AutoCAD Platform Customization. Ambrosius Lee
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Название: AutoCAD Platform Customization
Автор: Ambrosius Lee
Издательство: Автор
Жанр: Зарубежная образовательная литература
isbn: 9781118798911
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Revision Often the letter R or RV followed by a numeric value to represent the current revision level of a file (for example, – R1 or – RV03). Using revision numbers in a filename has its pros and cons. One of the benefits is that you can go back to an earlier revision of a design if you do not use a system that supports version tracking. The downside is that it affects the other drawings that might reference the drawing; to avoid this, you could create a copy of the drawing being revised and rename the copied file to include the revision number in its name.
Not all of the attributes will make sense for each discipline. For example, a civil drawing will most likely not contain a Building or Floor attribute, but it might contain an Area. So, it is possible that you might use different file-naming structures for different disciplines in your company. If you use different naming structures for different disciplines, be sure the attribute values have the same meaning across the entire company. For instance, do not use numbers to indicate Areas for civil, and alphabetic letters for the architectural drawings.
Managing Standards with Drawing Templates
When you create a new drawing, you have two choices: start from scratch or use a drawing template (DWT) file. Starting from scratch, or using the default drawing that is created when AutoCAD first starts up, is not ideal as it most likely does not conform to your company's standards and the settings can change from release to release. The same is true for the drawing template files that come with AutoCAD: you can use them, but they are not tailored to your company's standards. The default drawing templates make for an excellent starting point, but you should create your own drawing template files so that you know what's in them.
What Is a Drawing Template?
A drawing template is a file that contains the objects, styles, unit of measurement, and other settings that should be used when creating a new drawing with the new or qnew commands. It has a file extension of .dwt. Prior to drawing templates, they were called prototype drawings; you should know that just in case you hear that term come up in a conversation with an AutoCAD veteran.
When a new drawing is created using a DWT file, the DWT file is copied into memory as a new drawing and the DWT file remains unchanged. A DWT file is identical to a drawing (DWG TM) file. While you commonly use the saveas command to save a DWG file as a DWT file, you could also just change the file extension of a DWG file from .dwg to .dwt and achieve the same results.
The following steps explain how to save a DWG file as a DWT file using AutoCAD on Windows:
1. In the AutoCAD software, open the DWG file that you want to save as a DWT file and click the Application button ➢ Save As (or at the command prompt, you could enter saveas and press Enter).
2. In the Save Drawing As dialog box, click the Files Of Type drop-down list and choose AutoCAD Drawing Template (*.dwt).
The AutoCAD software changes the Save In location to the location specified by the Drawing Template File Location node on the Files tab of the Options dialog box (options command).
3. In the File Name box, enter a name for the new drawing template file. Click Save.
If you are using AutoCAD on Mac OS, use the following steps:
1. With AutoCAD as the active application, open the DWG file that you want to save as a DWT file and click File ➢ Save As (or at the command prompt, you could enter saveas and press Enter).
2. In the Save Drawing As dialog box, click the File Format drop-down list and choose AutoCAD Drawing Template (*.dwt).
AutoCAD changes the current Save To location in the Where drop-down list to the location specified by the Drawing Template File Location node on the Application tab of the Application Preferences dialog box (options command).
3. In the Save As box, enter a name for the new drawing template file. Click Save.
NOTE
Drawing standards (DWS) files are always saved in the latest file format. If you support multiple releases of AutoCAD in your company, you will want to instead save your standards to a DWG file with the oldest file format required. Once the DWG file is created, you can then just change the file's extension through the operating system.
Units of Measurement and Format
The drawings that you create in AutoCAD are based on one of two systems of measurement: Imperial or English, and metric. Imperial measurement is based on inches, and metric measurement is based on meters. The system of measurement that a drawing currently uses is stored in the measurement system variable; 0 (Imperial units) or 1 (metric units). Changing the value of the measurement system variable does not affect the objects that are already in a drawing. Resizing objects in a drawing to fit the new system of measurement can be done with the scale command.
The measurement system does not affect the formatting of linear and angular units, but it does control the following:
• The default drawing template used for the initial drawing that is created when AutoCAD first starts up: acad.dwt for Imperial measurement and acadiso.dwt for metric measurement
• Which hatch pattern and linetype definition files AutoCAD looks for in its support-file search paths: acad.pat and acad.lin for Imperial measurement and acadiso.pat and acadiso.lin for metric measurement
• The current measurement choice of the Scale List area in the Default Scale List dialog box of the Options dialog box (Windows) and Application Preferences dialog box (Mac OS)
The current measurement system does not affect the way linear and angular drawing units are accepted or displayed. Drawing-unit formatting is controlled by several settings, which you can change by using the Drawing Units dialog box (units command); see Figure 1.3.
Figure 1.3 Drawing Units dialog box. The Windows version of the dialog box appears on the top the Mac OS version appears on the bottom.
Each of the settings shown in the Drawing Units dialog box can also be accessed using system variables. Understanding the relationship between many of the AutoCAD dialog boxes and the system variables they represent will help you automate tasks related to drawing setup, configure drafting aids, and control the default behavior of commands. Table 1.1 explains the system variables that can be changed using the Drawing Units dialog box.
Table 1.1 System variables
You can learn more about system variables, including how to change their values, later in this chapter in the section “Working with System Variables.” For now, just understand that system variables play an intricate part in being able to customize AutoCAD.
Graphical and Named Objects
As I previously mentioned, a drawing template (DWT) file is the same as a drawing (DWG) file; it can contain both graphical and nongraphical objects. The graphical and nongraphical objects in a DWT file should be limited in number and common to all the new drawings you create. If you have named objects that might be less frequently used, you could store them СКАЧАТЬ