9. Right-click the new view name and choose Rename and Renumber.
The Rename and Renumber Sheet dialog box appears, as shown in Figure 14-6.
Figure 14-6: Specifying a view’s number and title.
10. Type a View Number and View Title in the text boxes, and then click OK.
As I describe earlier in this chapter, you can direct the Sheet Set Manager to use this information to create automatically updating labels. For example, if you place a detail on a sheet, AutoCAD feeds the information in this dialog box to a label block in the sheet drawing that shows the detail number and title. In addition, you can create callouts on other sheets that refer to this detail. If you later change the information in this dialog box, the Sheet Set Manager changes it in the detail label as well as in the callouts that reference the detail. (You create label and callout blocks in separate drawings, as described in Chapter 13. You then right-click the sheet set name or a view name and choose Properties to configure the sheet set or view to use these blocks.) Look up “callout blocks (for sheet views)” and “label blocks (for sheet views)” in the AutoCAD online help system for detailed instructions.
After you specify callout and label blocks on the View List tab, use the view’s right-click menu to place either kind of block.
On the View List tab, you can create view
Placing a named view on a layout is just like placing an entire resource drawing, except that on the Resource Drawing tab you click the plus sign next to the drawing name to reveal its named views, right-click the desired view, and choose Place on Sheet. (If you haven’t yet created the named view that you need, open the drawing by double-clicking it on the Resource Drawing tab, and choose View>Named Views to open the View dialog box. See the section titled “A View by Any Other Name…” in Chapter 7 for instructions on how to create named views.)
Making an Automatic Sheet List
After you create sheets and assemble views on them from resource drawings, you can take advantage of the additional sheet set features described in the “Using an Existing Sheet Set” section earlier in this chapter. For example, you can batch plot all the sheets for a project by right-clicking the sheet set name and choosing Publish>Publish to Plotter. (Chapter 16 describes the PUBLISH command.)
Before you publish your CAD
Use the following steps to create an automatic and automatically updateable sheet list table:
1. On the Sheet List tab of the Sheet Set Manager palette, double-click the sheet to which you want to add the drawing index.
AutoCAD opens the drawing for editing.
2. Right-click the sheet set name and choose Insert Sheet List Table.
The Insert Sheet List Table dialog box appears.
3. If you’re not happy with the fonts, text heights, colors, or text alignment of the table in the Table Style Settings area, click the ellipsis button to open the Table Style dialog box, create and configure a new style, and then click Close to return to the Insert Sheet List Table dialog box.
Chapter 9 shows how to create table styles.
The default alignment for the data cells is Top Center. You may want to change it to Top Left (that is, align sheet numbers and titles left flush rather than centered).
4. If you want to change the number of columns, which data appear in each column, and what the column headings and table title say, use the Table Data Settings area to do so.
Click the Add button to create an additional column. Drop-down lists in the Column Settings area show the types of data that you can include in the table. (Double-click the entry in the Data Type column to display the drop-down list.) Much of the additional, optional data come from the Drawing Properties dialog box, which I describe in Chapter 3. (The Sheet Number, Title, Description, and Plot data all come from the sheet set properties.)
5. Click OK.
By default, AutoCAD displays a dialog box reminding you not to edit the sheet list table manually, because the Sheet Set Manager handles it automatically.
6. Click OK.
AutoCAD creates the table, and you drag it with the cursor.
7. Position the table where you want it and click.
AutoCAD places the table on the sheet. Each of the data cells is a field that gets its value from the sheet set properties (see Figure 14-7) or drawing properties.
Figure 14-7: An automatic sheet list created from a sheet set.
After you make changes to the Sheet List, such as adding a sheet or editing a sheet title, select the table, right-click, and choose Update Sheet List Table. Now are computers great, or what?!
If you didn’t quite get the sheet list table properties right on the first try, select the table, right-click, and choose Edit Sheet List Table Settings.
Although sheet sets are too new to know for sure, they’re poised to alter profoundly the way that people create and manage drawings in AutoCAD. Like all software innovations that increase the sophistication of a process and manage dependencies, sheet sets require some study, some configuration, and significant coordination on everyone’s part. (One good resource is the group of sheet sets tutorials in Help>New Features Workshop.) In this case, those who expend the effort are likely to be well rewarded.
Chapter 15
CAD Standards Rule
? Making the case for CAD standards
? Choosing from existing standards
? Rolling your own standards
? Taking advantage of cool standards tools
If you’ve ever worked with other people to create a multichapter, visually complex, frequently updated text document, then you probably understand the importance of coordinating how everyone works on the parts of the document. Even if you’re someone who churns out documents from your one-person office or lonely cubicle, you
