Autodesk AutoCAD AutoCAD Architecture - 2008 Instruction Manual

AutoCAD Architecture 2008

User's Guide

2007

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Third Party Software Program Credits

ACIS Copyright© 1989-2001 Spatial Corp. Portions Copyright© 2002 Autodesk, Inc.
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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Contents

Part 1 Workflow and User Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Chapter 1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

New Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

A Quick Start for Transitioning from AutoCAD to AutoCAD Architecture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Default Content Paths for Microsoft Windows Vista . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Finding Help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Online Help Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

AutoCAD Architecture Design Phases Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Autodesk Training Programs and Products . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Autodesk Authorized Training Centers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Autodesk Official Training Courseware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Autodesk Certification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

e-Learning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Contacting Autodesk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Sales Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Technical Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Feedback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Chapter 2 The Workspace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

The Workspace Concept . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Workspace Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

The Menu Bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Toolbars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Context Menus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Tool Palettes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Properties Palette . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

AutoCAD Dashboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Drawing Window Status Bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

Command Line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Application Status Bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Communication Center . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Project Navigator Palette . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Changing Workspaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Working with Objects in the Workspace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Adding Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Modifying Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Selecting Similar Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Working with Tool Palettes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

Opening the Tool Palettes Set . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Controlling the Appearance of the Tool Palettes Set . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Specifying Different Tool Palettes for the Tool Palettes Set . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

Creating a New Tool Palettes Set . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

Creating a New Tool Palettes Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

Creating a New Tool Palette . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

Defining the Appearance of Tool Palettes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

Adding Text and Separator Lines to Tool Palettes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

Contents | v

Working with Tool Palettes from a Central Location . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

Creating an Object with a Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Changing the Tool Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

Changing a Tool Icon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

Refreshing a Tool Icon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

Creating a Tool from an Object in the Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

Copying a Tool from a Tool Palette . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

Creating a Tool from the Style Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

Creating a Tool from AEC Content in DesignCenter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

Creating a Command Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

Working with Tools from a Central Location . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

Applying the Properties of a Tool to an Existing Object . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

Re-Importing Styles for a Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

Deleting a Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

The Properties Palette . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

Opening the Properties Palette . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

Setting the Appearance of the Properties Palette . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

The Design Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

The Display Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

The Extended Data Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

Worksheets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

Direct Editing with Grips and Dynamic Dimensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

Grip Tips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

Grip Color . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

Using the CTRL Key with Grips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

Trigger Grips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

Dynamic Dimensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

Grip Constraints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

Temporary Grip Coordinate Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

In-Place Editing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

In-Place Editing of Polyline-Based Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

In-Place Editing of Profile-Based Objects and Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

In-Place Editing of 3D Body Modifiers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

In-Place Editing of Material Hatches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

Aligning the UCS to an Object Face . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

Isolating Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72

Isolating Objects to Edit in a Section View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

Isolating Objects to Edit in an Elevation View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

Isolating Objects to Edit in a Plan View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

Isolating Objects to Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

Isolating Objects to Hide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

Ending the Object Isolation in a Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

Saving Isolated Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

Isolating Objects in External References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

Styles and Support Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

Integration of AutoCAD Architecture and AutoCAD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

Chapter 3 Content Browser . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

Understanding the Content Browser . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

Exploring the Content Browser . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

Viewing a Tool Catalog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

Using the Items in a Tool Catalog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

Managing Your Catalog Library . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

Creating a New Tool Catalog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

Creating a Tool Catalog from Content Drawings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84

Adding Tools from Content Drawings to a Tool Catalog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86

Adding an Existing Tool Catalog to Your Catalog Library . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87

Creating a Catalog Install File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88

vi | Contents

Publishing Tool Catalogs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

Adding a Website to Your Catalog Library . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90

Editing Tool Catalog Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90

Creating Catalog Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91

Sorting Catalogs in the Library View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92

Filtering Catalogs in the Library View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92

Removing a Tool Catalog or Website Link . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92

Opening a Different Catalog Library . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92

Renaming a Catalog Library . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93

Searching for Items in a Tool Catalog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93

Performing a Search . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93

Adding Content to a Tool Catalog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94

Defining Categories in a Tool Catalog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96

Adding a Tool Palette to a Tool Catalog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97

Adding a Tool Package to a Tool Catalog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97

Adding Tools to a Tool Catalog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97

Copying and Moving Tool Palettes and Tool Packages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98

Copying and Moving Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99

Customizing a Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99

Deleting Tool Catalog Items . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100

Using Tool Catalog Items in AutoCAD Architecture 2008 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100

Linked and Unlinked Tool Catalog Items . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100

Using a Tool in the AutoCAD Architecture Workspace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101

Copying a Tool Palette to the AutoCAD Architecture Workspace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101

Copying a Tool Package to the AutoCAD Architecture Workspace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102

Refreshing Linked Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103

Refreshing Linked Tool Palettes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103

Specifying Refresh Options for Linked Tool Palettes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103

Working with Multiple Content Browser Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104

Opening a Tool Catalog in a New Content Browser Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104

Opening Catalog Items in a New Content Browser Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104

Dragging Catalog Items Between Content Browser Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104

Starting the Content Browser from a Windows Command Prompt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105

Chapter 4 Creating and Saving Drawings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107

About Templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108

Creating a Drawing from a Template . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108

Creating a Drawing Without a Template . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109

Opening Legacy Drawings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109

Setting Up a Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109

Specifying the Drawing Units . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110

Specifying the Drawing Scale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111

Specifying a Layer Standard and a Layer Key Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113

Specifying the Default Display Representations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114

Specifying AEC Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115

Changing the AEC Editor Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115

Changing the AEC Content Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117

Specifying AEC Object Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117

Specifying the Display Resolution of Objects with Facets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118

Changing the AEC Project Defaults . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118

Sharing Drawings with AutoCAD Users . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119

Comparing Methods of Sharing Drawings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119

Generating Proxy Graphics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120

Exporting a Drawing to AutoCAD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120

Exporting a Drawing to a DXF File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122

Viewport Layer Mapping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122

Chapter 5 Interoperability with Other Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125

Importing and Exporting IFC Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126

Architectural Objects and IFC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126

Contents | vii

How Drawing Files Are Exported to IFC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127

How IFC Files Are Imported . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129

Importing LandXML . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130

Schema Version . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131

Supported Data Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131

File Validation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133

Importing LandXML Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134

Selecting Layer Keys for LandXML Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135

Publishing Drawing Files to Autodesk MapGuide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136

Prerequisites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136

Published Data Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136

Generating a MWX File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137

An Overview of the Published Data Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137

An Overview of the Database Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138

Publishing Data to Autodesk MapGuide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139

Exporting Property Set Data to an MDB . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140

Publishing Drawings to DWF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140

Publishing Property Data to DWF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141

Process Overview: Publishing a DWG File with Property Set Data to DWF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143

Setting the Publishing Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143

Creating a New Published Property List (PPL) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144

Publishing a DWF File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145

Chapter 6 Drawing Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149

Concepts of Drawing Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150

Before You Begin: External References Within a Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157

Before You Begin: Working in a Network Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158

Process Overview: Working in a Project Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158

Project Support Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159

Working with Design Teams Located Remotely . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160

Opening a Project From a Mapped Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160

Setting the Default Project Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161

Creating a Sheet Set Template . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162

Creating a Template from an Existing Sheet Set . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163

Creating a Template from Existing Drawings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167

The Project Browser . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170

Using the Project Browser . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170

The Project Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173

Setting a Project Current . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174

Creating a New Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174

Defining the Project Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177

Moving a Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186

Renaming a Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186

Closing a Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187

Electronically Transmitting a Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187

Deleting a Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191

Closing the Project Browser . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191

Removing the Project Context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192

Opening a Project from Windows Explorer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192

The Project Navigator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193

Opening the Project Navigator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193

The Tabs of the Project Navigator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193

Using the Project Navigator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197

The Project Status Bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202

Displaying the Project Tool Palette Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202

Displaying the Project Library . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203

Levels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204

Creating a New Level . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205

Copying a Level with Assigned Constructs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206

viii | Contents

Changing the Properties of a Level . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207

Deleting a Level . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207

Changing Levels: Interactions with the Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208

Divisions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208

Creating a New Division . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209

Changing a Division . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209

Deleting a Division . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210

Changing Divisions: Interactions with the Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210

Categories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210

Creating a Category in the Project Navigator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212

Creating a Category from Windows Explorer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213

Specifying the Location of Top-Level Categories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214

Changing the Subcategory of a Project File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215

Deleting a Category . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216

Constructs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217

When to Start with Constructs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218

Processing Constructs in the Building Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218

The Content of Constructs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219

Creating a New Construct . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219

Copying Constructs to Levels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221

Converting a Legacy Drawing to a Construct . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221

Opening and Closing a Construct . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224

Dragging Objects into a Construct . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224

Referencing Elements into Constructs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225

Displaying External References of a Construct . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227

Changing the Properties of a Construct . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227

Electronically Transmitting a Construct . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228

Deleting a Construct . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229

Converting a Construct to an Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230

Changing Constructs: Interactions with the Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230

Elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231

When to Start with Elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232

Processing Elements in the Building Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233

Creating a New Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233

Converting a Legacy Drawing to an Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234

Opening and Closing an Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237

Dragging Objects into an Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237

Changing the Properties of an Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238

Electronically Transmitting an Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238

Deleting an Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239

Referencing an Element into Another Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239

Displaying External References of an Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240

Converting an Element to a Construct . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241

Changing Elements: Interactions with the Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241

Views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242

When to Start with Views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245

Process Overview: Creating a General View Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246

Creating a New General View Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246

Displaying External References of a View Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249

Opening and Closing a View Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250

Creating a Specialized View Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251

Changing the Properties of a View Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252

Regenerating a View Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253

Placing a View Drawing onto a Sheet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253

Electronically Transmitting a View Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254

Deleting a View Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255

Creating a Model Space View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255

Placing a Model Space View onto a Sheet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257

Changing the Properties of a Model Space View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258

Contents | ix

Deleting Model Space Views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258

Synchronizing View Drawing Layers with Sheet View Layers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259

Changing Views: Interactions with the Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262

Plotting Sheets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262

When to Start with Plotting Sheets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265

Setting the Properties of the Project Sheet Set . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265

Setting the Properties of a Sheet Subset . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267

Creating a Sheet Subset . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268

Removing a Sheet Subset . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268

Creating a New Sheet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269

Importing Sheets into the Sheet Set . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270

Registering the Current Sheet in the Sheet Set . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271

Opening and Closing a Sheet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271

Changing the Properties of a Sheet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272

Removing a Sheet from the Sheet Set . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272

Deleting a Sheet from the Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273

Creating a New Sheet View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273

Opening a Sheet View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274

Numbering Sheet Views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274

Deleting a Sheet View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274

Displaying External References of a Sheet Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275

Inserting a Sheet List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275

Changing a Sheet List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277

Updating the Sheet List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277

Refreshing the Sheet Set . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277

Creating a Sheet Selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278

Activating a Sheet Selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278

Deleting a Sheet Selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278

Electronically Transmitting Sheets and Sheet Sets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279

Archiving a Sheet Set . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 282

Publishing Sheet Sets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 286

Changing Plotting Sheets: Interactions with the Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292

Updating (Re-path) the Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292

Refreshing the Project View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294

Object Display in External References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294

Using the External Display Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295

Using the External Display Configuration with the Object Enabler . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295

Example: Displaying Part of the Model as Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 296

Annotating a Building Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297

Generating Spaces and Space Schedules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297

Tagging a Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297

Property Set Data and Schedule Tables in Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 298

Creating a Title Block for a Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305

Dimensioning a Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307

Working with Cut Planes in a Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 308

Global Cut Planes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 310

Object-Specific Cut Planes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315

Running Drawing Management from the Command Line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 317

Command Line: Opening the Project Browser . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 317

Command Line: Opening the Project Navigator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 317

Command Line: Refreshing the Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 317

Command Line: Regenerating Views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 318

Command Line: Selecting a New Project Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 318

Command Line: Closing the Project Navigator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 318

Frequently Asked Questions about Drawing Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 318

Appendix 1: Template Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320

Understanding Project Navigator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321

Levels and Divisions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 322

Project File Naming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 323

x | Contents

Understanding Constructs Included in the Commercial Template Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325

Understanding the Element File Included in the Commercial Template Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327

Understanding Views Included in the Template Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327

Understanding Sheets Included in the Template Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 328

Project Standards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 328

Chapter 7 Project Standards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 331

Project Standards Terminology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 332

Project Standards Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333

AEC Standards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333

AutoCAD Standards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 334

Standard Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 334

Synchronizing the Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 335

Process Overview: Using Standards in a Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 335

Using Project Standards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 335

Prerequisites for Working with Project Standards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 336

Setting up Standards in a Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 336

Creating a New Project with Predefined Standards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 336

Configuring Project Standards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 337

Setting up Standard Tools in a Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 345

Creating a Tool Catalog for a Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 347

Adding a Project Catalog to a Content Browser Library . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 350

Adding a Project Library and Tool Palette Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 351

Displaying the Project Tool Palette Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 353

Building the Tool Palette Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 354

Copying the Project Tool Palettes to the Tool Palette File Location . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 355

Adding the Project Profile to the Tool Palette File Location . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 355

Adding Standards to a Project Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 355

Project Tool Palette Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 356

Adding Standard Styles from Content Browser . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 356

Adding Standard Styles from Style Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 357

Adding Standard Display Settings from Display Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 358

Synchronizing a Project with the Standards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 358

Synchronization Status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 360

Synchronizing a Project with AEC Standards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 361

Synchronization Exceptions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 363

Synchronizing a Project Drawing with AEC Standards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 363

Synchronizing Selected Styles and Display Settings with AEC Standards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 364

Generating a Synchronization Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 368

Synchronizing a Project with AutoCAD Standards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 368

Synchronizing a Project Drawing with AutoCAD Standards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 369

Auditing a Project or a Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 370

Showing Display Overrides in Project Drawings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 371

Editing Project Drawings Outside the Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 371

Creating a New Project Standards Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 371

Updating Project Standards Drawings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 373

Process Overview: Updating AEC Standards in a Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 373

Versioning Standards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 373

Change Types in Project Standards Drawings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 375

Updating Standard Objects in a Project Standards Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 376

Updating Standard Objects in a Project Standards Drawing from a Project Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . 378

Adding Standard Objects from a Project Drawing to a Project Standards Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . 379

Editing the Version History of a Standard Object . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 380

Versioning a Project Standards Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 380

Purging the Version History from a Project Standards Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 381

Purging the Version Information from a Project Standards Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 381

Synchronizing Project Standards with Each Other . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 382

Editing Project Standards Drawings Outside the Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 382

Scripting Project Standards Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 383

Contents | xi

Chapter 8 Drawing Compare . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 385

Working with Drawings for Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 386

Process Overview: Working with Drawing Compare . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 388

Working with the Drawing Compare Setup Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 388

Identifying the Status of Drawings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 389

Matching Drawings Automatically . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 389

Matching Drawings Manually . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 391

Un-Matching Review Drawings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 391

Excluding Drawings from Comparison . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 391

Filtering Project Drawings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 392

Running a Drawing Compare Session . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 392

Creating a Visual Filter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 396

Resetting Viewed Objects to Pending Review or Viewed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 396

Plotting a Review Session . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 396

Ending Drawing Compare . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 397

Troubleshooting Drawing Compare . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 397

Chapter 9 Layer Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 401

Layer Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 402

Managing Drawing Layers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 404

Opening the Layer Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 405

Making a Layer Current . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 405

Creating a Layer with a Layer Standard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 405

Creating a Nonstandard Layer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 406

Renaming a Layer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 407

Deleting a Layer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 407

Changing the Layer Standard of a Layer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 407

Defining the Properties of a Layer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 408

Overriding Layer Properties in Layout Viewports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 409

Identifying Viewport Layer Overrides . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 410

Removing Viewport Layer Overrides . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 411

Working with Layer Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 412

Types of Layer Filters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 413

Creating a Group Filter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 413

Creating a Property Filter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 414

Creating a Layer Standards Filter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 416

Adding Layers to Layer Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 417

Changing the Properties of a Layer Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 417

Renaming and Deleting Layer Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 418

Converting a Property Filter to a Group Filter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 418

New Layer Notification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 418

Setting up the Notification for New Layers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 418

Identifying New Layers in the Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 419

Reconciling New Layers in the Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 419

Working with Layer States . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 420

Creating a Saved Layer State . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 420

Editing a Saved Layer State . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 422

Restoring a Layer State . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 423

Deleting a Layer State . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 424

Importing Layer States to the Current Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 424

Exporting a Layer State from the Current Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 425

Working with Layer Keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 425

Default Layer Keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 426

Default Layer Key Values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 429

Creating a Layer Key Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 429

Creating a Layer Key Style from an LY File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 430

Editing Layer Key Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 430

Attaching Notes and Files to a Layer Key Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 432

Layer Key Overrides . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 432

xii | Contents

Creating and Editing Layer Standards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 434

Component Fields in Layer Standards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 435

Creating a Layer Standard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 438

Editing Component Fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 438

Editing Descriptive Fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 439

Editing Descriptions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 439

Editing Description Specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 440

Purging Layer Standards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 440

Importing Layer Standards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 441

Exporting Layer Standards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 441

Appendix: LISP Changes for Layer Snapshots and Layer States . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 442

Chapter 10 Display System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 443

Introduction to the Display System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 444

Using the Properties Palette to Change Display Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 445

Display System Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 450

Display Representations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 451

Display Sets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 454

Display Configurations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 455

The Display Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 457

Opening the Display Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 459

Viewing Display Configurations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 459

Viewing Display Sets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 460

Viewing Display Representations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 461

Viewing an Object in a Display Representation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 462

Viewing the Display Representation of an Object in a Display Set . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 463

Accessing the Default Display Properties of an Object . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 463

Creating and Editing Display Configurations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 464

Process Overview: Creating a Display Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 464

Tips for Working with Display Configurations, Sets, and Representations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 464

Creating a Display Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 465

Creating a Display Set . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 465

Creating a Display Representation for an Object . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 466

Editing a Display Representation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 466

Assigning a Display Representation to a Display Set . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 467

Comparing Display Representations Between Display Sets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 468

Assigning a Display Set to a View Direction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 469

Assigning a Display Configuration to a Viewport . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 470

Specifying a Display Set as a Default Display Set . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 470

Specifying the Default Display Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 470

Specifying the Display Configurations Used in Xref Overlays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 471

Changing the Display Configuration Used in Xref Drawings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 471

Displaying Objects by Classification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 472

Specifying Settings for Live Sections and Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 473

Managing Display Configurations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 474

Renaming a Display Configuration or a Display Set . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 474

Renaming a Display Representation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 474

Deleting a Display Configuration or a Display Set . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 474

Deleting a Display Representation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 475

Adding Notes and Reference Files to a Display Configuration or a Display Set . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 475

Using Display Settings in Multiple Drawings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 476

Purging a Display Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 477

Purging a Display Set . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 477

Purging a Display Representation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 478

Working with Standard Display Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 478

Synchronizing Individual Display Settings with AEC Standards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 479

Excluding Display Settings from Synchronization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 480

Updating Standard Display Settings in a Project Standards Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 480

Updating Standard Display Settings in the Project Standards Drawing from a Project Drawing . . . . . . 482

Contents | xiii

Adding Standard Display Settings from a Project Drawing to a Project Standards Drawing . . . . . . . . 483

Editing the Version History of a Standard Display Setting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 484

Purging the Version History from a Project Standards Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 484

Purging the Version Information from a Project Standards Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 485

Synchronizing Project Standards with Each Other . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 485

Troubleshooting the Display System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 485

Object Not Displayed in a Viewport . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 486

Viewport Not Updating Properly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 486

Objects Copied from Another Drawing Display Differently . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 486

Verifying the Existence of Objects Not Displayed in a Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 486

Object Linetype Displayed Incorrectly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 487

Chapter 11 Style Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 489

Style Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 490

Getting Started with the Style Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 491

Sorting Styles in the Style Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 492

Viewing Styles in the Style Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 493

Viewing Styles Across Multiple Drawings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 494

Working with Drawings and Templates in the Style Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 494

Creating a Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 496

Copying and Assigning a Style to an Object . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 496

Creating a Tool from a Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 496

Renaming a Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 497

Copying Styles Between Drawings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 497

Sending Styles to Other Users . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 498

Purging Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 498

Chapter 12 Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 501

Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 502

Objects That Support Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 503

Working with the Material Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 505

Using the Material Tool to Add Materials to Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 505

Creating a Material Tool from a Material Definition in Style Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 506

Copying a Material Tool on a Tool Palette . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 506

Creating a Material Tool from a Render Material in the Content Browser . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 507

Applying Material Tool Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 509

Material Components and Display Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 510

Linework Material Component . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 510

Plan Hatch Material Component . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 510

3D Body Material Component . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 510

Surface Hatch Material Component . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 511

2D Section/Elevation Linework . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 512

Section Hatch Material Component . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 512

Sectioned Body and Sectioned Boundary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 512

Displaying Materials in a Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 513

Working with Surface Hatches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 513

Surface Hatches on Curved Surfaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 514

Surface Hatches on Multiple Faces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 515

Surface Hatches on Extrusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 515

Surface Hatches on Free Form Mass Elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 517

Overriding the Surface Hatch on Individual Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 517

Hiding a Surface Hatch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 518

Displaying a Hidden Surface Hatch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 518

Specifying the Rotation of a Surface Hatch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 519

Specifying the Horizontal and Vertical Offset of a Surface Hatch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 520

Editing Surface Hatch Overrides . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 520

Displaying a List of Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 521

Displaying a Material Query . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 521

Process Overview: Creating and Assigning Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 522

Creating and Editing Material Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 522

xiv | Contents

Creating a Material Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 522

Defining the Layer, Color and Linetype of a Material Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 523

Specifying the Plan and Section Hatch Patterns of a Material Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 524

Specifying the Surface Hatch Pattern of a Material Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 525

Assigning Render Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 526

Excluding a Material Definition from 2D Section Shrinkwrap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 528

Controlling the Display of Hidden Lines by Material . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 529

Merging Material Definitions in a 2D Section/Elevation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 529

Attaching Notes and Files to a Material Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 530

Chapter 13 Content Creation Guidelines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 531

General Content Standards and Conventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 532

Content Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 532

National CAD Standard Compliance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 532

Content Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 535

Template Drawings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 535

Style Library Drawings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 536

Template Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 537

Tool Catalogs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 539

Display Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 539

Style-Based Content . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 540

Architectural Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 541

Documentation Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 555

Multi-Purpose Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 559

Symbol & Tool-Based Content . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 566

AEC Content . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 566

Palette-Based and Miscellaneous Annotation Tool Content . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 569

Part 2 Conceptual Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 573

Chapter 14 Creating Conceptual Models . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 575

Mass Elements and Mass Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 576

Using Massing Tools to Create Mass Elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 577

Editing Mass Elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 588

Mass Element Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 607

Using Massing Tools to Create Mass Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 612

Using Materials for Mass Elements and Mass Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 621

Using the Model Explorer to Create Mass Models . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 623

Displaying the Model Explorer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 624

Using Display Commands in the Model Explorer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 625

Viewing Objects on a Nonvisible Layer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 626

Maintaining Zoom Percentage and Position of an Object . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 626

Using Toolbar Commands in the Model Explorer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 626

Creating Slice Floorplates from a Conceptual Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 630

Generating a Slice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 630

Specifying the Slice Elevation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 630

Attaching Objects to a Slice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 631

Detaching Objects from a Slice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 631

Converting a Slice to a Polyline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 631

Changing the Location of a Slice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 631

Attaching Hyperlinks, Notes, or Files to a Slice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 632

Chapter 15 Quick Slice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 633

Quick Slice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 634

Creating a Quick Slice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 634

Chapter 16 Object Viewer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 635

Object Viewer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 636

Using the Object Viewer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 636

Chapter 17 Napkin Sketch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 639

Contents | xv

Napkin Sketch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 640

Creating a Napkin Sketch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 641

Editing a Napkin Sketch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 642

Part 3 Designing with Architectural Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 643

Chapter 18 Walls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 645

Overview of Walls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 646

Workflow Overview: Adding Walls to a Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 647

Specifying Drawing Defaults for Walls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 649

Using Wall Tools To Create Walls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 650

Creating a Wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 650

Creating a Wall with User-Specified Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 651

Creating a Wall from Linework . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 653

Creating a Wall from a 3D Object . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 653

Creating a Wall Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 654

Editing Walls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 656

Using Grips to Edit Walls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 657

Changing the Location of a Wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 659

Changing the Shape of a Wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 660

Changing the Wall Width while Maintaining the Wall Baseline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 660

Changing the Wall Width while Maintaining the Opposite Face of the Wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 661

Changing the Wall Base Height . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 662

Changing the Wall Length . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 663

Changing the Wall Justification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 664

Offsetting New Walls from Existing Walls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 665

Repositioning a Wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 665

Adjusting the Position of Wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 665

Applying Tool Properties to an Existing Wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 666

Changing the Style of a Wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 666

Changing the Location of a Wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 667

Merging Walls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 668

Removing Individual Merge Conditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 668

Removing All Merged Walls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 669

Joining Walls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 669

Filleting Walls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 670

Chamfering Walls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 671

Trimming Walls at L and T Intersections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 672

Reversing the Direction of a Wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 673

Using AutoCAD Commands to Edit Walls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 673

Changing the Roof Line and the Floor Line of a Wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 674

Specifying the Materials of Individual Walls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 682

Changing the Display Properties of Individual Walls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 682

Attaching Notes and Files to a Wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 686

Specifying the Cleanup of Walls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 687

Cleanup Circles and Wall Graphlines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 687

Wall Cleanups and Priorities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 689

Guidelines for Successful Wall Cleanup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 689

Assigning a Different Wall Cleanup Group Definition to Existing Walls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 690

Specifying Cleanup for Individual Walls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 690

Changing the Position of the Wall Graphline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 691

Overriding the Wall Cleanup Radius . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 691

Overriding Component Priorities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 692

Troubleshooting Wall Cleanups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 692

Cleanup Group Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 695

Adding Objects to Walls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 697

Adding a Window to a Wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 697

Adding an Opening to a Wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 697

Adding a Door to a Wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 698

Adding a Door/Window Assembly to a Wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 698

xvi | Contents

Removing Windows, Openings, Doors, or Door/Window Assemblies from a Wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . 699

Anchoring an Object to a Wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 699

Detaching Objects from a Wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 699

Creating Special Conditions and Customized Wall Surfaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 699

Working with Wall Sweeps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 700

Working with Wall Modifiers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 707

Working with Body Modifiers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 716

Working with Interference Conditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 720

Wall Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 722

Creating a Wall Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 722

Adding Property Set Data to a Wall Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 723

Specifying the Components of a Wall Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 724

Specifying the Materials of a Wall Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 732

Specifying the Display Properties of a Wall Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 733

Adding Classifications to a Wall Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 737

Defining a Wall Style as Bounding for Associative Spaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 737

Attaching Notes and Files to a Wall Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 737

Wall Endcap Styles and Opening Endcap Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 738

Process Overview: Working with Wall Endcap Styles and Opening Endcap Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . 738

Creating Polylines Used in Wall Endcap Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 738

Creating and Applying a Wall Endcap Style Directly in the Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739

Creating and Applying Wall Endcap Styles from the Style Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 740

Modifying the Geometry of a Wall Endcap Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 742

Changing the Return Offset of a Wall Endcap Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 743

Attaching Notes and Files to a Wall Endcap Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 744

Creating a Wall Opening Endcap Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 744

Applying a Wall Opening Endcap Style to a Wall Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 745

Overriding a Wall Opening Endcap Style on a Wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 745

Using Ortho Close and Close with Walls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 745

About Wall Lengths . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 746

About Curved Walls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 746

Specifying Offsets for Roof Line and Floor Line Vertices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 746

Specifying the Width and Edge Offset of a Wall Component . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 747

Chapter 19 Curtain Walls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 749

Curtain Walls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 750

Using Curtain Wall Tools To Create Curtain Walls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 752

Creating a Straight Curtain Wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 753

Creating a Curtain Wall with User-Specified Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 753

Creating a Curved Curtain Wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 755

Creating a Curtain Wall that References a Curve . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 756

Converting a Layout Grid to a Curtain Wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 757

Creating a Curtain Wall from an Elevation Sketch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 758

Converting a Wall to a Curtain Wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 759

Converting a 3D Face to a Curtain Wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 760

Creating a Curtain Wall Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 761

Curtain Wall Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 762

Process Overview: Creating a Curtain Wall Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 763

Tips for Working Efficiently with Curtain Wall Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 763

Creating Element Definitions for a Curtain Wall Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 764

Creating a Curtain Wall Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 764

Defining Divisions for Curtain Wall Grids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 765

Defining Infills for Curtain Wall Cells . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 773

Defining Curtain Wall Frames . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 777

Defining Curtain Wall Mullions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 781

Assigning Definitions to Curtain Wall Elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 785

Assigning a Division to a Curtain Wall Grid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 785

Assigning Infills to Curtain Wall Cells . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 786

Assigning Definitions to Curtain Wall Frames . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 793

Contents | xvii

Assigning Definitions to Curtain Wall Mullions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 795

Specifying the Materials of a Curtain Wall Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 797

Specifying the Display of Curtain Walls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 799

Defining a Curtain Wall Style as Bounding for Associative Spaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 802

Attaching Notes and Files to a Curtain Wall Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 803

Using Overrides in Curtain Walls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 803

Overriding Curtain Wall Infills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 804

Overriding Curtain Wall Frames and Mullions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 809

Overriding Curtain Wall Divisions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 815

Removing Curtain Wall Overrides . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 818

Modifying Element Definitions for Curtain Wall Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 819

Editing Curtain Walls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 819

Using Grips to Edit Curtain Walls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 820

Selecting a Different Curtain Wall Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 825

Applying the Properties of an Existing Curtain Wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 826

Changing the Dimensions of a Curtain Wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 826

Changing the Curtain Wall Location Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 826

Adding an Interference Condition to a Curtain Wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 827

Removing an Interference Condition from a Curtain Wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 827

Mitering Curtain Walls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 827

Specifying a Miter Angle for a Curtain Wall Adjacent to Another Object . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 828

Attaching Hyperlinks, Notes, or Files to a Curtain Wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 828

Changing the Roof Line and the Floor Line of a Curtain Wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 829

Offsetting or Projecting the Roof Line of a Curtain Wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 829

Offsetting or Projecting the Floor Line of a Curtain Wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 830

Editing the Roof Line or the Floor Line of a Curtain Wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 830

Changing the Roof Line and the Floor Line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 832

Adding a Gable to the Roof Line of a Curtain Wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 834

Adding a Step to the Roof Line or Floor Line of a Curtain Wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 835

Changing Vertices in the Roof Line or Floor Line of a Curtain Wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 836

Specifying Gable Settings for a Roof Line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 837

Specifying Step Settings for a Roof Line or Floor Line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 838

Specifying Vertex Settings for a Roof Line or Floor Line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 839

Editing Objects Anchored in Curtain Walls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 840

Changing the Orientation of an Object Anchored in a Curtain Wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 840

Changing the Alignment of an Object Anchored in a Curtain Wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 840

Changing the Offset of an Object Anchored in a Curtain Wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 840

Swapping Two Objects Anchored in a Curtain Wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 840

Releasing an Object Anchored in a Curtain Wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 840

Curtain Wall Units . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 841

Creating Curtain Wall Units . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 842

Creating a Curtain Wall Unit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 842

Converting a Layout Grid to a Curtain Wall Unit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 843

Creating a Curtain Wall Unit with a Custom Grid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 844

Curtain Wall Unit Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 845

Creating Element Definitions for a Curtain Wall Unit Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 846

Creating a Curtain Wall Unit Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 846

Defining Divisions for Curtain Wall Unit Grids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 847

Defining Infills for Curtain Wall Unit Cells . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 853

Defining Curtain Wall Unit Frames . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 856

Defining Curtain Wall Unit Mullions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 859

Assigning a Division to a Curtain Wall Unit Grid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 863

Assigning Infills to Curtain Wall Unit Cells . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 864

Assigning Definitions to Curtain Wall Unit Frames . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 869

Assigning Definitions to the Mullions of a Curtain Wall Unit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 871

Specifying the Materials of a Curtain Wall Unit Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 874

Specifying the Display of Curtain Wall Units . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 875

Defining a Curtain Wall Unit Style as Bounding for Associative Spaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 879

Attaching Notes and Files to a Curtain Wall Unit Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 879

xviii | Contents

Using Overrides in Curtain Wall Units . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 880

Overriding Curtain Wall Unit Infills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 880

Overriding Curtain Wall Unit Frames and Mullions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 886

Overriding Curtain Wall Unit Divisions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 891

Removing Curtain Wall Unit Overrides . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 895

Editing Curtain Wall Units . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 895

Using Grips to Edit Curtain Wall Units . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 895

Selecting a Different Curtain Wall Unit Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 897

Matching the Properties of an Existing Curtain Wall Unit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 898

Changing the Dimensions of a Curtain Wall Unit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 898

Specifying a Miter Angle for a Curtain Wall Unit Adjacent to Another Object . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 898

Changing the Location of a Freestanding Curtain Wall Unit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 899

Modifying the Position of Anchored Curtain Wall Units . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 899

Attaching Hyperlinks, Notes, or Files to a Curtain Wall Unit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 900

Facet Deviation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 900

Chapter 20 Door and Window Assemblies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 903

Door and Window Assemblies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 904

Using Door and Window Assembly Tools to Create Door and Window Assemblies . . . . . . . . . . . . 906

Creating a Door and Window Assembly Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 912

Door and Window Assembly Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 913

Using Overrides in Door and Window Assemblies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 954

Modifying Element Definitions for Door and Window Assembly Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 968

Editing Door and Window Assemblies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 969

Editing Objects Anchored in Door and Window Assemblies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 975

Chapter 21 AEC Polygons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 977

AEC Polygons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 978

Using AEC Polygon Tools to Create AEC Polygons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 979

Creating an AEC Polygon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 980

Creating an AEC Polygon with User-Specified Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 980

Creating an AEC Polygon from a Polyline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 981

Creating an AEC Polygon from a Profile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 981

Creating an AEC Polygon Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 982

Editing AEC Polygons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 982

Using Grips to Edit AEC Polygons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 983

Changing the AEC Polygon Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 988

Merging Two AEC Polygons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 988

Creating a Hole in an AEC Polygon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 989

Creating AEC Polygons from the Intersection of Other AEC Polygons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 990

Trimming an AEC Polygon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 990

Dividing an AEC Polygon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 991

Adding a Vertex to an AEC Polygon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 991

Removing a Vertex from an AEC Polygon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 991

Converting an AEC Polygon to a Polyline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 992

Converting an AEC Polygon to a Profile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 992

Changing the Rotation of an AEC Polygon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 992

Changing the Elevation of an AEC Polygon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 993

Changing the Location of an AEC Polygon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 993

Attaching Hyperlinks, Notes, or Files to an AEC Polygon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 993

AEC Polygon Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 994

Creating an AEC Polygon Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 994

Changing the Width and Justification of the AEC Polygon Edges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 995

Masking Underlying Objects with AEC Polygons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 996

Specifying the Display Properties of an AEC Polygon Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 996

Setting the Colors of the True Color Display Representation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 998

Attaching Notes and Files to an AEC Polygon Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 999

Adding Classifications to an AEC Polygon Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1000

Rendering the Exact Colors of an AEC Polygon by Defeating Lighting and Shading Effects . . . . . . . . . . 1000

Changing the 3D Graphics System Display Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1000

Contents | xix

Changing the Ambient Light Intensity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1000

Modifying the Global Rendering Material . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1001

Chapter 22 Doors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1003

Doors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1004

Using Door Tools to Create Doors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1005

Creating a Door . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1006

Creating a Door with User-Specified Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1006

Creating a Door in a Door and Window Assembly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1007

Creating a Door from Door/Window Assemblies, Openings, and Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1008

Creating a Door Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1008

Editing Doors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1010

Using Grips to Edit Doors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1010

Changing the Door Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1016

Changing the Door Leaf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1016

Changing How Door Width Is Measured . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1016

Changing the Door Swing Angle or Opening Percent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1017

Changing the Vertical Alignment of a Door . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1018

Moving a Door Along a Wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1018

Moving a Door Within a Wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1020

Using Anchors to Change the Horizontal Position of a Door . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1021

Using Anchors to Change the Vertical Position of a Door . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1022

Using Anchors to Change the Position of a Door Within a Wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1023

Changing the Orientation of a Door to a Wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1023

Moving a Door to a Different Wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1024

Releasing a Door from a Wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1024

Changing the Opening Endcap Assigned to a Door . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1024

Changing the Location of a Freestanding Door . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1024

Attaching Hyperlinks, Notes, and Files to a Door . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1025

Door Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1025

Creating a Door Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1025

Specifying the Dimensions of a Door Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1027

Specifying the Design Rules of a Door Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1027

Specifying the Standard Sizes of a Door Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1028

Creating a Custom Door Shape . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1028

Replacing the Door Shape in a Door Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1029

Editing the Geometry of a Door Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1029

About Door Display Components and Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1031

Specifying the Display Properties of a Door Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1033

Defining a Door Style as Bounding for Associative Spaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1038

Attaching Notes and Files to a Door Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1038

Creating Muntins in a Door Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1038

Chapter 23 Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1057

Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1058

Using Window Tools to Create Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1059

Creating a Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1059

Creating a Window with User-Specified Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1060

Creating a Window in a Door and Window Assembly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1062

Creating a Window from Doors, Door/Window Assemblies and Openings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1062

Creating a Window Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1062

Editing Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1064

Using Grips to Edit Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1064

Changing the Window Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1070

Changing How Window Width is Measured . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1070

Changing the Window Swing Angle or Opening Percent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1070

Changing the Vertical Alignment of a Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1071

Moving a Window Along a Wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1071

Moving a Window Within a Wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1073

Using Anchors to Change the Horizontal Position of a Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1074

xx | Contents

Using Anchors to Change the Vertical Position of a Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1075

Using Anchors to Change the Position of a Window Within a Wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1076

Changing the Orientation of a Window to a Wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1077

Changing the Opening Endcap Assigned to a Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1078

Changing the Location of a Freestanding Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1078

Attaching Hyperlinks, Notes, and Files to a Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1078

Window Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1079

Creating a Window Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1079

Specifying the Dimensions of a Window Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1080

Specifying the Standard Sizes of a Window Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1081

Creating a Custom Window Shape . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1081

Specifying the Design Rules of a Window Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1082

Editing the Geometry of a Window Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1083

About Window Display Components and Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1084

Assigning Materials to a Window Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1085

Adding Classifications to a Window Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1086

Specifying the Display Properties of a Window Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1086

Defining a Window Style as Bounding for Associative Spaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1090

Attaching Notes and Files to a Window Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1091

Creating Muntins in a Window Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1091

Chapter 24 Openings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1109

Openings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1110

Using Opening Tools to Create Openings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1110

Creating an Opening . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1111

Creating an Opening with User-Specified Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1112

Creating an Opening from Doors, Door/Window Assemblies and Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1113

Creating and Editing Custom Openings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1113

Creating a Profile for a Custom Opening . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1113

Creating an Opening with a Custom Shape . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1113

Editing the Geometry of a Custom Opening . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1115

Creating an Opening Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1116

Editing Openings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1118

Using Grips to Edit Openings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1118

Changing the Shape and Dimensions of an Opening . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1119

Flipping an Opening along the X or Y Axis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1119

Changing Endcap Style for an Opening . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1120

Applying Tool Properties to an Existing Opening . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1120

Repositioning an Opening . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1120

Using Anchors to Change the Horizontal Position of an Opening . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1122

Using Anchors to Change the Vertical Position of an Opening . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1123

Changing the Position of an Opening Within a Wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1124

Changing the Orientation of an Opening to a Wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1125

Specifying the Display of Sills for an Opening . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1126

Changing the Location of an Opening . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1126

Attaching Hyperlinks, Notes, and Files to an Opening . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1127

Changing the Display Properties of Openings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1127

Specifying the Display Properties of an Opening . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1127

Specifying the Hatching of an Opening . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1128

Using Custom Blocks to Create Opening Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1129

Adding Components to an Opening . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1129

Turning Off Custom Components in an Opening . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1130

Removing Custom Components from an Opening . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1130

Chapter 25 Stairs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1133

Stairs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1134

Specifying AEC Options for Stairs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1134

Using Stair Tools to Create Stairs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1135

Creating a Stair . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1135

Creating a Straight Stair with User-Specified Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1136

Contents | xxi

Creating a Multi-Landing Stair with User-Specified Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1138

Creating an L-Shaped Stair with 45-Degree Tread . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1142

Creating a U-Shaped Stair with User-Specified Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1144

Creating a Spiral Stair with User-Specified Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1148

Creating a Custom Stair from Linework . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1152

Creating a Custom Stair from Tread Profiles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1154

Modifying Custom Stairs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1156

Creating a Ramp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1158

Creating a Stair Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1159

Editing Stairs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1160

Using Grips to Edit Stairs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1160

Changing the Width of a Flight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1173

Changing the Shape of a Flight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1174

Changing the Shape of a Landing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1175

Changing the Side of a Stair . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1176

Changing the Height of a Stair . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1183

Changing the Justification of a Stair . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1183

Changing the Style of a Stair . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1183

Changing the Horizontal Direction of a Spiral or U-Shaped Stair . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1184

Changing the Constraints of a Spiral Stair . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1184

Changing the Outside Edge of a Spiral Stair . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1185

Changing the Dimensions of a Stair . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1187

Changing the Floor Settings of a Stair . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1188

Adjusting Stair Length Automatically . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1189

Changing the Length Limits of a Flight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1190

Anchoring a Stair to a Landing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1191

Releasing Anchored Stairs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1192

Editing Winders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1192

Working with Stair Body Modifiers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1205

Stair Interference Conditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1210

Changing the Alignment of a U-Shaped Stair . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1219

Changing the Components of a Flight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1220

Changing the Components of a Landing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1220

About the Dimensions of Landing Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1222

Changing the Extension of a Landing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1222

Specifying Stair Component Display by Cut Plane Elevation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1223

Changing the Display of an Overlapping Stair . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1227

Applying Tool Properties to an Existing Stair . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1228

Changing the Location of a Stair . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1228

Specifying the Materials of a Stair . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1229

Changing the Display Properties of Individual Stairs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1229

Attaching Hyperlinks, Notes, or Files to a Stair . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1233

Stair Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1234

Managing Stair Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1235

Creating a Stair Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1235

Specifying the Design Rules of a Stair Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1235

Specifying the Stringers of a Stair Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1236

Specifying Mitered Corners for Center Stringers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1238

Specifying the Components of a Stair Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1239

Specifying the Landing Extension of a Stair Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1240

Assigning Materials to Components in a Stair Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1241

Specifying the Display Properties of a Stair Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1243

Specifying the Riser Numbering Display of a Stair Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1245

Specifying Classifications for a Stair Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1246

Adding Notes and Files to a Stair Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1246

Stair Winder Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1246

Creating a Stair Winder Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1246

Specifying the Stair Winder Style Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1247

Adding Notes and Files to a Stair Winder Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1248

xxii | Contents

Stair Tower Generator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1248

Creating a Stair Tower . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1248

Modifying a Stair Tower . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1249

Chapter 26 Railings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1251

Railings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1252

Using Railing Tools to Create Railings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1253

Creating a Railing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1253

Creating an Attached Railing with User-Specified Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1254

Creating a Freestanding Railing with User-Specified Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1256

Creating a Railing from a Polyline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1258

Creating a Railing Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1258

Editing Railings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1259

Using Grips to Edit Railings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1259

Adding a Post to a Railing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1260

Removing a Post from a Railing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1260

Redistributing Posts on a Railing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1261

Hiding Posts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1261

Showing Hidden Posts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1261

Reversing the Direction of the Railing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1261

Anchoring an Existing Railing to a Stair . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1261

Anchoring an Existing Railing to an Object . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1262

Releasing an Anchored Railing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1263

Adding a Custom Profile to a Railing Component . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1263

Editing a Custom Profile of a Railing Component . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1264

Changing the Style of a Railing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1265

Changing the Upper Rails . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1266

Changing the Bottom Rails . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1266

Changing the Posts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1267

Changing the Railing Extensions at Floor Levels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1268

Changing the Railing Extensions at Landings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1268

Changing the Anchor Properties of a Railing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1269

Specifying Perpendicular Railing Orientation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1270

Changing the Location of a Railing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1271

Applying Tool Properties to an Existing Railing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1272

Attaching Hyperlinks, Notes, and Files to a Railing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1272

Railing Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1272

Creating a Railing Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1273

Specifying the Upper Rails of a Railing Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1274

Specifying the Bottom Rails of a Railing Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1275

Specifying Posts of a Railing Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1276

Specifying the Components of a Railing Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1277

Creating a Profile for a Custom Railing Component . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1278

Specifying the Railing Extensions of a Railing Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1279

Specifying the Materials of a Railing Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1280

Specifying the Display Components of a Railing Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1281

Specifying Classifications for a Railing Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1281

Attaching Notes and Files to a Railing Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1282

Adding Custom Railing Blocks and Profiles to a Railing Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1282

Adding a Custom Block to a Railing Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1282

Adding a Custom Profile to a Railing Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1285

Turning Off a Custom Block or Custom Profile in a Railing Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1287

Removing a Custom Block from a Railing Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1288

Chapter 27 Roofs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1289

Roofs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1290

Using Roof Tools to Create Roofs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1290

Creating a Slope Roof . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1291

Creating a Gable Roof . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1292

Creating Dormers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1292

Contents | xxiii

Creating a Slope Roof with User-Specified Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1293

Creating a Gable Roof with User-Specified Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1294

Creating a Roof from Walls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1294

Creating a Roof from Polylines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1295

Creating a Roof Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1296

Editing Roofs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1296

Using Grips to Edit Roofs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1297

Applying Tool Properties to an Existing Roof . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1297

Changing the Dimensions of a Roof . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1297

Changing the Edges and Faces of a Roof . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1298

Converting a Roof to Roof Slabs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1299

Specifying the Material of a Roof . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1299

Specifying the Display Properties of a Roof . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1300

Specifying the Hatching of a Roof . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1300

Changing the Location of a Roof . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1301

Attaching Hyperlinks, Notes, or Files to a Roof . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1302

Chapter 28 Slabs and Roof Slabs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1303

Overview of Slabs and Roof Slabs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1304

Using Tools to Create Slabs and Roof Slabs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1306

Creating a Slab or a Roof Slab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1307

Creating a Slab/Roof Slab with User-Specified Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1307

Creating a Slab or Roof Slab from Walls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1309

Creating a Roof Slab from a Roof . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1310

Creating a Slab or Roof Slab from a Polyline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1311

Creating a Slab from a Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1313

Creating a Slab or Roof Slab Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1314

Editing Slabs and Roof Slabs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1316

Using Grips to Edit Slabs/Roof Slabs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1316

Applying Tool Properties to an Existing Slab/Roof Slab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1329

Changing the Properties of Slabs or Roof Slabs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1330

Using Slab and Roof Slab Context Menu Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1332

Creating a Clipped Gable Roof . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1347

Creating a Dormer in a Roof Slab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1348

Slab and Roof Slab Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1349

Creating a Slab or Roof Slab Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1350

Specifying the Components of a Slab or Roof Slab Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1351

Specifying the Materials of a Slab or Roof Slab Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1355

Specifying the Display Properties of a Slab or Roof Slab Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1357

Adding Classifications to a Slab or Roof Slab Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1359

Defining a Slab/Roof Slab Style as Bounding for Associative Spaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1359

Attaching Notes and Files to a Slab or Roof Slab Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1360

Slab and Roof Slab Edge Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1360

Creating a Slab or Roof Slab Edge Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1361

Specifying the Overhang, Edge Cut, and Angle of a Slab/Roof Slab Edge Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1362

Creating Profiles for the Fascia and Soffit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1363

Controlling Profile Edges and Extrusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1364

Specifying a Fascia and a Soffit for a Slab/Roof Slab Edge Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1365

Editing the Geometry of Fascia and Soffits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1366

Assigning Materials to a Slab/Roof Slab Edge Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1367

Turning on Materials for a Slab/Roof Slab Edge Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1368

Attaching Notes and Files to a Slab/Roof Slab Edge Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1368

Chapter 29 Structural Members . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1369

Structural Members . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1370

Process Overview: Creating Structural Members with the Structural Member Catalog or Structural Member

Style Wizard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1373

Creating Structural Member Styles in the Structural Member Catalog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1373

Opening the Structural Member Catalog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1374

Creating a Style from a Shape in the Structural Member Catalog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1375

xxiv | Contents

Locating a Shape in the Structural Member Catalog from a Structural Member in a Drawing . . . . . . 1376

Opening a Catalog File in the Structural Member Catalog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1376

Creating a Structural Member Style with the Structural Member Style Wizard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1376

Creating Structural Member Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1377

Creating a Beam Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1378

Creating a Brace Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1380

Creating a Column Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1383

Using Structural Member Tools to Create Structural Members . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1385

Creating a Beam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1386

Creating Beams with User-Specified Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1386

Creating a Brace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1392

Creating a Brace with User-Specified Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1393

Creating a Freestanding Column . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1396

Creating a Freestanding Column with User-Specified Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1396

Creating Grid-Anchored Columns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1398

Creating Grid-Anchored Columns with User-Specified Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1399

Creating a Structural Member from Linework . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1402

Editing Structural Members . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1403

Using Grips To Edit Structural Members . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1403

Changing the Structural Member Length . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1407

Changing the Structural Member Start and End Offsets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1408

Changing the Structural Member Start Point and Endpoint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1409

Changing the Structural Member Roll . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1410

Changing the Radius of a Curved Structural Member . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1411

About Curved Structural Members . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1412

Changing the Structural Member Justification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1412

Changing the Structural Member Type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1413

Trimming Structural Members . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1413

Changing the Style of a Structural Member . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1419

Applying Tool Properties to a Structural Member . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1419

Attaching Hyperlinks, Notes, and Files to a Structural Member . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1420

Working with Structural Member Body Modifiers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1420

Adding a Body Modifier to a Structural Member . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1420

Subtracting a Body Modifier from a Structural Member . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1421

Replacing a Structural Member with a Body Modifier . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1422

Editing the Geometry of a Body Modifier . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1423

Managing Body Modifiers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1424

Restoring a Body Modifier to a Mass Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1424

Working with Structural Member Interference Conditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1425

Creating Structural Member Interference Conditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1425

Removing Structural Member Interference Conditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1426

Editing Structural Member Interference Conditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1426

Structural Member Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1427

Creating a Structural Member Style in the Style Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1427

Specifying the Materials of a Structural Member Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1428

Specifying the Display Properties of a Structural Member Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1429

Specifying Classifications for a Structural Member Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1435

Defining a Structural Member Style as Bounding for Associative Spaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1435

Attaching Notes and Files to a Structural Member Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1435

Creating Custom Structural Members . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1436

Understanding the Design Rules of a Structural Member . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1437

Changing the Shape in the Style of a Structural Member . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1439

Adding a Shape to a Structural Member . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1439

Process Overview: Creating a Single-Component Structural Member (Tapered Column) . . . . . . . . . 1440

Process Overview: Creating a Multi-Component Structural Member (Composite Column) . . . . . . . 1442

Process Overview: Creating a Multi-Component Structural Member Using Multiple Segments (Rigid

Frame) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1444

Creating Custom Shapes for Structural Members . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1448

Contents | xxv

Part 4 Design Utilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1451

Chapter 30 Anchors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1453

Anchors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1454

Working with Object Anchors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1454

Adding Object Anchors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1455

Releasing Object Anchors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1455

Working with Curve Anchors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1456

Adding Curve Anchors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1456

Changing the Position of Objects Anchored to Curves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1457

Anchoring Objects to New Curves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1460

Working with Leader Anchors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1461

Adding Leader Anchors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1461

Changing the Position of Objects Anchored to Layout Nodes with Leader Anchors . . . . . . . . . . . 1461

Grip-Editing Leaders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1462

Extending Leaders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1462

Copying Objects to All Layout Nodes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1462

Working with Node Anchors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1463

Adding Node Anchors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1463

Changing the Position of Objects Anchored to Layout Nodes with Node Anchors . . . . . . . . . . . . 1464

Anchoring Objects to Different Nodes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1464

Copying Objects to All Layout Nodes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1465

Working with Cell Anchors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1466

Adding Cell Anchors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1466

Changing the Position and Size of Objects Anchored to Layout Cells . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1467

Anchoring Objects to a Different Cell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1467

Copying Objects to All Layout Cells . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1468

Working with Volume Anchors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1468

Adding Volume Anchors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1468

Changing the Position and Size of Objects Anchored to Volumes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1469

Anchoring Objects to a Different Volume . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1470

Copying Objects to All Layout Volumes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1470

Releasing and Positioning Anchored Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1471

Releasing Anchored Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1471

Positioning Anchored Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1471

Creating an Anchor Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1471

Chapter 31 Layout Curves and Grids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1473

Layout Curves and Grids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1474

Using Layout Curves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1474

Creating a Layout Curve Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1474

Adding Layout Curves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1475

Adding Nodes to Layout Curves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1477

Removing Nodes from Layout Curves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1478

Changing the Offsets of Layout Curves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1478

Changing the Node Spacing of a Layout Curve . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1479

Changing the Node Positions on a Layout Curve . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1480

Changing the Spacing Mode of Layout Curves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1480

Switching Layout Curves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1481

Changing the Display Properties of Layout Curves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1481

Attaching Hyperlinks, Notes, or Files to a Layout Curve . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1482

Using Layout Grids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1482

Creating a Layout Grid Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1483

Adding Radial Layout Grids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1483

Changing Radial Layout Grids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1485

Adding Rectangular Layout Grids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1485

Changing Rectangular Layout Grids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1486

Adding Grid Lines to Layout Grids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1486

Removing Grid Lines from Layout Grids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1486

Changing the Spacing Mode of Layout Grids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1487

xxvi | Contents

Changing the Display Properties of Layout Grids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1488

Creating and Removing Boundaries for Layout Grids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1488

Creating Holes in Layout Grids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1488

Removing Holes from Layout Grids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1488

Changing the Location of Layout Grids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1489

Attaching Hyperlinks, Notes, or Files to a Layout Grid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1489

Using Layout Volumes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1490

Creating a Layout Volume Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1490

Adding Layout Volumes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1491

Changing Layout Volumes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1492

Adding Grid Lines to Layout Volumes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1492

Removing Grid Lines from Layout Volumes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1492

Changing the Spacing Mode of Layout Volumes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1493

Changing the Display Properties of Layout Volumes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1493

Changing the Location of Layout Volumes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1494

Attaching Hyperlinks, Notes, or Files to a Layout Volume . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1494

Chapter 32 Grids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1497

Grids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1498

Using Column Grid Tools to Create Column Grids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1498

Creating a Column Grid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1499

Creating a Column Grid with User-Specified Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1499

Creating a Column Grid from a Layout Grid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1501

Creating a Column Grid from Linework . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1501

Creating a Column Grid Dynamically . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1502

Creating a Structural Column Grid Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1502

Working with Column Grids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1503

Labeling Column Grids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1503

Extending Column Grid Lines Beyond the Grid Boundary or Limits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1504

Dimensioning Column Grids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1504

Editing Column Grids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1505

Changing the Dimensions of a Column Grid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1505

Changing the Lines of a Column Grid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1505

Attaching Clipping Profiles to Column Grids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1509

Attaching Hyperlinks, Notes, or Files to a Column Grid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1510

Changing the Location of Column Grids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1510

Changing the Display of Column Grids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1511

Changing the Node Radius Display of Column Grids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1511

Using Ceiling Grid Tools to Create Ceiling Grids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1512

Creating a Ceiling Grid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1512

Creating a Ceiling Grid with User-Specified Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1513

Creating a Ceiling Grid from a Layout Grid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1513

Creating a Ceiling Grid from Linework . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1514

Creating a Ceiling Grid Dynamically . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1514

Creating a Ceiling Grid with a Clipping Boundary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1515

Creating a Ceiling Grid Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1515

Editing Ceiling Grids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1516

Changing the Dimensions of a Ceiling Grid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1516

Changing the Lines of a Ceiling Grid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1516

Attaching Clipping Profiles to Ceiling Grids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1520

Attaching Hyperlinks, Notes, or Files to a Ceiling Grid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1521

Changing the Location of Ceiling Grids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1522

Changing the Display of Ceiling Grids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1522

Chapter 33 Detail Drafting Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1525

Construction Lines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1526

Creating Construction Lines From Existing Objects/Linework . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1526

Creating Construction Lines Independently . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1527

Hatch Productivity Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1528

Repositioning a Hatch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1528

Contents | xxvii

Generating a Hatch Boundary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1529

Redefining a Hatch Boundary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1529

AEC Modify Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1532

Trimming Linework or Profile-Based Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1532

Trimming Linework or Profile-Based Objects to an Edge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1533

Extending Linework to an Edge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1534

Dividing Linework and Profile-Based Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1535

Subtracting from Linework and Profile-Based Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1536

Obscuring Regions of Linework . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1537

Merging Linework or Profile-Based Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1538

Cropping Linework or Profile-Based Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1539

Shrinkwrapping Linework . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1540

Creating Arrays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1540

Repositioning from a Reference Point . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1541

Evenly Spacing Linework or Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1541

Centering Linework or Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1542

Chapter 34 Mask Blocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1543

Mask Blocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1544

Creating Mask Block Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1544

Creating a Mask Block Definition from a Polyline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1544

Creating a Mask Block Definition from an Existing Mask Block Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1545

Importing Mask Block Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1545

Exporting Mask Block Definitions to a New Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1546

Exporting Mask Block Definitions to an Existing Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1546

Editing a Mask Block Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1547

Adding Classifications to a Mask Block Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1547

Purging Mask Block Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1548

Using Mask Block Tools to Create Mask Blocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1548

Adding a Mask Block . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1548

Adding a Mask Block with User-Specified Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1549

Creating a Mask Block from Polylines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1549

Creating a Mask Block Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1550

Attaching Mask Blocks to Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1551

Detaching Mask Blocks from Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1552

Editing Mask Blocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1552

Using Grips to Move Mask Blocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1552

Changing the Location of a Mask Block . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1553

Editing the Profile of a Mask Block . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1553

Applying Tool Properties to an Existing Mask Block Reference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1554

Changing Display Properties of Mask Blocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1555

Attaching Hyperlinks, Notes, and Files to a Mask Block . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1555

Chapter 35 Multi-View Blocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1557

Multi-View Blocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1558

Creating Multi-View Block Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1558

Process Overview: Creating Multi-View Block Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1559

Creating View Blocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1559

Creating a New Multi-View Block Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1560

Connecting View Blocks to View Directions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1560

Defining a Multi-View Block Definition as Bounding for Associative Spaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1561

Attaching Notes and Files to a Multi-View Block Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1561

Adding Classifications to a Multi-View Block Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1562

Adding a Multi-View Block Definition to DesignCenter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1562

Creating a Multi-View Block Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1563

Adding Multi-View Blocks to a Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1565

Inserting a Multi-View Block . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1565

Modifying Multi-View Blocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1566

Changing the Rotation of a Multi-View Block . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1566

Changing the Associated Multi-View Block Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1566

xxviii | Contents

Changing the Scale Factor of a Multi-View Block . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1566

Changing the Offset of a Multi-View Block Using Grips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1567

Changing the Location of a Multi-View Block Using Grips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1567

Attaching Hyperlinks, Notes, or Files to a Multi-View Block . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1568

Editing the Location and Rotation of Attributes in a Multi-View Block . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1569

Updating Multi-View Block Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1570

Part 5 Documentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1571

Chapter 36 Spaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1573

Unifying Spatial Objects in AutoCAD Architecture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1574

Other Space Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1575

Space Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1576

Space Workflows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1578

Working with Associative Spaces - Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1578

Working with List Definitions - Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1578

Working with Boundary Offsets - Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1579

Working with Zones - Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1580

Working with Calculation Modifiers - Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1581

Working with Calculation Cut Planes - Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1582

Working with Space Evaluations - Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1583

Space Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1583

Using Space Tools to Create Spaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1587

Generating Associative Spaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1587

Bounding Objects for Associative 3D Freeform Spaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1588

Setting Objects as Bounding or Non-Bounding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1589

Generating Associative 3D Freeform Spaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1591

Bounding Objects and Object Outlines for Associative 2D or Extruded 3D Spaces . . . . . . . . . . . . 1593

Generating Associative 2D or Extruded 3D Spaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1595

Updating Associative Spaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1598

Activating and Deactivating Automatic Updates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1599

Manually Updating Associative Spaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1600

Merging Associative Spaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1601

Dividing an Associative Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1603

Changing the Associativity of a Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1604

Troubleshooting Generating Associative Spaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1605

Creating Non-Associative Spaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1612

Drawing a Non-Associative 2D or Extruded 3D Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1612

Converting Objects, Profiles, and Polylines to Non-Associative Spaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1617

Creating a Space Tool for Non-Associative Spaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1620

Creating a Space Tool for Associative Spaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1622

Working with Space Boundary Offsets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1626

Working with Manual Boundary Offsets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1626

Working with Style-Based Boundary Offsets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1627

Working with Area Calculation Standard-Based Boundary Offsets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1627

Defining the Boundary Offsets of a Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1628

Specifying an Area Calculation Standard for a Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1629

Classifying a Space According to an Area Calculation Standard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1630

Changing the Area Calculation Standard for Existing Spaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1630

Working with Drawings with Different Area Calculation Standards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1630

User-Defined Boundary Calculation Offset Standards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1631

Editing Spaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1631

Editing General Space Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1631

Renaming a Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1631

Changing the Style of a Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1632

Attaching Hyperlinks, Notes, or Files to a Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1632

Changing the Geometry of a Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1632

Overview: Space Types and Geometry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1632

Changing the Geometry Type of a Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1634

Changing the Associativity of a Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1636

Contents | xxix

Editing Space Boundaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1636

Changing the Height of Extruded 3D Spaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1644

Changing the Height of 3D Freeform Spaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1644

Changing the Height of Space Surfaces (Extruded 3D Spaces) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1646

Boolean Operations for Extruded 3D Spaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1646

Boolean Operations for 3D Freeform Spaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1655

Working with Surface Openings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1662

Editing Space Surface Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1678

Setting Up Adjacency Relations between Space Surfaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1683

Displaying Adjacency Relations between Space Surfaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1684

Changing the Location of a Non-Associative Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1684

Attaching Spaces to Zones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1685

Attaching a Space to a Zone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1685

Detaching a Space from a Zone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1685

Space Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1685

Creating a Space Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1686

Specifying Target Dimensions for the Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1686

Specifying Space Boundary Offsets in a Space Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1687

Attaching a List Definition to a Space Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1687

Specifying Classifications for a Space Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1688

Specifying the Materials of a Space Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1688

Specifying the Display Properties of a Space Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1690

Specifying the Hatching for Components of a Space Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1692

Setting the Object Cut Plane of a Space Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1693

Attaching Notes and Files to a Space Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1693

Converting Area Styles to Space Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1694

List Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1695

Creating a List Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1695

Specifying the Application for a List Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1696

Editing a List Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1696

Attaching Notes and Files to a List Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1697

Zones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1697

Using Zone Tools to Create Zones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1698

Zone Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1699

Creating a Zone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1700

Creating Zones with User-Specified Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1701

Creating Zone Structures from a Zone Template . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1702

Creating a Zone Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1703

Converting Area Groups to Zones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1704

Zones and Spaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1705

Attaching Spaces and Zones to Zones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1705

Detaching Spaces and Zones from Zones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1706

Selecting Spaces and Zones Attached to a Zone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1706

Editing Zones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1706

Renaming a Zone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1706

Changing the Zone Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1707

Changing the Zone Boundary Offset . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1707

Changing the Content Rules of a Zone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1707

Changing the Calculation Type of a Zone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1708

Changing Calculation Modifiers for a Zone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1708

Ordering Zone Structures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1709

Creating Polylines from Zones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1709

Attaching Hyperlinks, Notes, or Files to a Zone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1710

Zone Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1710

Creating a Zone Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1711

Attaching a List Definition to a Zone Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1712

Restricting the Content of a Zone Based on the Zone Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1712

Specifying Classifications for a Zone Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1712

Specifying the Display Properties of a Zone Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1713

xxx | Contents

Attaching Notes or Files to a Zone Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1716

Converting Area Group Styles to Zone Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1716

Zone Templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1717

Creating a Zone Template . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1718

Building the Structure of a Zone Template . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1718

Attaching Notes and Files to a Zone Template . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1720

Converting Area Group Templates to Zone Templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1720

Working with Space Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1721

Schedule Properties of Spaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1721

Calculation Modifiers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1724

Setting Calculation Cut Planes for 3D Freeform Spaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1727

Space Decomposition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1727

Space Evaluation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1731

Viewing Information About Spaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1737

Exporting Space Information to a Database . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1738

Conversion of Space Boundaries to Walls and Spaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1738

Appendix 1: Command Changes for Spaces and Areas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1738

Area Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1738

Area Group Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1739

Space Boundary Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1739

Appendix 2: Predefined Area Calculation Standards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1740

Calculating Spaces Based on the Basic Standard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1740

Calculating Spaces Based on the DIN 277 Standard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1741

Calculating Spaces Based on the SIS Standard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1743

Calculating Spaces Based on the BOMA Standard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1746

Appendix 3: Implementing an Area Calculation Standard Plug-in with the AutoCAD Architecture .NET

API . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1748

Implementing an Area Calculation Standard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1749

Implementing Offset Rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1754

Chapter 37 Sections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1765

Sections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1766

Process Overview: Creating a 2D or 3D Section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1769

Process Overview: Creating a Live Section View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1771

Drawing and Editing Section Lines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1771

Drawing a Section Line and Marks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1772

Changing the Height of a Section Using Grips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1773

Changing the Lower Extension of a Section Using Grips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1774

Changing the Length of a Section Using Grips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1775

Changing the Angle Dimensions of a Section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1776

Creating Graphic Subdivisions for 2D and 3D Sections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1776

Changing a Subdivision Using Grips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1777

Changing Section Mark Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1777

Changing the Location of a Section Line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1777

Modifying a Section Line Using Grips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1778

Attaching Hyperlinks, Notes, and Files to a Section Line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1778

Creating a 2D or 3D Section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1779

Creating a Horizontal 2D Section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1780

Creating and Editing a Live Section View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1781

Creating a Live Section View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1781

Updating a Live Section View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1781

Displaying the Sectioned Body in a Live Section View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1782

Removing a Live Section View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1783

Editing a 2D or 3D Section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1783

Using Grips to Edit Linework in a 2D Section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1783

Changing the Display of Graphic Subdivisions in a 2D Section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1784

Changing the Display of Graphic Subdivisions in a 3D Section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1785

Reversing a 2D or 3D Section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1785

Changing the Style of a 2D Section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1786

Creating a Material Boundary in a 2D Section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1786

Contents | xxxi

Editing a Material Boundary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1787

Editing and Merging Linework in a 2D Section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1789

Changing the Location of a 2D or 3D Section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1789

Attaching Hyperlinks, Notes, and Files to a 2D or 3D Section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1790

Updating a 2D or 3D Section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1790

Globally Updating 2D Sections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1791

Supported Project Drawing Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1792

Globally Updating 2D Sections and Elevations in a Project or a Folder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1792

Updating Legacy Drawings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1793

2D Section Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1794

Creating a 2D Section Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1795

Adding a Display Component to a 2D Section Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1796

Removing a Display Component from a 2D Section Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1796

About 2D and 3D Section Display Components and Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1796

Use Subdivision Properties and Materials in 2D Section Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1800

Use the 3D Body Component of a Material for the 2D Section Linework . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1800

Adding a Design Rule to a 2D Section Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1801

Changing a Design Rule in a 2D Section Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1802

Removing a Design Rule from a 2D Section Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1802

Adding Classifications to a 2D Section Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1802

Changing the Layer, Color, and Linetype of a 2D Section Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1803

Attaching Notes and Files to a 2D Section Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1803

Chapter 38 Elevations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1805

Working With Elevations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1806

Process Overview: Creating a 2D or 3D Elevation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1809

Drawing and Editing Elevation Lines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1811

Drawing an Elevation Line and Mark . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1812

Changing the Height of an Elevation Using Grips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1814

Changing the Lower Extension of an Elevation Using Grips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1814

Changing the Length of an Elevation Using Grips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1815

Changing the Angle Dimensions of an Elevation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1816

Creating Graphic Subdivisions for 2D and 3D Elevations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1816

Changing Elevation Mark Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1817

Changing the Location of an Elevation Line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1817

Modifying an Elevation Line Using Grips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1817

Attaching Hyperlinks, Notes and Files to an Elevation Line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1818

Creating a 2D or 3D Elevation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1818

Creating a Horizontal 2D Elevation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1819

Editing a 2D or 3D Elevation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1821

Using Grips to Edit Linework in a 2D Elevation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1821

Changing the Display of Graphic Subdivisions in a 2D Elevation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1822

Changing the Display of Graphic Subdivisions in a 3D Elevation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1823

Reversing a 2D or 3D Elevation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1823

Changing the Style of a 2D Elevation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1824

Creating a Material Boundary in a 2D Elevation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1824

Editing a Material Boundary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1824

Editing and Merging Linework in a 2D Elevation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1826

Changing the Location of a 2D or 3D Elevation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1827

Attaching Hyperlinks, Notes, and Files to a 2D or 3D Elevation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1828

Updating a 2D or 3D Elevation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1828

Globally Updating 2D Elevations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1829

Supported Project Drawing Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1830

Globally Updating 2D Sections and Elevations in a Project or a Folder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1830

Updating Legacy Drawings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1831

2D Elevation Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1832

Creating a 2D Elevation Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1833

Adding a Display Component to a 2D Elevation Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1834

Removing a Display Component from a 2D Elevation Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1834

xxxii | Contents

About 2D and 3D Elevation Display Components and Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1834

Use Subdivision Properties and Materials in 2D Elevation Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1836

Use the 3D Body Component of a Material for the 2D Elevation Linework . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1837

Adding a Design Rule to a 2D Elevation Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1837

Changing a Design Rule in a 2D Elevation Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1838

Removing a Design Rule from a 2D Elevation Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1838

Adding Classifications to a 2D Elevation Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1838

Changing the Layer, Color, and Linetype of a 2D Elevation Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1839

Attaching Notes and Files to a 2D Elevation Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1839

Chapter 39 Hidden Line Projection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1841

Hidden Line Projection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1842

Creating a Hidden Line Projection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1842

Chapter 40 AEC Dimensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1843

AEC Dimensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1844

Dimension Options and Uses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1845

Associative Dimensions from Selecting Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1845

Associative Dimensions from Picked Points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1845

Non-Associative Dimensions from Picked Points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1846

AutoCAD Dimensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1846

Process Overview: Creating AEC Dimensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1846

Associative Dimensions from Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1847

Dimension Points for Walls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1847

Dimension Points for Wall Openings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1849

Dimension Points for Grids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1849

Dimension Points for Other Object Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1849

AutoCAD Dimension Points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1850

Associative Dimensions in External References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1852

Associative Dimensions From Picked Points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1852

Specifying AEC Dimension Preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1853

Creating AEC Dimensions Using AEC Dimension Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1854

Creating an AEC Dimension . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1855

Creating an AEC Dimension with User-Specified Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1855

Use Cases for AEC Dimensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1857

Converting an AutoCAD Dimension to an AEC Dimension . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1861

Copying Properties of AEC Dimensions to AutoCAD Dimensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1862

Creating an AEC Dimension Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1863

Editing AEC Dimensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1863

Adding Points to an AEC Dimension . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1864

Detaching Dimension Points from an AEC Dimension . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1866

Restoring Object Points Set in the AEC Dimension Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1868

Removing Non-Style Defined Dimension Points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1868

Reversing the Direction of an AEC Wall Dimension . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1869

Overriding Associative Wall Component Dimension Points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1870

Repositioning Dimension Texts, Extension Lines, and Dimension Chains . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1872

Resetting Repositioned Dimension Texts, Extension Lines and Dimension Chains . . . . . . . . . . . . 1873

Overriding Dimension Values and Hiding Dimension Segments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1874

Changing the AEC Dimension Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1876

Attaching Hyperlinks, Notes, and Files to an AEC Dimension . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1876

AEC Dimension Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1877

AEC Dimension Styles and AutoCAD Dimension Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1877

The AEC Dimension Style Wizard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1877

Creating AutoCAD Dimension Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1877

Creating an AEC Dimension Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1878

Changing the Number of Chains in an AEC Dimension Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1879

Changing the AEC Dimension Display Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1879

Defining Dimensioned Objects in the AEC Dimension Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1880

Specifying Object Dimension Points in AEC Dimension Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1881

Selecting the AutoCAD Dimension Styles and Other Properties of AEC Dimension Styles . . . . . . . . 1882

Contents | xxxiii

Changing Style Properties with the AEC Dimension Style Wizard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1883

Attaching Notes and Files to an AEC Dimension Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1885

Q and A for Working with AEC Dimensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1885

Changing Color, Text Size and Arrowheads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1885

Updating AEC Dimensions On Demand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1885

Changing the Text Height of Superscripted Numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1885

Fixing the Error Symbol . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1886

Finding More Dimension Points than Expected . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1886

Chapter 41 Elevation Labels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1887

Elevation Labels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1888

Using Elevation Label Tools to Create Elevation Labels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1888

Creating an Elevation Label . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1889

Creating Elevation Labels with User-Specified Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1889

Creating an Elevation Label Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1890

Modifying Elevation Labels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1890

Changing the Elevation of an Elevation Label . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1890

Changing the Coordinate System of an Elevation Label . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1890

Changing the Associated Multi-View Block Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1891

Changing the Scale Factor of an Elevation Label . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1891

Changing the Offset of an Elevation Label . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1891

Display the View Blocks and Attributes of an Elevation Label . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1891

Attaching Hyperlinks, Notes, or Files to an Elevation Label . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1892

Creating User-Defined Elevation Labels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1892

Creating a Graphic Symbol . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1893

Adding Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1893

Creating a Block . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1893

Creating a Multi-View Block . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1893

Adding the Elevation Label to the AutoCAD DesignCenter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1894

Chapter 42 Fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1895

Fields Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1896

Inserting Fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1897

Inserting Fields in a Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1897

Inserting Fields in Property Set Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1897

Inserting Field Placeholders in Object Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1899

Adding Fields to Object Style Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1900

Inserting Fields in AutoCAD Text Elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1901

Editing Fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1903

Editing the Field Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1904

Updating Fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1904

Converting Fields to Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1905

AutoCAD Architecture Field Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1905

Project Fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1905

Selecting a Project Field . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1905

Sheet Set Fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1906

Selecting a Sheet Set Field . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1908

Keynote Fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1909

Selecting a Keynote Field . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1909

Database Fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1910

Selecting a Database Field . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1911

Creating a Data Link to an ODBC Source . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1912

Chapter 43 Detail Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1917

Understanding Detail Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1918

Inserting Detail Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1918

Stamp Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1919

Linear Array Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1919

Backfill Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1920

Bookends Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1921

xxxiv | Contents

Countable Linear Array Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1921

Surface Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1922

Dynamically Sized Surface Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1923

Bolt Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1923

Editing Detail Components in a Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1924

Using Detail Component Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1925

Adding Detail Component Tools to a Tool Palette . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1925

Modifying Detail Component Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1927

Applying Detail Component Properties to Linework . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1929

Applying Detail Component Properties to Linework from a Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1929

Applying Detail Component Properties to Linework from the Detail Component Manager . . . . . . . 1929

Using the Detail Component Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1930

Locating a Detail Component . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1930

Creating and Modifying Detail Component Databases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1932

Configuring Detail Component Database Availability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1948

Adding a Detail Component Database to Available Databases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1948

Removing a Detail Component Database from Available Databases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1949

Setting Detail Component Database Permissions in a Multi-User Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1950

Merging Old and New Detail Component Databases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1950

Chapter 44 Annotation and Keynoting Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1951

The Basic Annotation Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1952

Creating a Text-Only Annotation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1956

Creating a Text-with-Leader Annotation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1956

Creating a Break Mark . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1956

Creating a Block-Based Annotation with a Leader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1957

Editing a Text-Based Annotation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1957

Editing a Masking Break Mark . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1958

Editing a Block-Based Annotation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1958

Keynoting Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1959

Configuring the Annotation Tool for Keynoting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1959

Using Keynote Insertion Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1961

Using Keynote Legends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1963

Viewing and Editing Keynotes in a Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1968

Specifying Keynotes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1971

Working with Keynote Databases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1972

Annotation Scaling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1983

Chapter 45 Callouts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1989

Working with Callouts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1990

Callout Tools in AutoCAD Architecture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1991

Process Overview: Placing a Callout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1993

The Properties of a Callout Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1994

Setting the Properties of a Callout Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1998

Placing Title Marks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1999

Placing a Title Mark . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1999

Placing Detail Callouts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1999

Creating a Detail in the Current View Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2000

Creating a Detail in an Existing Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2001

Creating a Detail in a New Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2002

Placing Section Callouts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2003

Creating a Section in the Current Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2003

Creating a Section in an Existing Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2004

Creating a Section in a New Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2006

Placing Elevation Callouts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2007

Placing a Single Elevation Callout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2007

Placing a Four-Way Interior Elevation Callout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2009

Placing a Four-Way Exterior Elevation Callout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2010

Placing a Callout Without a Model Space View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2011

Referencing a Callout to an Existing View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2012

Contents | xxxv

Opening a Model Space View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2012

Deleting a Model Space View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2013

Resolving Fields in Callout Symbols . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2013

Working with Callouts Outside a Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2015

Placing a Callout in a Non-Project Drawing File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2015

Opening Model Space Views in a Non-Project Drawing File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2016

Deleting Model Space Views in a Non-Project Drawing File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2016

Creating New Callout Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2016

Using Fields in Callout Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2016

Creating a Callout Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2017

Chapter 46 Schedules and Display Themes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2021

Overview of Schedules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2022

Schedule Table Terminology in AutoCAD Architecture 2008 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2022

Process Overview: Using Schedule Tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2023

Property Sets and Property Set Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2024

Basic Schedules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2027

Adding Schedules Using Schedule Table Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2027

Creating a Schedule Table Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2027

Adding Objects to a Schedule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2029

Removing Objects from a Schedule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2029

Reselecting Objects for a Schedule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2029

Turning Off the Out-of-Date Marker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2029

Updating a Schedule Manually . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2030

Locating and Viewing Scheduled Objects in a Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2030

Schedule Tags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2030

Adding Tags Using Schedule Tag Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2030

Creating a Schedule Tag . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2033

Creating a Schedule Tag Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2035

Anchoring an Existing Schedule Tag to an Object . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2037

Releasing an Anchored Schedule Tag . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2037

Viewing the Connection Between Tags and Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2038

Renumbering Property Set Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2038

Managing Schedule Tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2039

Working with Schedule Table Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2039

Exporting a Schedule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2052

Exporting Schedule Data for Selected Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2052

Specifying the Display Properties of a Schedule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2053

Changing General Schedule Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2053

Changing the Selection Criteria for a Schedule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2054

Changing the Location of a Schedule Using Grips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2054

Changing External Source Properties of a Schedule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2055

Adding Table Breaks to a Schedule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2055

Adding Documentation Information to a Schedule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2056

Editing Table Cell Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2056

Adding Property Set Data to All Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2057

Property Data Formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2057

Expanding the Scope of Scheduled Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2062

Property Set Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2062

Attaching Property Set Data to Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2062

Entering Manual Properties and Fields for Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2063

Editing or Updating Fields in Manual Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2064

Converting Fields in Manual Properties to Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2064

Removing Property Set Data from an Object . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2064

Attaching Property Set Data to Styles and Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2064

Entering Manual Properties and Fields for Styles and Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2065

Editing Style-Based Property Sets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2065

Editing Style-Based Property Sets Attached to Objects in External References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2066

Removing Property Set Data from a Style or Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2067

xxxvi | Contents

Browsing Property Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2068

Property Set Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2069

Understanding Automatic Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2071

Understanding Formulas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2073

Creating a Property Set Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2079

Attaching Notes or Reference Files to a Property Set Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2079

Specifying How the Property Set Definition is Applied . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2079

Adding a Manual Property Definition to a Property Set Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2081

Adding a Field to a Property Set Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2082

Adding an Automatic Property Definition to a Property Set Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2083

Adding a Location Property Definition to a Property Set Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2084

Adding a Classification Property Definition to a Property Set Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2085

Adding a Material Property Definition to a Property Set Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2086

Adding a Project Property Definition to a Property Set Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2087

Adding an Anchor Property Definition to a Property Set Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2088

Adding a Graphic Property Definition to a Property Set Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2089

Sequencing Property Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2090

Hiding Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2091

Editing a Property Set Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2091

Removing All Property Sets from Objects and Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2093

Merging Property Set Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2093

List Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2094

Creating a List Definition for a Manual Property Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2094

Editing List Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2095

Changing the List Item for an Object . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2095

Attaching Notes or Reference Files to a List Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2095

Classification Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2096

Process Overview: Including Classification Data in Schedules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2097

A Classification Use Case . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2097

Creating a Classification Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2099

Specifying the Object Types for a Classification Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2100

Adding Classifications to a Classification Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2100

Attaching Property Set Definitions to a Classification Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2101

Editing a Classification Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2102

Changing the Classification of an Object . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2103

Attaching Notes and Files to a Classification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2103

Display Themes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2104

Process Overview: Creating Display Themes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2104

Creating and Editing Display Themes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2104

Creating a Display Theme Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2106

Adding a Display Theme to a Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2106

Disabling Display Themes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2107

Activating Display Themes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2107

Display Theme Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2108

Creating a Display Theme Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2109

Troubleshooting Schedule Tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2110

Question Marks in Cells . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2110

Object not Listed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2111

Which Property Sets to Attach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2111

Changing Data in the Schedule Tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2111

Object Numbers Out of Order . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2111

Locating an Object . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2111

Selecting an Empty Cell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2111

INVALID in a Table Cell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2112

Troubleshooting Schedule Table Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2112

Add Column Button Unavailable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2112

Property Sets Unavailable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2112

Quantity Column not Totalling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2112

Matrix Column Displaying Data Instead of a Matrix Symbol . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2112

Contents | xxxvii

Troubleshooting Classification Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2112

Empty Classification Tab in Style Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2112

Long Title for a Classification Property . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2113

Classifications Property to a Property Set Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2113

Including Classifications in a Schedule Table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2113

Objects Not Included in the Schedule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2113

Classifications Selected but Object Not Included . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2113

Troubleshooting Schedule Tags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2113

Difference Between Schedule Tags and Project Schedule Tags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2113

Troubleshooting Units . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2113

Values on the Extended Data Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2113

Chapter 47 AEC Content and DesignCenter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2115

Overview of AEC Content . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2116

Predefined AEC Content . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2116

AEC Content in the Content Browser . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2116

AEC Content in DesignCenter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2117

Adding AEC Content to Drawings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2118

Adding Content from the Content Browser . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2118

Adding Content from DesignCenter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2119

Adding Fixture Layouts from DesignCenter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2119

Moving Content Between DesignCenter and the Content Browser . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2119

Creating a Tool from AEC Content in DesignCenter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2120

Creating Custom AEC Content . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2120

Using the AEC Content Wizard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2120

Editing AEC Content . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2128

Modifying DesignCenter Content with the AEC Content Wizard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2128

Modifying Fixture Layouts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2128

Turning Off the Dimension Scale Override . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2128

Part 6 Other Utilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2131

Chapter 48 Cameras . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2133

Adjusting the Camera Position . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2134

Chapter 49 Converting Objects to 3D Solids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2135

Converting Objects to 3D Solids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2136

Converting Objects to 3D Solid Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2136

Chapter 50 Visual Audit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2137

Working with Visual Audit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2138

Performing a Visual Audit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2138

Chapter 51 Reference AEC Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2139

Creating an AEC Entity Reference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2140

Adding a Reference to an Object . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2140

Attaching an Object to an Existing Entity Reference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2140

Attaching Hyperlinks, Notes, and Files to an Entity Reference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2140

Changing the Location of an Entity Reference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2141

Chapter 52 Customizing and Adding New Content for Detail Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2143

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2144

A Walkthrough of the Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2144

Component Databases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2146

Recipe Specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2149

Jigs and JigEnts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2160

Common Jigs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2161

Recipe Logging . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2165

Blocks and Block Libraries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2169

Using Optimal Geometry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2169

Naming Blocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2170

Base Points for Blocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2170

xxxviii | Contents

Collecting Similar Blocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2170

Block Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2170

Layer Keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2171

Removing Unnecessary Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2171

Chapter 53 Migrating Detail Component and Keynote Databases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2173

Migrating Your Database Modifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2174

Running the Detail Component/Keynote Database Migration Utility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2175

Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2187

Contents | xxxix

xl | Contents

Workflow and User Interface

1

1

2 | Chapter 1 Workflow and User Interface

Introduction

Welcome to AutoCAD Architecture 2008! Built on the new AutoCAD® 2008

platform, this release is targeted at making the transition from AutoCAD to

AutoCAD Architecture easier by simplifying your interactions with the software.

It offers many new features that help you achieve your design and documentation

goals:

1

3

New Features

Improved Help System for the Transitioning AutoCAD Users

The help system has been enhanced to simplify the transition from AutoCAD to AutoCAD Architecture. These help
components have been added so that new users with previous AutoCAD experience can easily segue into working with
AutoCAD Architecture:

■ Essential task movies

■ Learning resources overview for different expertise levels

■ User interface overview

■ Webcasts for typical architectural tasks

■ Getting Started guides

Welcome Screen

AutoCAD Architecture 2008 integrates a number of exciting new AutoCAD features and adapts them to the specific
AutoCAD Architecture requirements:

Annotation Scaling

Annotation scaling allows you to plot annotation at the same height or size regardless of the viewport zoom scale.
Annotation scales can be associated with annotative objects in AutoCAD Architecture so that these objects can be sized
properly for specific annotation scales in model space and displayed correctly in paper space. You can also specify
whether to display or hide annotation objects that are not controlled by the current annotation scale.

Visualization

With AutoCAD Architecture 2008, the Mental Ray rendering engine replaces the core rendering capabilities of AutoCAD
and AutoCAD Architecture. With AutoCAD Architecture 2008, the work has continued on this core rendering
environment with the goal of building the most needed capabilities used in VIZ Render into the main AutoCAD

4 | Chapter 1 Introduction

Architecture workspace. This now provides a single in-process rendering environment for creating highly photo-realistic
renderings, based on real-world photometric indoor & outdoor lighting, procedural materials, more robust material
editing, and inherent interoperability with AutoCAD and the AutoCAD family of products.

For full information about lighting, materials, and rendering, see “Create Realistic Images and Graphics” in the AutoCAD
help.

Realistic rendering of building facade

Creating a camera and walkthrough

Viewport Layer Overrides

You can now apply overrides for color, linetype, lineweight, and plot style to layers in individual layout viewports.
This is an efficient way to display objects with different property settings in individual viewports without changing
their ByLayer or ByBlock properties. Because layer property overrides do not change the layer’s global properties, you
can have objects display differently in various viewports without having to create duplicate geometry or use xrefs that
have different layer settings. When the Layer Manager is accessed from a layout tab, 4 additional columns for
viewport-specific layer property overrides are displayed for VP Color, VP Lineweight, VP Linetype, and VP Plot Style.

New Features | 5

Overriding layer properties for a viewport

Easier Editing of Object Display

The editing of the display properties of an object has been simplified and better integrated with AutoCAD methods
and workflows.

You can now use the Display tab of the Properties palette to change the display property settings for a selected object
display component in the current display representation. You can specify whether your changes will apply to all objects
of the same type as the selected object (drawing default), all objects of the same style as the selected object (a style
override), or only that object itself (an object override). You can also apply your changes to other display representations
that use the same display component to draw the selected object. Changes that you make in the Display tab are
immediately visible in the drawing area, giving you opportunity for fine-tuning and on-the-fly corrections.

Changing the display of object components on the Properties palette

For more information, see “Using the Properties Palette to Change Display Properties” on page 445.

IFC Certification

The Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) file format provides an interoperability solution between different software
applications. It complies with established, international standards for importing and exporting building objects and
their properties. IFC improves communication, productivity, delivery time, and quality throughout the life cycle of a
building. By employing established standards for common objects in the building industry, IFC reduces the loss of
information during transmission from one application to another.

AutoCAD Architecture is now IFC-certified, enabling you to import and export IFC data. For example, building models
drawn in AutoCAD Architecture are saved to a DWG file format. You can export the drawing using the IFC format to
an IFC-certified application that does not use the DWG file format, and the drawing can be opened and worked on in
the non-native application. Likewise, in AutoCAD Architecture you can import an IFC file, create a DWG file, and work
on that drawing in AutoCAD Architecture.

6 | Chapter 1 Introduction

Exporting a DWG file to IFC

Importing an IFC file to AutoCAD Architecture

For more information, see “Importing and Exporting IFC Files” on page 126.

Improved Drawing Management

The Drawing Management feature has been improved to make working with projects easier and more effective:

■ You can set up your project so that the sheet view layer settings are updated from the layer settings in the model

space of the view drawing. The synchronized settings include the layer states (on/off, thawed/frozen) and the layer
properties (layer, color, linetype, plot style) of layers native to the view drawing as well as layers in external references
attached to the view drawing through constructs and elements.

View drawing with xref dependent layer settings

New Features | 7

Sheet view with layer settings from view

For more information, see “Synchronizing View Drawing Layers with Sheet View Layers” on page 259.

■ You can open AutoCAD Architecture with a specific project as the current project by double-clicking the APJ file

of the project in Windows® Explorer. This launches a new session of AutoCAD Architecture with the project
specified in the project file as the current project.

For more information, see “Opening a Project from Windows Explorer” on page 192.

■ A new set of animations and learning material has been added to Drawing Management and can be accessed from

the “Learn More about Drawing Management” link in Project Browser.

Link to new information in Project Browser

Drawing Compare

An efficient review of drawings and revisions is key as you move through the design, development, and construction
phases of a project. You can visually compare versions of drawings and review proposed changes with the Drawing
Compare feature. Drawing Compare also allows you to compare drawings from AutoCAD, AutoCAD Architecture,
AutoCAD MEP, Revit Architecture, and Revit Structure. For more information, see “Drawing Compare” on page 385.

Spaces

The Spaces feature has been improved and enhanced by a number of new functionalities that make the automatic
generation of spaces, space evaluation, and re-use of spaces in AutoCAD MEP easier and more powerful.

■ Improved updating of associative spaces: Associative spaces can now update automatically when the bounding

geometry changes. You can automatically split and merge spaces by adding or removing bounding objects. You
can choose between automatic updates and manual updates, depending on your needs.

8 | Chapter 1 Introduction

For more information, see “Updating Associative Spaces” on page 1598

■ Openings on 3D freeform space surfaces: You can add and edit openings on the surfaces of 3D freeform

spaces using grips. Freeform openings can be viewed and organized in the Space/Zone Manager and can be exported
to AutoCAD MEP.

For more information, see “Working with Surface Openings” on page 1662.

■ Area calculation standards: Offsets between space boundaries can be automatically determined by an area

calculation standard specified in the drawing. The space boundaries are calculated according to the area calculation
standard. Predefined standards shipped with the Subscription Module Spaces and Drawing Compare include
standards based on BOMA, DIN 277, and SIS.

New Features | 9

Boundary offsets calculated by area calculation standard

For more information, see “Working with Space Boundary Offsets” on page 1626.

■ Generating associative spaces: The generation of associative spaces has been moved to the Properties palette,

making it more interactive and intuitive.

For more information, see “Generating Associative Spaces” on page 1587.

Fit and Finish in AutoCAD Architecture 2008

In addition to other new features, a number of fit and finish items have been added for the user:

■ Support for MasterFormat 2004 naming standard: The detail components and keynote databases in AutoCAD

Architecture are now configured to follow the Construction Specifications Institute's MasterFormat 2004 naming
standard.

■ Structural member Auto-Trim setting: You can now configure structural member styles so that members trim

automatically to other members during edits rather than only during initial placement.

A Quick Start for Transitioning from AutoCAD to AutoCAD Architecture

If you have previously accomplished your architectural tasks with AutoCAD and want to transition to using AutoCAD
Architecture, you will find that using tools specifically designed for architects provides additional productivity and
benefits over the AutoCAD drafting methods you used before.

This quick overview of tasks and how to accomplish them in AutoCAD Architecture can help you get an easy start. For
additional information, watch short movies which you can find on the Welcome to AutoCAD Architecture 2008 page,
the Learning Resources page, or the main Help page.

■ Click Help menu ➤ Help, and then click Essential Task Movies under General Information on the right pane.

■ Click Help menu ➤ Learning Resources, and then click Essential Task Movies.

10 | Chapter 1 Introduction

■ On the Welcome to AutoCAD Architecture 2008 page that displays when you open the software, select a movie

from the right pane under Essential Task Movies.

NOTE The software locations for tools, palettes, and catalogs listed below are the default locations for a standard US install.
Customized installations, as well as localized versions may vary in the tools they supply and the structure of the tool palettes.

How do I…

Work with
Conceptual
Massing?

Studies?

Create a Space
Layout and
Colored Plans?

Presentation
Graphics?

with AutoCAD
tools

SolidsDesign Massing

AutoCAD
Architecture
tools

and Mass
Groups

Visual StylesVisual StylesCreate

Design Group - Massing PaletteMass Elements

Visualization Group - Visual Styles
Palette

More InformationPalette or UI Locationwith

■ Online Help: “Mass Elements and Mass

Groups” on page 576

■ Online Help: “Use a Visual Style to

Display Your Model” in the AutoCAD
Help

Create Space
Plans?

Create Color Fill
Plans?

Create Floor
Plans?

Hatch

Hatching and
Polylines

Themes and
Spaces

Design Group - Spaces PaletteSpacesPolyline and

■ Online Help: “Space Types” on page 1576

■ Learning Movie: Creating Spaces to

Calculate Areas

Document Group - Themes PaletteDisplay

■ Online Help: “Process Overview:

Creating Display Themes” on page 2104

■ Learning Movie: Creating Color-Filled

Presentation Plans

A Quick Start for Transitioning from AutoCAD to AutoCAD Architecture | 11

How do I…

with AutoCAD
tools

More InformationPalette or UI Locationwith
AutoCAD
Architecture
tools

Draw Walls?

Draw Doors?

Draw Windows?

Multilines

Dynamic Blocks

Dynamic Blocks

Design Group - Walls PaletteWallsLinework or

Design Group - Doors PaletteDoorsBlocks or

Design Group - Windows PaletteWindowsBlocks or

StairsLineworkDraw Stairs?

Design Group - Design Palette

■ Online Help: “Walls” on page 645

■ Learning Movie: Laying Out Floor Plans

■ Online Help: “Doors” on page 1004

■ Online Help: “Windows” on page 1057

■ Online Help: “Stairs” on page 1133

Walls?

Add Furniture
and Fixtures?

NOTE More Stair tools can be

accessed from Content Browser.

RailingsLineworkDraw Railings?

Design Group - Design Palette

■ Online Help: “Railings” on page 1252

NOTE More Railing tools can be

accessed from Content Browser.

Curtain WallsLineworkDraw Curtain

Design Group - Design Palette

■ Online Help: “Curtain Walls” on page

750

NOTE More Curtain Wall tools can

be accessed from Content Browser.

12 | Chapter 1 Introduction

How do I…

with AutoCAD
tools

More InformationPalette or UI Locationwith
AutoCAD
Architecture
tools

Place Furniture,
Fixtures, and
Equipment?

Create
Annotation and
Scheduling?

Blocks or
Dynamic Blocks

Blocks

Design Group - FF & E PaletteMulti-View

■ Online Help: “Multi-View Blocks” on

page 1558

A Quick Start for Transitioning from AutoCAD to AutoCAD Architecture | 13

How do I…

with AutoCAD
tools

More InformationPalette or UI Locationwith
AutoCAD
Architecture
tools

Drawings?

Tags?

from Designs?

DimensionsDimension

AEC
Dimensions

Document Group - Dimension
Palette

Document Group - Tags PaletteTag ToolsBlocksAdd Schedule

■ Online Help: “AEC Dimensions” on

page 1844

■ Online Help: “Adding Tags Using

Schedule Tag Tools” on page 2030

SchedulesTablesExtract Schedules

Document Group - Schedules
Palette

■ Online Help: “Managing Schedule

Tables” on page 2039

■ Learning Movie: Creating Schedules

Properties for
Scheduling Data?

Plans?

Sections?

AttributesModify Block

Definitions

XclipCreate Enlarged

Project
Navigator

Style ManagerProperty Set

■ Online Help: “Property Set Definitions”

on page 2069

Document Group - Callouts PaletteCallouts and

■ Online Help: “Working with Callouts”

on page 1990

Document Group - Callouts PaletteSectionsLineworkExtract Building

■ Online Help: “Placing Section Callouts”

on page 2003

■ Learning Movie: Creating Sections

Document Group - Callouts PaletteElevationsLineworkExtract Elevations?

■ Online Help: “Placing Elevation

Callouts” on page 2007

14 | Chapter 1 Introduction

How do I…

with AutoCAD
tools

More InformationPalette or UI Locationwith
AutoCAD
Architecture
tools

Mark up drawing
revisions?

Add Details and
Keynotes?

REVCLOUD
command

LineworkCreate Details?

Revision
Clouds

Components

KeynotingLeadersAnnotate Details?

Document Group - Annotation
Palette

NOTE More Revision Cloud tools

can be accessed from Content

Browser.

Detailing GroupDetail

Document Group - Annotation
Palette

■ Online Help: “AEC Content in the

Content Browser” on page 2116

■ Online Help: “Detail Components” on

page 1917

■ Learning Movie: Detailing Your Designs

■ Online Help: “Keynoting Tools” on

page 1959

Work in a
Project?

A Quick Start for Transitioning from AutoCAD to AutoCAD Architecture | 15

How do I…

Find and Manage
Content?

with AutoCAD
tools

Windows
Explorer and
DesignCenter

®

AutoCAD
Architecture
tools

Browser

More InformationPalette or UI Locationwith

Content BrowserContent

■ Online Help: “Understanding the

Content Browser” on page 80

Manage Layers?

Manage Project
Drawings?

Layer Properties
Manager

Sheet Set
Manager

Manager,
Layer Key
Styles, Layer
Standards

Navigator

Layer ManagerLayer

Project NavigatorProject

■ Online Help: “Managing Drawing

Layers” on page 404

■ Online Help: “Working with Layer

Keys” on page 425

■ Online Help: “Creating and Editing

Layer Standards” on page 434

■ Online Help: “A Short Overview of

Drawing Management” on page 2180

■ Learning Movie: Managing Your

Drawings

Starting AutoCAD Architecture

Use one of the following methods to start AutoCAD Architecture:

■ Double-click the AutoCAD Architecture icon on your desktop.

The icon is displayed on your desktop if you chose to create it when you installed the software.

■ On the Start menu, click Programs ➤ Autodesk ➤ AutoCAD Architecture 2008 ➤ AutoCAD Architecture 2008.

NOTE AutoCAD Architecture 2008 can be run under Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows Vista.

Customizing Startup

You can use command-line switches in the properties of the desktop icon to specify AutoCAD Architecture startup
options:

■ Run a startup script when you start the software.

■ Start the software with a specific template.

■ Start the software with a specific profile (ARG file).

■ Create several desktop icons, each with different startup options.

For more information, see “Customize Startup” in AutoCAD Help.

Default Content Paths for Microsoft Windows Vista

AutoCAD Architecture 2008 is running under Microsoft Windows Vista. The default content paths for style drawings,
support files, and tool catalogs vary between Windows XP and Windows Vista:

AutoCAD Architecture 2008 Content PathOperating System

C:\Documents and Settings\<user>\My DocumentsWindows XP

C:\Users\<user>\DocumentsWindows Vista

16 | Chapter 1 Introduction

Finding Help

With AutoCAD Architecture 2008, you can move smoothly from 2D drafting to building information modeling in an
AutoCAD-based environment. AutoCAD Architecture supports your current practices and helps you to take advantage
of your knowledge of AutoCAD. Intelligent architectural objects and other powerful design and documentation features
offered by AutoCAD Architecture will help you reap productivity benefits by minimizing tedious drafting and rework.

Autodesk provides many resources to ensure that you quickly become productive with AutoCAD Architecture and the
many new features available in this release. Online and print documentation, real-world tutorials, and technical support
channels are all available to answer your questions as you begin working with the software.

Online Help Resources

There are various available resources to help you learn about AutoCAD Architecture 2008 and AutoCAD® 2008.

DescriptionDocumentation

Explains how to install and configure AutoCAD Architecture 2008.AutoCAD Architecture 2008 Installation Guide

AutoCAD Architecture 2008 Help

AutoCAD Architecture 2008 Project Cycle Navigator

AutoCAD Architecture 2008 Printed Getting Started Guide

AutoCAD Architecture 2008 Online Tutorials

AutoCAD 2008 User’s Guide

Explains AutoCAD Architecture concepts and provides step-by-step
procedures.

The Project Cycle Navigator provides links to key workflow topics and
animations. There are 10 phases of a project, which range from Pre­Design and Planning to Post Construction. You can select the phase in
which you are interested, and then select from a list of topics.

The printed Getting Started tutorial gives you a quick, but comprehensive
introduction to the concepts of working with AutoCAD Architecture

2008.

A set of exercises designed to give you an overview of the capabilities
and features of AutoCAD Architecture.

Gives an overview of the new features in AutoCAD Architecture 2008.AutoCAD Architecture 2008 New Features Workshop

View these movies to learn about typical and frequently used tasks.AutoCAD Architecture 2008 Essential Tasks Movies

Provides conceptual and overview material with step-by-step procedures
for AutoCAD 2008.

Gives an overview over the new features in AutoCAD 2008.AutoCAD 2008 New Features Workshop

The advantage of online manuals is that they present information quickly while you are in a drawing session. Although
online Help topics provide some conceptual and overview material, their main purpose is to help you get a task done
efficiently. Therefore, the AutoCAD Architecture online Help emphasizes step-by-step procedures relevant to command
selection. It also incorporates visual examples and links to more information.

Online tutorials are also an excellent way to become familiar with AutoCAD Architecture. When you use the tutorials
to learn program concepts, you can keep the tutorial window open in the drawing area while you perform the steps.

To access AutoCAD Architecture 2008 Help

1 On the Help menu, click Help.

2 When the Help window is displayed, click the AutoCAD Architecture 2008 Help book on the Contents tab, and

then browse the contents to locate the information you need. Or use the Index or Search tabs to find specific topics.
Icons with a red marker indicate topics that include information about new features.

Finding Help | 17

Red marker indicates topic covering new feature

To access AutoCAD Architecture 2008 New Features Workshop

1 On the Help menu, click New Features Workshop.

2 On the Main Menu page, click the category for the feature you want to learn about.

To access AutoCAD Architecture 2008 Tutorials

1 On the Help menu, click Tutorials.

2 When the Help window is displayed, browse the Contents tab to locate the exercise you want to perform. The

tutorials include datasets that correspond to the exercises.

To access AutoCAD 2008 Help

1 On the Help menu, click Help.

2 When the Help window is displayed, click the AutoCAD Help book on the Contents tab, and then browse the

contents to locate the information you need. Or use the Index or Search tabs to find specific topics.

To access AutoCAD 2008 New Features Workshop

1 On the Help menu, click Help.

2 When the Help window is displayed, click the AutoCAD Help book, and then click the New Features Workshop

link under General Information.

AutoCAD Architecture Design Phases Overview

The includes animations and links to topics that explain AutoCAD Architecture features and workflows.

Click a project cycle segment to select a project phase, and then click a topic segment. To return to the Design Phases

Overview from a Help topic, click the Back button; to return from an animation, click the icon.

18 | Chapter 1 Introduction

Design Phases Overview

Autodesk Training Programs and Products

Training programs and products from Autodesk help you learn the key technical features of your Autodesk software
and improve your productivity. For the latest information about Autodesk training, visit
http://www.autodesk.com/autocadarchitecture-training or contact your local Autodesk office.

Autodesk Authorized Training Centers

Be more productive with Autodesk® software. Get trained at an Autodesk Authorized Training Center (ATC®) with
hands-on, instructor-led classes to help you get the most from your Autodesk products. Enhance your productivity
with proven training from over 1,400 ATC sites in more than 75 countries. For more information about Autodesk
Authorized Training Centers, contact [e-mail] or visit the online ATC locator at
http://www.autodesk.com/atc.

Autodesk Official Training Courseware

Autodesk publishes many courseware titles each year for users at all levels to improve their productivity with Autodesk
software. The preferred training materials of Autodesk partners, these books are also well-suited for self-paced, standalone
learning. All courseware simulates real-world projects with hands-on, job-related exercises. Autodesk Official
Training Courseware (AOTC) is developed by Autodesk. Autodesk Authorized Training Courseware (AATC)
is developed by Autodesk partners, including titles in a growing number of languages. Autodesk Official Certification
Courseware (AOCC) teaches the knowledge and skills assessed on the Certification examinations. Visit
http://www.autodesk.com/aotc to browse the Autodesk Courseware catalog.

Autodesk Certification

Gain a competitive edge with your career by obtaining Autodesk Certification, validating your knowledge and skills
on Autodesk products. Autodesk provides an end-to-end solution for assessing your readiness for certification, preparing
for certification, and obtaining certification. For more information on Autodesk Certification, visit
http://www.autodesk.com/certification.

e-Learning

Autodesk e-Learning for Autodesk Subscription customers features interactive lessons organized into product catalogs.
Each lesson is 20-40 minutes in length and features hands-on exercises, with an option to use a simulation or the
software application. You can also use an online evaluation tool that identifies gaps in skills, determines what lessons
will be most helpful, and gauges learning progress.

If you are a member of Autodesk subscription, you can access e-Learning and other subscription services from within
your Autodesk product. For more information about Autodesk subscription resources, visit
http://www.autodesk.com/subscription.

Autodesk Training Programs and Products | 19

Contacting Autodesk

Autodesk, Inc.

111 McInnis Parkway

San Rafael, CA 94903 USA

Phone: [phone]

Website: http://www.autodesk.com

Sales Information

To purchase additional Autodesk software, contact your local reseller. For the name of the authorized reseller nearest
you, call 1-800-964-6432 or access the Resellers and Training Centers website, http://www.autodesk.com/resellers/.

Technical Support

If you have technical questions about the products, you should contact your local reseller or check the frequently asked
questions (Technical Solutions & FAQS) section and Discussion Groups on the website for AutoCAD Architecture at

http://www.autodesk.com/support. News groups are another good source of information. You can look through the

questions that have already been posted, or you can post your own questions.

Feedback

Please let us know what you think! Whether you have a suggestion for product enhancement, a compliment, or a
complaint, or if you think you have found a bug, we would like to know about it.

To make comments and find additional information, visit our website at http://www.autodesk.com/contact.

20 | Chapter 1 Introduction

The Workspace

The AutoCAD Architecture workspace is a highly customizable graphical user

interface designed to accommodate the various workflows and workstyles of

architectural professionals. The topics in this section provide an overview of the

available workspace components and describe how to access and configure them

to meet your needs. For detailed instructions on using workspace components to

create and edit architectural objects, refer to the relevant object-specific topics in

Help (Walls, Doors, Windows, and so on).

2

21

The Workspace Concept

In AutoCAD Architecture, a workspace is a task-based customization of the basic user interface that includes only those
menus, toolbars, and palettes you need for a particular architectural process. When you first start AutoCAD Architecture,
you are prompted to set the initial drawing environment and the default drawing template file by selecting one of the
following workspaces:

DescriptionWorkspace

Provides all the basic tools for creating architectural objects in your drawings.Design

Document

Detailing

Visualization

Whichever workspace you select, you can reconfigure it according to your preferences as you work. You can move or
hide various components as needed, display additional toolbars, or add new tools and tool palettes. If desired, you can
save your customizations as a new workspace that you can access for later drawing sessions. You can also switch from
one workspace to another at any time by selecting a new one from the drop-down list on the Workspaces toolbar. For
more information, see “Changing Workspaces” on page 31 and “Create Task-Based Workspaces” in the AutoCAD help.

Default configuration of the Design workspace

Provides tools for adding schedule tables, annotations, callouts, and other documentation objects to your
drawings.

Provides tools for inserting a wide variety of predefined detail components, as well as tools for detail
drafting.

Includes all the tools available in the Design workspace as well as the dashboard palette, which provides
tools for 3D modeling, viewing, and rendering.

Workspace Components

The AutoCAD Architecture workspace consists of a drawing window with menus, toolbars, tool palettes, and other
controls that you use to set up an architectural project, create your design, and generate construction documents. The
default configuration of these components varies depending on which of the predefined workspaces you select (Design,
Document, Detailing, or Visualization). For example, the illustration below shows the Design workspace as it might
appear after you have used a door tool to add a door object to a section of wall.

22 | Chapter 2 The Workspace

The AutoCAD Architecture workspace

Because the door is selected, its editing grips are visible, and because it is the only object currently selected, the Properties
palette displays information specific to this door. The Properties palette and the other labeled components are also
common to each of the other predefined workspaces. These and other workspace components are described individually
in the following topics.

The Menu Bar

The menu bar of the drawing window provides the following pulldown menus, each of which includes a group of
commands that support a particular aspect of the architectural workflow. Where applicable, menu options show alternate
access methods, such as a toolbar button or a keyboard shortcut.

ContentsMenu

File

Edit

■ Drawing transmittal and publishing commands

■ Access to the Project Browser

■ Drawing utilities such as Audit, Recover, and Purge.

Standard Microsoft Windows editing commands, such as Copy and
Paste

The Menu Bar | 23

ContentsMenu

View

Insert

Format

Window

■ Commands that change the working view

■ Access to Keynote Display and Cameras

■ General insertion commands for external files and file types

■ Access to DesignCenter and Detail Component Manager

■ Formatting commands for color, linetype, lineweight, and other

graphic characteristics.

■ Access to tools for managing styles, layers, display system,

structural members, schedule tags, blocks, and profiles.

■ Access to the Options dialog, where you can modify default

settings for a wide range of system behaviors and characteristics

■ Standard window configuration tools such as Tile and Cascade

■ Access to Project Navigator, Markup Set Manager, Tool Palettes,

and Properties Palette

■ Commands for adding other pulldown menus to the menu bar

(see table below for descriptions)

Help

Access to the online Help, tutorials, and other resources to help you
learn and use AutoCAD Architecture

NOTE In AutoCAD Architecture Help and tutorials, instructions for selecting a particular pulldown or context menu option
use this symbol ➤ to indicate any submenus in the path to that option. For example, the instruction for selecting the Sheet
Keynotes option on the Keynote Display submenu of the View pulldown menu would be: Select View menu ➤ Keynote
Display ➤ Sheet Keynotes.

In addition to the standard pulldown menus described above, you can load any of the following pulldown menus by
selecting them from the Window menu:

ContentsMenu

Similar to the Design menu in previous versions of the software.Design

Document

CAD Manager

3D Solids

Similar to the Documentation menu in previous versions of the
software.

Access to advanced features like AEC Project Standards, Tool Catalog
Generator, Keynote Editor, VBA Manager, Visual Basic Editor, Visual
LISP Editor, the Script command, and Visual Audit. When this menu
is loaded, toolbars are available to provide quicker access to some
of these features. To display them, right-click in the toolbar area (not
on a toolbar), and click ADT_CAD_MANAGER ➤ AEC Project
Standards or ADT_CAD_MANAGER ➤ CAD Manager.

Access to the Convert to Solids and Convert to 3D Solids commands
plus suites of commands for creating and editing solids. When this
menu is loaded, toolbars with the corresponding commands are also
available. To display them, right-click in the toolbar area (not on a
toolbar), and click ADT_3DSOLIDS ➤ Solids or
ADT_3DSOLIDS ➤ Solids Editing.

24 | Chapter 2 The Workspace

Toolbars

Toolbars in AutoCAD Architecture workspaces contain buttons that you click to initiate commands, change settings,
or access other features that you might often need during a drawing session. The icon on a toolbar button indicates its
function. To display a tooltip with the button name, you move the cursor over the button. This also displays a description
of the button’s function at the lower-left corner of the workspace on the application status bar.

Examples of frequently used toolbars

By default, toolbars are displayed in the toolbar area just below the menu bar, but you can drag them into the drawing
area or completely out of the drawing window if desired. Note that the title of the toolbar displays only when the
toolbar is positioned outside of the toolbar area. You can also dock toolbars to an edge in the drawing area, hide them,
resize them, or create your own. For detailed instructions on customizing the display of toolbars, see the Toolbars topic
in the AutoCAD Help.

The following toolbars are displayed in the toolbar area by default:

■ Workspaces

■ Standard

■ Navigation

■ Layer Properties

■ Shapes

■ Draw Order

■ Modify

To display any of the others, right-click any toolbar currently on display, and click the name of the toolbar you want
to see. Or you can right-click in the toolbar area (not on a toolbar), click ADT, and then click a toolbar name.

Accessing the list of toolbars

The following table lists and describes all of the available toolbars in AutoCAD Architecture.

Standard

ContentsToolbar

Standard drawing commands like opening, saving, publishing, and
printing drawings; also contains Copy, Paste, Undo, Regenerate
Model, and the Object Inspect tool

Toolbars | 25

ContentsToolbar

Navigation

Layer Properties, Layers II

Shapes

Inquiry

Modify

Commands for opening the Content Browser, the Project Navigator
Palette, the Tool Palettes Set, the Properties Palette, and Design­Center; also contains flyout toolbars for Zoom, Views, UCS, and
Shading

Commands to start the Layer Manager and change the status of a
layer

Commands for adding 2D AutoCAD objects like lines, arcs, polylines
and splines; use these 2D shapes to help sketch out and convert to
AEC objects or during edit-in-place operations of AEC objects

Commands for moving the model in 3D space3D Orbit

Commands for working with AutoCAD dimensionsDimension

Commands for measuring distances, areas, and volumes; also contains
the AutoCAD Point tool and the List command

Commands for mapping materialsMapping

Standard commands for editing objects and linework; includes Copy,
Erase, Move, Scale, Mirror, Offset, Array, Stretch, Trim, Extend, Break,
Chamfer, Fillet, and Explode

NOTE These commands are also available from the general context

menu.

Commands for setting the Object SnapObject Snap

Properties

Commands for changing color, linetype, lineweight, and linetype
scale for an object

Commands for working with external references in the drawingRefedit

Light, Material, and Render commandsRender

Commands for different shade modesShading

Commands for setting and changing the UCS of the drawingUCS, UCS II

Commands for switching between 2D and 3D views of the drawingView/Viewpoint

Commands for specifying the visual styles displaying objectsVisual Styles

Commands for working with workspacesWorkspaces

Commands for zooming and panning the drawingZoom

Commands for adding 3D solids to the drawingSolids

Commands for editing 3D solidsSolids Editing

Context Menus

Context menus in AutoCAD Architecture function the same way as the shortcut menus described in the AutoCAD
Help. Right-clicking in most areas of the workspace displays a context menu that contains commands appropriate to
the cursor position at that time. For example, when you right-click in the toolbar area, the context menu lists all the
available toolbars. When you right-click in the drawing area, the content of the context menu depends on the currently
selected object(s). For example, if one or more wall objects are selected, a wall-specific context menu is displayed as
shown.

26 | Chapter 2 The Workspace

Wall context menu

If more than one type of object is selected, the context menu includes only those commands that can be applied to all
the selected objects. If no objects are selected, the general context menu is displayed as shown below. This menu
contains non-object-specific commands, including the same commands available from the Modify toolbar.

General drawing context menu

Tool Palettes

Tool palettes provide the main method for accessing tools to create objects in your model. You can have tools for
standard objects as well as for objects with specific styles and properties. Tool palettes are organized by tool palette
groups in a tool palettes set. You can create your own tool palettes, or you can copy existing tool palettes from the
Content Browser.

Tool Palettes | 27

Design tool palette with tools for standard design objects

For more information, see “Working with Tool Palettes” on page 35.

Properties Palette

The Properties palette provides a central location to view and modify both the physical and graphical properties of an
object you are about to draw, or of objects that are selected in the drawing area. Using the Extended Data tab of the
Properties palette, you can also attach other kinds of information to an object, such as classifications, notes, reference
documents, hyperlinks, and property set data. You typically keep the Properties palette open during an AutoCAD
Architecture session.

Wall Properties Palette

For more information, see “The Properties Palette” on page 56.

AutoCAD Dashboard

The dashboard is a special palette that displays buttons and controls that are associated with a task-based workspace,
and it is used primarily for 3D modeling, viewing, and rendering. The dashboard provides a single interface element
for modeling and rendering operations. It eliminates the need to display many toolbars and reduces the clutter in the
application window. Thus, you can maximize the area available for 3D work, and use a single interface for speed and
convenience. The dashboard is organized into a series of control panels. Each control panel includes related tools and
controls that are similar to the tools in toolbars and controls in dialog boxes. For more information, see “The Dashboard”
in the AutoCAD help.

28 | Chapter 2 The Workspace

The dashboard contains mainly AutoCAD-specific commands for 3D modelling, like settings for lighting, visual styles,
and rendering.

Drawing Window Status Bar

Located at the bottom of the drawing area, the drawing window status bar displays status information about the current
drawing and provides access to various commands that can be applied to the drawing as described below.

■ Open Drawing Menu: Click at the far left of the drawing window status bar to display a context menu of

frequently used commands is displayed. These commands are also available from the standard pulldown menus
as well.

■ Project Information: If the drawing is part of an AutoCAD Architecture project, this information includes the name

of the project, and the type of file, such as View or Construct). For more information, see “Drawing Management”
on page 149.

■ Annotation Scale: When working with viewports, you can select a new annotation scale for the current viewport

from the drop-down list of available scales. Click to show annotative objects for all scales. Click to
automatically add scales to annotative objects when the annotation scale changes.

■ Level of Detail: Shows the current display configuration of the active viewport and provides a drop-down list from

which you can select another configuration.

■ Cut Plane: Identifies the global cut plane height for the active display configuration and provides access to a dialog

that lets you adjust the setting. For more information, see “Global Cut Planes” on page 310.

■ Surface Hatch Toggle ( ): Click to switch the display of surface hatching on or off.

■ Layer Key Overrides ( ): Click to display the Layer Key Overrides dialog, which lets you switch the layer key

overrides on or off.

Drawing Window Status Bar | 29

■ Isolate Objects ( ): Click the light bulb icon to hide or display objects you have selected in the drawing. For

more information, see “Isolating Objects” on page 72.

■ AEC Project Standards: When a project is loaded, click here to synchronize or configure standards for the current

project.

■ Manage Xrefs: Click to open the External References palette, where you can reload xrefs that are associated with

your current drawing.

■ Missing Standards File(s): When applicable, this warning indicates that standards files are missing in the current

drawing; you can then check settings for the standards and configure them as necessary.

■ Infobar Menu: A drop-down list of the settings and commands available for display on the drawing window status

bar.

Command Line

You can directly enter commands using the command line located immediately below the drawing window status bar.
To hide the command line,or to display it if it is currently hidden, click Window menu ➤ Command Line.

Application Status Bar

The application status bar contains settings valid for the whole drawing session in AutoCAD Architecture. Some settings,
such as options for different elevations, only display if you are working within a project. For more information, see
“The Project Status Bar” on page 202.

The application status bar gives access to these settings:

■ Cursor coordinate values: Controls the coordinate format as either relative or absolute.

■ Snap: On/Off/Settings

■ Grid: On/Off/Settings

■ Ortho: On/Off

■ Polar Tracking: On/Off/Settings

■ Object Snap (OSnap): On/Off/Settings

■ Object Track (OTrack): On/Off/Settings

■ Dynamic UCS: With the dynamic UCS feature, you can temporarily and automatically align the XY plane of the

UCS with a plane on a solid model while creating objects.

■ Dynamic Input (DYN): Toggles on or off dynamic input. You can specify how information displays as you enter

the data.

■ Lineweight (LWT): On/Off/Settings

■ Model or Paper Space: Toggles between layouts.

■ Elevation: Select a level for the calculation of the elevation offset.

■ Elevation relative to construct’s level: Opens Elevation Offset worksheet to enter or pick the Z offset.

■ Replace Z value with current elevation: Toggles on or off, replacing the existing Z value with the current elevation.

■ Communication Center: On/Off/Settings

■ Drawing Status Bar Toggle: On/Off

■ Performance Tuner: The performance tuner examines your graphics card and 3D display driver and decides whether

to use software or hardware implementation for features that support both.

■ Unlock Toolbar/Window positions: Here you can switch between docked windows and toolbars and floating

windows and toolbars.

30 | Chapter 2 The Workspace

■ Clean Screen: Click to switch back and forth between the standard screen and a full screen. In full-screen mode,

all toolbars and palettes (except the Tool Palettes) are hidden. Hidden palettes retain their current state.

■ Toolbar/Window Positions: Locks or unlocks floating and docked toolbars and palettes in place.

■ Application status bar drop-down list: You can select tray settings to display commands frequently used in the

application status bar.

To turn one of these components on or off, click its button. To change the settings for one of these components,
right-click the button, and select Settings.

Communication Center

This in-product notification system keeps you up to date on service pack availability and provides information for
Autodesk Subscription Program members, such as extension availability, product tips and tricks, and product support
information. You can set the Communication Center to notify you of any updates or other important information at
specified intervals. Alternatively, you can update on demand.

When new updates are available, the Communication Center icon ( ) displays with a yellow exclamation mark.
When you click the icon, the Communication Center is displayed, allowing you to download the latest updates. To
specify the update properties, click the Communication Center icon, and click Settings.

Communication Center dialog box

Project Navigator Palette

The Project Navigator palette is the central location to create, modify, and access AutoCAD Architecture project files.
You typically have the Project Navigator palette open in the workspace while you work on a project. For more
information, see “Drawing Management” on page 149.

Project Navigator palette

Changing Workspaces

Workspaces are sets of menus, toolbars, and palettes that are grouped and organized so that you can work in a custom,
task-oriented drawing environment. When you use a workspace, only the menus, toolbars, and palettes that are relevant
to a task are displayed. In addition, several workspaces shipped with AutoCAD Architecture automatically display the

Communication Center | 31

dashboard, a special palette with task-specific control panels. You can create your own workspaces and modify the
default workspaces. For more information, see and “Create Task-Based Workspaces” in the AutoCAD help.

Workspaces work with and complement the control over your drawing environment provided by profiles. Workspaces
control the display of menus, toolbars, and palettes in the drawing area. When you use or switch a workspace, you
change the display of your drawing area. You manage your workspaces from the Customize User Interface dialog box
and from the Workspaces toolbar.

Profiles save environment settings including many of your user options, drafting settings, paths, and other values.
Profiles are updated each time you make a change to an option, setting, or other value. You can manage your profiles
from the Options dialog box. For more information, see “Save and Restore Interface Settings (Profiles)” in the AutoCAD
help.

1 Display the Workspaces toolbar in the drawing window.

2 If you want to use one of the workspaces shipped with AutoCAD Architecture, select one of the following

from the drop-down menu.

■ Design (Provides all the basic tools for creating architectural objects in your drawings)

■ Document (Provides tools for adding schedule tables, annotations, callouts, and other documentation

objects to your drawings)

■ Detailing (Provides tools for inserting a wide variety of predefined detail components, as well as tools

for detail drafting)

■ Visualization (Includes all the tools available in the Design workspace as well as the dashboard palette,

which provides tools for 3D modeling, viewing, and rendering)

3 To edit an existing workspace or create a new workspace, select Customize, and create and edit workspaces

as described in “Customize Workspaces” in the AutoCAD Help.

Working with Objects in the Workspace

The AutoCAD Architecture workspace is where you add and manipulate the architectural objects that make up your
drawings.

Adding Objects

You add objects to the drawing with tools.

Tools generally have preset creation parameters called properties. When you click an object tool to add an object in
the drawing, the Properties palette opens so that you can change properties for the new object if desired. If not, you
can go ahead and place the object in the drawing. For more information, see “Tools” on page 44.

32 | Chapter 2 The Workspace

Adding a wall to the drawing

Tools are arranged on tool palettes for easy access. To open the tool palettes, click Tool Palettes on the Window menu.

Modifying Objects

You can modify an object using any of the following methods:

■ Properties palette: The Properties palette is the central location for entering and changing information about an

object. This palette has categories that correspond to the tabs in the Properties dialog boxes from earlier releases
of the software.

For detailed information, see “The Properties Palette” on page 56.

Modifying a wall with the Properties palette

■ Context menu: Right-click the object to display its available commands.

Modifying Objects | 33

Wall context menu

■ Direct editing with grips: Commands for modifying objects are accessible from the object’s grips. Click an object

in two-dimensional (2D) or three-dimensional (3D) view to display its grips.

For detailed information about object grips, see “Direct Editing with Grips and Dynamic Dimensions” on page 60.
Information about grip-editing is also covered in the individual object sections.

Window grips for direct editing

Selecting Similar Objects

Use this procedure to create a selection set of objects on the same layer and that have the same style.

You may want to select a number of objects that are on the same layer and that have the same style in order perform
a global change. The QSELECT command allows a single selection criterion, like layer or style. With the Select Similar
command, you can select objects on the same layer that have the same style.

NOTE Block references are selected based on their layer and block definition.

34 | Chapter 2 The Workspace

1 Select the first object in the selection set.

2 Right-click, and click Select Similar.

NOTE Alternatively, you can click Edit ➤ Select Similar, and then select the first object. As a shortcut, you can
select the first object, and then press CTRL+SHIFT+A.

Working with Tool Palettes

Tool palettes provide instant access to a complete inventory of AutoCAD Architecture tools—such as walls, doors, and
windows—in one consistent user interface. Highly visual, tool palettes include previews of styles. You can create custom
tool palettes that address your specific design needs. For example, you can create a palette to store a list of commonly
used curtain wall, stair, and window tools.

Tool palette components

Tool Palettes Set

Tool palettes sets contain groups of tool palettes. You can rename the default tool palettes set or create a custom tool
palettes set. Additionally, you can add, remove, and rearrange palettes and groups in the set.

You can add tool palettes to the tool palettes set from a tool catalog. For example, you could create one tool palette set
for imperial tools and another for metric tools. For more information, see “Specifying Different Tool Palettes for the

Tool Palettes Set” on page 38.

Only one tool palettes set can be active during an AutoCAD Architecture session, although you can specify different
tool palettes for different user profiles. When that profile is used, the collected tool palettes will be combined into one
tool palettes set.

Tool Palettes Group

A tool palettes group is a collection of tool palettes. Three tool palettes groups are available when you start AutoCAD
Architecture: Design, Document, and Detailing. You can add, rename, remove, export, import, and rearrange tool
palettes groups. Tool palettes groups are contained in the tool palettes set. For more information, see “Organize Tool
Palettes” and “Save and Share Tool Palettes” in the AutoCAD Help.

Working with Tool Palettes | 35

TIP The quickest way to locate and view an AutoCAD topic referenced in AutoCAD Architecture Help is to click the Search
tab in the Help window, select the Search titles only option, and then copy and paste or type in the AutoCAD topic name,
and click List Topics.

Tool Palettes

Tool palettes contain collections of tools and represent the individual tabs of a tool palettes group. A number of tool
palettes are available from the AutoCAD Architecture Sample Palette catalog. You can create new tool palettes in
AutoCAD Architecture or in the Content Browser. Usually you place tools on tool palettes according to tool type or
design phase. For example, you could place your wall tools on a tool palette called “Walls” or your preliminary conceptual
tools on a tool palette called “Massing Study.” When you create a tool palette in the Content Browser, you can link it
to AutoCAD Architecture. Whenever the tool palette is updated in the Content Browser, the changes are updated in
the tool palette in AutoCAD Architecture too. This is useful for large projects where consistency of styles and tools is
necessary. For more information, see “Working with Tool Palettes from a Central Location” on page 42.

Tools

Tools represent the individual objects you can add to a drawing. A tool contains creation parameters for the object it
creates. When you add an object with a specific tool, the object has the settings you defined in the tool. This eases the
design process and enhances consistency across a project.

For example, you might define a wall tool that contains the style “CMU 8 Furring” and that has automatic cleanup
and a baseline offset of 1". Whenever you add a wall with this tool, the wall has the style “CMU 8 Furring,” it cleans
up automatically, and it has an offset of 1". For more information, see “Tools” on page 44.

Tool Palettes and the Content Browser

When multiple users are working on a large project, consistency of tools is especially important. Typically, the objects
for the project and their styles and properties are set up by a CAD manager or system administrator, and then distributed
to the team. The administrator can put tools and palettes in a central location in the Content Browser and link them
to each user’s computer. Whenever the tools or palettes are updated in the Content Browser, they are updated on the
users’ computers too. For more information, see “Understanding the Content Browser” on page 80 and “Working with

Tools from a Central Location” on page 52.

Project Tool Palettes

When you are working with an AutoCAD Architecture project, you can design and associate a project tool palette group
to the project. The project tool palettes contain the tools used in the project, and can be based on project standards.
For detailed information about setting up project tool palettes, see “Setting up Standard Tools in a Project” on page 345.

Opening the Tool Palettes Set

Use this procedure to open the tool palettes set.

■ On the Window menu, click Tool Palettes.

Alternatively, you can click on the Navigation toolbar, or press CTRL+3.

Tool palettes set with tool palettes

36 | Chapter 2 The Workspace

Controlling the Appearance of the Tool Palettes Set

Typically, the tool palettes set remains open during the AutoCAD Architecture session. It is the central location from
which you add objects to the drawing and start object-related commands. A number of user-definable display options
let you optimally integrate the tool palettes with your workspace.

Docking the Tool Palettes Set

Use this procedure to dock the tool palettes set on the left or right side of your workspace.

1 In the title bar of the tool palettes set, click , and then click Allow Docking.

2 Position the cursor over the title bar, and drag the tool palettes set to one side of your workspace.

A preview graphic shows the new position of the tool palettes set.

3 Release the tool palettes set when it is in the location you want.

Hiding the Tool Palettes Set

Use this procedure to hide the tool palettes set when it is not in use. The tool palettes set becomes hidden when you
move the cursor away from it, leaving only the title bar visible. When you move the cursor over the title bar, the tool
palettes set is re-displayed.

Tool palettes set hidden (left) and re-displayed (right)

1 In the title bar of the tool palettes set, click (Auto-hide).

The tool palettes set is hidden, except for the title bar.

2 To re-display the tool palettes set, move the cursor over the title bar.

Adjusting the Transparency of the Tool Palettes Set

Use this procedure to adjust the transparency of the tool palettes set. The more transparent the tool palettes set, the
more easily you can see objects in your drawing underneath it.

NOTE Transparency is not available if hardware acceleration is enabled.

1 In the title bar of the tool palettes set, click , and then click Transparency.

2 To adjust the transparency of the tool palettes set, move the slider.

3 To turn off transparency, select Turn off window transparency.

4 Click OK.

Renaming the Tool Palettes Set

Use this procedure to rename the tool palettes set. You may want to name it with a project or company name.

Controlling the Appearance of the Tool Palettes Set | 37

1 In the title bar of the tool palettes set, click , and then click Rename Palette Set.

2 Enter a name for the tool palettes set, and press ENTER.

Specifying Different Tool Palettes for the Tool Palettes Set

Use this procedure to switch between different palette combinations in the tool palettes set.

Only one tool palettes set can be active during an AutoCAD Architecture session. You can, however, set different tool
palettes for different user profiles. You do this by collecting tool palettes from several locations (paths) in a profile and
letting the workspace combine them into one tool palettes set.

1 On the Format menu, click Options.

2 Define the tool palettes used for the current session:

■ If you have created a workspace profile containing a tool palettes path, click the Profiles tab, select the

desired profile, and click Set Current.

■ If you have not created a workspace profile, click the Files tab, and click the Tool Palettes File Location

entry. Then click Browse, and browse for a folder containing the desired tool palette.

Add paths to all additional tool palettes to be included in the tool palettes set of this profile.

3 Click OK.

Creating a New Tool Palettes Set

Use this procedure to create a new tool palettes set.

1 Create a folder in which you will create the new tool palettes set.

The default tool palettes set is in \Documents and Settings\<Username>\Application Data\Autodesk\ACD-A
2008\enu\Support\WorkspaceCatalog (Imperial/Metric).

2 On the Format menu, click Options.

3 Click the Profiles tab.

4 Click Add to List, and create a profile to contain the new tool palettes set; for example, “Design - Metric

Palette Set.”

5 Select the new profile, and click Set Current.

6 Click the Files tab.

7 Under Tool Palettes File Locations, select the support path for the previously defined folder in which you

will create the new tool palettes set.

NOTE If you point to a folder already containing a tool palettes set, a new tool palettes set is not created; instead,
the existing tool palettes set is used in the profile.

8 Click OK.

In the AutoCAD Architecture workspace, an empty tool palettes set is displayed.

38 | Chapter 2 The Workspace

New tool palettes set

9 To rename the tool palettes set, click , and then click Rename Palette Set.

10 Add tool palettes and tools to the new set:

Then…If you want to…

see “Creating a New Tool Palette” on page 40.add a new empty tool palette

add a tool palette from the Content Browser

add a tool to a palette

The changes you make are saved to the tool palettes set in the new profile you created.

To revert back to your original tool palettes set, select your original profile in the Options dialog box.

Creating a New Tool Palettes Group

Use this procedure to create a new tool palettes group.

1 In the title bar of the tool palettes set, click , and then click Customize Tool Palettes.

2 Select a palette group, right-click, and click New Group.

see “Adding a Tool Palette from a Tool Catalog in the

Content Browser” on page 43.

see “Creating a Tool from an Object in the Drawing” on
page 49.

3 Enter a name for the new group, and press ENTER.

4 Drag the new group folder to the correct position in the tree structure.

Creating a New Tool Palettes Group | 39

5 Select a tool palette from the left pane for the new tool palettes group, and drag it into the new group

folder.

6 Click Close.

TIP The Customize dialog can be very useful for adding palettes to project palette groups. For more information,
see “Displaying the Project Tool Palette Group” on page 353.

Creating a New Tool Palette

Use this procedure to add an empty tool palette to your tool palettes set.

After creating the tool palette, you can add tools to it. For more information, see “Tools” on page 44.

1 In the title bar of the tool palettes set, click , and then click New Palette.

2 Enter a name for the new tool palette, and press ENTER.

Defining the Appearance of Tool Palettes

Use this procedure to define the appearance of individual tool palettes.

The display of the tool palettes depends on the settings you specify for the overall tool palettes set, (as described in
“Controlling the Appearance of the Tool Palettes Set” on page 37), and the settings you specify for individual tool
palettes. In the tool palettes set, you specify the transparency, size, position, and auto-hide of the tool palettes set.

On the tool palette, you specify the size of tool images and their arrangement on the tool palette.

Tool palettes with different sized icons displayed

When you change tool images to a smaller size, you can display more tools on a tool palette. This might become
important if you display different palettes at the same time, such as the Properties palette or the Project Navigator
palette.

To save space, you can also display tool images without tool text below them. This method is best suited when the
icons for your tools are easy to differentiate. If the icon alone proves insufficient to identify a tool, the tooltip for each
icon provides additional guidance.

40 | Chapter 2 The Workspace

Icon-only display on the tool palette

You can also display tools in a single column on the tool palette. When you are using a single-column list, tool texts
is always displayed.

Tool palette in list view

1 Open the tool palette that you want to change.

2 Right-click the palette, and click View Options.

3 In the View Options worksheet, select the desired View style:

Then…If you want to…

select Icon only for View style.view only tool icons

select Icon with text for View style.view tool icons and tool text

select List view for View style.view tool icons and tool text in a single column list

4 To apply these changes to all palettes in the tool palettes set, select All Palettes for Apply to.

5 Click OK.

Defining the Appearance of Tool Palettes | 41

Adding Text and Separator Lines to Tool Palettes

Use this procedure to add separator lines and text to a tool palette.

Separator lines can be useful if you want to create subdivisions on a tool palette containing many tools. To annotate
a separator line, you can insert a text element.

1 Open the tool palette to which you want to add separator lines and text.

2 Right-click in the palette between the tools where the separator should go, and click Add Separator.

A separator line is inserted between the tools.

3 To add text above the separator line, right-click either to the right of the last tool before the separator line,

or to the left of the separator line itself, and click Add Text.

4 Enter the text you want to display above the separator line, and press ENTER.

5 To edit the text, select the text item, right-click, and click Rename. Then, edit the text as necessary.

6 To delete a separator line or a text annotation, select the separator line or text, right-click, and click Delete.

Working with Tool Palettes from a Central Location

When multiple users are working on a large project, consistency of tools is especially important. Typically, the objects
for the project and their styles and properties are set up by a CAD manager or system administrator, and then distributed
to the team. The administrator can put tools and palettes in a central location in the Content Browser and link them
to each user’s computer. Whenever the tools or palettes are updated in the Content Browser, they are updated on the
users’ computers too. For more information, see “Understanding the Content Browser” on page 80.

Using tool palettes from the Content Browser

TIP If you are working with an AutoCAD Architecture project, you can generate a tool catalog based on the standard styles
of the project. For more information, see “Creating a Tool Catalog for a Project” on page 347.

42 | Chapter 2 The Workspace

Adding a Tool Palette from a Tool Catalog in the Content Browser

Use this procedure to link a tool palette from a tool catalog in the Content Browser to the tool palettes set in AutoCAD
Architecture.

For information on creating tool palettes in the Content Browser, see “Adding Content to a Tool Catalog” on page 94.

1 On the Window menu, click Content Browser.

Alternatively, you can click on the Navigation toolbar, or press CTRL+4.

2 Select the tool catalog containing the tool palette you want to copy, right-click, and click Properties.

3 Select Link items when added to workspace, and click OK.

4 Open the tool catalog, and navigate to the tool palette.

5 Move the pointer over the i-drop® icon next to the tool palette so that the pointer image changes to an

eyedropper ( ).

To copy multiple tool palettes, press and hold CTRL while clicking each palette; then position the eyedropper
over any of the selected palettes.

6 Drag the palette to the tool palettes set in the AutoCAD Architecture workspace.

The tool palette is dropped into the tool palettes set.

7 Right-click on the palette, and click Properties.

The text below the check box displays the name of the catalog in the Content Browser from which the
palette is updated.

If you click that name, it opens the catalog from which the tool palette was linked.

8 Select or clear Enable Auto-Refresh:

Then…If you want to…

select Enable Auto-Refresh.automatically update the linked tool palette from the Content

Browser when starting AutoCAD Architecture

clear Enable Auto-Refresh.update the linked tool palette manually with one of the

methods described in “Updating a Tool Palette from a Tool

Catalog in the Content Browser” on page 44

The name of the tool palette in the Content Browser (from which the selected tool palette is updated) is
displayed under Name.

9 Click OK.

Working with Tool Palettes from a Central Location | 43

Updating a Tool Palette from a Tool Catalog in the Content Browser

Use this procedure to update a linked tool palette in the tool palettes set from its source tool catalog in the Content
Browser.

1 Link a tool palette from a catalog in the Content Browser to the tool palettes set, as described in “Adding

a Tool Palette from a Tool Catalog in the Content Browser” on page 43.

When a tool palette is linked to the tool palettes set from a catalog in the Content Browser, a Refresh
button is displayed at the bottom of the palette.

2 Click the Refresh button to update your local tool palette with the latest changes from the catalog in the

Content Browser.

Alternatively, you can right-click the palette, and click Refresh Palette.

NOTE You can also update the whole palette set by clicking in the tool palettes set, and then clicking Refresh
Palette Set. This command updates all linked tool palettes in the tool palettes set.

Tools

Tools represent the individual objects you can add to a drawing. A tool contains creation parameters for the object it
represents. When you add an object with a specific tool, the object has the settings you defined in the tool. This eases
the design process and enhances consistency across a project.

For example, you might define a wall tool that contains the style “CMU 8 Furring” and has automatic cleanup and a
baseline offset of 1". Whenever you add a wall with this wall tool, the wall has the style “CMU 8 Furring,” it cleans up
automatically, and it has an offset of 1".

Standard object tools

Based on the tool type, some general properties you can define may include:

■ Tool name

44 | Chapter 2 The Workspace

■ Tool description (also used as the tooltip and as the tool description when the tool is copied to a tool catalog in

the Content Browser)

■ Description of objects inserted with this tool

■ Layer key of objects inserted with this tool

■ Layer overrides of objects inserted with this tool

■ Object style

■ Location of object style

In addition, you can define object-specific properties that apply to this tool type. For example, if you create a wall tool,
you can set the wall cleanup, width, height, baseline settings, and the roof/floor lines of walls that are inserted with
this tool.

Style Location

Object styles are now located in Styles drawings, rather than in templates as in earlier releases. To assign a style to an
object tool, you can either point to a style in the current drawing or to a style in an external drawing. For more
information, see “Styles and Support Files” on page 76.

Tool Types

Tools in AutoCAD Architecture fall into 3 categories.

DescriptionTool Category

Object tools

Command tools

AEC Content tools

An object tool inserts a design object—such as a wall or a window
assembly—into a drawing. An object tool has a specific style and
specific object properties: for example, a wall tool might have the
style “Brick-4 Brick-4.”

Command tools are a graphical representation of an object-related
command. For example, the Browse Property Data tool opens a
dialog box for browsing the property data of all objects in a drawing;
the Renumber Data tool renumbers property data in selected property
sets by increment or by a user-defined number. You can also create
your own tools for each command. An AutoCAD general-purpose
command tool lets you associate any command or macro. For
commands that create an object, you can also assign basic AutoCAD
object properties. For a list of available AutoCAD Architecture
command tools, see “Creating a Command Tool” on page 51.

You can create tools for frequently used AEC Content items that were
created with the AEC Content Wizard. For more information, see

“Creating a Tool from AEC Content in DesignCenter” on page

50.

Project Standard Tools

When you are working with an AutoCAD Architecture project, you can set up standard styles that are updated and
synchronized throughout the project lifecycle. For more information, see “Setting up Standards in a Project” on page

336.

Creating an Object with a Tool

Use this procedure to create an object with a tool.

Creating an Object with a Tool | 45

1 On the Window menu, click Tool Palettes.

2 Click the tool palette that contains the tool for the object you want to insert.

For example, if you want to insert a bifold double door, click the Doors palette, and navigate to the Bifold
Double Door tool.

3 Click the tool.

4 On the Properties palette, enter any changes you want to make to the default.

NOTE Certain values can be set only when inserting the object; for example, the position of a door along the
wall into which it is inserted can be defined only when inserting the door. You cannot change the position later

for an existing door. Values that can be set only during insertion are marked with this symbol on the
Properties palette.

5 Click in the drawing where you want to insert the object.

6 Follow any additional prompts as required to insert the objects in the drawing, and then press ENTER.

Changing the Tool Properties

Use this procedure to change the properties of a tool on a tool palette.

You can set these general properties for an object tool:

■ Tool name

■ Tool description (also used as the tooltip and as the tool description when the copied to a tool catalog in the

Content Browser)

■ Description of objects inserted with this tool

■ Layer key of objects inserted with this tool

■ Layer overrides of objects inserted with this tool

■ Object style (if the tool is style-based)

■ Location of object style (if the tool is style-based)

In addition, you can define object-specific properties that apply to this object type. For example, if you create a wall
tool, you can set the wall cleanup, width, height, baseline settings, and the roof/floor lines for all walls inserted with
this tool.

46 | Chapter 2 The Workspace

1 On the Window menu, click Tool Palettes.

2 Click a tool palette.

3 Select the tool, right-click, and click Properties.

4 Enter a name for the tool.

5 Click the setting for Description, enter a description of the tool, and click OK.

6 Expand Basic, and expand General.

7 Enter a description of the objects that you can create using this tool.

8 Specify a layer key and any layer key overrides; otherwise, the layer assignments specified in the layer key

style in the drawing are used.

9 Click Browse for Style location, if the location is other than the current drawing to select an object style.

10 Add object-specific properties.

NOTE When you click a property to enter a value, the value underneath the current property is hidden and the
property field is highlighted. Enter a value for the current property in the appropriate location.

11 Click OK.

Changing a Tool Icon

Use this procedure to change the icon of a tool.

A new tool is inserted with either the icon of the tool it was copied from or with a default icon. You can change the
icon by selecting a new one from an image file or from an object in the drawing. You can also choose to display the
icon as simple monochrome linework.

Changing the tool icon

Changing a Tool Icon | 47

You can use the following image formats for tool icons:

■ PNG

■ GIF

■ JPG

■ BMP

■ TIFF

NOTE PNG is the recommended image format for tool icons.

Icons in the tool palettes can have a maximum size of 64 x 64 pixels. Larger images are scaled when inserted.

In the tool itself, you can only define the tool icon. To change the display size of the tool on the palette, see “Defining

the Appearance of Tool Palettes” on page 40.

1 On the Window menu, click Tool Palettes.

2 Click the tool palette that contains the tool for which you want to select a new icon.

3 Select the tool, right-click, and click Properties.

4 On the Tool Properties worksheet, right-click the existing icon, and click Specify Image.

5 In the Select Image File dialog box, select the image you want to use as a tool icon, and click Open.

6 Click OK.

7 To display a tool as simple monochrome linework, on the Tool Properties worksheet, right-click the existing

icon, and click Monochrome.

The monochrome option is not available for all tools.

To create an icon from an object in the drawing, select the tool in the tool palette, right-click, and Set Image from
Selection. Then select the object in the drawing you want to use as a tool icon, and press ENTER.

The tool icon is created with the last-used view direction and display configuration set in the viewer of the properties
of this tool type. For example, if the tool viewer of the last-used wall is set to Top view and the Medium Detail display
configuration, any wall you select in the drawing as a tool icon is displayed in Top view and with the Medium Detail
display configuration.

You cannot create icons from objects that contain custom blocks, curtain walls, or door/window assemblies with nested
styles. If you need to create an icon based on a custom block, specify an external image.

Refreshing a Tool Icon

Use this procedure to refresh a tool icon after editing the viewer settings of the tool.

1 On the Window menu, click Tool Palettes.

2 Click the tool palette that contains the tool icon you want to refresh.

3 Select the tool, right-click, and click Properties.

4 On the Tool Properties worksheet, change the Viewer settings of the tool.

For example, switch from a SW Isometric view to a Top view.

48 | Chapter 2 The Workspace

5 Right-click the existing icon, and click Refresh Image.

6 Click OK.

Creating a Tool from an Object in the Drawing

Use this procedure to create a tool from an object in the drawing.

You can create only object tools with this method. For information on creating command tools, see “Creating a

Command Tool” on page 51.

Creating a tool from an object in the drawing

1 Create an object with the appropriate style and properties in the drawing.

IMPORTANT The drawing containing the style should be saved to a location where it will be available in the
future. Otherwise, the tool will not be able to access the style, and will revert to the Standard style.

2 Open the tool palette where you want to create the new tool.

3 Select the object, and drag it to the tool palette.

4 Define additional properties for the tool, if necessary.

For more information, see “Changing the Tool Properties” on page 46.

Copying a Tool from a Tool Palette

Use this procedure to copy a tool from one tool palette to another.

1 Open the tool palette that contains the tool you want to copy.

2 Select the tool, right-click, and click Copy.

3 Open the tool palette onto which you want to copy the tool, right-click, and click Paste.

4 Change the properties of the tool, if necessary.

For more information, see “Changing the Tool Properties” on page 46.

Creating a Tool from the Style Manager

Use this procedure to create a tool from a style in the Style Manager.

Creating a Tool from an Object in the Drawing | 49

Creating a tool from the Style Manager

1 Open the tool palette where you want to create the new tool.

2 On the Format menu, click Style Manager, and navigate to the style you want to use.

For example, if you want to create a wall tool with the Demolition style, expand Wall Styles, and select
the Demolition style.

3 Drag the style to the tool palette.

A new tool with the selected style is inserted in the tool palette.

4 Click OK to close the Style Manager.

5 Define additional properties for the tool in the tool palette, if necessary.

For more information, see “Changing the Tool Properties” on page 46.

Creating a Tool from AEC Content in DesignCenter

Use this procedure to create a tool on a tool palette from an AEC Content item in DesignCenter.

NOTE You can also create tools from blocks in DesignCenter, but they have slightly different tool options.

You can drag and drop AEC content items from a DesignCenter folder to a tool palette. For more information on
creating AEC Content, see “Adding AEC Content to Drawings” on page 2118.

AutoCAD Architecture provides the Design Tool Catalog and the Documentation Tool Catalog in the Content Browser.
These catalogs already have tools set up for predefined AEC Content and sample object styles. The catalogs are available
for both metric and imperial units.

50 | Chapter 2 The Workspace

Creating a tool from AEC Content in DesignCenter

1 Open the tool palette where you want to create the new tool.

2 On the Insert menu, click DesignCenter, and navigate to the AEC Content item from which you want to

create a tool.

3 Drag the item to the tool palette.

A new tool is inserted on the tool palette.

To change the icon of the new tool, see “Changing a Tool Icon” on page 47.

NOTE An AEC Content tool uses the last-used Viewer settings of this tool type to generate the tool icon. If the
last-used Viewer setting is Gouraud 3D view, and the user creates a tool from a 2D AEC Content item, the tool
icon will be invisible. In this case, you need to change the Viewer setting of the tool to a Top view, and wireframe.

4 Define additional properties for the tool, if necessary.

For more information, see “Changing the Tool Properties” on page 46.

Creating a Command Tool

Use this procedure to create a tool for a command in AutoCAD Architecture.

Command tools are a graphical representation of an object-related command. For example, the Browse Property Data
tool opens a dialog box for browsing the property data of all objects in a drawing; the Renumber Data tool renumbers
property data in selected property sets by increment or by a user-defined number. You can also create your own tools
for each command. An AutoCAD general-purpose command tool lets you associate any command or macro. For
commands that create an object, you can also assign basic AutoCAD object properties.

You can either copy an existing command tool from a tool palette and change the command, or use the Command
Tool or Command Tool with Properties from the Stock Tool Catalog in the Content Browser.

Creating a Command Tool | 51

Command tool properties

1 Place a copy of a command tool on another tool palette:

Then…If you want to…

copy an existing command tool from a tool palette

use a command tool from the Stock Tool Catalog

navigate to the tool palette, right-click the command tool,
and click Copy. Then navigate to the tool palette on which
to insert the new command tool, right-click, and click Paste.

open the Content Browser, and navigate to Stock Tool
Catalog ➤ Helper Tools. Move the pointer over the i-drop
icon next to one of the command tools, and drag the tool to
the tool palette.

2 Select the command tool, right-click, and click Properties.

3 For Command, enter the command to be initiated when starting the tool.

4 Click OK.

Working with Tools from a Central Location

You can use the Content Browser to store and organize catalog tools in a central location. A number of stock tools are
available in the AutoCAD Architecture Stock Tool Catalog. Additionally, sample catalogs contain tools with styles from
the Styles drawings. You can copy these tools to a tool palette and modify them. You can also create your own tool
palettes and tools in a catalog in the Content Browser, copy them to a tool palette, and retain the link from the Content
Browser to the tool palette. In this case, the tool is refreshed on the tool palette when it is modified in the catalog in
the Content Browser.

NOTE If you want to link a complete tool palette from the Content Browser to AutoCAD Architecture, see “Adding a Tool

Palette from a Tool Catalog in the Content Browser” on page 43.

Linking a Tool from a Catalog in the Content Browser

Use this procedure to link a tool from a catalog in the Content Browser to a tool palette in AutoCAD Architecture.

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Linking a tool from a catalog in the Content Browser

1 Open the tool palette on which you want to place a tool from the Content Browser.

2 On the Window menu, click Content Browser, and navigate to the tool palette or category in the tool

catalog that contains the tool you want to copy.

For more information, see “Searching for Items in a Tool Catalog” on page 93.

3 Move the pointer over the i-drop icon next to the tool, so that the pointer image changes to an eyedropper

( ).

To copy multiple tools, press and hold CTRL while clicking each tool; then position the eyedropper over
any of the selected tools. You can also select all the tools in the current category by right-clicking, and
clicking Select All.

4 Drag the eyedropper to a tool palette in the tool palettes set.

5 To refresh the tool, select it, right-click, and click Refresh Tool.

Alternatively, you can select the tool in the tool palette, right-click, and click Properties. Then select Refresh
from on the Properties worksheet.

Working with Tools from a Central Location | 53

Updating a tool from the Properties worksheet

NOTE When you select Refresh from, all tool properties on the worksheet are set to read-only. Properties for this
tool must be changed in the Content Browser.

6 Click OK.

Updating a Tool in AutoCAD Architecture from the Content Browser

Use this procedure to update a tool in a tool palette that has a link to the Content Browser.

NOTE You cannot change and update tools from the Stock Tool Catalog in the Content Browser. Those tools are read-only.

1 Open the tool palette that contains the tool you want to update.

2 Select the tool, right-click, and click Refresh Tool.

Updating a Tool in the Content Browser from a Linked Tool in AutoCAD Architecture

Use this procedure to update a tool in a catalog in the Content Browser with the properties of a linked tool from
AutoCAD Architecture.

For example, perhaps you have a tool in the Content Browser that adds a Box mass element of 3 x 3 x 3 meters. You
want to change the tool so that it adds a Box mass element of 4 x 4 x 4 meters. You would first link the mass element
tool from the Content Browser to a tool palette in AutoCAD Architecture. Then, temporarily deactivate the link and
change the dimension properties of the tool to 4 x 4 x 4 meters. Next, copy the tool back to the Content Browser. The
Content Browser catalog is updated with the new tool properties. Finally, reactivate the link from the Content Browser
tool to the AutoCAD Architecture palette.

1 Link a tool from a catalog in the Content Browser to a tool palette as described in “Linking a Tool from a

Catalog in the Content Browser” on page 52.

2 Select the tool in the tool palette, right-click, and click Properties.

3 On the Tool Properties worksheet, clear Refresh from.

The tool properties can now be edited.

4 Make the necessary changes to the tool properties.

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5 Click OK.

6 Select the tool in the tool palette, and copy it to its original location in the Content Browser catalog.

NOTE You can copy a tool to a catalog in the Content Browser using the Copy and Paste commands from the
context menu, or by dragging the tool onto the Content Browser icon in the Windows task bar. To select multiple
tools in a tool palette, use CTRL-A to select all or drag while holding the CTRL key to create a selection window.

7 Click Yes when prompted to overwrite the previous version of the tool.

8 If you want to refresh the tool in the AutoCAD Architecture tool palette from the new version stored in

the Content Browser, go back to the AutoCAD Architecture tool, right-click, and on the Tool Properties
worksheet, reactivate Refresh from.

Removing the Link of a Tool to a Catalog in the Content Browser

Use this procedure to permanently remove the link of a tool to its source tool in the Content Browser.

NOTE This action cannot be undone.

1 Open the tool palette that contains the tool you want to unlink from a catalog in the Content Browser.

2 Select the tool, right-click, and click Remove Catalog Link.

Applying the Properties of a Tool to an Existing Object

Use this procedure to apply the properties of a tool to an existing object.

You can apply the properties of a tool to an existing object in two ways:

■ Apply the properties of a tool to an object of the same type: For example, apply the properties of a wall tool to an

existing wall. All object tools have this functionality. In earlier releases of the software, you used the Match command
to do this.

■ Apply the properties of a tool to a different object type: Using this method, you convert the object to an object of

the same type as the tool. For example, when you apply the properties of a wall tool to a polyline, the polyline is
converted to a wall with the settings defined in the wall tool. Depending on their type, various object tool types
may have commands for converting other objects. For detailed information, see the chapters for the individual
objects.

1 Open the tool palette that contains the tool with the properties you want to apply to a different object.

2 Select the tool, and right-click.

3 Define the object type to which to apply the tool properties:

Then…if you want to…

apply the properties of the tool to an object of the same type

apply the properties of the tool to an object of a different
type

click Apply Tool Properties to <Object>. For example, to apply
the tool properties of a door tool to an existing door, click
Apply Tool Properties to Door.

click Apply Tool Properties to ➤ <Object>. For example, to
apply the tool properties of a door tool to an opening, click
Apply Tool Properties to ➤ Door/Window Assembly, Opening,
Window.

4 Select the object to which to apply the tool properties, and press ENTER.

Re-Importing Styles for a Tool

Use this procedure to re-import the style of a tool that uses a style from an external Styles drawing.

When you create a tool, you can assign a style from the current drawing or from an external Styles drawing. Usually
you assign a style from an external Styles drawing because you can then use that the tool in other drawings as well.

Applying the Properties of a Tool to an Existing Object | 55

When the style in the external Styles drawing is changed, you need to update the tool to reflect these changes.

NOTE When you update the style of a tool, all existing objects inserted with this tool are also updated.

1 Open the tool palette that contains the tool for which you want to update the style.

2 Select the tool, right-click, and click Import <Style Name> <Object Name> Style.

For example, if you want to update the Brick-4 Furring-4 style of a wall tool, click Import ‘Brick-4 Furring-4’
Wall Style.

Deleting a Tool

Use this procedure to delete a tool from a tool palette.

When you delete a tool from a tool palette, objects in the drawing that were inserted with this tool are not deleted.

NOTE If you linked a tool palette from the Content Browser to the tool palettes set as described in “Adding a Tool Palette

from a Tool Catalog in the Content Browser” on page 43, you cannot delete individual tools from it. To delete the tool,

delete it from the palette in the Content Browser, and then update the palette in AutoCAD Architecture as described in
“Updating a Tool Palette from a Tool Catalog in the Content Browser” on page 44.

1 Open the tool palette that contains the tool you want to delete.

2 Select the tool, right-click, and click Delete Tool.

The Properties Palette

The Properties palette provides a central location to view and modify both the physical and graphical properties of an
object you are about to draw, or of objects that are selected in the drawing area. Using the Extended Data tab of the
Properties palette, you can also attach other kinds of information to an object, such as classifications, notes, reference
documents, hyperlinks, and property set data. You typically keep the Properties palette open during an AutoCAD
Architecture session.

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Opening the Properties Palette

Use any of the following methods to open the Properties palette:

■ Click Window menu ➤ Properties Palette.

■ On the Navigation toolbar, click .

■ Press CTRL+1.

■ Select an object in the drawing, right-click, and click Properties.

■ Double-click an object in the drawing.

■ Select a tool from a tool palette.

Setting the Appearance of the Properties Palette

The Properties palette is usually kept open during an AutoCAD Architecture session, because it is the central location
from which you add and change properties of an object.

Docking the Properties Palette

Use this procedure to dock the Properties palette on the left or right side of your workspace.

1 In the title bar of the Properties palette, click , and then click Allow Docking.

2 Position the cursor over the title bar, and drag the Properties palette to one side of your workspace.

A preview graphic shows the new position of the Properties palette.

3 Release the Properties palette at the correct location.

Hiding the Properties Palette

Use this procedure to hide the Properties palette when it is not in use. The Properties palette can be configured to hide
when you move the cursor away from it, leaving only the title bar visible. When you move the cursor over the title
bar, the Properties palette is re-displayed.

Properties palette hidden (left) and re-displayed (right)

1 In the title bar of the Properties palette, click (Auto-hide).

The Properties palette is hidden, except for the title bar.

2 To re-display the Properties palette, move the cursor over the title bar.

Adjusting the Transparency of the Properties Palette

Use this procedure to adjust the transparency of the Properties palette. The more transparent the Properties palette,
the better you can see objects in your drawing underneath it.

NOTE Transparency is not available if hardware acceleration is enabled.

1 In the title bar of the Properties palette, click , and then click Transparency.

Opening the Properties Palette | 57

2 To adjust the transparency of the Properties palette, drag the slider towards Less or More.

3 To turn off transparency, select Turn off window transparency.

4 Click OK.

The Design Tab

Most properties of an object are entered on the Design tab of the Properties palette.

Design tab of a wall

Based on the object, some general object properties you can enter may include:

■ Description of the object

■ Layer key of the object

■ Layer overrides of the object

■ Object style

■ Location of object style

These properties are defined by the properties set in the tool used to create the object. You can change these properties
for an individual object instance. For more information, see “Changing the Tool Properties” on page 46.

On the Design tab, you also enter object-specific design properties. The properties that are available depend on the
object you are editing.

■ Dimensions: Most objects in AutoCAD Architecture have dimension settings for width, height, and other basic

features. Many objects have additional settings and the option to use AutoCAD QuickCalc. A wall, for example,
has additional length and baseline justification settings, and you can use QuickCalc to calculate and apply a new
rotation. For more information, see “Use the QuickCalc Calculator” in AutoCAD Help.

■ Location: Most objects in AutoCAD Architecture have settings for the object location. Anchored objects like

windows and doors also have Anchor properties.

For detailed information about entering properties for a specific object, see the individual object sections.

The Display Tab

Just as the Design tab of the Properties palette lets you control the physical properties of an object, the Display tab lets
you control the graphical properties of an object by adjusting the settings for its individual display components, such

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as boundaries and hatches. The changes you make on this tab are immediately visible in the display representation
currently in effect, such as Plan or Model, and you have the option of applying your changes to other display
representations as well. Also, while Design tab settings apply only to the currently selected object(s), you can specify
whether a change you make to a Display tab property will apply to the selected component for all objects of that type,
all objects of that style, or only the selected object. If the display component is controlled by material, your changes
will apply to any object that uses that material. For detailed information on how to set up and manage the display of
objects in AutoCAD Architecture, see “Display System” on page 443.

NOTE To hide the Display Tab (or show it if it is currently hidden), enter the following command on the command line:
AecChangeDisplayTabStatus

Display properties on the Display tab

The Extended Data Tab

The Extended Data tab of the Properties palette contains the following object properties:

■ Hyperlink: You can add a hyperlink to an object. For more information, see “Add Hyperlinks to a Drawing” in

AutoCAD Help.

■ Text Notes and Reference Files: You can add a note or an associated reference file to an object.

■ Property Sets: You can add, edit, and remove property set data for an object. For more information, see “Attaching

Property Set Data to Objects” on page 2062.

■ Property Sets From Style: You can add, edit, and remove property set data for the object style. For more

information, see “Property Set Data” on page 2062.

■ Detail Component Data: You can add, edit, and remove detail component data for an object. For more

information, see “Editing Detail Components in a Drawing” on page 1924.

The Extended Data Tab | 59

Property set data on the Extended Data tab

Worksheets

The properties of an object are entered and changed on the Properties palette. Most properties are directly entered and
immediately updated on screen. Some objects have complex properties that are entered in worksheets within the
Properties palette.

Worksheets are designed to focus on a particular object-specific task. They appear only when they are launched from
a palette or from an object. They cannot be accessed from the pulldown menus, as they always refer to a specific object
or object tool.

Opening the Anchor worksheet

A worksheet is a modal dialog that must be closed before continuing to work in the drawing.

Direct Editing with Grips and Dynamic Dimensions

You can make design changes in the workspace without using dialog boxes. With a single click, you can perform design
changes such as adjusting door width and window height, modifying a wall roofline, or reversing the wall direction.

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