Here's an idea that i'm pretty sure hasn't been addressed. First off I love the additions of the copy and paste Sheet options. Also the layer manager. I think a good addition would be a Sheet Manager similar to the Layer Manager that allows you to only copy or paste certain Go To Views or Layouts from one sheet to the other, re-order sheets, re-name.. etc.
The current format comes close to this (you can "copy all" to new sheets), but to have it in a seperate window like Layer Manager with more features and options would be a big plus.
Your idea is very interesting for taking control of the printing sheets, especially on big projects.
For most projects this current interface is enough and very powerful, unless you are imaginating some improvements on navigational features, or some kind of bi-directional function among the modeling status and multi-layout status.
Perhaps you could elaborate some more on this. I'm sure we could learn a lot with an extensive discussion on this subject.
Thanks,
Miguel
Miguel J. Palaoro • Porto Alegre • Brasil
[DataCAD user since V.4 • Languages: English & Português • Scale Type/Unit: Meter-ABNT]
Where I work, I'm sure its the same elsewhere, we setup all our plot sheets under the Plotter menu "Sheet" tab (S7)
Once there it lists your sheets.. i.e. Sheet 1 thru Sheet 10 etc.
Our typical residential projects can 10 to 30 sheets. The Sheet menu is quite limited to its abilities. You can re-name sheets, and copy entire sheets to other sheets, but can cannot move the order of the sheets and copy parts.. for example.. just the border.. to other sheets. After seeing what they did with the layer manager feature, similarly a sheet manager would be a nice addition also. Perhaps it would come up in another window similar to the reference file manager, and allow you to drag and copy or paste go to views or layers from sheet to sheet.
I like this idea. It would be nice to have a feature that shows all the sheets at one time on the screen in a graphic format, with the ability to see what "go to views" make up that sheet and the ability to open that sheet by clicking on it. In my office we rename the sheets by the page number on the construction drawings. Sometimes we don't have the paper version in front of us and have to search through all the many page numbers to find the sheet that has the info we want to print. A small graphic depiction of all the sheets would help us.
10 to 30 sheets in a single file. WOW!!! I have found easier and quicker to break up the files, i.e. one file for floor plans, one for exterior elevations, one for building sections and so on. I find that this keeps the file size down and helps with computer speed. Another advantage to this is that when it is crunch time multiple people can work on the same project. I also find that it cuts down on those circular xref's which can be problematic sometimes.
Arthur Wood
CADD Manager
EH Danson Associates
St. Johnbury, Vermont
We now use the GTV's to manage all of our sheets, and cut and paste via Abs. Zero for adding things to multiple sheets. I think we stopped using the sheets back when we were allowed more than 10 GTV's, but that was quite some time ago. I would like to see MSP a little more user friendly, and them placeable while just in regular drawing mode. Reminds me too much of Autocad's paperspace.
Thanks! - Josh Do. Or do not. There is no try. Josh's Digital Downloads is come back online soon. Stay tuned. (soon is a relative term)