Topic: Layouts!! (?)

[hudster]

If you're doing 2D work where every sheet is stand alone, it can limit the number of people working the package at one time.  So if a change occurs and you have to replicate that change over six or ten different drawings, only one designer can be employed if all the sheets are in one file.  That's the ONLY real draw-back I've found with multi-sheet files.

You could Xref your final layouts into one drawing and have a different layout for each one.

[craigr]

There is a reason it is a LOT cheaper.

I've got a feeling that the 'higher ups' are thinking about switching to Visio

Our IT guy and a couple of others think it may be easier / better for what we do. - Cheaper?

I hope not, I like working here.

craigr

[CADaver]

If you're doing 2D work where every sheet is stand alone, it can limit the number of people working the package at one time.  So if a change occurs and you have to replicate that change over six or ten different drawings, only one designer can be employed if all the sheets are in one file.  That's the ONLY real draw-back I've found with multi-sheet files.

You could Xref your final layouts into one drawing and have a different layout for each one.

Only model space entities xref.

[CADaver]

There is a reason it is a LOT cheaper.

I've got a feeling that the 'higher ups' are thinking about switching to Visio

Our IT guy and a couple of others think it may be easier / better for what we do. - Cheaper?

I hope not, I like working here.

craigr

wha??  What do you guys draw that would be "better" in Visio fer Pete's sake??  org charts??

[craigr]

I don't see anything but MUCH longer time in producing dwgs in Visio, but I doubt they would see that.

They are going to just look at the overall purchase price of the software.

craigr

[ronjonp]

Is anyone out there using Sheet Set Manager to do their plotting?  You can either have the drawings plot using the default page setup or select a page setup override.  For instance; Let's say your default page setup plots to a PLT file.  You can have multiple page setup overrides that would send the drawings to an 11x17 sheet (scaled down), a PDF file, or anything else you want to set up.  I've found that to be MUCH easier than using the straight PUBLISH command.

In the image below, I can quickly create PLTs for 79 files with a simple click of the mouse using the default page setup.

IMO Pagesetup overrides with SSM are the only way to go  . Glad to hear someone else out there plots this way as well.

[ELOQUINTET]

gosh i can't imagine not using layouts and took a look at this topic mostly out of shock that someone is not using them and was even more shocked to see so many people not using them. i can understand many of your reasons for not using them but for me it was a no brainer. I've been using layouts since they came about and wouldn't consider having a drawings per sheet. a few things for me make this a no brainer. 1 i usually work on projects by myself and if others are working with me we are working on parts that don't bleed into one another enough to cross paths often. our jobs are not huge and we usually split a job by disciplines. our drawings usually consist of a plan/schedule drawing, an elevation drawing (this drawing may be xrefed in the plan dwg), a details drawing and various wiring diagrams. we have multiple layout tabs in each of these drawings but rarely more than 10 for any. we have many lisp routines which work across multiple layout tabs thanks to the guys here at the swamp which make making global changes a snap. i don't know how many of you juggle so many files. i know it's dangerous putting all your eggs in one basket but as someone said earlier that's why you have a backup and really it's pretty rare i ever have any problem. i think whether or not you should use layouts or not ultimately depends on what type of drawings you do. i can only hope that you never send me one of your jobs 

[Cabs61]

Hi.. Newbie alert... Don't pillory me. 

I could not imagine working without layouts in my drawings. Been doing it that way since about 2000 or so.

Currently I'm spec'ing kitchens and bathrooms. I generate all my geometry as true 3D objects in modelspace. I can 3dorbit all I want and see where the problems might arise.

By using multiple layouts in the same drawing I can reference to that model and be sure everything except dimensions updates when I change the model. (I use transpatial dimensioning). Everything remains consistent. No risk of duplication errors. I sometimes have 15 - 20 layouts in a single drawing. All titleblocks are from the same xref with appropriate fields set to various system variables.

Just my 2 cents...

Cabs61

[Kate M]

Nope. That part is missing on mine.

craigr

Y'know, I understand why they left a lot out of LT that they did, but some stuff just makes you say "Huh?"

There is a reason it is a LOT cheaper.

Yeah, but there are logical things they left out to make it cheaper (3D, programming), and less-logical (imagaeattach).

[Shinyhead]

type publish at the command line.

Beneath the list of things to be plotted, there is a section called "Publish to" where you have two radio button selections to choose from... "Plotter named in page setup" or "DWF File"

Pick the page setup one... then you can specify, in the middle column, what page setup to use to plot.

"Plotter named in page setup" must not be available in LT.

There is that 'LT' problem again.

Thanks anyway,
craigr

If you are using LT08 (not sure about prior LT versions) you can actually get that by right clicking a layout tab and selecting all layouts. Then right clicking again and "publish selected layouts" When publish comes up you will have the radio button available again.  Don't know why and it took a while to figure out, but it does work.

[CADaver]

Nope. That part is missing on mine.
craigr

Y'know, I understand why they left a lot out of LT that they did, but some stuff just makes you say "Huh?"

There is a reason it is a LOT cheaper.

Yeah, but there are logical things they left out to make it cheaper (3D, programming), and less-logical (imagaeattach).

Some things were left out just to make it cheaper, other things were left out to make you re-consider buying the complete program.