Greetings,
A reminder to keep your Default Drawings up to date, and to use all the possible settings to your advantage. For example, you can set up all the basic GTV's, so that when you start a new file based on a default drawing, your layers will be turned on in the groups that you'll need ahead of time. Remember to set the plot scale appropriately for each GTV, and then the first time that you use Text or Dimensions, they will be at the proper size.
I also insert the default border XRef in the default files, so you just have to redefine it, and you're off and running. You can set up the first MSP sheet (at least) with the border inserted and named.
[Edit: Steve, I just Redefine the XRef after creating the new files; I think this is easier to do than inserting the XRef each time, and it has the benefit of keeping the border at the same "location" in the file. For other XRef's, like floor plans XRef'd into a structural plan, you can Redefine them all as a group now, in v11.]
As your drawing settings evolve (or as you discover settings that you left out), it is a pretty quick thing to also update the default drawings -- and the time savings for each subsequent project is a direct payback.
All the text and dimension settings can be saved as part of the default drawing; as well as snap settings and distance, angle, and scale files. All the layers (and their colors, Z heights, etc.) can be set up ahead of time -- often the easiest way to get this is to copy your latest project files, and then delete all the entites that are not totally generic.
What have I left out? How do you set up your default files?
A reminder to keep your Default Drawings up to date, and to use all the possible settings to your advantage. For example, you can set up all the basic GTV's, so that when you start a new file based on a default drawing, your layers will be turned on in the groups that you'll need ahead of time. Remember to set the plot scale appropriately for each GTV, and then the first time that you use Text or Dimensions, they will be at the proper size.
I also insert the default border XRef in the default files, so you just have to redefine it, and you're off and running. You can set up the first MSP sheet (at least) with the border inserted and named.
[Edit: Steve, I just Redefine the XRef after creating the new files; I think this is easier to do than inserting the XRef each time, and it has the benefit of keeping the border at the same "location" in the file. For other XRef's, like floor plans XRef'd into a structural plan, you can Redefine them all as a group now, in v11.]
As your drawing settings evolve (or as you discover settings that you left out), it is a pretty quick thing to also update the default drawings -- and the time savings for each subsequent project is a direct payback.
All the text and dimension settings can be saved as part of the default drawing; as well as snap settings and distance, angle, and scale files. All the layers (and their colors, Z heights, etc.) can be set up ahead of time -- often the easiest way to get this is to copy your latest project files, and then delete all the entites that are not totally generic.
What have I left out? How do you set up your default files?
Last edited by Neil Blanchard on Wed Jun 21, 2006 2:22 pm, edited 3 times in total.
