Issuing of DWG formats to Clients

[MJDM]

Increasingly I have clients asking for DWG forwats of drawings we normally issue only in PDF (so that they can estimate quantities, rebrand with our permission etc.). However I am scared of this for a number of points, these being, 1. xrefs getting lost, 2. working layer text and settings, 3. working areas of model space, 4. random information.

 

Essentially I want to reduce a drawing down for issue to only what is shown in the paper space. I think I am familiar with bind, insert, purge etc. But I want to go further, that is, is there an automatic way to delete everything except what is shown when viewing paper space or similar?

 

I'm using AutoCAD 2005 through to 2011.

[ReMark]

So your clients, from time to time, actually need to have the ability to edit one of your drawings? If not, send them a screenshot in a jpg or bmp format and call it a day. Some people will try to convert PDFs to DWG format.

[MJDM]

Yeah, maybe I should have explained a bit more. We are a consulting design engineer. Our clients are either contractors who wish to interregate a drawing / scheme to obtain setting out info, estimate quantities etc. or a client in the more traditional sense who may want to incorporate the drawings into a larger scheme. So they both really want .dwg.

 

Primarily I want to be careful not to pass on 'working' sections of the drawing which may be in the model space or on layers which are 'off' on final issue. Obviously I can select and delete but this can be very time consuming on a large project. Similarly I only want to pull through xref layers that are on etc.

[DANIEL]

I thought there use to be a command that blew away everything that wasnt shown in a view port but I may be confusing that with some other product, at any rrate I don't see any real way around spending time getting it into a state that you are willing to send them, my suggestion is to just get rid of everything you don't want them to see or have, explode everying else, put it on a layer and block it, that way its too time consuming for them to manipulate and they are forced to ask you for the changes while still being able to use you images in there drawings ...... if that all made sense.

[CyberAngel]

We get requests for drawings all the time. Our policy is to delete details and seals so that others can't use them. Anything else is considered part of the project data. I'll typically export the drawing instead of purging and saving. I might turn off a group of layers that aren't relevant to what the recipient wants.

 

I've never heard of a command that will delete everything not shown in a layout, but that would be handy.

[Jack_O'neill]

I have never understood what someone has to fear from giving/selling a dwg to a client. I've been on both ends of this situation, both from the standpoint of trying to get the information and having someone ask me for it. Typical example....I'm doing installation drawings for a big curtainwall project. The architecturals have very good details of the wall construction, and I have to show these details in my drawings for the contractor to know how to install it. These jobs are almost always behind schedule by the time they decide to do the curtainwall drawings, and they are always screaming to get the information as quickly as possible. The budget is always over run by the time it gets to me as well, so they are always screaming about the cost. So, why, if you have already drawn this stuff, will you force me to redraw it and then gripe about the cost and how long it takes? Send me the details and it will cut all sorts of time and cost out of the project! I can pop in your detail, put my curtainwall or doors or whatever around it, add the bracing/reinforcing/whatever that the engineers want and we are out the door much quicker than having me redraw your wall.

 

There's only so many ways to draw concrete blocks and bricks right? Wrong...every architect I've worked with wants it just a little different. On one project alone, I had almost 300 different surrounding condition details to do. The architect absolutely refused to send the dwg file saying "you'd know our layering scheme then". So? Why do I care about your layers? You can name layers anything and make them any color and linetype you want. Then he said "thats a live drawing, you might change something." I didn't ask for access to your network, just a copy of the file. So what if I changed something? You have the original and can sue my backside off in court if I do, so what could I possibly have to gain by doing it in the first place? I've got to redraw it anyway, so what if I change it then? Same result.

 

The packages I produce all have floorplans for each level to indicate which elevations go where. You want to save time? Send me the dwg of your floorplans, and let me add the curtainwall instead of reproducing 30 floors from the paper drawings.

 

I will say one thing about this though. I find a lot of errors this way. Many times the elevations on the architecturals don't match the floor plans, or column that right behind the curtainwall in the floorplan is absent in the structural details...stuff like that, but if you are going to use me to error check for you, why do you gripe about having to pay me to do it?

 

If you'll send me paper with all this super secret information printed on it, why do you fear sending the file that created the paper? If you afraid of some sort of theft, hire better people to do the work. If they are going to steal your idea they will steal it off the paper.

 

I can understand removing seals and approvals and such, but if you send the paper with these, what's the difference?

[DANIEL]

I'm right there with you Jack, especially on finding errors lol.

[nestly]

1. xrefs getting lost, 2. working layer text and settings, 3. working areas of model space, 4. random information.

 

Essentially I want to reduce a drawing down for issue to only what is shown in the paper space.

 

I think WBLOCK solves all but the x-ref's .... and I might be tempted to run EXPLODE a half dozen times as well) before sending the dwg.

[Dana W]

shouldn't whether or not the client gets dwg format be a contract issue, and all settled up prior to starting work on the project?

[tzframpton]

Etransmit.

[Jack_O'neill]

shouldn't whether or not the client gets dwg format be a contract issue, and all settled up prior to starting work on the project?

 

I suppose it could be, but again, what difference would it make? In this day and age of environmental concerns, can you just imagine the money you could save on paper, toner, labor to stack, bind, package and ship all the copies of the set? The dinosaur I used to work for would typically ship seven E-size copies, sometimes overnight! Freight bills were in the hundreds on some of those sets. I think it should be contractural to cost extra to do paper.

[Organic]

Etransmit.

 

This ^

 

Data should be openly shared between contractors.

[tzframpton]

We've never been stingy with our CAD files. Whoever wants them, gets them.

[Dana W]

I suppose it could be' date=' but again, what difference would it make? In this day and age of environmental concerns, can you just imagine the money you could save on paper, toner, labor to stack, bind, package and ship all the copies of the set? The dinosaur I used to work for would typically ship seven E-size copies, sometimes overnight! Freight bills were in the hundreds on some of those sets. I think it should be contractural to cost extra to do paper.[/quote']

 

That's a very good point. Shipping for the plans I've sent ups & fedex over the last several years would've bought me a new car. I also wasted hundreds of hours catching ARCH D sheets off the plotter before they fell on the floor too. The catch tray's never seem to work near the end of a paper roll. They stay tight and pile up like logs all over the floor.

 

Maybe some people's problem with shipping *.dwg format is that the recipient might make changes without coming beck to pay them to do them.

 

Now, if we could just get some more county offices to accept dxf's or dwg's for permit submittals we'd be flyin'.

[Jack_O'neill]

Maybe some people's problem with shipping *.dwg format is that the recipient might make changes without coming beck to pay them to do them.

 

 

Thats true, but they'll just mark up what they want changed and do it anyway, then file the markups "as built". Been down that road with more than one. Made a 700 mile round trip once because the contractor called up raising hades about the shop drawings being wrong. Got down there and discovered the concrete guys had made a small mistake. Opening was almost 2 1/2 feet bigger than it was supposed to be. Went to the architect's office, they drug out a set of plans, and sure enough....big red sharpie all over where they'd ok'd the change. Didn't tell anybody. I back charged the contractor for the trip, who passed it on to the architect.

 

Now, if we could just get some more county offices to accept dxf's or dwg's for permit submittals we'd be flyin'.

 

Don't get me started on county government. Most of us here refer to the county courthouse as the "Puzzle Palace". To quote Obiwan Kenobi "you'll never find a more wretched hive of scum and villiany. We must be cautious."

Edited May 28, 2011 by Jack_O'neill
fingers outran brain

[BIGAL]

A couple of things a bit ugly but use Chspace and pull everything into a layout then just cut and paste between drawings (not sure about xrefs though)

 

We insist the consultants give us a dwg lets us plot etc change a few things if necessary always advise contractor of this if they would not accept then they would not get the job, we need to be able to give our surveyors setouts theses are generated directly from dwg why pay consultant fees for this often we provide more than indicated on plan.

 

Need a good understanding of client consultant relationship towards changes and proving in both directions.

[tzframpton]

Doesn't matter if they make changes. It's all about the almighty raster issue set by the contractor.

[Tyke]

We always tie down exactly what has to be delivered with the client before we start the job and get signed confirmation of that too. Its not everybody who wants a DWG/DXF some are quite happy with PDFs.

 

We always WBLOCK our working drawings into our 'deliverable' version leaving out all the stuff that we perceive as being our own own data that the client has not paid for. Our opinion is the client paid us to produce a drawing for a fee. What he does with his drawing is up to him. We never pass on drawings to third parties without the express permission of the client.

 

We had a company ring us up last year and they asked for a copy of a survey that we done for somebody else, we said they should contact our client and ask them for a copy of the DWG we had supplied them with. They said they would do that and rang off. Next day we got another call, this time from some one saying he worked for our client and that they could not find the DWG so could we send a copy directly to the other company. The telephone number in the display wasn't even in the same town as our client so we said ok give us the details of the company who has to receive the drawing and said we would send it as a DXF file. Checked with our client who said they had contacted him and he had refused to send them a copy of the survey that he had paid for. A quick check in Google gave us all the details of the company and I faxed them a copy of the DXF file printout. Never heard from the company again, but our client rang back and said they had informed him of what we had done and had complained a bucketful. The end of the story was the company finished up paying our client for a copy of the DWG and we received a big and unexpected bonus payment from our client.

[Dana W]

I had this one harry homeowner week-end renovator client who demanded the computer file even though he did not have any software or capable computer to open it with. What with his lack of understanding of computer terminology and functionality and my missinterpretation of what he was asking for, the contract almost vaporized. One day his kid, an 18 year old, called and explained that his dad merely wanted a document of the drawing on the computer that he could view. Finally a color pdf with a pretty cover page drawing added, made him happier than a pig in mud in August.

[SLW210]

Increasingly I have clients asking for DWG forwats of drawings we normally issue only in PDF (so that they can estimate quantities, rebrand with our permission etc.). However I am scared of this for a number of points, these being, 1. xrefs getting lost, 2. working layer text and settings, 3. working areas of model space, 4. random information.

 

Essentially I want to reduce a drawing down for issue to only what is shown in the paper space. I think I am familiar with bind, insert, purge etc. But I want to go further, that is, is there an automatic way to delete everything except what is shown when viewing paper space or similar?

 

I'm using AutoCAD 2005 through to 2011.

 

Have you tried _EXPORTLAYOUT?