Configuring and Customising AutoCAD to Help Enforce CAD Standards

PHILOSOPHY Gensler have customised AutoCAD to retain the regular look and feel of AutoCAD but address some of the everyday functions and tasks to make drawing production easier and more consistent. Consistency on the Desktop is key to success in convincing users to work to standards. Customisation must make it easier to use the standards than not ……..and they must work!

APPROACH Before you can customise you will need a defined set of standards for: Network Drive Structure Project Folders File Naming Drawing Organization Layer Standards Graphic Standards Print and Plotting

PUBLISHED CAD STANDARDS

QUICK GUIDES TO STANDARDS

We developed/evolved a desktop utility over the years to address some of the most popular support issues faced by the I.T. department. It gives users easy access to Guides, Utilities, Printers, Patches and Installs. DESKTOP UTILITY

PROJECT FOLDERS Create a consistent folder structure for your projects and lock it down with network securities Have a standard naming convention for CAD files Files that are named in the same way and found in the same location make it easy for everyone

PROJECT FOLDERS Gensler use a custom tool to create project folders complete with network securities.

NETWORK DEPLOYMENT Network Deployment - First step in achieving a consistent installation Saves time in installation and support. Ensures all desktops and users have access to the same tools. Therefore saves time not listening to whining users with feature envy!

CUSTOM PROFILE "acad.exe" /p COMPANY PROFILE.arg" /t COMPANY TEMPLATE.dwt" Software launch icon pointing to a network location holding company profile settings and company drawing template file

SHARED STANDARD CONTENT Support files and content on network drive Use Content Browser to access network content Load custom palettes from Content Browser

A well defined set of plot standards can have one of the greatest effects on reducing support calls. That is why the office standards must be locked down and not editable by your users! CENTRALISED PLOTTING SUPPORT Plotter support files located on shared network location (read only) Plot Styles created for office standards and located on network drive Page setups for every occasion. Auto loaded from network location upon file open.

CUSTOM MENUS AND TOOLBARS - LAYERS Layer Key Styles provide flexibility and work well with AEC Content and tools Pulldown Layer Menu, calling Layer Key Styles with layers grouped by drawing type Custom tool for adding and correcting layers using layer key styles

CUSTOM MENUS AND TOOLS – TEXT & DIMENSIONS Custom tools to set Text and Dimension Styles together with LTSCALE, Hatch Scale and Drag & Drop Scale

PROJECT BUILDER A Gensler Utility for building a set of drawing files to Genslers CAD standards. It copies template files, renaming and referencing the files together to create sheet files complete with title borders and correctly scaled viewports. Que the movie….