in the layout, scaled the layout view according to your selections in steps 4 and 7, and finally added a title bubble and the title and scale for each view.

Editing the View Numbers

There is one more item you need to take care of for this sheet. Although the view names and scales have been provided by the Sheet Set Manager, you still need the view numbers. Right now they are just three dashes. Follow these steps:

  1. In the Sheet Set Manager, select the View List tab.

  2. Select Site Plan from the list; then right-click and select Rename & Renumber. The Rename & Renumber View dialog box appears.

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  3. Enter 1 in the Number input box. Notice that the name of the view is available for editingas well.

  4. Click the Next button. This advances the data in the dialog box to the next view, which is the Floor Plan view. Enter 2 in the Number input box. Once again, you see the name of the view.

  5. Click OK; then choose View   Regen. Now the title bubbles change to show the numbers 1 and 2 for the two views.

The final task is to hide the viewport borders. You can do this by creating a layer just for the viewports and then turning off that layer:

  1. Use the Layer Properties Manager to create a layer called Viewport .

  2. Turn the Viewport layer off and close the Layer Properties Manager.

  3. Select the two viewports. Select Viewport from the layer drop-down list in the Properties tool- bar. You'll see a warning message telling you that the layer you have assigned to the selected objects is frozen or turned off. Click OK. The viewports disappear.

Adding the view numbers is important for two reasons. The obvious one is so you have a number you can refer to when referencing this plan sheet in the future. But the Sheet Set Manager also keeps track of this view number so that later, when you start to add callout blocks to your drawing set, the Sheet Set Manager knows which view goes with the callout block you are adding. The next section will show you how this works.

Adding Callout Blocks as Cross-Reference Symbols

As mentioned earlier, in the process of building a set of drawings, you will have to add cross-reference symbols. One common type of cross-reference indicates an elevation view of a building from a floor plan.

In a typical set of architectural drawings, you will have a sheet or several sheets that show the sides of a building. The most common views are the north, south, east, and west sides of a building. Elevation drawings are used to indicate window locations, wall finishes, building heights, floor levels, and other key elements in the design. Reference symbols, called callout blocks in AutoCAD, are placed in the floor plan and tell the viewer which sheet contains these elevation drawings and show where the view is taken in relation to the plan.

In this section, you'll learn how to set up an Elevation view and place callout blocks in the floor plan that show which sheet contains the elevation. You'll see how callout blocks are tied to sheet numbers so that even if a sheet number changes, the callout block will always indicate the right sheet number.

You'll use a sheet set similar to the one you just started, but with a few additions to save some work for you. The My Sheet Set 1.dst sheet set has the A1 Site Plan and Floor Plan sheet already created and an additional sheet A2 Elevation Plan sheet. This additional sheet contains two Elevation views. These Elevation views were created in the same way as the Plan views in the previous exercise, so no method was used to create them that you haven't already been shown.

In the following steps, you'll add a callout block to the A1 sheet that references the A2 sheet. Along the way, you'll become familiar with some of the other features of the Sheet Set Manager.

Start by closing the current sheet set and the files associated with it:

  1. In the Sheet Set Manager, click My Sheet Set in the drop-down list at the top to open the list.

  2. Right-click My Sheet Set from the list; then click Close Sheet Set.

  3. Close any drawing that might be open.

Next, open the sample sheet set:

  1. Click Open from the drop-down list. Then at the Open Sheet Set dialog box, locate and select My Sheet 1 in the Chapter 22\Sheet Set Sample 3 folder.

  2. Make sure that the Sheet List tab is selected; then double-click A1 Site Plan and Floor Plan and A2 Elevations to open these two files.

Now go ahead and add the callout symbol to the A1 sheet:

  1. In the Sheet List tab of the Sheet Set Manager, double-click the A1 sheet again. Because it's already open, double-clicking the A1 sheet makes it the current drawing file.

  2. Enlarge your view of the floor plan so it looks similar to Figure 22.3.

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    Figure 22.3: Enlarge your view and place the callout block as shown.

  3. Click the View List tab; then select and right-click 1 - South Elevation.

  4. Choose Place Callout Block   Elev Indicator Ext - Up from the shortcut menu. As you move the cursor into the drawing area, you'll see a symbol appear at the cursor. This is the callout block for the exterior elevation.

  5. Position the callout block as shown in Figure 22.3 and click. Notice that the callout block already shows the appropriate drawing number and sheet number.

  6. Right-click 2-West Elevation and choose Place Callout Block   Elev Indicator Ext - Right from the shortcut menu.

  7. Place this callout block to the left of the floor plan, as shown in Figure 22.3.

When you inserted the callout blocks in steps 4 through 7, the Sheet Set Manager automatically added the appropriate sheet and view number to the block, saving you the effort of checking which drawing contained the Elevation view and making sure the numbers between the callout block and view matched.

Tip  

Later, when you learn how to create your own custom callout blocks, you'll learn about the hyperlink feature. The call- out blocks you just added have this feature turned on so if you Ctrl+click on the text of either of the callout blocks, Auto- CAD will open the drawing containing the view that the callout block references, namely, the A2 Elevation drawing.

Editing Sheet Numbers and Title Block Information

Now suppose that you need to change the sheet number of the elevation sheet from A2 to A3 to make room for a demolition plan. The following exercise demonstrates how the Sheet Set Manager can make quick work of such a change:

  1. In the Sheet Set Manager, select the Sheet List tab.

  2. Right-click the A2 Elevations sheet listing and select Rename & Renumber.

  3. In the Rename & Renumber Sheet dialog box, change the number from A2 to A3; then click OK.

  4. Choose View   Regen. Notice that the Elevation callout blocks you added earlier now show the new sheet number for the Elevation sheet.

  5. Double-click A3 Elevations from the Sheet List tab; then choose View   Regen. If you look at the sheet number in the lower-right corner of the drawing, you'll see that it has changed to A3.

As you can see from this exercise, as long as you use the callout symbols from the Sheet Set Manager, the drawing numbers are coordinated through settings within the Sheet Set Manager.

Drawing numbers aren't the only part that can be managed through the Sheet Set Manager. You have two sheets in the set now, but they were created without regard for the client name and address in the title block. You'll need to go back and add this information to the sheets. Here's a quick way to do it:

  1. In the Sheets list of the Sheet Set Manager, right-click My Sheet Set 1 at the top of the list box; then select Properties. The Sheet Set Properties dialog box appears.

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  2. In the lower half of the Sheet Set Properties dialog box, you see a set of options labeled Sheet Set Custom Properties. Click the option labeled Project Address 1 and enter 444 Crescent Way for the first line of the address. Or, you can add anything you like.

  3. In the next option down, Project Address 2, enter Big Bear, Ca .

  4. Enter Smith Residence for the Project Name.

  5. Finally, make the Client and Project Number options blank; then click OK.

  6. Zoom in to the lower-right corner of the sheet so you can clearly see the title block information; then click View   Regen and you'll see the changes appear in the current sheet.

The changes you made in this exercise affect all of the existing sheets in the set. Also, if you add new sheets, they will display the new address and project name.

Closing a Sheet Set

By now, you have two sheet sets open: the one you created from an existing set of drawings, and the one you opened for the latest set of exercises. In the next section, you'll look at customizing sheet sets. You won't need both sheet sets open. Close the one you've been working on by following these steps:

  1. Click the drop-down list at the top of the Sheet Set Manager.

  2. Right-click My Sheet Set 1 and select Close Sheet Set.

  3. In preparation for the next section, close all the drawings that are open in AutoCAD except for the 22 17 Arch.dwt file and leave the Sheet Set Manager open. You'll need the 22 17 Arch.dwt file for a later exercise.

    Warning  

    Closing a sheet set doesn't automatically close the drawings associated with it.

As you can see, you can have multiple sheet sets open at any one time. This feature can facilitate the movement of drawing data from one project to another. For example, you might want to borrow construction details from one set to add to a new set. You can use the Sheet Set Manager to locate the detail sheet from the prior project and then cut and paste drawing data from that drawing into a drawing in your most current project.




Mastering AutoCAD 2005 and AutoCAD LT 2005
Mastering AutoCAD 2005 and AutoCAD LT 2005
ISBN: 0782143407
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2004
Pages: 261
Authors: George Omura

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