Autodesk AutoCAD AutoCAD Architecture - 2010 Instruction Manual

AutoCAD Architecture 2010

User's Guide

March 2009

©

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Contents

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

Chapter 1 New Features and Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

New Features in AutoCAD Architecture 2010 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Unifying the User Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Improved Import Capabilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Drawing Improvements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

A Quick Start for Transitioning from AutoCAD to AutoCAD Architecture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Starting AutoCAD Architecture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Finding Help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

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

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

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

Autodesk Certification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

e-Learning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

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

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

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

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

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

Changes to the Workspace in the 2010 Release . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

The Workspace Concept . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Workspace Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

The Ribbon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

The Application Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

The Quick Access Toolbar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Context Menus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Tool Palettes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

Properties Palette . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

Drawing Status Bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

iii

Command Line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

Application Status Bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Project Navigator Palette . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Finding Information in AutoCAD Architecture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

InfoCenter Toolbar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

F1 Context Help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Tooltips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Working with Objects in the Workspace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

Adding Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

Modifying Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

View and Navigation Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

Quick View Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

ViewCube . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

SteeringWheels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

ShowMotion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

Working with Tool Palettes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

Opening the Tool Palettes Set . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

Controlling the Appearance of the Tool Palettes Set . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

Specifying Different Tool Palettes for the Tool Palettes Set . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

Creating a New Tool Palettes Set . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

Creating a New Tool Palettes Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

Creating a New Tool Palette . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

Defining the Appearance of Tool Palettes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

Adding Text and Separator Lines to Tool Palettes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

Working with Tool Palettes from a Central Location . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

Creating an Object with a Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

Changing the Tool Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

Changing a Tool Icon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

Changing a Tool Icon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

Creating a Tool from an Object in the Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72

Copying a Tool from a Tool Palette . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72

Creating a Tool from the Style Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

Creating a Tool from AEC Content in DesignCenter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

Using Command Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

Working with Tools from a Central Location . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

Applying the Properties of a Tool to an Existing Object . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

Re-Importing Styles for a Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

Deleting a Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

The Properties Palette . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

Opening the Properties Palette . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

Setting the Appearance of the Properties Palette . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

The Design Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

The Display Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84

The Extended Data Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

Worksheets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86

Direct Editing with Grips and Dynamic Dimensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87

Grip Tips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88

Grip Color . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88

Using the CTRL Key with Grips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

Trigger Grips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

Dynamic Dimensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90

Grip Constraints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93

Temporary Grip Coordinate Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93

Aligning the UCS to an Object Face . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93

Matching Object Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94

Styles and Support Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95

Integration of AutoCAD Architecture and AutoCAD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95

iv | Contents

Chapter 3 Content Browser . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97

Content Browser Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97

Exploring the Content Browser . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98

Viewing a Tool Catalog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99

Using the Items in a Tool Catalog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101

Managing Your Catalog Library . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102

Creating a New Tool Catalog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102

Creating a Tool Catalog from Content Drawings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103

Adding Tools from Content Drawings to a Tool Catalog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105

Adding an Existing Tool Catalog to Your Catalog Library . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107

Creating a Catalog Install File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108

Publishing Tool Catalogs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109

Adding a Website to Your Catalog Library . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110

Editing Tool Catalog Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111

Creating Catalog Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112

Sorting Catalogs in the Library View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112

Filtering Catalogs in the Library View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113

Removing a Tool Catalog or Website Link . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113

Opening a Different Catalog Library . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113

Renaming a Catalog Library . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114

Searching for Items in a Tool Catalog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114

Performing a Search . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115

Adding Content to a Tool Catalog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115

Defining Categories in a Tool Catalog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117

Adding a Tool Palette to a Tool Catalog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118

Adding a Tool Package to a Tool Catalog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118

Adding Tools to a Tool Catalog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119

Copying and Moving Tool Palettes and Tool Packages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119

Copying and Moving Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120

Customizing a Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121

Deleting Tool Catalog Items . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122

Using Tool Catalog Items . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122

Linked and Unlinked Tool Catalog Items . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122

Using a Tool in the AutoCAD Architecture Workspace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123

Copying a Tool Palette to the AutoCAD Architecture Workspace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123

Copying a Tool Package to the AutoCAD Architecture Workspace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124

Refreshing Linked Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125

Refreshing Linked Tool Palettes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125

Specifying Refresh Options for Linked Tool Palettes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125

Working with Multiple Content Browser Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126

Opening a Tool Catalog in a New Content Browser Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126

Opening Catalog Items in a New Content Browser Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127

Dragging Catalog Items Between Content Browser Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127

Starting the Content Browser from a Windows Command Prompt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128

Chapter 4 Creating and Saving Drawings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129

About Templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129

Creating a Drawing from a Template . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130

Creating a Drawing Without a Template . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130

Opening Legacy Drawings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131

Saving a Drawing to a Previous Release File Format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132

Setting Up a Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132

Specifying the Drawing Units . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132

Creating Annotation Scales and Assigning them to Display Configurations . . . . . . . . . . . 134

Specifying a Layer Standard and a Layer Key Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136

Specifying the Default Display Representations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138

Specifying AEC Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139

Changing the AEC Editor Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140

Contents | v

Changing the AEC Content Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142

Specifying AEC Object Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143

Specifying the Display Resolution of Objects with Facets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143

Changing the AEC Project Defaults . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144

Sharing Drawings with AutoCAD Users . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145

Comparing Methods of Sharing Drawings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146

Generating Proxy Graphics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147

Exporting a Drawing to AutoCAD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147

Exporting a Drawing to a DXF File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149

Chapter 5 Interoperability with Other Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151

Importing and Exporting IFC Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151

General Information for Exporting Drawing Files to IFC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152

How IFC Files Are Imported . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163

Importing Building Components from Autodesk Inventor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167

Importing a Building Component into AutoCAD Architecture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168

Importing LandXML . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169

Schema Version . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170

Supported Data Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170

File Validation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173

Importing LandXML Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173

Selecting Layer Keys for LandXML Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175

Publishing Drawing Files to Autodesk MapGuide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176

Prerequisites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176

Published Data Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176

Generating a MWX File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177

An Overview of the Published Data Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177

An Overview of the Database Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178

Publishing Data to Autodesk MapGuide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179

Exporting Property Set Data to an MDB . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181

Publishing Drawings to DWF and DWFx . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181

Workflow for Publishing Drawings to DWF or DWFx . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182

Conditions and Limitations to Publishing Drawings to 3D DWF or DWFx . . . . . . . . . . . 182

Exporting Property Set Data to a DWF or DWFx File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183

Publishing Property Set Data from External References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184

Property Set Data Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184

Publishing a 3D DWF or 3D DWFx File with Automatic Property Set Data . . . . . . . . . . . . 186

Publishing a 3D DWF or 3D DWFx file with User-Defined Property Set Data . . . . . . . . . . 188

Publishing a 2D or 3D DWF or DWFx File with Property Set Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189

Creating a New Published Property List (PPL) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192

Publishing Drawings to PDF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193

Publishing to PDF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193

Exporting Property Set Data to a PDF File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195

Publishing Property Set Data from External References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196

Publishing a PDF File with Automatic Property Set Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196

Publishing a PDF with All Property Set Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197

Chapter 6 Drawing Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199

Workflow for a Project Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199

Concepts of Drawing Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200

The Project Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206

Before You Begin: External References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207

Before You Begin: Working in a Network Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208

Project Support Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209

Specifying the Default Project Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210

Working with Design Teams Located Remotely . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212

Opening a Project From a Mapped Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212

The Project Browser . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212

vi | Contents

Opening the Project Browser . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212

Using the Project Browser . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212

Setting a Project Current . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215

Creating a New Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216

Working with Project Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219

Moving a Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230

Renaming a Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230

Closing All Project Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231

Electronically Transmitting a Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232

Deleting a Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235

Closing the Project Browser . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235

Removing the Project Context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235

Opening a Project from Windows Explorer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236

The Project Navigator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237

Opening the Project Navigator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237

The Tabs of the Project Navigator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237

Using the Project Navigator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242

The Drawing Status Bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248

Displaying the Project Tool Palette Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249

Displaying the Project Content Browser Library . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250

Levels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250

Creating a New Level . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251

Copying a Level with Assigned Constructs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253

Changing the Properties of a Level . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254

Deleting a Level . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254

Changing Levels: Interactions with the Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255

Divisions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256

Creating a New Division . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256

Changing a Division . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257

Deleting a Division . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257

Changing Divisions: Interactions with the Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257

Categories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258

Creating a Category in the Drawing Explorer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260

Creating a Category from Windows Explorer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261

Specifying the Location of Top-Level Categories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262

Changing the Subcategory of a Project File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264

Deleting a Category . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265

Constructs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265

When To Start with Constructs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267

The Role of Constructs in the Building Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267

The Content of Constructs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268

Creating a New Construct . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268

Copying Constructs to Levels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270

Converting a Drawing to a Construct . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271

Opening and Closing a Construct . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273

Dragging Objects into a Construct . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274

Referencing Elements into Constructs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274

Displaying External References of a Construct . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277

Changing the Properties of a Construct . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278

Electronically Transmitting a Construct . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280

Deleting a Construct . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280

Converting a Construct to an Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281

Changing Constructs: Interactions with the Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 282

Elements in the Building Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283

When to Start with Elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284

Processing Elements in the Building Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285

Creating an Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285

Converting a Drawing to an Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287

Opening and Closing an Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290

Dragging Objects into an Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291

Contents | vii

Changing the Properties of an Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291

Electronically Transmitting an Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292

Deleting an Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293

Referencing an Element into Another Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293

Displaying External References Attached to an Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295

Converting an Element to a Construct . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 296

Changing Elements: Interactions with the Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297

Views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297

When to Start with Views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301

Workflow to Create View Drawings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302

Creating a New View Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302

Displaying External References of a View Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 306

Opening and Closing a View Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 308

Creating a Model Space View Drawing from a Callout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 308

Changing the Properties of a View Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309

Regenerating the View Drawings in a Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 310

Placing a View Drawing onto a Sheet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 310

Electronically Transmitting a View Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 311

Deleting a View Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 312

Creating a Model Space View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 313

Placing a Model Space View onto a Sheet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 314

Changing the Properties of a Model Space View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 316

Deleting Model Space Views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 317

Synchronizing View Drawing Layers with Sheet View Layers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 317

Changing Views: Interactions with the Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321

Sheets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321

When to Start with Sheets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 323

Creating a Sheet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 323

Setting the Properties of the Project Sheet Set . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325

Creating a Sheet Subset . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327

Setting the Properties of a Sheet Subset . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327

Removing a Sheet Subset . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 328

Importing Sheets into the Sheet Set . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 329

Importing the Current Layout as a Sheet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 330

Opening and Closing a Sheet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 330

Changing the Properties of a Sheet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 331

Removing a Sheet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 331

Deleting a Sheet Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 331

Creating a Sheet View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 332

Opening a Sheet View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 332

Numbering Sheet Views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 332

Deleting a Sheet View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333

Displaying External References of a Sheet Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333

Inserting a Sheet List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 335

Changing the Sheet List Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 336

Updating the Sheet List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 337

Refreshing the Sheet Set . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 337

Creating a Sheet Selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 337

Activating a Sheet Selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 338

Removing a Sheet Selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 338

Electronically Transmitting Sheets and Sheet Sets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 338

Publishing Sheet Sets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 340

Changing Sheets: Interactions with the Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 340

Creating a Sheet Set Template . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 341

Creating a Sheet Set Template . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 341

Creating a Template from Existing Drawings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 346

Repath the Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 350

Refreshing the Project Navigator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 351

Object Display in External References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 352

Workflow for Annotating a Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 352

viii | Contents

Generating Spaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 353

Tagging in a Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 353

Property Set Data and Schedule Tables in Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 354

Workflow for Creating Title Blocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 360

Dimensioning a Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 364

Working with Cut Planes in a Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 365

Global Cut Planes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 367

Object-Specific Cut Planes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 373

Drawing Management Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 375

Command Line: Opening the Project Browser . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 375

Command Line: Opening the Project Navigator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 376

Command Line: Refreshing the Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 376

Command Line: Regenerating Views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 376

Command Line: Selecting a New Project Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 376

Command Line: Closing the Project Navigator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 376

Frequently Asked Questions about Drawing Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 377

Appendix 1: Template Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 379

Levels and Divisions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 379

Project File Naming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 380

Constructs Included in the Commercial Template Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 382

The Element File Included in the Commercial Template Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 384

Views Included in the Template Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 384

Sheets Included in the Template Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 385

Project Standards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 386

Chapter 7 Project Standards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 387

Project Standards Terminology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 387

Project Standards Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 388

AEC Standards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 389

AutoCAD Standards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 390

Standard Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 390

Synchronizing the Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 391

Process Overview: Using Standards in a Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 391

Using Project Standards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 392

Prerequisites for Working with Project Standards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 392

Setting up Standards in a Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 393

Creating a New Project with Predefined Standards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 393

Configuring Project Standards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 393

Setting up Standard Tools in a Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 403

Creating a Tool Catalog for a Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 405

Adding a Project Catalog to a Content Browser Library . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 408

Adding a Project Library and Tool Palette Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 409

Displaying the Project Tool Palette Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 411

Building the Tool Palette Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 413

Copying the Project Tool Palettes to the Tool Palette File Location . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 414

Adding the Project Profile to the Tool Palette File Location . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 414

Adding Standards to a Project Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 414

Project Tool Palette Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 415

Adding Standard Styles from Content Browser . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 416

Adding Standard Styles from Style Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 416

Adding Standard Display Settings from Display Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 417

Synchronizing a Project with the Standards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 418

Synchronization Status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 420

Synchronizing a Project with AEC Standards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 422

Synchronization Exceptions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 423

Synchronizing a Project Drawing with AEC Standards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 424

Synchronizing Selected Styles and Display Settings with AEC Standards . . . . . . . . . . . . . 425

Generating a Synchronization Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 429

Synchronizing a Project with AutoCAD Standards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 430

Contents | ix

Synchronizing a Project Drawing with AutoCAD Standards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 430

Auditing a Project or a Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 431

Showing Display Overrides in Project Drawings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 432

Editing Project Drawings Outside the Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 433

Creating a New Project Standards Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 433

Updating Project Standards Drawings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 435

Process Overview: Updating AEC Standards in a Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 435

Versioning Standards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 435

Change Types in Project Standards Drawings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 437

Updating Standard Objects in a Project Standards Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 438

Updating Standard Objects in a Project Standards Drawing from a Project Drawing . . . . . . . 440

Adding Standard Objects from a Project Drawing to a Project Standards Drawing . . . . . . . . 441

Editing the Version History of a Standard Object . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 443

Versioning a Project Standards Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 443

Purging the Version History from a Project Standards Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 444

Purging the Version Information from a Project Standards Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 444

Synchronizing Project Standards with Each Other . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 445

Editing Project Standards Drawings Outside the Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 446

Scripting Project Standards Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 446

Chapter 8 Drawing Compare . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 449

Overview of Drawing Compare . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 449

Starting a Drawing Compare Session . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 452

Reviewing the Results of a Drawing Compare Session . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 456

Creating a Visual Filter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 460

Drawing Compare Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 460

Frequently Asked Questions about Drawing Compare . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 460

Chapter 9 Layer Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 463

Layer Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 463

Managing Drawing Layers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 466

Opening the Layer Properties Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 467

Making a Layer Current . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 467

Creating a Layer with a Layer Standard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 468

Creating a Nonstandard Layer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 469

Renaming a Layer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 469

Deleting a Layer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 469

Changing the Layer Standard of a Layer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 470

Defining the Properties of a Layer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 470

Overriding Layer Properties in Layout Viewports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 472

Identifying Viewport Layer Overrides . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 473

Removing Viewport Layer Overrides . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 474

Working with Layer Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 475

Types of Layer Filters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 476

Creating a Group Filter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 477

Creating a Property Filter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 477

Creating a Layer Standards Filter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 480

Adding Layers to Layer Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 481

Changing the Properties of a Layer Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 482

Renaming and Deleting Layer Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 482

Converting a Property Filter to a Group Filter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 482

New Layer Notification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 483

Setting up the Notification for New Layers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 483

Identifying New Layers in the Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 484

Reconciling New Layers in the Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 485

Working with Layer States . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 485

Creating a Saved Layer State . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 486

Editing a Saved Layer State . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 488

x | Contents

Restoring a Layer State . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 489

Deleting a Layer State . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 490

Importing Layer States to the Current Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 491

Exporting a Layer State from the Current Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 491

Working with Layer Keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 492

Default Layer Keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 493

Default Layer Key Values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 497

Creating a Layer Key Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 497

Creating a Layer Key Style from an LY File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 498

Editing Layer Key Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 498

Attaching Notes and Files to a Layer Key Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 500

Layer Key Overrides . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 500

Creating and Editing Layer Standards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 502

Component Fields in Layer Standards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 503

Creating a Layer Standard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 507

Editing Component Fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 508

Editing Descriptive Fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 509

Editing Descriptions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 509

Editing Description Specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 510

Purging Layer Standards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 510

Importing Layer Standards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 511

Exporting Layer Standards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 511

Appendix: LISP Changes for Layer Snapshots and Layer States . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 512

Chapter 10 Display System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 513

Introduction to the Display System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 513

Using the Properties Palette to Change Display Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 514

Display System Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 519

Display Representations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 520

Display Sets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 524

Display Configurations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 525

The Display Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 528

Opening the Display Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 529

Viewing Display Configurations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 530

Viewing Display Sets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 531

Viewing Display Representations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 532

Viewing an Object in a Display Representation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 533

Viewing the Display Representation of an Object in a Display Set . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 534

Accessing the Default Display Properties of an Object . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 535

Creating and Editing Display Configurations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 535

Process Overview: Creating a Display Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 535

Tips for Working with Display Configurations, Sets, and Representations . . . . . . . . . . . . 536

Creating a Display Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 536

Creating a Display Set . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 537

Creating a Display Representation for an Object . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 538

Editing a Display Representation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 538

Assigning a Display Representation to a Display Set . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 539

Comparing Display Representations Between Display Sets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 541

Assigning a Display Set to a View Direction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 542

Assigning a Display Configuration to a Viewport . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 542

Specifying a Display Set as a Default Display Set . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 543

Specifying the Default Display Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 543

Specifying the Display Configurations Used in Xref Overlays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 544

Changing the Display Configuration Used in Xref Drawings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 545

Displaying Objects by Classification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 545

Specifying Settings for Live Sections and Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 546

Managing Display Configurations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 547

Renaming a Display Configuration or a Display Set . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 547

Renaming a Display Representation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 548

Contents | xi

Deleting a Display Configuration or a Display Set . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 548

Deleting a Display Representation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 549

Adding Notes and Reference Files to a Display Configuration or a Display Set . . . . . . . . . . 549

Using Display Settings in Multiple Drawings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 550

Purging a Display Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 552

Purging a Display Set . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 552

Purging a Display Representation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 552

Working with Standard Display Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 553

Synchronizing Individual Display Settings with AEC Standards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 554

Excluding Display Settings from Synchronization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 555

Updating Standard Display Settings in a Project Standards Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 555

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

Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 557

Adding Standard Display Settings from a Project Drawing to a Project Standards Drawing . . . 558

Editing the Version History of a Standard Display Setting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 559

Purging the Version History from a Project Standards Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 560

Purging the Version Information from a Project Standards Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 560

Synchronizing Project Standards with Each Other . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 561

Troubleshooting the Display System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 562

Object Not Displayed in a Viewport . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 562

Viewport Not Updating Properly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 562

Objects Copied from Another Drawing Display Differently . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 562

Verifying the Existence of Objects Not Displayed in a Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 562

Object Linetype Displayed Incorrectly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 563

Chapter 11 Style Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 565

What Are Styles? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 565

Style Manager Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 566

Sorting Styles in the Style Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 568

Creating a Style from the Style Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 569

Creating a Style from an Object . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 569

Creating a Tool from a Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 570

Renaming a Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 570

Copying Styles Between Drawings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 570

Sending Styles to Other Users . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 572

Purging Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 572

Working with Drawings and Templates in the Style Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 573

Starting a New Drawing or Template in the Style Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 574

Opening a Drawing or Template in the Style Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 574

Dragging a Drawing into the Style Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 574

Closing Drawings and Templates in the Style Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 574

Chapter 12 Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 577

Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 577

Objects That Support Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 579

Working with Material Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 580

Using the Material Tool to Add Materials to Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 581

Creating Custom Material Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 582

Material Components and Display Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 585

Linework Material Component . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 586

Plan Hatch Material Component . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 586

3D Body Material Component . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 586

Surface Hatch Material Component . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 587

2D Section/Elevation Linework . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 588

Section Hatch Material Component . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 588

Sectioned Body and Sectioned Boundary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 589

Displaying Materials in a Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 589

Working with Surface Hatches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 590

xii | Contents

Surface Hatches on Curved Surfaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 590

Surface Hatches on Multiple Faces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 591

Surface Hatches on Extrusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 591

Surface Hatches on Free Form Mass Elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 593

Overriding the Surface Hatch on Individual Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 593

Hiding a Surface Hatch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 594

Displaying a Hidden Surface Hatch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 595

Specifying the Rotation of a Surface Hatch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 595

Specifying the Horizontal and Vertical Offset of a Surface Hatch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 596

Editing Surface Hatch Overrides . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 597

Displaying a List of Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 598

Displaying a Material Query . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 598

Process Overview: Creating and Assigning Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 599

Creating and Editing Material Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 599

Creating a Material Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 600

Defining the Layer, Color and Linetype of a Material Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 600

Specifying the Plan and Section Hatch Patterns of a Material Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . 601

Specifying the Surface Hatch Pattern of a Material Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 602

Assigning Render Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 604

Excluding a Material Definition from 2D Section Shrinkwrap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 606

Controlling the Display of Hidden Lines by Material . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 606

Merging Material Definitions in a 2D Section/Elevation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 607

Attaching Notes and Files to a Material Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 608

Chapter 13 Content Creation Guidelines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 609

General Content Standards and Conventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 609

Content Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 609

National CAD Standard Compliance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 610

Content Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 613

Template Drawings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 613

Style Library Drawings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 615

Template Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 615

Tool Catalogs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 618

Display Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 618

Style-Based Content . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 619

Architectural Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 620

Documentation Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 635

Multi-Purpose Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 641

Symbol & Tool-Based Content . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 648

AEC Content . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 648

Palette-Based and Miscellaneous Annotation Tool Content . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 651

Conceptual Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 655

Chapter 14 Creating Conceptual Models . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 657

Mass Elements and Mass Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 657

Using Massing Tools to Create Mass Elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 658

Editing Mass Elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 670

Mass Element Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 694

Using Massing Tools to Create Mass Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 700

Using Materials for Mass Elements and Mass Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 712

Using the Model Explorer to Create Mass Models . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 715

Displaying the Model Explorer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 716

Defining the View in the Model Explorer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 717

Navigating the View in the Model Explorer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 717

Navigating the View with the ViewCube . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 718

Navigating the View with SteeringWheels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 718

Viewing Objects on a Nonvisible Layer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 719

Contents | xiii

Maintaining Zoom Percentage and Position of an Object . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 719

Using Toolbar Commands in the Model Explorer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 720

Creating Slice Floorplates from a Conceptual Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 725

Generating a Slice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 725

Specifying the Slice Elevation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 726

Attaching Objects to a Slice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 727

Detaching Objects from a Slice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 727

Converting a Slice to a Polyline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 727

Changing the Location of a Slice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 727

Attaching Hyperlinks, Notes, or Files to a Slice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 728

Chapter 15 Quick Slice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 729

Quick Slice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 729

Creating a Quick Slice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 729

Chapter 16 Object Viewer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 731

Object Viewer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 731

Defining the View in the Object Viewer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 734

Navigating the View in the Object Viewer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 735

Navigating the View with the ViewCube . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 736

Navigating the View with SteeringWheels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 736

Setting the View Direction of the Object Viewer to the Drawing Area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 737

Saving a Preview Image from the Object Viewer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 738

Chapter 17 Napkin Sketch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739

Napkin Sketch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739

Creating a Napkin Sketch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 741

Editing a Napkin Sketch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 741

Designing with Architectural Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 743

Chapter 18 General Object Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 745

The General Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 745

Selecting Similar Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 745

The Object Viewer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 745

Isolating and Hiding Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 746

Editing Objects in Temporary Views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 748

Adding Objects of the Same Type as the Selected Object . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 750

Editing Object Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 750

Copying and Assigning an Object Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 751

Dimensioning an Object . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 751

Tagging an Object . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 751

Editing Object Components In Place . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 752

Editing Polyline-based Components in Place . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 753

Editing Profile-based Object Components in Place . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 753

Editing in Place: Special Cases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 754

Changing the Display of Object Components in Edit-in-Place Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 756

Chapter 19 Walls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 759

Workflow for Adding Walls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 761

Drawing Walls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 762

Creating Walls from Linework and 3D Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 769

Editing Walls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 772

Using Grips to Edit Walls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 773

Changing the Shape of a Wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 779

Changing the Wall Justification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 784

xiv | Contents

Offsetting New Walls from Existing Walls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 785

Repositioning a Wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 786

Adjusting the Position of Wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 787

Applying Tool Properties to an Existing Wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 788

Changing the Style of a Wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 788

Changing the Location of a Wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 789

Merging Walls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 789

Removing Individual Merge Conditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 790

Removing All Merged Walls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 790

Joining Walls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 790

Filleting Walls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 792

Chamfering Walls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 793

Trimming Walls at L and T Intersections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 795

Reversing the Direction of a Wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 796

Using AutoCAD Commands to Edit Walls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 797

Changing the Roof Line and the Floor Line of a Wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 797

Specifying the Materials of Individual Walls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 806

Changing the Display Properties of Individual Walls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 807

Attaching Notes and Files to a Wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 812

Wall Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 814

Creating a Wall Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 816

Troubleshooting Walls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 818

Adding Objects to Walls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 819

Adding a Window to a Wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 819

Adding an Opening to a Wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 820

Adding a Door to a Wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 820

Adding a Door/Window Assembly to a Wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 820

Removing Windows, Openings, Doors, or Door/Window Assemblies from a Wall . . . . . . . . 821

Anchoring an Object to a Wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 821

Detaching Objects from a Wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 822

Creating Special Conditions and Customized Wall Surfaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 822

Working with Wall Sweeps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 823

Working with Wall Modifiers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 831

Working with Body Modifiers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 839

Working with Interference Conditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 845

Wall Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 847

Creating a Wall Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 848

Adding Property Set Data to a Wall Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 849

Specifying the Components of a Wall Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 849

Specifying the Materials of a Wall Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 858

Specifying the Display Properties of a Wall Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 860

Adding Classifications to a Wall Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 864

Defining a Wall Style as Bounding for Associative Spaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 864

Attaching Notes and Files to a Wall Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 865

Workflow for Cleaning Up Wall Intersections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 865

Cleanup Circles and Wall Justification Lines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 866

Wall Cleanups and Priorities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 869

Guidelines for Successful Wall Cleanup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 870

Assigning a Different Wall Cleanup Group Definition to Existing Walls . . . . . . . . . . . . . 871

Specifying Cleanup for Individual Walls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 871

Overriding the Wall Cleanup Circle Radius . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 872

Overriding Component Priorities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 872

Troubleshooting Wall Cleanups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 873

Cleanup Group Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 878

Using Edit in Place to Clean Up Wall Intersections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 880

Specifying a Component Cleanup Override . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 882

Hiding the Edge of a Wall Intersection Component . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 882

Showing the Edge of a Wall Intersection Component . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 883

Adding a Vertex to a Wall Intersection Component . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 885

Removing a Vertex from a Wall Intersection Component . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 886

Contents | xv

Subtracting a Profile from a Wall Intersection Component . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 887

Merging a Profile with a Wall Intersection Component . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 888

Trimming a Wall Intersection Component . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 889

Extending a Wall Intersection Component . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 890

Working with Wall Endcaps and Opening Endcaps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 891

Workflow for Creating Wall and Opening Endcaps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 892

Using Edit in Place to Modify Wall Endcaps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 892

Filleting a Wall Endcap Component . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 899

Chamfering a Wall Endcap Component . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 900

Showing the Edge of a Wall Endcap Component . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 901

Hiding the Edge of a Wall Endcap Component . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 902

Trimming a Wall Endcap Component . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 902

Extending a Wall Endcap Component . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 903

Subtracting a Profile from a Wall Endcap Component . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 904

Merging a Profile with a Wall Endcap Component . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 905

Creating Wall Endcaps Using Calculate Automatically . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 906

Applying Wall Endcap Styles from the Style Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 909

Modifying the Geometry of a Wall Endcap Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 911

Changing the Return Offset of a Wall Endcap Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 913

Attaching Notes and Files to a Wall Endcap Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 913

Creating a Wall Opening Endcap Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 914

Applying a Wall Opening Endcap Style to a Wall Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 914

Overriding a Wall Opening Endcap Style on a Wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 915

Using Ortho Close and Close with Walls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 915

About Wall Lengths . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 915

About Curved Walls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 916

Specifying Offsets for Roof Line and Floor Line Vertices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 916

Specifying the Width and Edge Offset of a Wall Component . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 917

Chapter 20 Curtain Walls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 919

Curtain Walls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 919

Using Curtain Wall Tools To Create Curtain Walls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 922

Creating a Straight Curtain Wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 923

Creating a Curtain Wall with User-Specified Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 923

Creating a Curved Curtain Wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 925

Creating a Curtain Wall that References a Curve . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 926

Converting a Layout Grid to a Curtain Wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 927

Creating a Curtain Wall from an Elevation Sketch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 928

Converting a Wall to a Curtain Wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 930

Converting a 3D Face to a Curtain Wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 931

Creating a Curtain Wall Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 931

Curtain Wall Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 933

Process Overview: Creating a Curtain Wall Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 934

Tips for Working Efficiently with Curtain Wall Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 935

Creating Element Definitions for a Curtain Wall Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 935

Creating a Curtain Wall Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 936

Defining Divisions for Curtain Wall Grids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 937

Defining Infills for Curtain Wall Cells . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 946

Defining Curtain Wall Frames . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 950

Defining Curtain Wall Mullions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 954

Assigning Definitions to Curtain Wall Elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 959

Assigning a Division to a Curtain Wall Grid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 959

Assigning Infills to Curtain Wall Cells . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 960

Assigning Definitions to Curtain Wall Frames . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 968

Assigning Definitions to Curtain Wall Mullions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 971

Specifying the Materials of a Curtain Wall Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 973

Specifying the Display of Curtain Walls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 975

Defining a Curtain Wall Style as Bounding for Associative Spaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 979

Attaching Notes and Files to a Curtain Wall Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 980

xvi | Contents

Using Overrides in Curtain Walls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 980

Overriding Curtain Wall Infills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 981

Overriding Curtain Wall Frames and Mullions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 987

Overriding Curtain Wall Divisions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 994

Removing Curtain Wall Overrides . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 997

Modifying Element Definitions for Curtain Wall Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 998

Editing Curtain Walls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 999

Using Grips to Edit Curtain Walls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 999

Selecting a Different Curtain Wall Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1004

Applying the Properties of an Existing Curtain Wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1005

Changing the Dimensions of a Curtain Wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1005

Changing the Curtain Wall Location Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1006

Adding an Interference Condition to a Curtain Wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1006

Removing an Interference Condition from a Curtain Wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1007

Mitering Curtain Walls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1007

Specifying a Miter Angle for a Curtain Wall Adjacent to Another Object . . . . . . . . . . . . 1008

Specifying the Cut Plane Display of a Curtain Wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1008

Specifying the Display of Other Characteristics of a Curtain Wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1009

Attaching Hyperlinks, Notes, or Files to a Curtain Wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1010

Changing the Roof Line and the Floor Line of a Curtain Wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1011

Offsetting or Projecting the Roof Line of a Curtain Wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1011

Offsetting or Projecting the Floor Line of a Curtain Wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1012

Editing the Roof Line or the Floor Line of a Curtain Wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1013

Changing the Roof Line and the Floor Line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1014

Adding a Gable to the Roof Line of a Curtain Wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1016

Adding a Step to the Roof Line or Floor Line of a Curtain Wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1017

Changing Vertices in the Roof Line or Floor Line of a Curtain Wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1018

Specifying Gable Settings for a Roof Line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1019

Specifying Step Settings for a Roof Line or Floor Line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1020

Specifying Vertex Settings for a Roof Line or Floor Line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1021

Editing Objects Anchored in Curtain Walls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1022

Changing the Orientation of an Object Anchored in a Curtain Wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1022

Changing the Alignment of an Object Anchored in a Curtain Wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1022

Changing the Offset of an Object Anchored in a Curtain Wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1022

Swapping Two Objects Anchored in a Curtain Wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1023

Releasing an Object Anchored in a Curtain Wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1023

Curtain Wall Units . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1023

Creating Curtain Wall Units . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1025

Creating a Curtain Wall Unit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1025

Converting a Layout Grid to a Curtain Wall Unit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1025

Creating a Curtain Wall Unit with a Custom Grid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1027

Curtain Wall Unit Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1028

Creating Element Definitions for a Curtain Wall Unit Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1028

Creating a Curtain Wall Unit Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1029

Defining Divisions for Curtain Wall Unit Grids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1030

Defining Infills for Curtain Wall Unit Cells . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1036

Defining Curtain Wall Unit Frames . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1039

Defining Curtain Wall Unit Mullions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1043

Assigning a Division to a Curtain Wall Unit Grid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1048

Assigning Infills to Curtain Wall Unit Cells . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1048

Assigning Definitions to Curtain Wall Unit Frames . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1054

Assigning Definitions to the Mullions of a Curtain Wall Unit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1057

Specifying the Materials of a Curtain Wall Unit Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1059

Specifying the Display of Curtain Wall Units . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1061

Defining a Curtain Wall Unit Style as Bounding for Associative Spaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1065

Attaching Notes and Files to a Curtain Wall Unit Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1065

Using Overrides in Curtain Wall Units . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1066

Overriding Curtain Wall Unit Infills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1066

Overriding Curtain Wall Unit Frames and Mullions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1073

Overriding Curtain Wall Unit Divisions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1080

Contents | xvii

Removing Curtain Wall Unit Overrides . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1083

Editing Curtain Wall Units . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1084

Using Grips to Edit Curtain Wall Units . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1084

Selecting a Different Curtain Wall Unit Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1087

Matching the Properties of an Existing Curtain Wall Unit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1088

Changing the Dimensions of a Curtain Wall Unit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1088

Specifying a Miter Angle for a Curtain Wall Unit Adjacent to Another Object . . . . . . . . . 1089

Changing the Location of a Freestanding Curtain Wall Unit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1089

Modifying the Position of Anchored Curtain Wall Units . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1090

Specifying the Cut Plane Display of a Curtain Wall Unit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1091

Specifying the Display of Other Characteristics of a Curtain Wall Unit . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1092

Attaching Hyperlinks, Notes, or Files to a Curtain Wall Unit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1093

Facet Deviation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1093

Chapter 21 Door and Window Assemblies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1095

Door and Window Assemblies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1095

Using Door and Window Assembly Tools to Create Door and Window Assemblies . . . . . . 1098

Creating a Door and Window Assembly Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1104

Door and Window Assembly Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1106

Using Overrides in Door and Window Assemblies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1156

Modifying Element Definitions for Door and Window Assembly Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . 1175

Editing Door and Window Assemblies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1176

Editing Objects Anchored in Door and Window Assemblies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1185

Chapter 22 AEC Polygons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1189

AEC Polygons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1189

Using AEC Polygon Tools to Create AEC Polygons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1191

Creating an AEC Polygon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1191

Creating an AEC Polygon with User-Specified Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1192

Creating an AEC Polygon from a Polyline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1192

Creating an AEC Polygon from a Profile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1193

Creating an AEC Polygon Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1193

Editing AEC Polygons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1194

Using Grips to Edit AEC Polygons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1195

Changing the AEC Polygon Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1200

Merging Two AEC Polygons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1201

Creating a Hole in an AEC Polygon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1201

Creating AEC Polygons from the Intersection of Other AEC Polygons . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1202

Trimming an AEC Polygon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1203

Dividing an AEC Polygon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1204

Adding a Vertex to an AEC Polygon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1204

Removing a Vertex from an AEC Polygon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1205

Converting an AEC Polygon to a Polyline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1205

Converting an AEC Polygon to a Profile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1205

Changing the Rotation of an AEC Polygon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1206

Changing the Elevation of an AEC Polygon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1206

Changing the Location of an AEC Polygon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1206

Specifying Fill Properties for the True Color Display Representation of an AEC Polygon . . . . 1207

Attaching Hyperlinks, Notes, or Files to an AEC Polygon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1208

AEC Polygon Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1208

Creating an AEC Polygon Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1209

Changing the Width and Justification of the AEC Polygon Edges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1210

Masking Underlying Objects with AEC Polygons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1211

Specifying the Display Properties of an AEC Polygon Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1211

Setting the Colors of the True Color Display Representation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1214

Attaching Notes and Files to an AEC Polygon Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1214

Adding Classifications to an AEC Polygon Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1215

xviii | Contents

Chapter 23 Doors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1217

Doors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1217

Creating a Door . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1218

Creating a Door in a Door and Window Assembly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1220

Converting Objects to a Door . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1220

Door Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1220

Editing Doors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1226

Using Grips to Edit Doors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1226

Moving a Door Along a Wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1228

Moving a Door Within a Wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1228

Using Anchors to Change Doors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1229

Moving a Door to a Different Wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1232

Releasing a Door from a Wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1232

Changing the Location of a Freestanding Door . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1233

Display Properties of Doors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1233

Attaching Hyperlinks, Notes, and Files to a Door . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1236

Door Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1237

Creating a Door Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1237

Specifying the Dimensions of a Door Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1238

Specifying the Design Rules of a Door Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1239

Specifying the Standard Sizes of a Door Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1240

Creating a Custom Door Shape . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1240

Replacing the Door Shape in a Door Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1241

Editing the Geometry of a Door Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1242

About Door Display Components and Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1243

Specifying the Display Properties of a Door Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1246

Defining a Door Style as Bounding for Associative Spaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1252

Attaching Notes and Files to a Door Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1252

Creating Muntins in a Door Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1253

Chapter 24 Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1275

Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1275

Using Window Tools to Create Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1277

Creating a Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1277

Creating a Window with User-Specified Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1278

Creating a Window in a Door and Window Assembly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1280

Creating a Window from Doors, Door/Window Assemblies and Openings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1280

Creating a Window Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1280

Editing Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1282

Using Grips to Edit Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1283

Changing the Window Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1284

Changing How Window Width is Measured . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1285

Changing the Window Swing Angle or Opening Percent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1285

Changing the Vertical Alignment of a Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1286

Moving a Window Along a Wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1286

Moving a Window Within a Wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1288

Using Anchors to Change the Horizontal Position of a Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1290

Using Anchors to Change the Vertical Position of a Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1291

Using Anchors to Change the Position of a Window Within a Wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1292

Changing the Orientation of a Window to a Wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1292

Moving a Window to a Different Wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1293

Releasing a Window from a Wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1293

Changing the Opening Endcap Assigned to a Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1293

Changing the Location of a Freestanding Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1293

Changing the Cut Plane Setting for a Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1294

Specifying the Display of Muntins Blocks for a Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1294

Specifying the Display of Sills for a Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1295

Reversing the Handing for a Window in an Elevation View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1296

Contents | xix

Specifying the Display of Frames for a Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1296

Specifying the Display of Custom Block Components of a Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1297

Attaching Hyperlinks, Notes, and Files to a Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1298

Window Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1299

Creating a Window Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1299

Specifying the Dimensions of a Window Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1301

Specifying the Standard Sizes of a Window Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1301

Creating a Custom Window Shape . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1302

Specifying the Design Rules of a Window Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1303

Replacing the Window Shape in a Window Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1304

Editing the Geometry of a Window Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1304

About Window Display Components and Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1306

Assigning Materials to a Window Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1307

Adding Classifications to a Window Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1308

Specifying the Display Properties of a Window Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1308

Defining a Window Style as Bounding for Associative Spaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1313

Attaching Notes and Files to a Window Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1313

Creating Muntins in a Window Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1314

Chapter 25 Openings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1335

Openings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1335

Using Opening Tools to Create Openings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1336

Creating an Opening . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1337

Creating an Opening with User-Specified Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1337

Creating an Opening from Doors, Door/Window Assemblies and Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1339

Creating and Editing Custom Openings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1339

Creating a Profile for a Custom Opening . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1339

Creating an Opening with a Custom Shape . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1340

Editing the Geometry of a Custom Opening . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1341

Creating an Opening Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1343

Editing Openings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1344

Using Grips to Edit Openings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1345

Changing the Shape and Dimensions of an Opening . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1345

Flipping an Opening along the X or Y Axis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1346

Changing Endcap Style for an Opening . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1346

Applying Tool Properties to an Existing Opening . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1347

Repositioning an Opening . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1347

Using Anchors to Change the Position and Orientation of an Opening . . . . . . . . . . . . 1349

Changing the Cut Plane Setting for an Opening . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1354

Specifying the Display of Sills for an Opening . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1354

Specifying the Display of Custom Block Components of an Opening . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1355

Specifying the Display of Fill Type for an Opening . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1356

Attaching Hyperlinks, Notes, and Files to an Opening . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1357

Changing the Display Properties of Openings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1357

Specifying the Display Properties of an Opening . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1357

Specifying the Hatching of an Opening . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1358

Using Custom Blocks to Create Opening Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1359

Adding Components to an Opening . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1360

Turning Off Custom Components in an Opening . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1361

Removing Custom Components from an Opening . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1361

Chapter 26 Stairs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1363

Stairs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1363

Solution Tips for Stairs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1364

Specifying AEC Options for Stairs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1367

Using Stair Tools to Create Stairs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1368

Creating a Stair . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1368

Creating a Straight Stair with User-Specified Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1368

xx | Contents

Creating a Multi-Landing Stair with User-Specified Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1371

Creating an L-Shaped Stair with 45-Degree Tread . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1376

Creating a U-Shaped Stair with User-Specified Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1378

Creating a Spiral Stair with User-Specified Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1382

Creating a Custom Stair from Linework . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1387

Creating a Custom Stair from Tread Profiles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1391

Modifying Custom Stairs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1393

Creating a Ramp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1397

Creating a Stair Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1398

Editing Stairs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1399

Using Grips to Edit Stairs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1399

Changing the Width of a Flight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1417

Changing the Shape of a Flight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1418

Changing the Shape of a Landing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1419

Changing the Side of a Stair . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1421

Changing the Height of a Stair . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1428

Changing the Justification of a Stair . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1429

Changing the Style of a Stair . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1429

Changing the Horizontal Direction of a Spiral or U-Shaped Stair . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1430

Changing the Constraints of a Spiral Stair . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1430

Changing the Outside Edge of a Spiral Stair . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1431

Changing the Dimensions of a Stair . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1433

Changing the Floor Settings of a Stair . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1435

Adjusting Stair Length Automatically . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1436

Changing the Length Limits of a Flight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1437

Anchoring a Stair to a Landing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1438

Releasing Anchored Stairs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1439

Editing Winders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1439

Working with Stair Body Modifiers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1453

Stair Interference Conditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1458

Changing the Alignment of a U-Shaped Stair . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1467

Changing the Components of a Flight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1468

Changing the Components of a Landing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1468

About the Dimensions of Landing Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1470

Changing the Extension of a Landing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1470

Specifying Stair Component Display by Cut Plane Elevation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1471

Changing the Display of an Overlapping Stair . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1475

Applying Tool Properties to an Existing Stair . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1476

Changing the Location of a Stair . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1477

Specifying the Materials of a Stair . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1477

Changing the Display Properties of Individual Stairs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1478

Attaching Hyperlinks, Notes, or Files to a Stair . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1483

Stair Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1484

Managing Stair Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1485

Creating a Stair Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1485

Specifying the Design Rules of a Stair Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1486

Specifying the Stringers of a Stair Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1487

Specifying Mitered Corners for Center Stringers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1488

Specifying the Components of a Stair Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1490

Specifying the Landing Extension of a Stair Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1492

Assigning Materials to Components in a Stair Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1493

Specifying the Display Properties of a Stair Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1494

Specifying the Riser Numbering Display of a Stair Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1498

Specifying Classifications for a Stair Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1499

Adding Notes and Files to a Stair Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1499

Stair Winder Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1500

Creating a Stair Winder Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1500

Specifying the Stair Winder Style Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1501

Adding Notes and Files to a Stair Winder Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1502

Stair Tower Generator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1502

Contents | xxi

Creating a Stair Tower . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1502

Modifying a Stair Tower . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1504

Chapter 27 Railings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1507

Railings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1507

Using Railing Tools to Create Railings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1508

Creating a Railing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1509

Creating an Attached Railing with User-Specified Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1509

Creating a Freestanding Railing with User-Specified Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1512

Creating a Railing from a Polyline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1514

Creating a Railing Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1515

Editing Railings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1516

Using Grips to Edit Railings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1516

Adding a Post to a Railing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1517

Removing a Post from a Railing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1518

Redistributing Posts on a Railing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1518

Hiding Posts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1519

Showing Hidden Posts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1519

Reversing the Direction of the Railing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1519

Anchoring an Existing Railing to a Stair . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1519

Anchoring an Existing Railing to an Object . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1520

Releasing an Anchored Railing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1521

Specifying the Display of Custom Block Components of a Railing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1522

Specifying Cleanup Settings for a Railing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1524

Adding a Custom Profile to a Railing Component . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1525

Editing a Custom Profile of a Railing Component . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1526

Specifying the Display of a Custom Profile Component of a Railing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1528

Changing the Style of a Railing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1530

Changing the Upper Rails . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1531

Changing the Bottom Rails . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1532

Changing the Posts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1532

Changing the Railing Extensions at Floor Levels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1533

Changing the Railing Extensions at Landings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1534

Changing the Anchor Properties of a Railing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1534

Specifying Perpendicular Railing Orientation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1535

Changing the Location of a Railing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1537

Applying Tool Properties to an Existing Railing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1538

Attaching Hyperlinks, Notes, and Files to a Railing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1538

Railing Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1539

Creating a Railing Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1540

Specifying the Upper Rails of a Railing Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1541

Specifying the Bottom Rails of a Railing Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1542

Specifying Posts of a Railing Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1543

Specifying the Components of a Railing Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1545

Creating a Profile for a Custom Railing Component . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1545

Specifying the Railing Extensions of a Railing Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1546

Specifying the Materials of a Railing Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1547

Specifying the Display Components of a Railing Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1549

Specifying Classifications for a Railing Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1549

Attaching Notes and Files to a Railing Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1550

Adding Custom Railing Blocks and Profiles to a Railing Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1550

Adding a Custom Block to a Railing Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1551

Adding a Custom Profile to a Railing Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1553

Turning Off a Custom Block or Custom Profile in a Railing Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1556

Removing a Custom Block from a Railing Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1557

Chapter 28 Roofs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1559

Roofs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1559

xxii | Contents

Using Roof Tools to Create Roofs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1560

Creating a Slope Roof . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1561

Creating a Gable Roof . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1562

Creating Dormers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1562

Creating a Slope Roof with User-Specified Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1562

Creating a Gable Roof with User-Specified Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1563

Creating a Roof from Walls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1564

Creating a Roof from Polylines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1565

Creating a Roof Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1566

Editing Roofs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1567

Using Grips to Edit Roofs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1567

Applying Tool Properties to an Existing Roof . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1568

Changing the Dimensions of a Roof . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1568

Changing the Edges and Faces of a Roof . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1568

Converting a Roof to Roof Slabs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1570

Specifying the Material of a Roof . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1570

Specifying the Display Properties of a Roof . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1571

Specifying the Hatching of a Roof . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1571

Changing the Location of a Roof . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1572

Attaching Hyperlinks, Notes, or Files to a Roof . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1573

Chapter 29 Slabs and Roof Slabs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1575

Overview of Slabs and Roof Slabs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1575

Using Tools to Create Slabs and Roof Slabs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1578

Creating a Slab or a Roof Slab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1579

Creating a Slab/Roof Slab with User-Specified Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1580

Creating a Slab or Roof Slab from Walls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1581

Creating a Roof Slab from a Roof . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1583

Creating a Slab or Roof Slab from a Polyline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1584

Creating a Slab from a Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1586

Creating a Slab or Roof Slab Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1587

Editing Slabs and Roof Slabs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1589

Using Grips to Edit Slabs/Roof Slabs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1590

Applying Tool Properties to an Existing Slab/Roof Slab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1605

Changing the Properties of Slabs or Roof Slabs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1605

Using Slab and Roof Slab Contextual Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1608

Creating a Clipped Gable Roof . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1629

Creating a Dormer in a Roof Slab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1629

Slab and Roof Slab Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1630

Creating a Slab or Roof Slab Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1631

Specifying the Components of a Slab or Roof Slab Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1632

Specifying the Materials of a Slab or Roof Slab Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1637

Specifying the Display Properties of a Slab or Roof Slab Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1639

Adding Classifications to a Slab or Roof Slab Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1642

Defining a Slab/Roof Slab Style as Bounding for Associative Spaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1643

Attaching Notes and Files to a Slab or Roof Slab Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1643

Slab and Roof Slab Edge Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1644

Creating a Slab or Roof Slab Edge Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1645

Specifying the Overhang, Edge Cut, and Angle of a Slab/Roof Slab Edge Style . . . . . . . . . 1646

Creating Profiles for the Fascia and Soffit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1647

Controlling Profile Edges and Extrusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1648

Specifying a Fascia and a Soffit for a Slab/Roof Slab Edge Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1649

Editing the Geometry of Fascia and Soffits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1651

Assigning Materials to a Slab/Roof Slab Edge Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1653

Turning on Materials for a Slab/Roof Slab Edge Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1654

Attaching Notes and Files to a Slab/Roof Slab Edge Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1654

Chapter 30 Structural Members . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1657

Contents | xxiii

Structural Members . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1657

Workflow to Create Styles for Structural Members . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1660

Creating Structural Member Styles in the Structural Member Catalog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1661

Opening the Structural Member Catalog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1662

Creating a Style from a Shape in the Structural Member Catalog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1662

Locating a Shape in the Structural Member Catalog from a Structural Member in a

Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1664

Opening a Catalog File in the Structural Member Catalog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1664

Creating a Structural Member Style with the Structural Member Style Wizard . . . . . . . . . . . . 1664

Creating Structural Member Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1666

Creating a Beam Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1666

Creating a Brace Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1669

Creating a Column Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1672

Using Structural Member Tools to Create Structural Members . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1674

Creating a Beam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1675

Creating Beams with User-Specified Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1676

Creating a Brace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1682

Creating a Brace with User-Specified Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1683

Creating a Freestanding Column . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1686

Creating a Freestanding Column with User-Specified Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1686

Creating Grid-Anchored Columns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1689

Creating Grid-Anchored Columns with User-Specified Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1690

Creating a Structural Member from Linework . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1693

Editing Structural Members . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1694

Using Grips To Edit Structural Members . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1695

Changing the Structural Member Length . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1699

Changing the Structural Member Start and End Offsets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1700

Changing the Structural Member Start Point and Endpoint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1701

Changing the Structural Member Roll . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1702

Changing the Radius of a Curved Structural Member . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1703

About Curved Structural Members . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1704

Changing the Structural Member Justification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1705

Changing the Structural Member Type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1706

Trimming Structural Members . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1706

Changing the Style of a Structural Member . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1713

Applying Tool Properties to a Structural Member . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1713

Specifying the Cut Plane Display of a Structural Member . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1713

Specifying the Display of Custom Block Components of a Structural Member . . . . . . . . . 1714

Specifying the Offsets for a Structural Member in Plan Low Detail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1715

Attaching Hyperlinks, Notes, and Files to a Structural Member . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1716

Working with Structural Member Body Modifiers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1716

Adding a Body Modifier to a Structural Member . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1716

Subtracting a Body Modifier from a Structural Member . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1717

Replacing a Structural Member with a Body Modifier . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1718

Editing the Geometry of a Body Modifier . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1719

Managing Body Modifiers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1721

Restoring a Body Modifier to a Mass Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1722

Working with Structural Member Interference Conditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1722

Creating Structural Member Interference Conditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1722

Removing Structural Member Interference Conditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1723

Editing Structural Member Interference Conditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1724

Structural Member Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1724

Creating a Structural Member Style in the Style Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1725

Specifying the Materials of a Structural Member Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1726

Specifying the Display Properties of a Structural Member Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1727

Specifying Classifications for a Structural Member Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1734

Defining a Structural Member Style as Bounding for Associative Spaces . . . . . . . . . . . . 1734

Attaching Notes and Files to a Structural Member Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1735

Creating Custom Structural Members . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1735

Understanding the Design Rules of a Structural Member . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1737

xxiv | Contents

Changing the Shape in the Style of a Structural Member . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1738

Adding a Shape to a Structural Member . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1739

Process Overview: Creating a Single-Component Structural Member (Tapered Column) . . . . 1740

Process Overview: Creating a Multi-Component Structural Member (Composite Column) . . 1742
Process Overview: Creating a Multi-Component Structural Member Using Multiple Segments

(Rigid Frame) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1744

Creating Custom Shapes for Structural Members . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1749

Design Utilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1753

Chapter 31 Anchors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1755

Anchors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1755

Working with Object Anchors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1756

Adding Object Anchors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1756

Releasing Object Anchors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1757

Working with Curve Anchors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1758

Adding Curve Anchors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1758

Changing the Position of Objects Anchored to Curves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1759

Anchoring Objects to New Curves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1762

Working with Leader Anchors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1762

Adding Leader Anchors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1762

Changing the Position of Objects Anchored to Layout Nodes with Leader Anchors . . . . . . 1763

Grip-Editing Leaders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1763

Extending Leaders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1764

Copying Objects to All Layout Nodes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1764

Working with Node Anchors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1765

Adding Node Anchors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1765

Changing the Position of Objects Anchored to Layout Nodes with Node Anchors . . . . . . . 1765

Anchoring Objects to Different Nodes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1766

Copying Objects to All Layout Nodes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1767

Working with Cell Anchors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1767

Adding Cell Anchors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1767

Changing the Position and Size of Objects Anchored to Layout Cells . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1768

Anchoring Objects to a Different Cell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1769

Copying Objects to All Layout Cells . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1769

Working with Volume Anchors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1770

Adding Volume Anchors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1770

Changing the Position and Size of Objects Anchored to Volumes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1771

Anchoring Objects to a Different Volume . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1771

Copying Objects to All Layout Volumes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1772

Releasing and Positioning Anchored Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1772

Releasing Anchored Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1772

Positioning Anchored Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1773

Creating an Anchor Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1773

Chapter 32 Layout Curves and Grids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1775

Layout Curves and Grids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1775

Using Layout Curves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1775

Creating a Layout Curve Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1776

Adding Layout Curves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1777

Adding Nodes to Layout Curves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1780

Removing Nodes from Layout Curves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1780

Changing the Offsets of Layout Curves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1781

Changing the Node Spacing of a Layout Curve . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1782

Changing the Node Positions on a Layout Curve . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1782

Changing the Spacing Mode of Layout Curves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1783

Switching Layout Curves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1784

Changing the Display Properties of Layout Curves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1784

Contents | xxv

Changing the Node Radius for a Layout Curve . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1785

Attaching Hyperlinks, Notes, or Files to a Layout Curve . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1785

Using Layout Grids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1786

Creating a Layout Grid Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1786

Adding Radial Layout Grids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1787

Changing Radial Layout Grids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1789

Adding Rectangular Layout Grids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1789

Changing Rectangular Layout Grids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1790

Creating a Layout Grid with User-Specified Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1790

Creating a Custom Layout Grid from Linework . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1792

Adding Lines to Layout Grids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1792

Removing Grid Lines from Layout Grids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1793

Changing the Spacing Mode of Layout Grids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1794

Changing the Display Properties of Layout Grids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1795

Changing the Node Radius for a Layout Grid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1795

Creating and Removing Boundaries for Layout Grids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1796

Creating Holes in Layout Grids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1796

Removing Holes from Layout Grids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1796

Changing the Location of Layout Grids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1796

Attaching Hyperlinks, Notes, or Files to a Layout Grid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1797

Using Layout Volumes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1797

Creating a Layout Volume Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1798

Adding Layout Volumes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1799

Changing Layout Volumes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1800

Adding Grid Lines to Layout Volumes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1800

Removing Grid Lines from Layout Volumes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1801

Changing the Spacing Mode of Layout Volumes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1801

Changing the Display Properties of Layout Volumes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1802

Changing the Node Radius for a Layout Volume . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1803

Changing the Location of Layout Volumes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1803

Attaching Hyperlinks, Notes, or Files to a Layout Volume . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1804

Chapter 33 Grids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1805

Grids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1805

Using Column Grid Tools to Create Column Grids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1806

Creating a Column Grid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1806

Creating a Column Grid with User-Specified Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1807

Creating a Column Grid from a Layout Grid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1809

Creating a Custom Column Grid from Linework . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1809

Creating a Column Grid Dynamically . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1810

Creating a Structural Column Grid Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1810

Working with Column Grids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1811

Labeling Column Grids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1811

Extending Column Grid Lines Beyond the Grid Boundary or Limits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1812

Dimensioning Column Grids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1813

Editing Column Grids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1813

Changing the Dimensions of a Column Grid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1813

Changing the Lines of a Column Grid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1814

Attaching Clipping Profiles to Column Grids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1819

Attaching Hyperlinks, Notes, or Files to a Column Grid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1820

Changing the Location of Column Grids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1820

Changing the Display of Column Grids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1821

Changing the Node Radius for a Column Grid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1822

Using Ceiling Grid Tools to Create Ceiling Grids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1822

Creating a Ceiling Grid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1823

Creating a Ceiling Grid with User-Specified Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1823

Creating a Ceiling Grid from a Layout Grid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1824

Creating a Custom Ceiling Grid from Linework . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1824

Creating a Ceiling Grid Dynamically . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1825

xxvi | Contents

Creating a Ceiling Grid with a Clipping Boundary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1826

Creating a Ceiling Grid Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1826

Editing Ceiling Grids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1827

Changing the Dimensions of a Ceiling Grid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1827

Changing the Lines of a Ceiling Grid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1827

Attaching Clipping Profiles to Ceiling Grids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1832

Attaching Hyperlinks, Notes, or Files to a Ceiling Grid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1834

Changing the Location of Ceiling Grids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1835

Changing the Display of Ceiling Grids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1836

Changing the Node Radius for a Ceiling Grid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1836

Chapter 34 Detail Drafting Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1837

Construction Lines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1837

Creating Construction Lines From Existing Objects/Linework . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1837

Creating Construction Lines Independently . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1839

Hatch Productivity Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1839

Repositioning a Hatch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1840

Generating a Hatch Boundary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1840

Redefining a Hatch Boundary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1841

AEC Modify Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1844

Trimming Linework or Profile-Based Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1844

Trimming Linework or Profile-Based Objects to an Edge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1845

Extending Linework to an Edge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1846

Dividing Linework and Profile-Based Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1847

Subtracting from Linework and Profile-Based Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1848

Obscuring Regions of Linework . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1849

Merging Linework or Profile-Based Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1850

Cropping Linework or Profile-Based Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1851

Shrinkwrapping Linework . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1851

Creating Arrays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1852

Repositioning from a Reference Point . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1853

Evenly Spacing Linework or Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1853

Centering Linework or Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1853

Chapter 35 Profiles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1855

What are Profiles? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1855

Creating Profiles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1857

Defining the Direction of Profile Edges and Extrusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1857

Adding a Profile to an Object Component . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1859

Editing a Profile In Place . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1859

Converting Profiles to Polylines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1863

Chapter 36 Mask Blocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1865

Mask Blocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1865

Creating Mask Block Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1866

Creating a Mask Block Definition from a Polyline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1866

Creating a Mask Block Definition from an Existing Mask Block Definition . . . . . . . . . . . 1866

Importing Mask Block Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1867

Exporting Mask Block Definitions to a New Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1867

Exporting Mask Block Definitions to an Existing Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1868

Editing a Mask Block Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1868

Adding Classifications to a Mask Block Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1870

Purging Mask Block Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1870

Using Mask Block Tools to Create Mask Blocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1870

Adding a Mask Block . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1871

Adding a Mask Block with User-Specified Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1871

Creating a Mask Block from Polylines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1872

Creating a Mask Block Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1872

Contents | xxvii

Attaching Mask Blocks to Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1874

Detaching Mask Blocks from Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1875

Editing Mask Blocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1875

Using Grips to Move Mask Blocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1875

Changing the Location of a Mask Block . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1876

Editing the Profile of a Mask Block . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1877

Applying Tool Properties to an Existing Mask Block Reference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1878

Changing Display Properties of Mask Blocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1878

Attaching Hyperlinks, Notes, and Files to a Mask Block . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1879

Chapter 37 Multi-View Blocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1881

Multi-View Blocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1881

Creating Multi-View Block Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1882

Process Overview: Creating Multi-View Block Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1882

Creating View Blocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1883

Creating a New Multi-View Block Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1884

Connecting View Blocks to View Directions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1885

Defining a Multi-View Block Definition as Bounding for Associative Spaces . . . . . . . . . . 1885

Attaching Notes and Files to a Multi-View Block Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1886

Adding Classifications to a Multi-View Block Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1886

Adding a Multi-View Block Definition to DesignCenter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1887

Creating a Multi-View Block Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1888

Adding Multi-View Blocks to a Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1890

Inserting a Multi-View Block . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1891

Modifying Multi-View Blocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1892

Changing the Rotation of a Multi-View Block . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1892

Changing the Associated Multi-View Block Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1892

Changing the Scale Factor of a Multi-View Block . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1892

Changing the Offset of a Multi-View Block Using Grips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1892

Changing the Location of a Multi-View Block Using Grips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1893

Attaching Hyperlinks, Notes, or Files to a Multi-View Block . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1894

Editing the Location and Rotation of Attributes in a Multi-View Block . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1895

Updating Multi-View Block Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1896

Documentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1897

Chapter 38 Spaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1899

Space Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1899

Workflows for Spaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1901

Workflow for Generating Associative Spaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1901

Workflow for Manually Defining Net, Usable, and Gross Areas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1901

Workflow for Determining Net, Usable, and Gross Areas With a Calculation Standard . . . . . 1902

Workflow for Creating a Space Evaluation Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1903

Adjusting Space Calculations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1904

Working with List Definitions - Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1904

Working with Zones - Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1904

Working with Calculation Modifiers - Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1906

Working with Calculation Cut Planes - Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1906

Moving Forward to AutoCAD Architecture 2010 from Autodesk Architectural Desktop 2006 and

Earlier . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1907

Auto-Converting Legacy Areas to Spaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1909

Space Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1910

Using Space Tools to Create Spaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1914

Generating Associative Spaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1915

Boundary Objects for Associative Spaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1915

Generating an Associative Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1922

Generating Associative Spaces from Xrefs and Blocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1925

Defining a Maximum Gap Size for Associative Spaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1928

xxviii | Contents

Updating Associative Spaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1929

Activating and Deactivating Automatic Updates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1930

Manually Updating Associative Spaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1931

Merging Associative Spaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1932

Dividing an Associative Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1934

Deducting Spaces from an Associative Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1935

Making a Space Associative or Non-Associative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1936

Troubleshooting Associative Spaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1937

Creating Non-Associative Spaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1942

Drawing a Non-Associative 2D or Extruded 3D Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1943

Converting Objects, Profiles, and Polylines to Non-Associative Spaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1945

Creating a Space Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1948

Editing General Space Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1951

Renaming a Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1952

Changing the Style of a Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1952

Changing the Location of a Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1952

Specifying the Decomposition Type for a Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1953

Specifying the Decomposition Text Properties for a Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1954

Specifying the Cut Plane Display of a Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1956

Attaching Hyperlinks, Notes, or Files to a Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1956

Working with Space Boundaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1957

Working with Manual Boundaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1958

Working with Style-Based Boundaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1958

Working with Boundaries Based on an Area Calculation Standard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1958

Defining the Boundary Offset Type of a Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1959

Specifying an Area Calculation Standard for a Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1960

Classifying a Space According to an Area Calculation Standard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1961

Changing the Area Calculation Standard for Existing Spaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1962

Working with Drawings with Different Area Calculation Standards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1962

User-Defined Area Calculation Standards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1963

Editing Space Boundaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1963

Changing the Type of a Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1972

Changing the Space Height . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1974

Changing the Height of Extruded 3D Spaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1974

Changing the Height of 3D Freeform Spaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1975

Changing the Height of Space Surfaces (Extruded 3D Spaces) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1977

Boolean Operations for Extruded 3D Spaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1978

Creating Interference Conditions for Spaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1978

Removing Interference Conditions from Spaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1979

Merging Extruded 3D Spaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1979

Dividing Extruded 3D Spaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1981

Creating Holes in Extruded 3D Spaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1982

Creating Spaces from the Intersection of Other Spaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1983

Trimming an Extruded 3D Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1986

Removing Voids from Spaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1987

Reversing Space Rings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1988

Reversing All Rings in a Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1988

Boolean Operations for 3D Freeform Spaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1988

Trimming 3D Freeform Spaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1988

Splitting Surfaces of 3D Freeform Spaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1989

Joining Surfaces of 3D Freeform Spaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1990

Merging 3D Freeform Spaces with AEC Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1991

Subtracting AEC Objects from 3D Freeform Spaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1992

Intersecting 3D Freeform Spaces with AEC Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1992

Grip-Editing the Surfaces of 3D Freeform Spaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1993

Editing Space Surface Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1996

Opening the Space/Zone Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1996

Editing Surface Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1998

Editing Ceiling and Floor Surfaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1999

Working with Surface Openings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2000

Contents | xxix

Setting Up Adjacency Relations between Space Surfaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2017

Displaying Adjacency Relations between Space Surfaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2018

Space Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2018

Creating a Space Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2019

Specifying Target Dimensions for the Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2020

Specifying Space Boundary Offsets in a Space Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2020

Attaching a List Definition to a Space Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2021

Specifying Classifications for a Space Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2021

Specifying the Materials of a Space Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2022

Specifying the Display Properties of a Space Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2024

Specifying the Hatching for Components of a Space Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2026

Setting the Object Cut Plane of a Space Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2027

Attaching Notes and Files to a Space Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2028

Converting Area Styles to Space Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2028

List Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2030

Creating a List Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2030

Specifying the Application for a List Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2031

Editing a List Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2031

Attaching Notes and Files to a List Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2032

Zones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2032

Using Zone Tools to Create Zones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2033

Zone Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2034

Creating a Zone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2036

Creating Zones with User-Specified Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2036

Creating Zone Structures from a Zone Template . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2038

Creating a Zone Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2038

Converting Area Groups to Zones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2040

Zones and Spaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2041

Attaching Spaces and Zones to Zones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2041

Detaching Spaces and Zones from Zones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2042

Selecting Spaces and Zones Attached to a Zone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2042

Editing Zones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2043

Renaming a Zone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2043

Changing the Zone Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2043

Changing the Zone Boundary Offset . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2043

Changing the Content Rules of a Zone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2044

Changing the Calculation Type of a Zone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2044

Changing Calculation Modifiers for a Zone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2045

Ordering Zone Structures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2046

Creating Polylines from Zones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2046

Specifying Additional Display Properties for a Zone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2047

Attaching Hyperlinks, Notes, or Files to a Zone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2049

Zone Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2049

Creating a Zone Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2050

Attaching a List Definition to a Zone Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2050

Restricting the Content of a Zone Based on the Zone Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2051

Specifying Classifications for a Zone Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2051

Specifying the Display Properties of a Zone Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2052

Attaching Notes or Files to a Zone Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2055

Converting Area Group Styles to Zone Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2056

Zone Templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2057

Creating a Zone Template . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2057

Building the Structure of a Zone Template . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2058

Attaching Notes and Files to a Zone Template . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2059

Converting Area Group Templates to Zone Templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2060

Working with Space Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2061

Schedule Properties of Spaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2061

Calculation Modifiers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2065

Setting Calculation Cut Planes for 3D Freeform Spaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2069

Generating Output Data and Exporting Space Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2069

xxx | Contents

Space Decomposition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2069

Space Evaluation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2073

Using Spaces for Load Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2081

Conversion of Space Boundaries to Walls and Spaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2087

Appendix 1: Command Changes for Spaces and Areas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2087

Area Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2087

Area Group Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2088

Space Boundary Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2089

Appendix 2: Predefined Area Calculation Standards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2090

Calculating Spaces Based on the Basic Area Calculation Standard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2090

Calculating Spaces Based on the DIN 277 Standard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2091

Calculating Spaces Based on the SIS Standard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2094

Calculating Spaces Based on the BOMA Standard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2098

Appendix 3: Implementing an Area Calculation Standard Plug-in with the AutoCAD Architecture

.NET API . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2101

Implementing an Area Calculation Standard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2102

Implementing Offset Rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2107

Chapter 39 Sections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2123

Sections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2123

Workflow to Create a 2D or 3D Section or a Live Section View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2127

Drawing and Editing Section Lines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2128

Drawing a Section Line and Marks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2129

Changing the Height of a Section Using Grips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2131

Changing the Lower Extension of a Section Using Grips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2132

Changing the Length of a Section Using Grips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2132

Changing the Angle Dimensions of a Section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2133

Creating Graphic Subdivisions for 2D and 3D Sections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2134

Changing a Subdivision Using Grips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2135

Changing Section Mark Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2135

Changing the Location of a Section Line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2136

Modifying a Section Line Using Grips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2136

Attaching Hyperlinks, Notes, and Files to a Section Line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2137

Creating a 2D or 3D Section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2137

Creating a Horizontal 2D Section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2139

Creating and Editing a Live Section View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2140

Creating a Live Section View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2140

Updating a Live Section View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2141

Displaying the Sectioned Body in a Live Section View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2141

Removing a Live Section View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2142

Editing a 2D or 3D Section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2143

Using Grips to Edit Linework in a 2D Section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2143

Changing the Display of Graphic Subdivisions in a 2D Section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2144

Changing the Display of Graphic Subdivisions in a 3D Section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2145

Reversing a 2D or 3D Section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2146

Changing the Style of a 2D Section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2146

Creating a Material Boundary in a 2D Section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2146

Editing a Material Boundary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2147

Editing and Merging Linework in a 2D Section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2150

Changing the Location of a 2D or 3D Section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2152

Attaching Hyperlinks, Notes, and Files to a 2D or 3D Section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2152

Updating a 2D or 3D Section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2153

Globally Updating 2D Sections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2154

Supported Project Drawing Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2155

Globally Updating 2D Sections and Elevations in a Project or a Folder . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2155

Updating Legacy Drawings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2156

2D Section Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2157

Creating a 2D Section Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2158

Adding a Display Component to a 2D Section Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2159

Contents | xxxi

Removing a Display Component from a 2D Section Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2160

About 2D and 3D Section Display Components and Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2160

Use Subdivision Properties and Materials in 2D Section Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2165

Use the 3D Body Component of a Material for the 2D Section Linework . . . . . . . . . . . . 2165

Adding a Design Rule to a 2D Section Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2166

Changing a Design Rule in a 2D Section Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2167

Removing a Design Rule from a 2D Section Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2167

Adding Classifications to a 2D Section Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2167

Changing the Layer, Color, and Linetype of a 2D Section Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2168

Attaching Notes and Files to a 2D Section Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2168

Chapter 40 Elevations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2171

Working With Elevations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2171

Workflow to Create a 2D or 3D Elevation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2175

Drawing and Editing Elevation Lines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2176

Drawing an Elevation Line and Mark . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2178

Changing the Height of an Elevation Using Grips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2179

Changing the Lower Extension of an Elevation Using Grips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2180

Changing the Length of an Elevation Using Grips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2181

Changing the Angle Dimensions of an Elevation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2182

Creating Graphic Subdivisions for 2D and 3D Elevations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2182

Changing Elevation Mark Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2183

Changing the Location of an Elevation Line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2183

Modifying an Elevation Line Using Grips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2184

Attaching Hyperlinks, Notes and Files to an Elevation Line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2185

Creating a 2D or 3D Elevation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2185

Creating a Horizontal 2D Elevation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2187

Editing a 2D or 3D Elevation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2188

Using Grips to Edit Linework in a 2D Elevation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2188

Changing the Display of Graphic Subdivisions in a 2D Elevation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2189

Changing the Display of Graphic Subdivisions in a 3D Elevation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2190

Reversing a 2D or 3D Elevation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2190

Changing the Style of a 2D Elevation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2191

Adding and Removing Custom Components for an Elevation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2191

Specifying the Display of Surface Hatching for an Elevation Subdivision . . . . . . . . . . . . 2192

Specifying the Display of 2D Linework for an Elevation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2193

Creating a Material Boundary in a 2D Elevation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2194

Editing a Material Boundary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2195

Editing and Merging Linework in a 2D Elevation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2197

Changing the Location of a 2D or 3D Elevation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2199

Attaching Hyperlinks, Notes, and Files to a 2D or 3D Elevation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2199

Updating a 2D or 3D Elevation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2200

Globally Updating 2D Elevations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2201

Supported Project Drawing Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2202

Globally Updating 2D Sections and Elevations in a Project or a Folder . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2202

Updating Legacy Drawings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2203

2D Elevation Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2203

Creating a 2D Elevation Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2204

Adding a Display Component to a 2D Elevation Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2205

Removing a Display Component from a 2D Elevation Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2206

About 2D and 3D Elevation Display Components and Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2206

Use Subdivision Properties and Materials in 2D Elevation Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2209

Use the 3D Body Component of a Material for the 2D Elevation Linework . . . . . . . . . . . 2209

Adding a Design Rule to a 2D Elevation Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2210

Changing a Design Rule in a 2D Elevation Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2211

Removing a Design Rule from a 2D Elevation Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2211

Adding Classifications to a 2D Elevation Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2211

Changing the Layer, Color, and Linetype of a 2D Elevation Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2212

Attaching Notes and Files to a 2D Elevation Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2212

xxxii | Contents

Chapter 41 Hidden Line Projection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2215

Hidden Line Projection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2215

Creating a Hidden Line Projection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2215

Chapter 42 AEC Dimensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2217

AEC Dimensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2217

Dimension Options and Uses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2218

Associative Dimensions from Selecting Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2218

Associative Dimensions from Picked Points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2219

Non-Associative Dimensions from Picked Points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2220

AutoCAD Dimensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2220

Process Overview: Creating AEC Dimensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2220

Associative Dimensions from Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2221

Dimension Points for Walls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2221

Dimension Points for Wall Openings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2223

Dimension Points for Grids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2224

Dimension Points for Other Object Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2224

AutoCAD Dimension Points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2225

Associative Dimensions in External References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2227

Associative Dimensions From Picked Points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2227

Specifying AEC Dimension Preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2228

Creating AEC Dimensions Using AEC Dimension Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2230

Creating an AEC Dimension . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2230

Creating an AEC Dimension with User-Specified Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2231

Use Cases for AEC Dimensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2233

Converting an AutoCAD Dimension to an AEC Dimension . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2238

Copying Properties of AEC Dimensions to AutoCAD Dimensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2239

Creating an AEC Dimension Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2240

Editing AEC Dimensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2241

Adding Points to an AEC Dimension . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2241

Detaching Dimension Points from an AEC Dimension . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2245

Restoring Object Points Set in the AEC Dimension Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2246

Removing Non-Style Defined Dimension Points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2247

Reversing the Direction of an AEC Wall Dimension . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2248

Flip Text Position for AEC Dimensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2249

Overriding Associative Wall Component Dimension Points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2250

Repositioning Dimension Texts, Extension Lines, and Dimension Chains . . . . . . . . . . . 2253

Resetting Repositioned Dimension Texts, Extension Lines and Dimension Chains . . . . . . . 2254

Overriding Dimension Values and Hiding Dimension Segments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2255

Changing the AEC Dimension Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2258

Specifying Object Dimension Points for an AEC Dimension . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2258

Specifying the AutoCAD Style and Other Properties for an AEC Dimension . . . . . . . . . . 2259

Attaching Hyperlinks, Notes, and Files to an AEC Dimension . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2261

AEC Dimension Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2261

AEC Dimension Styles and AutoCAD Dimension Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2262

The AEC Dimension Style Wizard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2262

Creating AutoCAD Dimension Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2262

Creating an AEC Dimension Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2263

Changing the Number of Chains in an AEC Dimension Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2264

Changing the AEC Dimension Display Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2264

Defining Dimensioned Objects in the AEC Dimension Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2265

Specifying Object Dimension Points in AEC Dimension Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2266

Selecting the AutoCAD Dimension Styles and Other Properties of AEC Dimension Styles . . . 2268

Changing Style Properties with the AEC Dimension Style Wizard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2269

Attaching Notes and Files to an AEC Dimension Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2272

Q and A for Working with AEC Dimensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2272

Changing Color, Text Size and Arrowheads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2273

Updating AEC Dimensions On Demand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2273

Contents | xxxiii

Changing the Text Height of Superscripted Numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2273

Fixing the Error Symbol . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2273

Finding More Dimension Points than Expected . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2273

Chapter 43 Elevation Labels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2275

Elevation Labels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2275

Using Elevation Label Tools to Create Elevation Labels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2275

Creating an Elevation Label . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2276

Creating Elevation Labels with User-Specified Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2276

Creating an Elevation Label Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2277

Modifying Elevation Labels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2278

Changing the Elevation of an Elevation Label . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2278

Changing the Coordinate System of an Elevation Label . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2279

Changing the Associated Multi-View Block Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2279

Changing the Scale Factor of an Elevation Label . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2279

Changing the Offset of an Elevation Label . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2280

Display the View Blocks and Attributes of an Elevation Label . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2280

Attaching Hyperlinks, Notes, or Files to an Elevation Label . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2281

Creating User-Defined Elevation Labels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2281

Creating a Graphic Symbol . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2282

Adding Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2282

Creating a Block . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2283

Creating a Multi-View Block . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2283

Adding the Elevation Label to the AutoCAD DesignCenter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2283

Chapter 44 Fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2285

Fields Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2285

Inserting Fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2286

Inserting Fields in a Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2286

Inserting Fields in Property Set Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2287

Inserting Field Placeholders in Object Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2289

Adding Fields to Object Style Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2291

Inserting Fields in AutoCAD Text Elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2291

Editing Fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2294

Editing the Field Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2295

Updating Fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2296

Converting Fields to Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2296

AutoCAD Architecture Field Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2296

Project Fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2296

Selecting a Project Field . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2297

Sheet Set Fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2298

Selecting a Sheet Set Field . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2300

Keynote Fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2301

Selecting a Keynote Field . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2302

Database Fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2303

Selecting a Database Field . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2304

Creating a Data Link to an ODBC Source . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2306

Chapter 45 Detail Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2313

Understanding Detail Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2313

Inserting Detail Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2314

Stamp Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2315

Linear Array Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2315

Backfill Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2316

Bookends Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2317

Countable Linear Array Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2318

Surface Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2319

Dynamically Sized Surface Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2320

xxxiv | Contents

Bolt Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2320

Editing Detail Components in a Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2321

Using Detail Component Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2322

Adding Detail Component Tools to a Tool Palette . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2323

Modifying Detail Component Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2325

Applying Detail Component Properties to Linework . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2326

Applying Detail Component Properties to Linework from a Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2326

Applying Detail Component Properties to Linework from the Detail Component Manager . . 2327

Using the Detail Component Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2327

Locating a Detail Component . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2328

Creating and Modifying Detail Component Databases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2330

Configuring Detail Component Database Availability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2349

Adding a Detail Component Database to Available Databases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2349

Removing a Detail Component Database from Available Databases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2350

Setting Detail Component Database Permissions in a Multi-User Environment . . . . . . . . . . . 2351

Merging Old and New Detail Component Databases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2351

Chapter 46 Annotation and Keynoting Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2353

The Basic Annotation Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2353

Creating a Text-Only Annotation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2363

Creating Text with Single Leader Annotation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2363

Adding and Removing Leader Lines from Leaders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2364

Creating a Break Mark . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2366

Creating a Block-Based Annotation with a Leader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2366

Editing a Text-Based Annotation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2367

Editing a Masking Break Mark . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2367

Editing a Block-Based Annotation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2368

Keynoting Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2368

Configuring the Annotation Tool for Keynoting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2369

Using Keynote Insertion Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2371

Using Keynote Legends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2374

Viewing and Editing Keynotes in a Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2380

Specifying Keynotes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2383

Working with Keynote Databases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2385

North Arrow and Datum Point Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2397

Inserting a North Arrow or Datum Point in the Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2398

Fire Rating Line Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2399

Inserting a Fire Rating Line in the Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2399

Match Line Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2400

Inserting a Match Line in the Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2401

Revision Cloud Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2402

Inserting a Revision Cloud in the Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2403

Bar Scale Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2404

Inserting a Bar Scale in the Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2405

Column Grid Bubble Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2405

Inserting a Column Grid Bubble in the Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2407

Editing Annotation Symbols in the Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2407

Editing Block-Based Annotation Symbols . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2407

Editing Polyline-Based Annotation Symbols . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2409

Annotation Scaling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2411

Annotation Tools with Annotative Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2411

Specifying Annotation Scale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2413

Annotation Scales and Viewports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2413

Updating Legacy Annotative Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2415

Derivation of Annotative Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2417

Chapter 47 Callouts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2419

Working with Callouts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2419

Contents | xxxv

Callout Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2421

Workflow for Annotating Drawings with Callouts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2424

The Properties of a Callout Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2425

Setting the Properties of a Callout Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2429

Placing Title Marks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2429

Placing a Title Mark . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2429

Placing Detail Callouts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2430

Creating a Detail in the Current View Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2431

Creating a Detail in an Existing Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2432

Creating a Detail in a New Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2434

Placing Section Callouts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2435

Creating a Section in the Current Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2435

Creating a Section in an Existing Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2436

Creating a Section in a New Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2438

Placing Elevation Callouts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2440

Placing a Single Elevation Callout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2440

Placing a Four-Way Interior Elevation Callout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2442

Placing a Four-Way Exterior Elevation Callout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2443

Placing a Callout Without a Model Space View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2444

Referencing a Callout to an Existing View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2445

Opening a Model Space View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2446

Deleting a Model Space View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2447

Resolving Fields in Callout Symbols . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2447

Working with Callouts Outside a Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2448

Placing a Callout in a Non-Project Drawing File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2448

Opening Model Space Views in a Non-Project Drawing File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2449

Deleting Model Space Views in a Non-Project Drawing File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2450

Creating New Callout Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2450

Using Fields in Callout Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2450

Creating a Callout Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2451

Chapter 48 Schedules and Display Themes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2455

Schedules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2455

Schedule Table Terminology in AutoCAD Architecture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2456

Workflow to Annotate Drawings with Tags and Schedules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2457

Property Sets and Property Set Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2458

Basic Schedules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2461

Adding Schedules Using Schedule Table Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2461

Creating a Schedule Table Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2462

Adding Objects to a Schedule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2463

Removing Objects from a Schedule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2463

Reselecting Objects for a Schedule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2464

Turning Off the Out-of-Date Marker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2464

Updating a Schedule Manually . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2464

Locating and Viewing Scheduled Objects in a Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2465

Schedule Tags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2465

Adding Tags Using Schedule Tag Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2466

Creating a Schedule Tag . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2467

Creating a Schedule Tag Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2469

Anchoring an Existing Schedule Tag to an Object . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2471

Releasing an Anchored Schedule Tag . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2472

Viewing the Connection Between Tags and Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2472

Renumbering Property Set Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2472

Managing Schedule Tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2473

Workflow to Customize Schedule Tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2474

Working with Schedule Table Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2475

Exporting a Schedule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2489

Exporting Schedule Data for Selected Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2490

Specifying the Display Properties of a Schedule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2490

xxxvi | Contents

Changing General Schedule Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2491

Changing the Selection Criteria for a Schedule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2492

Changing the Location of a Schedule Using Grips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2492

Changing External Source Properties of a Schedule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2493

Adding Table Breaks to a Schedule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2493

Adding Documentation Information to a Schedule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2494

Editing Table Cell Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2494

Adding Property Set Data to All Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2496

Property Data Formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2496

Expanding the Scope of Scheduled Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2501

Property Set Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2502

Attaching Property Set Data to Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2502

Entering Manual Properties and Fields for Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2502

Editing or Updating Fields in Manual Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2503

Converting Fields in Manual Properties to Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2504

Removing Property Set Data from an Object . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2504

Attaching Property Set Data to Styles and Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2504

Entering Manual Properties and Fields for Styles and Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2504

Editing Style-Based Property Sets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2505

Editing Style-Based Property Sets Attached to Objects in External References . . . . . . . . . . 2506

Removing Property Set Data from a Style or Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2508

Browsing Property Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2508

Property Set Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2510

Understanding Automatic Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2511

Understanding Formulas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2514

Creating a Property Set Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2521

Attaching Notes or Reference Files to a Property Set Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2521

Specifying How the Property Set Definition is Applied . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2522

Adding a Manual Property Definition to a Property Set Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2523

Adding a Field to a Property Set Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2525

Adding an Automatic Property Definition to a Property Set Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2526

Adding a Location Property Definition to a Property Set Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2527

Adding a Classification Property Definition to a Property Set Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . 2528

Adding a Material Property Definition to a Property Set Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2530

Adding a Project Property Definition to a Property Set Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2531

Adding an Anchor Property Definition to a Property Set Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2532

Adding a Graphic Property Definition to a Property Set Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2533

Sequencing Property Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2534

Hiding Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2534

Editing a Property Set Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2535

Removing All Property Sets from Objects and Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2537

Merging Property Set Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2537

List Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2538

Creating a List Definition for a Manual Property Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2538

Editing List Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2539

Changing the List Item for an Object . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2540

Attaching Notes or Reference Files to a List Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2540

Classification Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2540

Process Overview: Including Classification Data in Schedules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2541

A Classification Use Case . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2542

Creating a Classification Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2544

Specifying the Object Types for a Classification Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2545

Adding Classifications to a Classification Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2545

Attaching Property Set Definitions to a Classification Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2546

Editing a Classification Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2547

Changing the Classification of an Object . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2548

Attaching Notes and Files to a Classification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2549

Display Themes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2549

Process Overview: Creating Display Themes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2549

Creating and Editing Display Themes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2550

Contents | xxxvii

Creating a Display Theme Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2552

Adding a Display Theme to a Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2553

Disabling Display Themes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2554

Activating Display Themes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2554

Display Theme Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2555

Creating a Display Theme Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2556

Troubleshooting Schedule Tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2558

Question Marks in Cells . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2558

Object not Listed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2558

Which Property Sets to Attach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2558

Changing Data in the Schedule Tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2559

Object Numbers Out of Order . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2559

Locating an Object . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2559

Selecting an Empty Cell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2559

INVALID in a Table Cell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2559

Troubleshooting Schedule Table Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2560

Add Column Button Unavailable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2560

Property Sets Unavailable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2560

Quantity Column not Totalling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2560

Matrix Column Displaying Data Instead of a Matrix Symbol . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2560

Troubleshooting Classification Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2560

Empty Classification Tab in Style Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2560

Long Title for a Classification Property . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2561

Classifications Property to a Property Set Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2561

Including Classifications in a Schedule Table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2561

Objects Not Included in the Schedule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2561

Classifications Selected but Object Not Included . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2561

Troubleshooting Schedule Tags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2561

Difference Between Schedule Tags and Project Schedule Tags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2562

Troubleshooting Units . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2562

Values on the Extended Data Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2562

Chapter 49 AEC Content and DesignCenter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2563

Overview of AEC Content . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2563

Predefined AEC Content . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2564

AEC Content in the Content Browser . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2564

AEC Content in DesignCenter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2564

Adding AEC Content to Drawings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2566

Adding Content from the Content Browser . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2566

Adding Content from DesignCenter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2567

Adding Fixture Layouts from DesignCenter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2567

Moving Content Between DesignCenter and the Content Browser . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2567

Creating a Tool from AEC Content in DesignCenter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2568

Creating Custom AEC Content . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2568

Using the AEC Content Wizard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2569

Editing AEC Content . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2577

Modifying DesignCenter Content with the AEC Content Wizard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2577

Modifying Fixture Layouts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2577

Turning Off the Dimension Scale Override . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2578

Other Utilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2579

Chapter 50 Cameras . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2581

Adjusting the Camera Position . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2581

Chapter 51 Converting Objects to 3D Solids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2583

Converting Objects to 3D Solids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2583

xxxviii | Contents

Converting Objects to 3D Solid Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2583

Chapter 52 Visual Audit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2585

Working with Visual Audit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2585

Performing a Visual Audit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2585

Chapter 53 Reference AEC Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2587

Creating an AEC Entity Reference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2587

Adding a Reference to an Object . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2587

Attaching an Object to an Existing Entity Reference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2588

Attaching Hyperlinks, Notes, and Files to an Entity Reference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2588

Changing the Location of an Entity Reference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2588

Chapter 54 Customizing and Adding New Content for Detail Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2591

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2591

A Walkthrough of the Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2592

Component Databases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2594

Recipe Specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2597

Jigs and JigEnts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2611

Common Jigs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2613

Recipe Logging . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2617

Blocks and Block Libraries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2621

Using Optimal Geometry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2622

Naming Blocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2623

Base Points for Blocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2623

Collecting Similar Blocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2623

Block Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2624

Layer Keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2624

Removing Unnecessary Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2624

Chapter 55 Migrating Detail Component and Keynote Databases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2627

Migrating Your Database Modifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2627

Running the Detail Component/Keynote Database Migration Utility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2628

Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2631

Contents | xxxix

xl

Workflow and User Interface

1

2

New Features and Introduction

Welcome to AutoCAD Architecture 2010! Built on the new AutoCAD® 2010 platform, this release is targeted at presenting
a unified user interface and a shared feature set across the Autodesk products. Using the same design principles across
different products improves interoperability, and eases the transition from one product to another.

1

New Features in AutoCAD Architecture 2010

AutoCAD Architecture 2010 is oriented around 3 main themes:

■ Unifying the user interface across Autodesk products to gain accessibility and cross-product compatibility

■ Improved file format interoperability with new Import options

■ Improvements to central drawing objects like walls, spaces, and AEC dimensions

Unifying the User Interface

The user interface of many central Autodesk products, like AutoCAD, AutoCAD Architecture, AutoCAD MEP,
the Revit Suite, Civil 3D, and 3D Studio Max have been redesigned in order to show a common design and
interaction paradigm. The main parts of the new and improved interface are the following:

The Ribbon

Similarly to Microsoft Office, AutoCAD Architecture 2010 now uses the ribbon as the central access point
for commands. The ribbon contains a number of tabs on which commands are grouped according to
conceptual task types or selected objects.

The ribbon replaces the menu bar and the toolbars as the primary command access point.

There are 2 types of ribbon tabs:

■ Static tabs are available regardless of which objects are selected in the drawing area. The commands on

these tabs were previously located on the menus and toolbars.

3

Static Home tab

■ Contextual tabs display depending on the object selected in the drawing area. When you select a door,

a contextual tab for doors is displayed. The commands on the contextual tabs reflect the commands on
the context menu of an object.

Contextual tab for door objects

Ribbon Tooltips

A short description displays whenever you pause the cursor over a command in the ribbon:

For some commands, an extended tooltip displays after a user-specified time interval.

Standard tooltip for command

Extended tooltip for command

The Application Menu

The application menu contains basic commands pertaining to the drawing as a whole such as, Open, Save,

Print, and Export. Like the menu browser it replaces, the application menu is accessed by clicking
in the upper-left corner of the workspace.

4 | Chapter 1 New Features and Introduction

The Quick Access Toolbar

The Quick Access toolbar is a customizable toolbar located at the top of the application window, just to the
right of the application menu button.

By default, this toolbar contains a set of frequently used commands for the application. You can add and
remove commands as needed.

The InfoCenter Toolbar

InfoCenter is a central location where you can search for product-related help and other information sources.
You can search for information through keywords (or by typing a phrase), display the Communication
Center panel for product updates and announcements, or display the Favorites panel to access saved topics.

When you enter keywords or type a phrase, and then press ENTER or click the Search button, you search
multiple Help resources in addition to any files that have been specified in the InfoCenter Settings dialog.
The results are displayed as links on a panel. You can click any of these links to display the Help topic, article,
or document.

Help Menu

With the removal of the menu bars, the commands to access Help features have been moved into the
InfoCenter at the top right of the application window. Here, you can find the Help menu that lets you access
Help, Tutorials, and other interactive resources.

Unifying the User Interface | 5

Improved Import Capabilities

In this version of AutoCAD Architecture, you can access more content and files to help you create your
model and construction documents.

Autodesk Seek

You can use Autodesk Seek to find product design information. Many content providers, both corporate
partners and individual contributors, publish to Autodesk Seek. Content includes 3D models, 2D drawings,
specifications, brochures, and other descriptions of products or components.

Import design content into AutoCAD Architecture

You can also share your own content with others using Autodesk Seek. Upload drawings or blocks to Autodesk
Seek to give your partners and customers ready access to your content.

For more information, see “Use Autodesk Seek to Add and Share Drawings” in the AutoCAD Online Help.

Importing Inventor Files into AutoCAD Architecture

You can now import building components that were created in Autodesk Inventor, and convert them into
blocks or multi-view blocks in AutoCAD Architecture. This improves interoperability between different
products and is another step towards a seamless integrated workflow.

6 | Chapter 1 New Features and Introduction

Inventor building block inserted into AutoCAD Architecture

Drawing Improvements

Wall Cleanup

You can now use edit-in-place tools to specify wall cleanup parameters for intersecting wall segments that
do not clean up on their own as they are drawn. You can use edit-in-place tools to show and hide profile
edges, add and remove vertices, subtract profiles from wall components, merge profiles with wall components,
and trim and extend wall components to a boundary.

When you edit a wall intersection in place, a temporary profile is created for each component in the
intersecting wall segments.

Use the edit-in-place grips and the commands on the Cleanup panel of the Walls tab to make changes to
the cleanup.

Wall Cleanup Edit-in-Place tab

Wall Endcaps

In AutoCAD Architecture 2010, you can manipulate wall components to create appropriate wall endcap
configurations. Use Fillet, Chamfer, Trim, Extend, Subtract, and Merge tools as necessary to do this. You
can modify single wall components or you can modify all components at your wall endcap or opening at
once. In each case, you will be using the Edit in Place feature as you modify the wall components to create
your wall endcap condition.

Drawing Improvements | 7

Filleting a brick veneer corner

Chamfering a CMU corner

AEC Dimensions

When vertical AEC dimensions are rotated greater than 90 degrees, the dimension text flips sides. In some
cases, when dimensions are part of a series of dimensions this is an undesired result.

Using the Text Flip grip addresses this issue by swapping the settings of vertical text position and reading
direction so that the dimension displays correctly.

8 | Chapter 1 New Features and Introduction

Spaces

In addition to the regular objects that can be used as boundary objects for spaces, you can now also use a
space separator tool that lets you separate spaces when no real object is there to separate them. This could
be the case when you have different functional areas within the same room.

Using the space separator tool to create two different spaces in one room

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
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.

The help system is designed to simplify the transition from AutoCAD to AutoCAD Architecture. These help
components will assist new users with previous AutoCAD experience to easily segue into working with
AutoCAD Architecture:

■ User Interface Overview An interactive method for exploring the AutoCAD Architecture user interface.

Available from the Welcome screen, Learning Resources page, Help drop-down menu, and the main Help
page.

■ Where is My Command? A tool that lists commands by their previous menu location in AutoCAD

Architecture and displays their current location on the ribbon.
Available from the Help drop-down menu and the main Help page.

■ Getting Started Movies Short movies about frequently used tasks in AutoCAD Architecture.

Available from the Welcome screen, Learning Resources page, or the main Help page.

A Quick Start for Transitioning from AutoCAD to AutoCAD Architecture | 9

■ Learning Resources A page with links to resources for different levels of expertise.

Available from the Welcome screen, Help drop-down menu, and the main Help page.

■ New Features Workshop An overview of the new features in AutoCAD Architecture.

Available from the Welcome screen, Help drop-down menu, and the main Help page.

■ User Interface Tour A short, introductory video about the AutoCAD Architecture user interface.

Available from www.autodesk.com/autocadarchitecture-uivideo.

The Welcome screen provides centralized access to some of these components and displays when you open
the application.

Welcome Screen

This overview of tasks and how to accomplish them in AutoCAD Architecture can help you get an easy start.
For additional information about the task, open the Help topic or watch a short movie.

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…

with
Auto­CAD
tools

Auto­CAD
Archi-

More InformationRibbon Locationwith

tec­ture
tools

Work
with
Concep­tual
Mass­ing?

10 | Chapter 1 New Features and Introduction

How do
I…

with
Auto­CAD
tools

Auto-

More InformationRibbon Locationwith

CAD
Archi­tec­ture
tools

Massing
Studies?

Create a
Space
Layout
and
Colored
Plans?

Create
Space
Plans?

SolidsDesign

line
and
Hatch

Mass
Ele­ments
and
Mass
Groups

SpacesPoly-

Home tab ➤ Build panel ➤ Box drop­down

Home tab ➤ Build panel ➤ Space drop­down

■ Online Help: Mass Elements and Mass

Groups on page 657

■ Online Help: Space Types on page 1899

■ Getting Started Movie: Creating Spaces to

Calculate Areas

Create
Color Fill
Plans?

Create
Floor
Plans?

Draw
Walls?

Hatch­ing
and
Poly­lines

work
or Mul­tilines

Dis­play
Themes
and
Spaces

WallsLine-

View tab ➤ Appearance panel ➤

➤ Themes drop-down

Home tab ➤ Build panel ➤ Wall drop-

down ➤ Wall

■ Online Help: Process Overview: Creating

Display Themes on page 2549

■ Getting Started Movie: Creating Color-Filled
Presentation Plans

■ Online Help: Walls on page 759

■ Getting Started Movie: Laying Out Floor

Plans

A Quick Start for Transitioning from AutoCAD to AutoCAD Architecture | 11

How do
I…

with
Auto­CAD
tools

Auto-

More InformationRibbon Locationwith

CAD
Archi­tec­ture
tools

Draw
Doors?

Draw
Win­dows?

Draw
Stairs?

Draw
Railings?

Draw
Curtain
Walls?

Add Fur­niture
and Fix­tures?

or Dy­namic
Blocks

Blocks
or Dy­namic
Blocks

work

Line­work

Line­work

DoorsBlocks

Win­dows

StairsLine-

Rail­ings

Cur­tain
Walls

Home tab ➤ Build panel ➤ Door drop-

down ➤ Door

Home tab ➤ Build panel ➤ Window

Home tab ➤ Build panel ➤ Stair drop-

down ➤ Stair

Home tab ➤ Build panel ➤ Stair drop-

down ➤ Railing

Home tab ➤ Build panel ➤ Wall drop-

down ➤ Curtain Wall

■ Online Help: Doors on page 1217

■ Online Help: Windows on page 1275

■ Online Help: Stairs on page 1363

■ Online Help: Railings on page 1507

■ Online Help: Curtain Walls on page 919

Place
Fur­niture,
Fixtures,
and
Equip­ment?

Create
Annota­tion and
Schedul­ing?

Blocks
or Dy­namic
Blocks

Multi­View
Blocks

Insert tab ➤ Block panel ➤ Multi-View

Block

■ Online Help: Multi-View Blocks on page 1881

12 | Chapter 1 New Features and Introduction

How do
I…

with
Auto­CAD
tools

Auto-

More InformationRibbon Locationwith

CAD
Archi­tec­ture
tools

Dimen­sion
Draw­ings?

Schedule
Tags?

Sched­ules
from
Designs?

Dimen­sions

BlocksAdd

TablesExtract

AEC
Di­men­sions

Tag
Tools

Sched­ules

Annotate tab ➤ Dimensions panel ➤ AEC
Dimension drop-down

Annotate tab ➤ Scheduling panel

Annotate tab ➤ Scheduling panel

■ Online Help: AEC Dimensions on page 2217

■ Online Help: Adding Tags Using Schedule

Tag Tools on page 2466

■ Online Help: Managing Schedule Tables on
page 2473

■ Learning Movie: Creating Schedules

Modify
Block
Proper­ties for
Schedul­ing
Data?

Attrib­utes

Prop­erty
Set
Defini­tions

Schedule Table tab ➤ General pan-

el ➤ Edit Style drop-down ➤ Property Set

Definitions

■ Online Help: Property Set Definitions on
page 2510

A Quick Start for Transitioning from AutoCAD to AutoCAD Architecture | 13

How do
I…

with
Auto­CAD
tools

Auto-

More InformationRibbon Locationwith

CAD
Archi­tec­ture
tools

Enlarged
Plans?

Extract
Building
Sec­tions?

Extract
Eleva­tions?

XclipCreate

Line­work

Line­work

Cal­louts
and
Pro­ject
Navig­ator

Sec­tions

Eleva­tions

Annotate tab ➤ Callouts panel ➤

➤ Detail Boundary drop-down

Annotate tab ➤ Callouts panel ➤ Section
drop-down

Annotate tab ➤ Callouts panel ➤ Eleva­tion drop-down

■ Online Help: Working with Callouts on page
2419

■ Online Help: Placing Section Callouts on
page 2435

■ Getting Started Movie: Creating Sections

■ Online Help: Placing Elevation Callouts on

page 2440

Mark up
drawing
revi­sions?

Add De­tails and
Key­notes?

Create
Details?

RE­VCLOUD
com­mand

Line­work

Revi­sion
Clouds

Detail
Com­pon­ents

Home tab ➤ Annotation panel ➤ Revision

drop-down ➤ Revision

Home tab ➤ Details panel ➤ Detail

Components

14 | Chapter 1 New Features and Introduction

■ Online Help: AEC Content in the Content

Browser on page 2564

■ Online Help: Detail Components on page
2313

■ Getting Started Movie: Detailing Your
Designs

How do
I…

with
Auto­CAD
tools

Auto-

More InformationRibbon Locationwith

CAD
Archi­tec­ture
tools

Annot­ate De­tails?

Work in
a Pro­ject?

Create
Presenta­tion
Graph­ics?

Find and
Manage
Con­tent?

Lead­ers

Visual
Styles

Win­dows
Ex­plorer
and
Design­Center

Keynot­ing

Visual
Styles

Con-

®

tent
Browser

Home tab ➤ Annotation panel ➤ Keynote
drop-down

Floating View panel ➤ Visual Styles

Home tab ➤ Build panel ➤ Tools drop-

down ➤ Content Browser

■ Online Help: Keynoting Tools on page 2368

■ Online Help: “Use a Visual Style to Display

Your Model” in the AutoCAD Help

■ Online Help: Content Browser Overview on
page 97

Manage
Layers?

Manage
Project
Draw­ings?

Layer
Proper­ties
Man­ager

Sheet
Set
Man­ager

Layer
Man­ager,
Layer
Key
Styles,
Layer
Stand­ards

Pro­ject
Navig­ator

Home tab ➤ Layers panel ➤ Layer Prop-

erties

Quick Access Toolbar ➤

■ Online Help: Managing Drawing Layers on
page 466

■ Online Help: Working with Layer Keys on
page 492

■ Online Help: Creating and Editing Layer

Standards on page 502

■ Online Help: A Short Overview of Drawing
Management

■ Getting Started Movie: Managing Your
Drawings

A Quick Start for Transitioning from AutoCAD to AutoCAD Architecture | 15

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 2010 ➤ AutoCAD Architecture

2010.

NOTE AutoCAD Architecture 2010 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.

Finding Help

With AutoCAD Architecture 2010, 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.

There are various available resources to help you learn about AutoCAD Architecture 2010 and AutoCAD

2010.

AutoCAD Architecture 2010 Help

AutoCAD Architecture 2010 Online Tutorials

AutoCAD Architecture 2010 New Features Workshop

®

DescriptionDocumentation

Explains how to install and configure AutoCAD Architecture 2010.AutoCAD Architecture 2010 Installation Guide

Explains AutoCAD Architecture concepts and provides step-by­step procedures.

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

2010.

16 | Chapter 1 New Features and Introduction

DescriptionDocumentation

AutoCAD Architecture 2010 Getting Started Movies

AutoCAD Architecture 2010 User Interface Overview

AutoCAD Architecture 2010 Where is My Command?

AutoCAD 2010 User’s Guide

Demonstrates typical and frequently used tasks in AutoCAD Ar­chitecture.

Provides a method to discover features in the AutoCAD Architec­ture user interface interactively.

Helps you identify the location of commands on the ribbon in
AutoCAD Architecture 2010.

Provides links to resources for different experience levels.AutoCAD Architecture 2010 Learning Resources

Provides conceptual and overview material with step-by-step
procedures for AutoCAD 2010.

Gives an overview of the new features in AutoCAD 2010.AutoCAD 2010 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 2010 Help

With the removal of the menu bars, the commands to access Help features have been moved into the
InfoCenter at the top right of the application window.

1 Click the Help button ( ) at the right side of the InfoCenter toolbar, and click Help.

2 When the Help window is displayed, click the AutoCAD Architecture 2010 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.

Finding Help | 17

Using the Table of Contents to browse Help

To access AutoCAD Architecture 2010 Tutorials

1 Click the drop-down arrow next to the Help button ( ) at the right side of the InfoCenter toolbar,

and click Tutorials.

2 When the Tutorials 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 the AutoCAD Architecture 2010 New Features Workshop

1 Click the drop-down arrow next to the Help button ( ) at the right side of the InfoCenter toolbar,

and click New Features Workshop.

2 On the Main Menu page, click the category for the feature you want to learn about.

To access the AutoCAD Architecture 2010 Getting Started Movies

1 Click the drop-down arrow next to the Help button ( ) at the right side of the InfoCenter toolbar,

click Welcome Screen.

2 On the Welcome screen, select a movie under Getting Started Movies on the right pane.

To access the AutoCAD Architecture 2010 User Interface Overview

1 Click the drop-down arrow next to the Help button ( ) at the right side of the InfoCenter toolbar,

and click User Interface Overview.

2 Hold your cursor over different sections of the user interface for more information.

18 | Chapter 1 New Features and Introduction

To access AutoCAD Architecture 2010 Where is My Command?

1 Click the drop-down arrow next to the Help button ( ) at the right side of the InfoCenter toolbar,

and click Where is My Command?.

2 Click an AutoCAD Architecture 2009 menu in the left pane to display where those menu options exist

on the ribbon in AutoCAD Architecture 2010.

To access AutoCAD Architecture 2010 Learning Resources

1 Click the drop-down arrow next to the Help button ( ) at the right side of the InfoCenter toolbar,

and click Learning Resources.

2 Select one of the resources to learn more.

To access AutoCAD 2010 Help

1 Click the Help button ( ) at the right side of the InfoCenter toolbar, and 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 2010 New Features Workshop

1 Click the Help button ( ) at the right side of the InfoCenter toolbar, and 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.

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

Autodesk Training Programs and Products | 19

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.

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 New Features and Introduction

The Workspace

2

The AutoCAD Architecture workspace is a highly customizable graphical user interface designed to accommodate the
various workflows and work styles 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).

Changes to the Workspace in the 2010 Release

For the 2010 release, the workspace has been redesigned to make it easier and faster for you to find and use
the tools and commands you need for the task at hand. This new user interface is described in detail in the
following sections, but here are the highlights:

The Ribbon

Similarly to Microsoft Office, AutoCAD Architecture 2010 now uses the ribbon as the central access point
for commands. The ribbon contains a number of tabs on which commands are grouped according to
conceptual task types or selected objects.

The ribbon replaces the menu bar and the toolbars as the primary command access point.

The Application Menu

The application menu contains basic commands pertaining to the drawing as a whole, such as Open, Save,

Print, and Export. Like the menu browser it replaces, the application menu is accessed by clicking
in the upper-left corner of the workspace.

21

Workspaces

AutoCAD Architecture is equipped with one single default workspace (Architecture). The menus and
commands associated with the previously provided workspaces (Design, Document, Detailing, and
Visualization) can now be accessed from the tabs of the ribbon.

NOTE The tool palette groups associated with the previous default workspaces are still available from the context
menu of the tool palettes set.

Drawing Status Bar Menu

The drawing status bar menu has been removed from AutoCAD Architecture 2010. Commands formerly
found there can now be accessed from the application menu.

Commands on the old menu

Help Access

With the removal of the menu bars, the commands to access Help features have been moved into the
InfoCenter at the top right of the application window. Here, you can find the online resources of InfoCenter
and the Help menu, which lets you access Help, Tutorials, and other interactive resources.

22 | Chapter 2 The Workspace

Toolbars

Toolbars have been removed from AutoCAD Architecture. Commands formerly found on toolbars can now
be accessed from the ribbon.

Autodesk Seek

You can use Autodesk Seek to find product design information. Many content providers, both corporate
partners and individual contributors, publish to Autodesk Seek. Content includes 3D models, 2D drawings,
specifications, brochures, and other descriptions of products or components.

Import design content into AutoCAD Architecture

You can also share your own content with others using Autodesk Seek. Upload drawings or blocks to Autodesk
Seek to give your partners and customers ready access to your content.

For more information, see “Use Autodesk Seek to Add and Share Drawings” in the AutoCAD Help.

The Workspace Concept

In AutoCAD Architecture, a workspace is the basic user interface that includes those controls, commands,
and palettes you need for your architectural process. When you first start AutoCAD Architecture, the default
Architecture workspace is displayed.

You can reconfigure the workspace according to your preferences as you work. You can move or hide various
components as needed, display additional ribbon controls, 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. For more information, see “Create Task-Based
Workspaces” in the AutoCAD Help.

The Workspace Concept | 23

Default configuration of the Architecture workspace

Workspace Components

The workspace consists of a drawing window with ribbon, tool palettes, and other controls that you use to
set up an architectural project, create your design, and generate construction documents.

In the following sections, each component of the workspace is described in detail. Components can be
turned off and on for different workspaces, depending on your requirements.

For an interactive guide to the user interface, click the Help button in the InfoCenter on the top right of the
application window, and click User Interface Overview.

The Ribbon

The ribbon is the central location for accessing commands in AutoCAD Architecture. The ribbon is organized
into tabs that reflect common tasks in the drawing process. There are 2 types of tabs:

■ Static tabs are available regardless of which objects are selected in the drawing area. The commands on

these tabs were previously located on the menus and toolbars.

24 | Chapter 2 The Workspace

Static Home tab

■ Contextual tabs display depending on the object selected in the drawing area. When you select a door,

a contextual tab for doors is displayed. The commands on the contextual tabs reflect the commands on
the context menu of an object.

Contextual tab for door objects

Displaying the Ribbon

To display the ribbon if it is not displayed in your workspace, or has been closed, enter ribbon on the
command line.

You can use the button at the right of the tab names to modify the appearance of the ribbon as follows:

■ To display only the panel titles of the ribbon tabs, click (Minimize to Panel Titles) at the top right

of the ribbon.

■ To display only the tab names as titles, click again (Minimize to Tabs).

■ To redisplay the full ribbon, click a third time (Show Full Ribbon).

Using the Ribbon

To start a command from the ribbon

1 If the ribbon is not displayed by default, enter ribbon on the command line.

2 Click the desired tab.

3 Move the cursor over the commands on the tab as needed to view tooltips describing the commands.

4 Click a command.

The Ribbon | 25

Some ribbon commands are grouped under a drop-down menu. You can access them by clicking the
arrow next to the command.

Some panels have an expansion arrow to indicate that the panel can be expanded. The expanded
part typically contains commands that are less frequently used.

5 The expanded panel is displayed when you click the arrow . To pin the expanded part of the panel

onscreen, click .

To tear off a panel from a static ribbon tab

6 If you want a panel from a static tab to remain in your workspace when you switch to another tab, you

can tear the panel off its tab and use it as a floating palette. To do so, move the cursor over the title bar
of the panel, and then drag the panel off the ribbon and into the drawing area.

26 | Chapter 2 The Workspace

To return a floating panel to the ribbon

7 Move the cursor over the floating panel, and click Return Panels to Ribbon.

To hide and display tabs and panels

8 To hide tabs and panels or display a particular tab or panel, right-click anywhere on the ribbon and

click Tabs or Panels (Show Tabs or Show Panels if you right-click on an empty area of the ribbon), and
click the tab or panel name to deselect or select it.

A check mark displays beside the tab or panel name if it is selected.

Locating Commands in the Workspace

The ribbon is intuitive and task-related, and the transition from menus and toolbars to the new user interface
will in most cases be quick and easy. However, it is a new design, and the following tips might help you
make a more seamless transition.

Where is My Command? Tool

The Where is My Command? tool is a help file that lists commands by their previous menu location and
displays their current location on the ribbon.

The Ribbon | 27

You can access the Where is My Command? tool from the Help menu ➤ Where is My Command, or from
the landing page of the online Help.

Searching the Home Tab

The Home tab contains the most frequently used commands within the software. Basic object and drawing
tools can be found here, as well as frequently used utilities like modification tools, layers and basic annotation.
Use the Home tab as your starting point in a new drawing.

Finding Commands with the Application Menu

The application menu has a Search mode, where you can enter a command name or part of it, and see a list
of locations in the user interface where the command can be accessed. For more information, see Using the

Application Menu to Locate Commands on page 34.

Searching by Context

Commands that refer to a selected object can be found on the contextual tab of that object.

Door contextual tab

The command layout of the contextual tab of an object is in most cases based on the structure of commands
on the context menu of the object.

28 | Chapter 2 The Workspace

Door context menu

For example, on the context menu of a door you can find the Add Selected command. On the contextual
Door tab, you can find the Add Selected command on the General panel.

Finding More Information about the Ribbon

Use the following resources to find out more about the ribbon.

Click Help menu ➤ Learning Resources, and choose from these items:

■ User Interface Overview (interactive)

■ Tutorials

To access the Where is My Command? tool, click Help menu ➤ Where is My Command?

The Static Ribbon Tabs

The workspace comprises a set of static tabs that are optimized for architectural tasks. The default Architecture
workspace for the US version of AutoCAD Architecture 2010 includes the following static tabs on the ribbon:

The Home Tab

The Home tab contains the most frequently used commands within the software. Basic object and drawing
tools can be found here, as well as frequently used utilities like modification tools, layers, and basic annotation.

■ Build. Contains the basic commands for adding the most commonly used objects, like walls, doors, and

mass elements, as well as commands for opening the Tool palettes on page 56, The Properties Palette on
page 82, and the Content Browser on page 97.

■ Draw. Contains common linework tools, like lines, polylines, and rectangles, as well as hatch and

boundary tools and AEC Polygons on page 1189.

The Ribbon | 29

■ Modify. Contains commands for manipulating objects and linework in a drawing. In addition to standard

commands like Move, Rotate, Erase, Offset, Mirror, Scale, Array, Explode, Join, there is also a command
for converting AEC objects to mass elements on page 683 and converting mass elements to 3D Solids on
page 682.

■ Layers. Contains commands that you need to work with layers. You can open the Layer Manager on

page 466 and the Layer States Manager on page 485 from here.

■ Annotation. Contains basic commands for inserting text, leaders, and dimensions. For a larger selection

of annotation commands, see the Annotate tab on page 31.

■ Inquiry. Contains commands for measuring distance and areas, and the AutoCAD list command.

Furthermore, you can find commands for evaluating architectural spaces on page 2073.

■ Section and Elevation. Contains commands for generating sections on page 2123 and elevations on page

2171 of your plan or model. To create sections and elevations with Callouts on page 2419, see the Callouts
panel on the Annotate tab on page 31.

■ Details. Accesses Detail Component Manager on page 2327 from which you can insert detail components

directly into drawings or onto tool palettes.

Floating View Panel

The floating View panel offers access to the commands for views, visual styles, and the Zoom and Pan tools.
This panel is not docked to the ribbon by default, and you can access it independently of the current ribbon
tab. You can dock the floating View panel to the Home tab, if desired.

The Insert Tab

The Insert tab lets you work with references, multi-view blocks, blocks, attributes, and content from external
sources like Content Browser and Autodesk Seek.

■ Reference. Contains commands for working with external references (xrefs), DWF/DWFx files, DGN

underlays, and raster images.

■ Block. Contains commands for inserting and editing blocks and multi-view blocks on page 1890.

■ Attributes. Contains commands for creating and editing attributes.

■ Import. Contains commands for importing WMF, ACIS, 3D Studio Max, DGN, and LandXML files.

■ Content. Contains commands for inserting content from Content Browser on page 97, from DesignCenter,

or from Autodesk Inventor into your drawing.

■ Seek. Lets you search online for prefabricated design content. For more information about Seek, see “Use

Autodesk Seek to Share Drawings” in the AutoCAD Help.

30 | Chapter 2 The Workspace

The Annotate Tab

The Annotate tab contains commands that help you to mark up your drawing files.

■ Tools. Accesses the Document tool palettes set.

■ Text. Contains all commands for text and text styles and accesses the Fields editor.

■ Dimensions. Contains commands for inserting and editing both AEC on page 2217 and AutoCAD

dimensions.

■ Scheduling. Contains commands for inserting schedule tables on page 2461 for basic objects, creating and

inserting schedule tags on page 2465, and running a space evaluation on page 2073. Additionally, you can

create schedule table styles on page 2475, and renumber property set data on page 2472.

■ Callouts. Contains commands for placing title marks on page 2429, sections on page 2435, elevations on page

2440, and detail views on page 2430.

■ Keynoting. Contains commands for adding sheet and reference keynotes on page 2368, keynote legends

on page 2374, opening the keynote editor on page 2383, and selecting a keynote database on page 2385.

■ Markup. Accesses commands for marking up a drawing for review. You can add revision clouds on page

2402, mask blocks on page 1865, wipeouts, open the Markup Set Manager, and load a markup DWF.

■ Annotation Scaling. Commands here let you add the current scale to objects, display and edit the scale

list, and add and delete scales for annotative objects.

The Render Tab

The Render tab contains all commands you need to work with rendering, materials, lights, cameras, and
animations.

■ Render. Contains commands for rendering a model or a region of it, defining render settings, generating

a render output file, and opening the Advanced Render settings palette.

■ Materials. Here, you can open the Materials palette, activate and deactivate materials and textures, and

set the material mapping.

■ Sun and Location. Here you can set parameters for natural sunlight.

■ Lights. Contains commands for setting spotlights and shadows, selecting international lighting units,

and enabling photometric lighting.

■ Camera. Contains commands for creating and adjusting camera views.

■ Animations. Contains commands for creating a WMV animation, as well as a model walk-through and

fly-through.

The View Tab

The View tab is the central location for defining and changing views and navigating the drawing.

The Ribbon | 31

NOTE The View tab contains a number of commands also found on the application status bar.

■ Navigate. Contains the ViewCube on page 54 and SteeringWheels on page 55, as well as the Pan, Zoom,

and Orbit commands.

■ Appearance. Here, you can select predefined views, create new views, open View Manager, select a visual

style, open the Visual Styles Manager, and define Walk and Fly settings. You can access predefined display

themes on page 2549. You can also adjust clip planes and access the Regenerate commands.

■ Coordinates. Contains commands relevant to the World Coordinate System (WCS) or User Coordinate

System (UCS).

■ Viewports. Here you can switch between different viewport configurations, create new viewports, and

clip and join viewports.

■ Face Effects. Contains commands for defining object settings, including shading, color, face lighting,

and x-ray.

■ Edge Effects. Contains command for defining edge settings, including facet edges, isolines, edge overhang,

jitter, and silhouette. You can also define the color of obscured edges and edge intersections here.

■ Windows. Contains most of the commands that were on the Window menu in previous versions. Here

you can switch between open drawings, arrange open windows onscreen, lock the workspace windows,
display and hide the drawing window status bar on page 39, turn items on the drawing window status
bar on an off, and display the text window.

The Manage Tab

On the Manage tab, you can find features for advanced users and CAD managers.

■ Action Recorder. Contains commands for recording and playing action macros.

■ CAD Standards. Contains commands for configuring AutoCAD standards, check your drawing for

standards violations, and start Layer Translator.

■ Project Standards. Contains commands associated with project standards on page 387 for an AEC project.

You can configure project standards, synchronize the project with its standards, synchronize standards
with each other, and audit projects and drawings.

■ Style and Display. Accesses the Style Manager on page 566, the Display Manager on page 513, the AEC

Dimension Style Wizard on page 2262, the structural member catalog on page 1661, and the structural member
wizard on page 1664. You can also define and insert profiles on page 1855.

■ Applications. Contains commands for loading extra applications, like ARX, LSP, or VB applications, and

running user-defined scripts and VBA macros. Also accesses the VBA Manager and the Visual Basic and
Visual Lisp editors here.

■ Customization. Accesses the User Interface Editor (CUI) and the Tool palettes on page 56.

32 | Chapter 2 The Workspace

The Application Menu

The application menu contains commands that are relevant for the drawing as a whole.

The application menu contains commands for the following file operations:

■ Create new drawings and projects

■ Open drawing files, project files, DGN files, and IFC files

■ Save drawings to the current file format, to AutoCAD 2007 file format, as DWT file, or as DWS file

■ Export files to DGN, DWF, PDF, IFC, gBXML, and DuctXML formats, and previous versions of AutoCAD

■ Plot drawings

■ Publish drawings to Map Guide, DWF, PDF, Seek, and eTransmit

■ Access drawing setup and drawing utilities

■ Access the program options

■ Close drawings and projects

■ Exit AutoCAD Architecture

Accessing the Application Menu

To access the application menu, click at the upper-left corner of the workspace.

The application menu remains open as long as the cursor is located inside the application menu window.
To close the application menu, either activate a menu command, or click outside of the application menu
window.

The Application Menu | 33

Using the Application Menu to Locate Commands

In the application menu, you can search for a command and then select it from the list of matches. Search
results are retrieved from the following locations:

■ Application menu

■ Static ribbon tabs

■ Any contextual tab currently on display

■ Quick Access toolbar

You can enter the following strings to search for:

■ Display name of the command in application menu, ribbon or Quick Access toolbar. For example, you

can enter “Style Manager” or “Plot Preview.”

■ Part of the display name: If you are not sure what the exact name is you can enter a part of the name,

for example “Style” or “Save.” This will retrieve all commands that contain that string.

■ Actual command name: You can enter the name of a command as it would be typed on the command

line, for example “aecstylemanager” or “dist.” This will retrieve all locations where this command can
be found.

IMPORTANT When searching for AutoCAD Architecture commands, you must add the Aec prefix (for example,

aecwalladd instead of walladd) to the command.

In addition to instances of the search string, the results include the contents of the associated tooltip and
any search tags you have defined in the Customize User Interface editor (CUI). For information about search
tags, see “Assign Search Tags” in the AutoCAD Help.

1 At the upper-left corner of the workspace, click to open the application menu.

2 In the text entry box at the top of the menu, enter the desired search term.

A list of matches replaces the regular application menu display.

34 | Chapter 2 The Workspace

3 To select one of the found commands, click it.

4 To return to the regular application menu display, click at the right side of the text entry

box.

Displaying Recently Opened Documents in the Application Menu

The application menu lets you display a list of recently opened documents according to preferences you
specify.

1 Click to open the application menu.

2 At the top of the menu, click Recent Documents .

3 At the top of the menu, under Recent Documents, specify how you want documents grouped:

■ By access date

■ By Size

■ By Type (DWG, APJ, and DGN)

■ By Ordered List (alphabetical order)

4 At the top right of the list of documents, click to specify whether to display file type icons

or preview images next to the document names.

The Application Menu | 35

5 If you want to keep a document in the list, regardless of its last-saved date, click its pushpin to

change the image from to . The document will remain in the list until you unpin it.

Displaying Currently Open Documents in the Application Menu

The application menu lets you display currently open documents.

1 Click to open the application menu.

2 At the top of the menu, click Open documents .

3 At the top right of the list of documents, click to specify whether to display file type icons

or preview images next to the document names.

Changing the Number of Recent Files and Actions in the Application Menu

Use this procedure to change the default number (9) of recent documents displayed in the application menu:

1 Click to open the application menu.

2 At the bottom of the application menu, click Options.

3 On the Open and Save tab of the Options dialog, under Application Menu, change the value

for Number of recently-used files.

4 Click OK.

The Quick Access Toolbar

The Quick Access toolbar is a customizable toolbar located at the top of the application window, just to the
right of the application menu button.

By default, this toolbar contains a set of frequently used commands for the application. You can add and
remove commands as needed.

To add a command from the ribbon

1 On the ribbon, locate the command you want to add.

2 Right-click the command, and click Add to Quick Access Toolbar.

NOTE Not all commands can be added to the Quick Access Toolbar. If a command is ineligible, the

Add to Quick Access Toolbar command is not visible in the context menu.

To add other commands to the Quick Access Toolbar

3 On the Quick Access Toolbar, click the down arrow at the right end of the toolbar, and select

More Commands.

36 | Chapter 2 The Workspace

To remove a command from the Quick Access toolbar

Context Menus

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 door objects are selected, a door-specific context menu is displayed
as shown.

Door context menu

4 In the Customize User Interface Editor, select the command you want to add and drag it onto

the Quick Access toolbar.

➤ Select the command on the Quick Access Toolbar, right-click, and click Remove from Quick

Access Toolbar.

Most commands that can be found on the context menu of an object exist in the contextual ribbon tab of
the object, too.

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. Likewise, the ribbon displays a Multiple Objects contextual tab that
contains only the applicable commands. If no objects are selected, the general context menu is displayed
as shown below. This menu contains non-object-specific commands.

General drawing context menu

Context Menus | 37

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.

Design tool palette with tools for standard design objects

For more information, see Working with Tool Palettes on page 56.

Properties Palette

The Properties palette provides a central location to view and modify both the physical and graphical
properties of an object. The object can be one you are about to draw, or one that is already 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.

Properties Palette for a standard wall object

38 | Chapter 2 The Workspace

For more information, see The Properties Palette on page 82.

Drawing Status Bar

Located at the bottom of the drawing area, the drawing status bar displays status information about the
current drawing and provides access to the following commands that can be applied to the drawing.

The drawing status bar contains the following information and controls:

■ 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 199.

■ Annotation Scale: To change the annotation scale for the current viewport, click the current value, and

select a new one from the list. Changing the scale may also change the Level of Detail setting described
below.

■ Annotation Visibility: 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 367.

■ (Surface Hatch Toggle): Lets you switch the display of surface hatching on or off. For more information,

see Working with Surface Hatches on page 590.

■ (Layer Key Overrides): Lets you switch layer key overrides on or off in the Layer Key Overrides dialog.

For more information, see Layer Key Overrides on page 500.

■ (Isolate Objects): Lets you hide or display objects you have selected in the drawing. For more

information, see Editing Objects in Temporary Views on page 748.

Drawing Status Bar | 39

■ (AEC Project Standards): When a project is loaded, click here to synchronize or configure standards

for the current project. For more information, see Project Standards on page 387.

■ (Autodesk Trusted DWG): This icon indicates that you have opened a DWG, DWT, or DWS file that

is created using Autodesk applications or RealDWG™-based applications.

■ (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. For
more information, see Configuring Project Standards on page 393.

■ Drawing Status Bar Menu: A drop-down list of the settings and commands available for display on the

drawing status bar.

Showing and Hiding Commands on the Drawing Status Bar

You can specify which features on the drawing status bar menu are shown or hidden as needed.

Showing and Hiding the Drawing Status Bar

The drawing status bar can be turned on and off from the ribbon or from the application status bar on page

41. Turning the drawing status bar off will increase the size of the drawing area.

To show and hide the drawing status bar, click View tab ➤ Windows panel ➤ Drawing Status Bar.

Command Line

1 at the right end of the drawing status bar, click the drawing status bar menu arrow.

2 Select commands you want show, and clear commands you want to hide.

You can directly enter commands using the command line window located immediately below the drawing
status bar.

To hide and display the command line window, click View tab ➤ Windows panel ➤ Command Line.

40 | Chapter 2 The Workspace

If you want to hide the command line window except for its title bar when you are not using it, click
on the title bar of the command line window. Moving the cursor over the title bar will redisplay the command
line window.

Application Status Bar

The application status bar contains settings for the current drawing session. Some settings, such as options
for different elevations, only display if you are working within a project.

The group of commands on the left side of the application status bar can be displayed as icons or text labels.

Commands displayed as icons

Commands displayed as text labels

To change the display of these commands right-click any of them, and select Use Icons.

To activate or deactivate any of the commands in this group, click the icon or label. Blue indicates an active
control; gray indicates an inactive control. To change the settings for one of these commands, right-click
the icon or label, and click Settings.

For detailed information about these options, see “Use Precision Tools” in the AutoCAD Help.

The following commands and settings are available on the application status bar:

■ Cursor coordinate values: Controls the coordinate format as either relative or absolute. For more

information, see “Overview of Coordinate Entry” in the AutoCAD Help.

■ (Snap): Lets you restrict the movement of the cursor to the drawing grid.

■ (Grid): Lets you display a rectangular grid as a drawing aid.

■ (Ortho): Lets you restrict cursor movement to horizontal and vertical directions when creating and

modifying objects.

■ (Polar Tracking): Lets you restrict cursor movement to specified angles.

■ (Object Snap): Lets you restrict movement of the cursor to specified points on objects, such as the

midpoint or an intersection point.

■ (Object Snap Tracking): Lets the cursor track along alignment paths based on other object snap

points when specifying points in a command. This feature can be used only in conjunction with Object
Snap.

Application Status Bar | 41

■ (Dynamic UCS): Lets you temporarily and automatically align the XY plane of the UCS with a plane

on a solid model while creating objects.

■ (Dynamic Input): Lets you enter values for objects directly onscreen near the cursor. Dynamic input

can be turned on and off during creating or editing an object in the drawing area.

■ (Lineweight): Lets you turn the lineweight display component on or off for objects in the drawing.

In model space, lineweights are displayed in pixels and do not change when zoomed in or out. Displaying
the lineweight could create some very heavy line display.

■ (Quick Properties): This feature is intended for AutoCAD objects and is turned off in AutoCAD

Architecture.

■ (Model Space) or (Paper Space): Switches between layouts. For more information, see “Work

with Model Space and Paper Space” in the AutoCAD Help.

■ (Quick View Layouts): Lets you preview model space and all layouts in a drawing as a horizontal

row of images. Click on a preview image to display the layout. For more information, see Quick View

Tools on page 53 and “Navigate within a Drawing (Model Space and Layouts)” in the AutoCAD Help.

■ (Quick View Drawings): Lets you preview all currently open drawings with their model space and

layouts. Click on the preview image to display the drawing or layout. For more information, see Quick

View Tools on page 53 and “Navigate Between Open Drawings” in the AutoCAD Help.

■ (ShowMotion): Provides an onscreen display that can be used to create, select, and play back cinematic

camera animations called shots. These animations can be used for presentation purposes or for navigation.
For more information, see “ShowMotion” in the AutoCAD Help.

■ (Pan): Lets you drag the view to reposition it within the drawing area

■ (Zoom): Lets you increase or decrease the apparent size of objects in the drawing area

■ (SteeringWheel): Lets you display a tracking menu containing different navigation tools. For more

information, see “Navigate with SteeringWheels” in the AutoCAD Help.

■ (Workspaces): Lets you switch between workspaces. For more information, see The Workspace

Concept on page 23.

■ (Toolbar/Window Positions): Lets you switch between docked windows and toolbars and floating

windows and toolbars.

■ Elevation: Lets you define the elevation of the construct relative to the level you have selected. This

button opens the Elevation Offset worksheet where you enter or pick the elevation offset.

■ (Replace Z value with current elevation): Can be switched on or off, replacing the existing Z value

with the current elevation.

42 | Chapter 2 The Workspace

■ (Clean Screen): Click to switch 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.

Showing and Hiding Commands on the Application Status Bar

You can show or hide individual commands on the application status bar menu.

1 At the right end of the application status bar, click the application status bar menu arrow.

2 Select commands as desired.

NOTE Alternatively, you can click View tab ➤ Windows panel ➤ Status Bar to access these commands.

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 199.

Project Navigator palette

Project Navigator Palette | 43

Finding Information in AutoCAD Architecture

In addition to online help and tutorials, AutoCAD Architecture provides various ways to quickly access the
information you need to be successful with new and existing features. Review the sections below to learn
how you can get help quickly and with minimal disruption of your workflow.

InfoCenter Toolbar

InfoCenter is a central location where you can search for product-related help and other information sources.
You can search for information through keywords (or by typing a phrase), display the Communication
Center panel for product updates and announcements, or display the Favorites panel to access saved topics.

When you enter keywords or type a phrase, and then press ENTER or click the Search button, you search
multiple Help resources in addition to any files that have been specified in the InfoCenter Settings dialog.
The results are displayed as links on a panel. You can click any of these links to display the Help topic, article,
or document.

In addition, Communication Center displays Did You Know balloons for selected feature areas. These balloons
provide knowledge base information and general instructional messages such as tips. You can click on the
arrow icon to expand the balloon to view the detailed information.

For detailed information about InfoCenter, see “Find Information Using InfoCenter” in the AutoCAD Help.

Help Menu

With the removal of the menu bars, the commands to access Help features have been moved into the
InfoCenter at the top right of the application window. Here, you can find the Help menu that lets you access
Help, Tutorials, and other interactive resources.

44 | Chapter 2 The Workspace

Communication Center

Communication Center is accessed from the InfoCenter toolbar. This resource displays links to information
about product updates and product announcements, and may include links to Subscription Center, CAD
Manager specified files, and RSS feeds.

F1 Context Help

For many commands and dialogs you can access a context-related Help topic using one of the following
methods:

■ Press F1 while a command is active or a dialog is open.

■ Press F1 while a ribbon tooltip is displayed.

■ Click the Help button in a dialog.

Tooltips

In addition to interactive tooltips that help you to create and edit objects (see Direct Editing with Grips and

Dynamic Dimensions on page 87), AutoCAD Architecture provides tooltips that display information about

the command, option, or file over which you pause the cursor.

Command Tooltips

A short description displays whenever you pause the cursor over a command in any of the following locations:

■ The ribbon

■ The Quick Access toolbar

For some commands, an extended tooltip displays after a user-specified time interval.

Standard tooltip for command

Extended tooltip for command

F1 Context Help | 45

Controlling the Display of Command Tooltips

You can change the display of command tooltips. For extended tooltips you can define a time interval
between the display of the basic tooltip and the extended tooltip.

1 Click ➤ Options.

2 Click the Display tab.

3 Under Window Elements, select Show Tooltips.

4 If you want to change the time interval between displaying the basic tooltip and the extended

tooltip, select a different value for Number of seconds to delay. If you want to turn off the
extended tooltip information completely, deselect Show extended Tooltips.

5 Click OK.

Dialog and Palette Tooltips

The following dialogs and palettes support extended tooltips:

■ Project Browser dialog

■ Project Navigator palette

■ Drawing Compare palette

Object Rollover Tooltips

When you pause the cursor over an object in the drawing area, an informational tooltip displays basic
information about the object.

46 | Chapter 2 The Workspace

Unlike the rollover tooltips provided for AutoCAD objects, such as lines or polylines, this information is
standardized and cannot be changed. For information on how to configure rollover tooltips for AutoCAD
objects, see “Customize Rollover Tooltips” in the AutoCAD Customization Guide.

Property Palette Tooltips

The Properties palette displays tooltips when you pause the cursor over a property in the list.

Thumbnail (Preview) Tooltips

In the Project Navigator, you can display thumbnail previews of project drawings. The preview can be a
graphic or a detail, or a combination of both. Displaying thumbnails can be helpful when you are navigating
large projects with many drawings.

Tooltips | 47

To activate preview tooltips in the Project Navigator

1 On the Quick Access Toolbar, click .

2 In the Project Navigator, open the Constructs, Views, or Sheets tab.

3 Right-click in the toolbar area at the bottom of the tab.

4 Click Tooltip Style, and select one of these options:

To displayUse this option…

Name

Preview

Details

Preview & Details

only the name of the drawing file, maxim­izing the file tree visibility.

only a preview image of the drawing at
the size you specify (Small, Medium, or
Large).

only a text description of the file, identify­ing its location, size, last-saved date, and
last editor.

both a a text description and a preview
image at the size you specify (Small, Medi­um, or Large).

5 If you want a static display of the preview image or the detailed file description, right-click in

the toolbar area again, and click Preview/Details Pane. Regardless of which tooltip style is selected,
this option displays a preview of a selected file in an pane below the file tree. Use the buttons
on the pane's title bar to switch between the Preview pane containing the image and the Detail
pane containing the text description.

48 | Chapter 2 The Workspace

Solution Tips

The intended interaction among objects in an AutoCAD Architecture drawing depends on various rules
about how objects are placed in relation to one another. Whenever the software identifies a problem with
the placement of objects or their components, a solution tip icon is displayed to identify the location of the
problem, as shown.

Move the cursor over the icon to display a message that describes the problem and provides one or more
possible solutions. Some solution tips provide complete instructions for resolving the problem. Where more
detailed instructions are required, you can press F1 to access the relevant topic in Help.

Note that not all object configuration problems have an easily identifiable cause or a specific solution. This
is often true in the case of boolean operations where an entity such as a body modifier is added to or
subtracted from an object. In these cases, the solution tip identifies the kind of object or component involved
and suggests corrective action. You may be advised to modify the location or the geometry of the object,
but it is essentially a trial-and-error approach. The messages are tips rather than guaranteed solutions.

By default, solution tip icons are displayed when you are drafting, but not during plotting or publishing.
You can change these settings in the Options dialog using the following procedure:

1 Click ➤ Options.

2 In the Options dialog, click the AEC Editor tab.

Tooltips | 49

3 In the Solution Tip panel, select or clear Drafting and Plotting/Publishing as desired.

Object Grip Tooltips

Objects in AutoCAD Architecture have grips you can use to manipulate them. Pause the cursor on a grip to
display a tooltip identifying the grip's function.

Door dimension grips

Many grip tooltips contain additional information on how to use the grip.

Displaying the tooltip for door standard size

For more information, see Direct Editing with Grips and Dynamic Dimensions on page 87.

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, and 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 67.

50 | Chapter 2 The Workspace

Adding a wall to the drawing

Tools are arranged on tool palettes for easy access. To open the default Design tool palette, click Home

tab ➤ Build panel ➤ Tools drop-down ➤ Design Tools .

Modifying Objects

You can modify an object using any of the following methods:

■ Object-specific (contextual) ribbon tab: When you select an object, an object-specific tab is displayed on

the ribbon. For example, when you select a door, the Door tab displays. The object-specific tab contains
commands that apply to the selected object.

■ Properties palette: The Properties palette is one of the central locations for entering and changing

information about an object. This palette has categories that group the properties by type.
For detailed information, see The Properties Palette on page 82.

Modifying Objects | 51

■ Matching properties between objects: You can use the Match Properties command to copy the style and

display properties of one AEC object and apply them to one or more other objects of the same type. For
more information, see Matching Object Properties on page 94.

■ Context menu: Right-click the object to display its available commands.

Door context menu

■ Direct editing with grips: Commands for modifying an object are accessible from the object’s grips. Click

an object in a 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 87. Information about grip-editing is also covered in the individual object topics.

52 | Chapter 2 The Workspace

Window grips for direct editing

View and Navigation Tools

There are various ways to view the model in AutoCAD Architecture. For a complete description, see “Control
the Drawing Views” and “Work with Multiple Open Drawings” in the AutoCAD Help. The following topics
highlight view and navigation tools in AutoCAD Architecture.

Quick View Tools

Quick View tools make navigating and selecting drawings and layouts easier.

Quick View Layouts

This feature lets you preview and easily switch between model space and all layouts in the current drawing.

Click (Quick View Layouts) on the application status bar to display a row of thumbnail images above
the bar:

Click a thumbnail to navigate to that model space or layout.

You can also easily plot or publish with the buttons that display at the top corners of the layout thumbnail
when the cursor is on it.

For more information, see “Switch Between Layouts in the Current Drawing” in the AutoCAD Help.

View and Navigation Tools | 53

Quick View Drawings

This feature lets you preview and easily switch between model space and layout in all currently open drawings.

Click (Quick View Drawings) on the application status bar to display a row of drawing thumbnail
images above the bar:

Move the cursor over a drawing image to display its Save and Close buttons as well as smaller images of the
model space and layouts for that drawing. When you move the cursor over one of the model/layout images,
they enlarge and the drawing images shrink.

You can also create and open a new drawing using the toolbar that displays below the drawing thumbnails.

For more information, see “Switch Between Open Drawings” in the AutoCAD Help.

ViewCube

The ViewCube is a 3D navigation tool that appears when the 3D graphics system is enabled and allows you
to switch between standard and isometric views.

Once the ViewCube is displayed, it displays in one of the corners of the drawing window over the model in
an inactive state. When you position the cursor over the ViewCube, it becomes active. You can switch to
one of the available preset views, roll the current view, or change to the Home view of the model.

Displaying the ViewCube in the drawing area

➤ Click View tab ➤ Navigate panel ➤ ➤ View Cube.

NOTE The View Cube is visible by default. An exception to this are the 2D Wireframe and 3D Hidden
visual styles, where View Cube is not displayed.

ViewCube is also displayed in the Object Viewers.

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NOTE When ViewCube is displayed in the drawing area, you have access to a compass and can define a UCS. In
an Object Viewer, no UCS option and no compass are available.

The ViewCube is always turned on in Object Viewers.

For more information, see “View Cube” in the AutoCAD Help.

For information about Object Viewer, see Object Viewer on page 731.

SteeringWheels

SteeringWheels are tracking menus that are divided into different sections known as wedges. Each wedge
on a wheel represents a single navigation tool. You can pan, zoom, or manipulate the current view of a
model in different ways.

SteeringWheels can save you time and clicks by combining many of the common navigation tools into a
single interface. Wheels are specific to the context that a model is being viewed in.

To display SteeringWheels in the drawing area, click View tab ➤ Navigate panel ➤ Full Navigation Wheel.

Alternatively, you can right-click in the drawing area (with no objects selected), and click SteeringWheels.

You can choose from several different wheels, each with its own drafting theme. Some wheels are designed
for 2D navigation, while other wheels are better suited for 3D navigation.

The SteeringWheels can also be displayed in the Object Viewers.

SteeringWheels | 55

Showing and Hiding the Steering Wheel in an Object Viewer

1 Open the Object Viewer from the context menu of an object or from the Style Manager.

2 Right-click in the view area, and click SteeringWheel.

Alternatively, you can click .

3 To close the SteeringWheel, right-click, and click Close Wheel, or click again.

For detailed information, see “SteeringWheels” in the AutoCAD Help.

ShowMotion

The ShowMotion feature lets you add movement and transitions to captured camera position called shots.
You can create still shots, cinematic shots, or a recorded walk that allows you to click and drag along the
path of desired animation. Shots can be grouped together to form sequences called view categories.

To start ShowMotion, click on the application status bar.

For detailed information, see “ShowMotion” in the AutoCAD Help.

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.

56 | Chapter 2 The Workspace

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 60.

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. 4 tool palettes groups are available when you start
AutoCAD Architecture: Design, Document, Detailing, and Visualization. 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.

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

Working with Tool Palettes | 57

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 64.

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 67.

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 Content Browser

Overview on page 97 and Working with Tools from a Central Location on page 78.

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 403.

Opening the Tool Palettes Set

To open the tool palettes, set, click Home tab ➤ Build panel ➤ Tools drop-down ➤ Design Tools .

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.

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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 the 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.

Controlling the Appearance of the Tool Palettes Set | 59

Renaming the Tool Palettes Set

Use this procedure to rename the tool palettes set, for example to name it with a project or company name.

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 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\ACA
2010\enu\Support\WorkspaceCatalog (Imperial/Metric).

2 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.

60 | Chapter 2 The Workspace