Drawings using Layout Tabs, or not

[EMS_0525]

Well this is another issue i thaught was worth a thread, my current employer does not have any cad standards or any sort of. So he pretty much told me he doesnt care, and he is an engineer so all he cares about is the final product, and as you all know there is a million ways to get the same final product. Now at my last employer we used the layouts for every drawing. Whole town water line drawings, or gravity sewer drawings, all in one drawing file, like i said my current place has been doing each drawing file is a seperate drawing. Which do you prefer, using layouts or not? And is there advantages or disadvantages either way.

A disadvantage to using layouts is that the drawing file size gets bigger than not using layouts.

[wannabe]

Layout everytime without fail.

[BOB'27T]

We use multiple layouts i.e. grading, utility, details, site. Yes it does increase drawing size, but it's easier to keep track of the drawings.

[NBC]

I use multiple layouts per drawing (.dwg) file; as I stubbornly refuse to get drawn into using Sheet Set Manager, as that seems to be the way to go when using a single layout per drawing (.dwg) file

[tzframpton]

Our current company standards are one file with all XREF's attached, and then use multiple Layout tabs. I do not like this standard.

 

I prefer to use Sheet Set Manager, and each "sheet" is a Single DWG file, utilizing one Layout tab. I prefer to do things this way because the use of XREF's become more efficiently used, plus when you get huge floorplans and everything is in one file with multiple layout tabs.... you can REEEEALLY see a DWG file drag to almost nothing because of it being way overloaded.

 

true Overlaying becomes possible with XREF's, Layer States become more usable, there are many more advantages.

 

Then again there are disadvantages too, though. but I definitely wish we could adopt using the SSM in my company, but we can't due to some people having AutoCAD LT. Kinda puts a damper on using that utility.

[f700es]

Multiple layout tabs here as well. For us it works better. For some it will not.

[Tiger]

one layout per drawing file. One reason: searchability. Each drawing file gets named after the drawing number, that way we can search our archives for old drawings.

 

Not sure which one I personally would prefer though.

[EMS_0525]

one layout per drawing file. One reason: searchability. Each drawing file gets named after the drawing number, that way we can search our archives for old drawings.

 

Not sure which one I personally would prefer though.

 

I can understand that, and thats why i thaught my current company did it too... but the answer to the question why i got was "thats just the way we have always done it" Its still frustrating and a pain if your working on the same part but its on 3 sheets so that means you have to work with 3 drawings.

[Tiger]

I can understand that, and thats why i thaught my current company did it too... but the answer to the question why i got was "thats just the way we have always done it" Its still frustrating and a pain if your working on the same part but its on 3 sheets so that means you have to work with 3 drawings.

 

 

That's the downside. I have absolutlety everything I can get away with in the base-dwg including the texts that are necessary and then x-reff it in with a viewport along with everything else. And I love Annotative DIms now that I've learned how they work

 

But yeah, it's a hassle. Like I said, I don't know which is best, having to open a bunch of drawings continuesly or have a huge one that might be a pain to work with...

[EMS_0525]

Is there a good thread on Annotative dims? I have only had a small opportunity to try to use them and couldnt get them to work right.....

[Tiger]

Basically any thread with NBC's answer about annotation is good :wink:

 

I'll see if I can find something..

[NBC]

Thanks for the back-slap Tiger; but I deleted a lot of my annotation posts many many moons ago

[Tiger]

Thanks for the back-slap Tiger; but I deleted a lot of my annotation posts many many moons ago

 

yeah I know, I still find them when I search and sigh that they're gone.... I still have a copy on my computer though I think, which I fully intend to use as background material when FAQs about Annotation is to be done :wink:

 

EMS - there's loads of threads on it I just foun - but most concern a specific question about Annotations. I'd recommend a google search on Annotation tutorials, there a bunch of them, such as this one from Ellen Finkelstein.

 

Then when you're familiar with it, come back here and search for all the rest of the answers you need

[NBC]

As a special treat, I've decided to, once again, upload the Tutorial I prepared months ago.

Annotative Scaling.pdf

[EMS_0525]

Thank you. My company is still stuck in the 2004 acad way of doing things, including scaling everything down to fit in a title block.

[hotrodz0321]

Thank you. My company is still stuck in the 2004 acad way of doing things, including scaling everything down to fit in a title block.

 

 

ummm.....no one should have been doing that in 2004...or ever!

 

 

 

I like my layouts....and typically have several per drawing...when I notice a drawing getting bogged because I've got too much, I'll create a new drawing and start new tabs....just as an example, in our grading plans we often have over 15 sheets....i'll have a drawing for the first 5, mid 5, and last 5....

[EMS_0525]

ummm.....no one should have been doing that in 2004...or ever!

 

They do it that way because thats how they knew how to do it, coming from hand drafting. Thats how its done by hand. So they just kept doing it on cad... but hopefully ill show them the advantages of the correct way.

[ReMark]

A mix of both. The most layouts we currently have in any one drawing is in our newer versions of process piping and instrumentation daigrams. The lead engineer has requested a separate layout for the sizes 24x36, 18x24, 11x17, 8.5x11 (horiz) and 8.5x11 (vert). Average number of layouts per drawing is two. A good 400 drawings have no layouts as they were originally done in model space about 12 to 17 years ago.

[nocturne00]

Multiple Layout tabs here but it comes down again to different scenarios so ill also go with ReMarks also on choosing a mix of both. General Plans are usually single tab single file to avoid complications, profile cross sections w/c are usually the most numerous for us are @ multiple tabs single file, so as with plans

[soleary]

Is there a good thread on Annotative dims? I have only had a small opportunity to try to use them and couldnt get them to work right.....

Hi EMS_0525

 

Here is a very simple example to show it working. I use metric so will describe it that way.

 

Draw a square in model space, say 40x40 units. Dimension the square using a dimstyle, with the text and arrow size set to the size you want when plotted (e.g. text size 3.5, arrow size 2.5) and the DIMSCALE set to 1. Dimension one side of the square. (Make sure that the annotation scale on the bottom right of the screen is set to 1:1)

 

There are a number of ways to add the annotation scaling, but I prefer to do it after all the dimensions have been placed and when I know what scales I want to print at. Therefore I don't choose annotative when I create the dimension style under fit (personal preference as, in my opinion, it leads to confusion). So say that you want to set up an A4 layout and want 2 views, one at 1:1 and one at 1:2.

 

Select the dimension in MS, click properties and in the properties pallette under MISC change annotative from No to Yes. (This assumes that you didn't click annotative when creating the dimension style under 'fit'). The scale underneath should come up at 1:1 so that's already added. Click on the button with the 3 dots and a dialogue box opens. Click add and then add the 1:2 scale.

 

In your A4 layout, make 2 viewports, one at 1:1 and one at 1:2. The dims in the 1:1 viewport should be fine but the dims in the other viewport will be half the size they should be. (At this point previously, you would have had to set up an new layer and dimstyle etc etc.). Now, just click on the viewport and on the annotation scale at the bottom right, apply 1:2 to that viewport. The annotations display at the correct size.

 

If you want a view at a different scale, just add that scale to the dimension(s) and apply that scale to the viewport. Easy! Also, you can now pick and choose what scales you want to add to what dimensions increasing flexibility.

 

As I say that is a simple example but the concept doesn't change. Hope it helps.

 

PS If you want to add scales that are not predefined, click on the arrow by annotation scaling on the bottom right of the screen and choose custom - you can add your own scales from there.

 

PPS To answer you original question, for me, multiple layouts in the one drawing!!!