Topic: Am I the only person to draw to snap?

[craigr]

I get a fair amount of drawings from others and it amazes me that they aren't drawn to snap.

We always draw to snap, and I insist that my coworkers do. (almost obsessive about this).

Unless, I don't understand snap. When I get their dwgs and turn snap on, the value I get is there snap setting, correct?

craigr

[huiz]

Grid Snap or Object Snap?

Grid snap is saved in the drawing (or was, I don't know). Object Snap is saved in your registry.

[Matt__W]

yes

[craigr]

Grid Snap or Object Snap?

Grid snap is saved in the drawing (or was, I don't know). Object Snap is saved in your registry.

Grid snap is what I am talking about. It makes it soooo much easier to make everything uniform. All of our thousands of blocks are drawn to snap. So, when we create / modify drawings, we just drop them and, land the wires and go. Everything looks uniform and very professional.

I just got a drawing this morning that had 18/4 wires and they were all space differently. It looks like a 10 year old did it. This makes it tough to line up additions to the dwg.

craigr

[huiz]

I am a surveyor and my clients would not appreciate if I draw my surveys snapped on a grid. So I don't use it

[craigr]

I am a surveyor and my clients would not appreciate if I draw my surveys snapped on a grid. So I don't use it

I can understand in that venue, I guess I should have specified that I am talking mostly about electronics devices / controls. Wiring Terminals to terminals.

[M-dub]

No!  Depending on the drawing type, you will be slapped upside the head if you CAD here without using snap.  You can't use it in EVERY drawing, but for many of ours in the Instrumentation & Electrical field, it just makes CADding quicker, easier and ... you get a MUCH better result.

[Matt__W]

What about the "Around the World and Back Snap"??

[CAB]

I never use the snap grid but use ortho & osmode to maintain a tight fit for all geometry.

If the lines are the correct length and angle and all ends meet the end of the next line why worry about the grid?

I do use the grid on rare occasions, creating hatches & isometric work.

[craigr]

If the lines are the correct length and angle and all ends meet the end of the next line why worry about the grid?

If they are to grid snap, then if you have 5 lines runing thru a dwg, they all are uniformly spaced when matched up to electrical terminals as well as other wires that are space to the grid, they match up without stretching etc. THEN, when you has to swap out equipment at a later date and you bring in one of your many blocks that are drawn to snap, you can just drop it in with a minimum of dwg modifications. - SPEED.

Since I put our company on the 'snap train' and put all of our blocks to snap, our dwg time has greatly decreased. Our dwgs look pretty much the same, no matter who drew them.

When I first started here there were no CAD standards. You could tell who drew a particular dwg by how the dwg looked.

Now our dwgs all look uniform and very professional. More importantly, Our CAD time has been greatly cut. And we all know that time is money.

craigr

[deegeecees]

For schematics it really makes sense to use gridsnap. Been seeing this done for almost 20 years now.

[dgorsman]

Yup, it really makes sense for P&IDs/PFDs as well.  The problem is a lot of drawings come in from outside the company where either a different snap spacing or no snap at all is used, and trying to use snap on those just gets in the way.  If you are doing drawings from scratch or they stay within your company then its a godsend for keeping things lined up nicely.

[Drafter X]

Here in the millwork drafting world, I would slap my folks in the head if they drew with grid on. But for your industry it makes perfect sense.
I'm just a polar tracking and object tracking guy I guess.

[JCTER]

Here in the millwork drafting world, I would slap my folks in the head if they drew with grid on. But for your industry it makes perfect sense.
I'm just a polar tracking and object tracking guy I guess.

Same here.  Polar and OTRACK

However, I've had to do some piping schematics - P&IDs, PFDs, MFDs on rare occasion, and for those, I absolutely used SNAP and GRID on.

It's just not universally applicable, and in fact, overall, I bet it's a minor section of all of Autocad's real world applications that would benefit from SNAP+GRID much. 

[CAB]

I see that it depends on what you draw.
In my case, houses mostly, there are times when I place things in fractions of units.
Example is when a wall turns 45 degrees the measurement to the turn is likely to be 1/2 or 3/4 of an inch / unit.
Otherwise I try to stay on 1 inch / unit increments.

[JCTER]

I see that it depends on what you draw.
In my case, houses mostly, there are times when I place things in fractions of units.
Example is when a wall turns 45 degrees the measurement to the turn is likely to be 1/2 or 3/4 of an inch / unit.
Otherwise I try to stay on 1 inch / unit increments.

If you draw things way out of scale and not at all representative of how they will be built and with no regard to actual lengths and distances, then it doesn't matter - all that matters is that it look pretty.

|------|  this line is a pipe spool 20 feet long
|--+--|  this line is a pipe spool with something in the middle that's 5 feet long.

Oh well

[CAB]

James,
I must need another cup this morning because you lost me.

[dgorsman]

I see that it depends on what you draw.
In my case, houses mostly, there are times when I place things in fractions of units.
Example is when a wall turns 45 degrees the measurement to the turn is likely to be 1/2 or 3/4 of an inch / unit.
Otherwise I try to stay on 1 inch / unit increments.

If you draw things way out of scale and not at all representative of how they will be built and with no regard to actual lengths and distances, then it doesn't matter - all that matters is that it look pretty.

|------|  this line is a pipe spool 20 feet long
|--+--|  this line is a pipe spool with something in the middle that's 5 feet long.

Oh well

Sounds like a typical piping iso to me.   

[jonesy]

On the rare occasion I need to draw a schematic, I most definately use grid and snap. As you say, it makes it so much easier to draw and space out... I just wish the people that amended my drawings had continued to use it :pissed:

[JCTER]

James,
I must need another cup this morning because you lost me.

Mainly talking about piping isos.  As in Isometrics.  They are purely symbolic in nature.  They have symbols for all the hardware/weapons/mechanisms like valves and elbows and tees.  The length of those lines are also moot.  I could draw the line 5 units long, but it could represent a 18'-6 3/4"' flange-ended section... it doesn't matter.  They are fabrication drawings only and the dimensions are not associative in any way.

It's just another form of schematic like for plumbing riser diagrams or electrical panel diagrams or something. 

I have only needed to do ISOs once, and I don't want to do them again.  I do Process-Flow-Diagrams often though, but thankfully those are easy.  They just show an "order of operations" so to speak, and you insert symbols that represent tanks, pumps, loadout connections, etc.  Then you just literally "connect the dots" with straight, organized lines, and in no way representative of how it will be piped up in reality.  So that is another time where SNAP and GRID help keep things organized and professional looking.