Project Setup

The following procedure works for setting up both Imperial and Metric projects. It is important that all metric projects be setup this way for linetypes to display properly.

Part 1 – Create Project Xref Titleblock

• In My Computer browse to I:\Titleblocks and Copy the appropriate Titleblock and Paste it the Xref-Images project folder.
  
• Rename the first part of the copied file to reflect the project name (gov___-24x36-Tblk.dwg to Project123-24x36-Tblk.dwg).
  
• Open the Titleblock and edit the project specific information.

Part 2 – Start a New Project Drawing

• Start a new drawing with the NEW command (select acad.dwt as the temple).
• Run the SETUP program.
• Using SAVEAS, save the drawing to the appropriate project folder.

Part 3 – Add Titleblock

• Using the XREF command attach the titleblock.
• Use the new TB command to select and insert appropriate “text” portion of the titleblock.

Part 4 – Create Additional Drawings

• After the first project drawing is setup with Steps 1-3 the rest of the drawings can be created by copying the file or with the SAVEAS command.

Use Recoverall to Cleanup Drawings

If you are working on a project and the drawings are slow to load a great cleanup tool is called RECOVERALL. What does it do?

RECOVERALL opens and the selected file and each and every associated Xref and cleans up the drawing integrity. A great time to use this tool is when you start working on a pre-AutoCAD 2010 project.

Here is how it works:
Make sure that you are not in any of the files that you want to Recover.

1. Type RECOVERALL at the command line (or from the File pulldown -> Drawing Utilities > Recover drawings and xrefs).
2. Select the PGA (non-xref) drawing that you want to Recover.
3. Repeat on other project drawings.

Give it a try! It may speed up your drawings by 20-30%.

Xref Fading in AutoCAD 2010

In AutoCAD 2010 you may notice Xrefs are faded, this is a new feature. To control this behavior add the command line type: XDWGFADECTL and set it to 0 (no fading) or 30 (30% fading).

Bluebeam Administrator

If you have any issues with Bluebeam check out this blog post on Bluebeam Administrator

Transparent Signature Image

If you need instructions on creating a transparent image signature see Your Signature Please.

Shop Drawing Stamp

Here is how to apply the PGA shop drawing stamp:

• If you recieve paper based shop drawings, scan them to PDF (see Printers and Scanners).
• Open the PDF and press the Stamp button.

• 
  
  Select PGA - Shop Drawing Stamp.brx and select the insertion point.
  
  
  

•  Apply your signature stamp.
• Right click on the shop drawing stamp and select Apply to All Pages
  

• Repeat for signature stamp.
• Go to each page and and add Check Box Stamp to appropriate box of stamp.
• Here is the result:

M-Files - Document Management

If you are interested in learning more about M-Files you can download the guided tour from the link below.

http://www.m-files.com/eng/guidedtour.asp

We will have a PGA lunch and learn in January 2010.