Saving your Detail Library to Land F/X

Note: The following catalog of content covered in this webinar is time stamped to allow you to follow along or skip to sections of the video that are relevant to your questions. You can also search for content on this page using the FIND command in your browser (CTRL + F in Windows, Command + F in Mac OS.)

• Intro/TOC
• A Few of Our Details Features
• Why Spend the Time?
• Things to Decide Before You Start
  • Standard Detail Size & Other Preferences
  • Your Detail Filing System
• How to Edit the Detail Template
• Preparing and Saving Your Details Into the Land F/X System

0:00 – 2:55: Intro/TOC

2:56 – 11:29: A Few of Our Details Features

Detail Explorer (3:07)

 

The Detail Explorer is a library folder interface that allows you to access all your standard and custom details, as well as the default Land F/X details, from within CAD.

 

Printing each detail within a selected category using the Detail Explorer (4:40)

 

Other printing options: List all categories & List all details – great additions to a binder of CAD details standards (8:30)

 

Checking the placed details in the Detail Manager (9:30)

 

Creating a Detail Report (a schedule of all details in the current project) (9:55)

11:30 – 13:44: Why Spend the Time?

Your details will be:

 

Organized Accessible within CAD Accessible by all users on your network Linked to your drawings for quick changes Linked to callouts dynamically Scaled correctly In a library that you can easily print for your records Easier to find Easier to set up as templates Easy to insert into a drawing sheet using the sheet template grid tool Easy to move sheet to sheet Shown in the Detail Manager to identify whether it’s placed on a sheet or not

Simple to create and save into the system Dynamically linked to Reference Notes (RefNotes) and the RefNote Schedule Dynamically linked to plants and the Plant Schedule Fast to annotate with text at the correct scale Linked to their source files for on-the-go edits Manageable through an interface within CAD (our Detail Explorer) with previews Saved in a way that you can quickly create a report of placed/unplaced details and references for a specification document Consistent via standards in your company’s Preference Sets for: Font Dimension Style (DimStyle) Layers

 

 

Bottom line: The time you spend organizing your details with our system will be returned to you at least tenfold.

13:45 – 22:21: Things to Decide Before You Start

Things you don’t need to decide before you start (13:45)

• Which details to save into the system
• Fonts you’ll use in your details (to a certain extent)

 

 

Standard Detail Size & Other Preferences (14:15)

Setting the Detail Template size in the Details Preferences (14:40)

 

Note that we chose our default template size (7.25 by 7.125 inches in Imperial, 184.15 by 180.975 mm in Metric) because it allows details to fit easily onto a sheet on several sheet sizes (16:00)

 

 

Pros of changing the default detail template size and look (16:59):

• Easier to save in your library initially
• Familiar

 

Pros of keeping the default Detail Template size and look (17:50):

• The default Land F/X details in the library will match your details.
• No initial time taken making changes to the template.

 

 

 

Your Detail Filing System (20:02)

 

Consider the CSI Master Format (http://csinet.org/numbersandtitles) vs. your own system.

 

One major advantage of the CSI Master Format: Saving in this format makes it easier to find things because it’s based on numbers rather than just words.

22:22 – 39:59: How to Edit the Detail Template

Examples of a detail saved in our default template size & of a smaller template size you might want to use (23:24)

 

Measuring the preferred size of template as placed on the sheet and noting the differences in dimensions between this template and the default Land F/X template (24:55)

 

Copying the new template to the clipboard (26:25)

 

Changing the dimensions of the template in the Details Preferences (26:55)

 

Opening the template file to edit & verifying the active Preference Set (27:50)

 

Note: If you’re not familiar with how to actually build a detail, we recommend watching our Master Details Tools webinar. (/videos/webinars/item/2195-master-details-tools.html)

 

Note that the template width in the actual template file doesn’t change automatically when you set the dimensions in the Details Preferences (28:40)

 

Setting the units in the template file and changing the width (note that the height will change automatically based on the dimensions you set in the Preferences) (28:50)

 

Pasting the copied template, using elements from it in the edited template, and making additional edits to the new template (29:50)

 

Copying the Detail Number attribute to create a Detail Sheet attribute in the template (32:15)

 

Purging the template drawing (33:15)

 

Saving the edited Detail Template (33:35)

 

Changing the text style of your detail callouts using the Text Manager (34:30)

 

Some important settings in the CAD Options dialog box, Open and Save tab, related to keeping your drawings clean (36:25):

• Download ObjectARX apps: Set to Command invoke
• Proxy images for custom objects: Set to Show proxy graphics or Do not show proxy graphics
• Show Proxy Information dialog box: Make sure this option is checked.

 

These options will cause the Proxy Graphics dialog box to open when you open a drawing or detail in CAD. Here, you’ll find out whether the file contains Proxy Graphics and, as a result, is corrupt. If it is, you’ll need to follow our steps to clean the file using our Nuke tool or following our manual drawing cleanup steps. (/docs/admin/drawing-setup/item/1147-drawing-cleanup.html) Need to clean multiple files? Use our BatchMan tool. (/docs/admin/fx-admin-tools/item/173-batchman.html)

40:00 – end: Preparing and Saving Your Details into the Land F/X System

Preparing a detail to save into the Land F/X system (40:00)

 

Placing a Detail Template, setting the scale for the detail, and making any necessary adjustments (41:00)

 

Editing the detail annotations and converting text to multiline text (MText) (42:10)

 

You can also convert all text to MText using the ConvertAllText command. (44:34)

 

Using the Match Properties tool to reformat callouts (45:24)

 

Note: This entire process should require about 10 to 15 minutes per detail – not too bad!.

 

Saving the current layer properties into a Layer State using our Save Layer State tool, or using our Load Layer State tool to apply an existing Layer State to the current drawing or detail (46:30)

 

Saving the detail using our Save Detail tool (47:20)

 

Copying the detail title to apply it when saving the detail (48:00)

 

Adding other information to the saved detail, including the description and notes, “drawn by” and “checked by,” and adding the detail to a project while saving it (49:20)

 

Saving the detail to a project (50:40)

 

Opening the Detail Manager and verifying that the detail has been saved to the project successfully (51:10)

 

Using the Detail Manager as a docked palette (51:30)

 

Giving the detail a number and placing it on  sheet (51:40)

Note: The saved detail is now “smart” – it’s linked to our system rather than consisting of exploded linework as it did previously. For example, it “knows” which page it’s on.

 

Creating a new detail sheet and moving the saved detail to that page (52:20)

 

Note: You don’t need to save your entire detail library at once. It’s not a bad thing to do if you only have a few details or you can appoint a detail manager to do the job. Otherwise, just save the details you use the most (maybe your 20 to 50 most-used details), then save the others as you need them.

 

Using our Edit Detail tool to edit a detail (54:10)

 

Question: Where is the detail library? (56:00)

Answer: It’s a folder you set in the Details Preferences.

 

Question: Do detail callouts associate with or recognize details? If so, how does that happen (57:50)

Answer: Yes, absolutely! Just click the Callout button in the Detail Manager and place a detail callout. That callout is then automatically associated with the detail it’s calling out. That reference remains constant even if the sheet or the detail number changes.

 

Demonstration of creating different sizes of details using the same saved template (59:20)