Setting Standards for Drawings

One person rarely has complete control over a drawing. You may xref in other drawings, or others may xref in your drawings. Several people may work on one drawing. You may send a drawing to a client who may work on it as well. More and more, working on a drawing is becoming a collaborative effort — and it can get out of control.

One way to maintain control is to set standards for drawings, and to issue those standards so that everyone involved has access to them. If you don’t have agreed-upon standards, you not only waste time changing layers, text styles, and so on, but your drawings become very complicated. You should set standards for the following:

Drawing names and property summaries

Blocks, including names, layers, and insertion points

Layers, including uses, names, colors, linetypes, and lineweights

Text styles, including uses, names, and properties

Table styles

Dimension styles and tolerances, if any

Multiline styles

Units settings

Layouts

In some cases, your standards are set by outside conventions. For example, the American Institute of Architects (AIA) and the Construction Standards Institute (CSI) publish layering standards for members.

Using the CAD Standards tools

The CAD Standards tools facilitate the process of checking drawings against standards. You can check the following in a drawing:

Layers

Text styles

Linetypes

Dimension styles

The CAD Standards feature is not available in AutoCAD LT.

AutoCAD checks for both names, such as layer names, and properties, such as layer color and linetype.

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Here’s the general procedure for setting and maintaining standards with the CAD manager’s tools:

1.Create a standards file (*.dws).

2.Associate the standards file with a drawing or template.

3.Test the drawing against its standards file.

You can test drawings against a standards file one by one (interactively) or as a group (batch auditing).

Creating a standards file

You use a standards file to set standards for drawings. A standards file has a file name extension of .dws. Unlike many of the support files used in AutoCAD, a standards file is not a text file; rather, it is similar to a drawing file. You create a standards file by creating a drawing that contains the standards — layers, linetypes, text styles, and dimension styles — that you want.

To create a standards file from scratch, follow these steps:

1.Choose File New.

2.Choose a template, or click the Open button’s down arrow and choose one of the Open with No Template options.

3.Create the layers, linetypes, dimension styles, and text styles that you want to place in the standards file.

4.Choose File Save As. In the File Name text box, type a name for the standards file.

5.In the Files of Type list, select AutoCAD Drawing Standards (*.dws).

6.In the Save In drop-down list, choose a location for the file.

7.Click Save.

AutoCAD saves the drawing standards file.

You can use an existing drawing for your standards file. However, be careful to purge all layers, linetypes, dimension styles, and text styles that you don’t want.

Associating a standards file with a drawing

As soon as you have your standards file, you associate it with a drawing or template that you want to check, using the STANDARDS command. To associate a standards file with the current drawing, follow these steps:

1.On the CAD Standards toolbar, click Configure Standards. (You can also choose Tools CAD Standards Configure or type standards .)

2.On the Standards tab of the Configure Standards dialog box, shown in Figure 26-10, click the + button.

3.In the Select Standards File dialog box, choose the standards file that you want to use and click Open. You can associate more than one standards file with the drawing; continue to click the + button and choose more standards files.

Figure 26-10: Use the Configure Standards dialog box to associate a standards file with a drawing.

4.Click the Plug-ins tab and click any standards that you don’t want to check. All four standards types — Dimension Styles, Layers, Linetypes, and Text Styles — are initially checked. (The choices that you make persist for future standard checks until you change them.)

5.Click OK to close the Configure Standards dialog box and return to your drawing.

The Check Standards dialog box lists all of the problems — items in the drawing that don’t match the standards file — that it finds, one by one. Here’s the procedure for using this dialog box:

1.You see the first problem in the Problem section of the dialog box.

2.Use the Replace With section to choose a replacement for the nonstandard item. This section contains all eligible replacements according to the standards file.

3.Look at the Preview of Changes section to see how the replacement will affect your drawing.

854 Part V Organizing and Managing Drawings

Figure 26-11: The Check Standards dialog box guides you through the process of checking a drawing against a standards file.

4.To make the replacement and standardize your drawing, click the Fix button.

To ignore the problem and go on to the next one, click the Next button.

AutoCAD continues to display problems that you can fix or ignore. After you’re done, you see the Checking is complete message in the Problem area, along with a short report explaining how all of the problems were handled, as shown in Figure 26-12. You can click the Next button again to recheck the drawing.

5. Click Close to return to your drawing.

Figure 26-12: The completed standards check report.

For information on batch checking (checking standards for many drawings at once), see the “Checking Standards for Multiple Drawings” sidebar in this chapter.

When you fix nonstandard objects — for example, layers or linetypes with nonstandard names — AutoCAD purges these objects from the drawing. For example, after you change the layer Layer1 to the layer Notes, objects on Layer1 are changed to the layer Notes, and Layer1 is purged.

Specifying CAD standards settings

You can specify how the CAD standards feature functions to provide real-time notification and automatic repair. To specify CAD standards settings, choose Tools CAD Standards Configure and click the Settings button to open the CAD Standards Settings dialog box, as shown in Figure 26-13. (You can also click Settings from the Check Standards dialog box.)

Figure 26-13: Use the CAD Standards Settings dialog box to specify how you want CAD standards checking to work.

In the top section, Notification Settings, choose one of the following:

Disable standards notifications: No real-time notification of standards violations. You can still check standards using the Check Standards dialog box at any time.

Display alert upon standards violation: Displays a message if your drawing is associated with a standards file and you make a change that puts the drawing in noncompliance with the standards file, as shown in Figure 26-14.

Display standards status bar icon: Displays an icon on the AutoCAD status bar. The icon has an exclamation point if there is a nonstandard object in the drawing. A balloon appears to notify you that a standards violation has occurred. Click the Run Check Standards text or the icon to open the Check Standards dialog box so that you can fix the problems.

Figure 26-14: The alert message notifies you of a standards violation.

In the bottom section, Check Standards Settings, check Automatically Fix Non-standard Properties to fix non-compliant drawings automatically. Automatic fixing applies only to a situation where a drawing object has a name that matches a standard but has different properties.

856 Part V Organizing and Managing Drawings

For example, if a standards file contains a layer named OBJ that has a blue color and the current drawing has an object on the OBJ layer that is red, the object will be changed to blue, to match the color of the OBJ layer in the standards file.

Check Show Ignored Problems to display any problems that were not fixed in the standards check report.

From the Preferred Standards File to Use for Replacements drop-down list, choose a standards file to use by default in the Replace With section of the Check Standards dialog box. This standards file is used only if you choose to automatically fix nonstandard properties and the associated standards file for the drawing does not provide a suitable replacement.

Checking Standards for Multiple Drawings

What do you do if you want to check standards for hundreds of drawings at once? For this scenario, AutoCAD has created Batch Standards Checking, shown here. Here’s how to use the Batch Standards Checker:

1.From the Windows taskbar, choose Start [All] Programs Autodesk AutoCAD 2006 Batch Standards Checker. The Batch Standards Checker, shown in the following figure, appears.

2.On the Drawings tab, click the + button and select the drawings that you want to include. Click Open. After you click Open, you can click the + button again and add drawings from a different folder. Use the Delete button to delete drawings and the Move Up and Move Down buttons to change the order of the drawings. If you also want to check external references, check the Check External references of listed drawings check box.

3.On the Standards tab, choose to check each drawing against its associated standards file if you have associated standards files for all of your drawings. Otherwise, choose to check the drawings against the standards file(s) that you select. To select a standards file, click the + button, choose a standards file (.dws), and click Open.

4.On the Plug-ins tab, choose the standards that you want to check. This tab is the same as the Plug-ins tab of the Configure Standards dialog box, discussed earlier in this section.

5.Click Save on the Batch Standards Checker toolbar. In the Batch Standards Checker — File Save dialog box, save the standards check file. A standards check file (.chx) contains information about which drawings and standards files you’re using for the batch standards check. AutoCAD gives the file a default name, but you can change the name if you want.

6.To start checking the drawings, click Start Check on the Batch Standards Checker toolbar. (You can click Stop Check to stop the check at any time during its progress.)

The Batch Standards Checker starts checking your drawings. You can click the Progress tab to see what is happening. When the checking is done, your Standards Audit Report is displayed. An example is shown here. Standards Audit Reports appear in your Internet browser.

Here are some other features of the Batch Standards Checker:

To open an existing standards check file, click Open on the Batch Standards Checker toolbar. Choose the check file and click Open.

To view an existing batch audit report, open an existing standards check file and click the View Report button on the toolbar.

Use the Notes tab of the Batch Standards Checker to add notes that will appear on the batch audit report.

You can export the Standards Audit Report to HTML format. Click Export Report on the Batch Standards Checker toolbar. You can then easily e-mail the report to others.

You can also copy and paste the table portion of the report into a spreadsheet program.

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Translating layers

If you receive drawings from clients or colleagues, you might find that their layer system doesn’t suit yours. Manually translating one set of layers to another to fit your layer standards could

be a tedious job. The LAYTRANS command changes the layers of objects by specifying sets of “from” and “to” layers. For example, you can change all objects on layer1 to the layer objects. Use this feature to maintain layer standards.

The layer translation feature is not available in AutoCAD LT.

Setting up the layer mapping

To translate one layer to another, choose Layer Translate from the CAD Standards toolbar (or choose Tools CAD Standards Layer Translator). The Layer Translator, shown

in Figure 26-15, opens.

Figure 26-15: The Layer Translator.

On the Translate From side of the dialog box, you see the layers in the drawing. (Layers with a white icon to their left are not being used. You can right-click them and choose Purge Layers to purge them from the drawing.) Select layers by clicking them. You can also select multiple layers. You can type a selection filter in the Selection Filter text box to select certain layers.

To load existing layers, choose Load. In the Select Drawing File dialog box, you can choose a drawing, a drawing template, or a drawing standards file. Click Open. The layers from that file now appear in the Translate To list. Select the layer to which you want to translate.

To define a new layer, choose New. In the New Layer dialog box, type a name for the new layer and specify its color, linetype, lineweight, and plot style. Click OK.

Managing layer translations

After you create your mappings, you can edit, remove, or save them:

To edit a mapping, select it and click Edit. In the Edit Layer dialog box, you can choose a new layer, color, linetype, lineweight, or plot style.

To remove a mapping, select it and click Remove.

To save a mapping, click Save. You can choose to save a mapping as a drawing standards file (.dws) or as an actual drawing file (.dwg). Type a file name, choose a location, and click Save. (If you don’t save your layer mapping, AutoCAD prompts you to do so.)

Click Settings to customize the translation process. Here are your options:

•The first two options in the Settings dialog box force objects to take on their layer’s assigned color and linetype. Check these two settings to enforce consistency in your layer properties.

•The Translate Objects in Blocks item determines whether layer mappings are applied to objects within blocks. See Chapter 18 for more about blocks.

•Check Write Transaction Log to create a .log file in the same folder as the drawing that you’re translating (the current drawing). The log file lists the details of the translation and can help you troubleshoot problems later.

•Check Show Layer Contents When Selected to help you figure out which objects are on which layers. If you check this item and then select a layer translation in the Translate From or Layer Translation Mappings list, only objects on that layer are shown.

After you finish specifying the translation settings, click OK to close the Settings dialog box.

STEPS: Managing CAD Standards

1.Open ab26-e.dwg from the CD-ROM.

2.Save the file as ab26-03.dwg in your AutoCAD Bible folder.

860 Part V Organizing and Managing Drawings

3.Click the Linetype Control drop-down list on the Object Properties toolbar. Notice the Borderx2, Centerx2, Hiddenx2, and Phantom2 linetypes.

4.Right-click any toolbar and choose CAD Standards to open the CAD Standards toolbar. Choose Configure Standards from the toolbar.

5.In the Configure Standards dialog box, click the + button. Find and choose ab26-e.dws, a drawing standards file, on the CD-ROM. Click Open to associate ab26-e.dws with ab26-03.dwg.

6.In the same dialog box, click Check Standards to open the Check Standards dialog box.

7.The first standards problem, Layer ‘AME_FRZ’ Name is non-standard, is listed in the Problem box. Click the Next button to ignore this problem.

8.The next problem is Layer ‘CEN’ Properties are non-standard. Choose CEN from the Replace With list and click the Fix button.

9.Continue to make the following changes, clicking the Fix button after each one:

10.The Checking Complete dialog box appears with a summary of the standards check. Click OK.

11.Click Close.

12.Open the Linetype Control drop-down list again. All of the “x2” linetypes have been purged.

13. Click Layer Translate on the CAD Standards toolbar.

14.On the right side of the Layer Translator dialog box, click Load. From the Files of Type drop-down list, choose Standards (*.dws). Choose ab26-e.dws, the same standards file that you used previously in this exercise, and click Open.

15.In the Translate From box, click CEN. Hold down the Ctrl key and click HAT.

16.In the Translate To box, click HID.

17.Click Map. This will map the layers CEN and HAT to the HID layer.

18.Click Translate to translate the mappings.

19.At the message asking whether you want to save mapping information, click No. All objects on the CEN and HAT layers are now on the HID layer.

20.In the Standard Violations Alert dialog box that warns you that there is an object that isn’t standards-compliant, click Don’t Fix. (You see this dialog box because, in Step 7, you chose not to fix one layer.) Note that under some settings, you may see a balloon window instead of a dialog box.

21.Save your drawing.

The Communication Center

The Communication Center feature notifies you about updates, product support, tips, articles, and so on. An icon at the right end of the status bar connects you to the Communication Center.

When new information or updates are available, a bubble appears from the status bar to notify you, as shown in Figure 26-16.

Figure 26-16: The Communication Center notification appears to let you know that new information or updates are available.

To access the information, click the icon or the Click Here text to open the Communication Center window, shown in Figure 26-17. From this window, you can click any link to access its source on the Internet.

Figure 26-17: Click any item to access it on the Autodesk

Web site.

You can configure how the Communication Center works. Right-click the Communication Center icon or choose settings from the Communication Center window to open the Configuration Settings dialog box, which contains two tabs:

Settings: Use this tab to specify your country, how often you want to check for updates, and whether you want to see the bubble notification.

Channels: Choose the types of updates that you want to see.

Renaming named objects

Drawings contain many named objects, such as layers, text styles, dimension styles, and so on. Sometimes you need to rename these objects in order to maintain CAD standards and consistency. To rename objects, type rename on the command line and press Enter. The Rename dialog box opens, as shown in Figure 26-18.