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Apply drawing design standards automatically

Apply drawing design standards automatically

Apply drawing design standards automatically

(OP)
My goal is to create or update a drw file that will have the same Layers, Colors, Linetypes, as our default AutoCad dwg's have. My boss wants copies of all SW drawings to be saved as Autocad drawings and they must have the same Layer, Color, and Linetype properties as if it were created in Autocad.

I'm exploring a few possibilities:
I can certainly create the SW drw file manually applying the correct defaults, but can I automate SW so as I create the drw file all Layers, colors, and linetypes will be automatically applied based on the command I select. I know I can manually select the layer and or color / linetype as I add content, but I'm looking to automating this. For example, When I insert "Model Views" I need SW to automatically change to Layer 0. When I select any "Annotations" command I need SW to change to Layer 1DIM, etc...or even at the entity level, when I draw sketch entities I need Layer 0 but if I draw a construction line I need the color to change to green. Any suggestions is appreciated!

Or

Will design checker or some other tool analyze my drw file and automatically update and apply changes to all Layers, Colors, and Linetypes based on a standards file.

I am just looking to simplify the detailing process but also maintain rigid standards

thanks,
Tom

Tom Malinski
Sr Design Engineer
OKay Industries
New Britain CT

RE: Apply drawing design standards automatically

Fire your boss!

cheers
SW07-SP3

RE: Apply drawing design standards automatically

CBL,

I have the same problem.  Can I fire my boss too? :)

RE: Apply drawing design standards automatically

tmalinski, brian575 -

You both have my permission to fire your bosses!!!!

In all seriousness, I would try to make the case to your respective bosses that you are wasting time and money by doing drawings in SWX and then translating to ACAD.  Obviously somebody at some point in time made the decision to move to 3D, why the reluctance to cut the cord and use ACAD only for legacy data?????

The answer "Because that's how we've always done it!" is in no way sufficent.  You may have already fought that battle and lost; if that's the case you have my sympathy.

RE: Apply drawing design standards automatically

You can set up your templates to have all the layer information preloaded into the drawing.  

There is no automatic way to asign drawing entites to layers upon creation (ex. a dimension is automatically asigned to the dimension layer).  

When you insert model items though I beieve there is a layer box that lets you asign which layer the model items are inserted on.  You could insert each of the models items sperately (ex. all dimensions, all annotations) and this would allow you to have a little control over which layer they were assigned to.  

If you have enough awareness (I don't) you can set your layer manually when you start creating drawing entities (ex. if you set your layer to dimension  and then do all the dimesioning in your drawing the dimensions will be asigned to the layer dimension.  Once finished switch to the note layer and create all your notes).  

You could also use "filters" to group select entities (ex. dimesnions, balloons, annotations, etc) and assign them to layers in bulk.

It may be possible to write a macro that will bulk select drawing entites (ex. all dimensions, all notes, etc) and assign them to a layer but I'm not a macro writer so I wouldn't know how to do it.

Not a great answer but there are semi-automatic ways to achieve what you want to do.  It's not an easy task and I would go along with the first suggestion of FIRING your boss :)

Rob Rodriguez CSWP
www.axiscadsolutions.com
www.robrodriguez.com
http://designsmarter.typepad.com/rob_rodriguez/
President: www.nvtswug.com
SW 2007 SP 2.0

RE: Apply drawing design standards automatically

There is an example macro on the Swx website called "How_to_move_all_dimensions_to_a_different_layer"

It is kind of a backwards approach compared to how you want to do it.  Basically, when your drawing is fully detailed, then you run the macro to change all annotations to a set layer.  Then you could save off to autocad.  It is also handy because it traverses through all sheets of a multi-sheet dwg.

I assume you could add more variables than just dimensions/annotations?  I haven't had time to customize that far yet.

regards,

Solidworks 2007 SP3.0
2GB Ram/3GB Switch
Quadro FX1300
P4 3.40GHz Duo XP Pro SP2.0

RE: Apply drawing design standards automatically

(OP)
Ya, whats worse is my boss almost lost it and said I was only to use SW for stuff that would be hard to visualize in 2d. He knows I've been working almost exclusively in SW for 2 years now, and developing methodologies for design that suits our company. I am 1 of 8 designers and the only one using SW. He said a couple of years ago that he wants to be all SW in 5 yrs. I reminded him that 2 years has past and he is still talking about upgrading Autocad to the latest version rather than training onother designer in SW. You know how bosses sometimes they get a hair up their but and all hell breaks loose. I think what happened was I was out sick for 2 days and someone wanted to make a change to a component on my latest design. So my boss told another designer to take care of it. So he asked where the Autocad files were? ouch!! I can understand his frustration in the interum

Tom

Tom Malinski
Sr Design Engineer
OKay Industries
New Britain CT

RE: Apply drawing design standards automatically

(OP)
I have been playing with the "map file" when saving to a dwg format. I can get all of the entities to map the same with Layer, Color, and Linetype, but Dimstyles are hopeless!! from what I can tell SW maps them to sequential dimstyl names which I don't quite understand yet. I know that if a non scale drawing is dimensioned in SW when you bring it into Autocad it needs to be sure the values are correct, but I dont see why it can't map to 1 dim style that I select, and then apply dimension style overides for anything within the dimstyle that is different from the default dimstyle of the same name.
I hope that was clear...

Tom Malinski
Sr Design Engineer
OKay Industries
New Britain CT

RE: Apply drawing design standards automatically

(OP)
Another thing I almost forgot. I use several custom blocks in SW with attributes linked to custom properties. When I save as dwg the blocks come in but all the attributes translate into one long sentence rather than individual lines as they are in SW

Tom Malinski
Sr Design Engineer
OKay Industries
New Britain CT

RE: Apply drawing design standards automatically

IMO,
Doing work in SolidWorks then saving to ACAD is a waste of time. Use one or the other. I refuse to work with any boss that wants me to do it.
My 2 cents.

Chris
SolidWorks 07 3.0/PDMWorks 07
AutoCAD 06
ctopher's home (updated 03-13-07)

RE: Apply drawing design standards automatically

Tom, does someone else work with the translated dwg files? There is just too much room for error relying on a translation to output a finished drawing to dwg. I'd use PDFs or eDrawings to view your finished drawings.

If your Autocad users need the geometry from your work for their work, then create a blank drawing template with no borders or dimensions and create pre-defined drawing views at 1:1 for every view angle. Drag your model into the drawing template and it automagically creates all the views. Then use a mapping file to save the drawing to dwg and map the object, hidden lines, etc.

Jason

UG NX2.02.2 on Win2000 SP3
UG NX4.01.0 on Win2000 SP3
SolidWorks 2007 SP2.2 on WinXP SP2

RE: Apply drawing design standards automatically

tmalinski and brian575, don't feel bad.  Our company started with SW in '97, but we are still not 100% SW (maybe 90%).

If you have an ECO/ECN process, you could suggest that all items being affected by a change should be remodeled in SW. Sometimes breaking down the work load of transition is easier to handle in smaller chunks. This doesn't answer your original questions though...

"Art without engineering is dreaming; Engineering without art is calculating."

Have you read FAQ731-376 to make the best use of Eng-Tips Forums?

RE: Apply drawing design standards automatically

(OP)
Fortunately, Any AutoCad drawings created from SW will be stamped "for ref only" and noted that the master is a SolidWorks model. This way a change can be made at the Autocad level but then flagged for update to the SolidWorks file at a later date. This would not be a daily occurance, but rather an exception if for some reason the SolidWorks file was not immadiately accessible such as when I was out sick...
MadMango, I'm sure that will be us also...

Tom Malinski
Sr Design Engineer
OKay Industries
New Britain CT

RE: Apply drawing design standards automatically

Could you not train one of the Acad slackers to simply open Solidworks, select the drawing in question, and "Save As" a dwg file on your PC when you happen to be out? Seems simplier than jumping through hoops to output all your swx drawings to dwg format for those just in case your out situations.

Jason

UG NX2.02.2 on Win2000 SP3
UG NX4.01.0 on Win2000 SP3
SolidWorks 2007 SP2.2 on WinXP SP2

RE: Apply drawing design standards automatically

OMG, that sucks! That would drive me insane.  There's no need to transition people into SW's.  Just do it, and be done with it.  As far as references go, PDF is much more reliable than DWG in accuracy of information and protection of data and commonality of format.  The boss may be worried about their own ability to learn and use the software.  Have you tried getting them to use it?

Matt
CAD Engineer/ECN Analyst
Silicon Valley, CA
http://sw.fcsuper.com/index.php

RE: Apply drawing design standards automatically

(OP)
fcsuper, you hit the nail on the head. The boss has no time or desire to learn a new software, and probably shouldn't anyway. He's a VP and has a bigger picture to look at. But he does have a safety net with his old skills as an Acad user. We can bash the boss all we want, the bottom line is whatever we do we can't drop the ball for our customers. Therefore we must walk before we run as our entire company is Engineering driven.
Tom
 

Tom Malinski
Sr Design Engineer
OKay Industries
New Britain CT

RE: Apply drawing design standards automatically

OMG!
What would your company do if ACAD crashed?
How much $$ would your company save in labor without doing conversions ... and paying for support service every year on two software.
IMO, the boss should not be involved in how the drawings are done, only that they are being done on time and correct.

Chris
SolidWorks 07 3.0/PDMWorks 07
AutoCAD 06
ctopher's home (updated 03-13-07)

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