Working With Advanced Drafting Tools
Working With Advanced Drafting Tools
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About this tutorial
Note: If you need additional help at any time you are using the software, press F1 to
display the online help.
The project file is read-only. You can perform the tutorial steps without saving the
project file. However, if you are interrupted while performing the tutorial, you can
save it with a new name by selecting File > Save Project As. Then, you can re-open
the project to continue the tutorial at a later time.
You are now ready to import predefined drafting templates into your project.
3. In the Trimble Business Center ribbon, select Drafting > Sheets > Drafting
Templates.
The Explorer window displays showing all of the available drafting templates that
have been installed with TBC. They are typically differentiated by units, paper size,
and grid layout (for cross-section sheet sets).
4. In the Explorer window, select the Feet - Arch D (24x36)- Plan and Profile.vcl
template file and drag it onto the Plan View tab in TBC.
This template defaults to feet units for model space and scaling and produces Arch
size D (24 inches by 36 inches) printouts. The plan set includes sheet set templates
for cross-section views, plan views, and combined plan and profile views.
The VCL plan set is imported into the project and displayed in Project Explorer
nested beneath the Plan Sets node.
Nested beneath the Feet - Arch D (24x36)- 1 column - Inset Grid plan set node are
the following sheet set nodes:
The Cross sections 24x36 sheet set allows you to create sheets for cross-
sections along an alignment-based surface/corridor. You will work with this type
of sheet set in "Workflow 2. Create a cross-section sheet set" later in this
tutorial.
The Plan and profile 24x36 sheet set allows you to create sheets for a combined
plan view and profile view of an alignment-based surface/corridor. You will
work with this type of sheet set in "Workflow 3. Create a plan and profile sheet
set" later in this tutorial.
The Plan sheets 24x36 sheet set allows you to create individual unique sheets,
such as a title page or a sheet with objects from the plan view presented in one
or more dynaviews. This is the sheet set you will work with first in "Workflow 1.
Create a custom plan sheet set."
The Plan view grid 24x36 sheet set is similar to the Plan sheets 24x36 sheet set.
You will not work with this sheet set in the tutorial.
Although you can make any changes to the imported template you want (for
example, add lines or rectangles, add text, insert CAD blocks, and so on), for this
tutorial you will just make some minor text changes. Remember, any changes you
make here will be displayed on all custom sheets added to the sheet set.
Note: If, after creating a custom sheet in the sheet set, you make any changes to
any sheet template objects in any of the custom sheets (for example, the company
name), those changes are also implemented on the sheet template and any other
custom sheets in the sheet set.
The first thing you will do is add a company name to the template.
2. In the TBC ribbon, select Drafting > Text > Text to display the Create Text command
pane.
3. In the Text style drop-down list, select Arial Black 0.30.
4. In the Rotation field, enter 0º.
5. In the Text field, enter Tutorial Company.
6. In the sheet view, zoom in on the rectangles located on the right side of the sheet.
7. Click in the Text insertion point field and then click to locate the text on the sheet as
shown here.
2. In the New sheet name field, enter Title and click OK.
3. In the Project Explorer, right-click Title and select New Sheet View.
4. In the TBC ribbon, select Drafting > Text > Text to display the Create Text command
pane.
5. In the Text style drop-down list, select Arial Black 0.70.
6. In the Height field, enter 1.5.
7. In the Text field, enter Tutorial Sheet Set.
8. Click in the Text insertion point field and then click to insert the text into the middle
of the sheet view as shown here.
1. In the Project Explorer, right-click Plan sheets 24x36 and select Create Custom
Sheet.
2. In the Create Custom Sheet command pane, enter Plan View Insets in the New
sheet name field and click OK.
3. In the Project Explorer, right-click Plan View Insets and select New Sheet View.
Next, you will capture a dynaview of the data displayed in the Plan View to insert into
this new sheet.
Before you can create a dynaview, you must use the Create Rectangle command to
create a border or frame to define the area in the Plan View to be included in the
dynaview. Note, however, that you do not want the frame to be displayed on the sheet
where the dynaview is inserted.
1. In the TBC ribbon, select Drafting > Dynaviews > Linestring > Rectangle to display
the Create Rectangle command pane.
There is no need to enter a name for the new rectangle. However, you will locate it
on a new layer that can be hidden after you use to insert the dynaview.
2. To add the rectangle to a new layer, do the following:
a. In the Layer drop-down list, select <<New Layer>>.
b. In the Layer Manager dialog, type Dynaview Frame for the new layer name and
click Close.
3. Click in the Corner one field. Then, in the Plan View, click once above and to the left
of the corridor. Then drag your mouse to the lower right corner as shown here and
click to specify the second corner for the rectangle. (Leave a little extra space in the
rectangle beneath the corridor. You will be inserting another dynaview in this space
in the sheet view.)
You can now use the new rectangle to frame your first dynaview. To make it easier,
you will select to display both the Plan View and the new sheet you are creating
simultaneously.
4. Right-click the tab header displayed for the Plan View Insets sheet and select New
Horizontal Tab Group.
5. In the TBC ribbon, select Drafting > Dynaviews > Create Dynaview to display the
Create Dynaview command pane.
8. In the Scale field, enter 80. In the Rotation field, ensure the rotation is 0°00'00".
Additional notes on scaling:
In some drafting commands, you will need to specify the paper space scale at which
you want to print a sheet. Typically, this is 100 feet/inch or 1 m/mm. The default
plot scale is defined in Project Settings > View > Plan View.
Ground (model space) is the distance measurement unit type used in the
project model (feet or meters), which can optionally be employed in specifying
the height of a text object, as opposed to specifying a drawing scale dependent
text height in sheet units.
Sheet (paper space) is the distance measurement unit type used when the data
in a project is plotted (inches or millimeters). Sheet units are calculated by
dividing the ground units by the plot scale (ground units measurement / plot
scale = sheet units measurement). Sheet units are used to adjust text and other
graphic so they plot more legibly. Sheet units are also known as paper units.
Plot scale is the factor used to convert from ground units to sheet units (ground
units / plot scale = sheet units).
For sheet scaling (paper space), the sheet, sheet set, and plan set used in the
Drafting Module are all scaled 1:1. For example, if you draw a rectangle 8.5" x 11" in
a sheet view and you print it 1:1, it will print 8.5" x 11". For scaling in a dynaview,
there is a relationship between the real world and paper. For example, if the
selected scale is 20, 20’ in the real world would equal 1" on paper.
9. Click in the Location field and then click to select a location for the new dynaview on
the Plan View Insets sheet.
If necessary, you could increase or decrease the Scale value to make the dynaview
fit correctly on the sheet. But theres is no need to do so for this project.
10. Click the Create button.
11. To hide the layer on which the frame is displayed, do the following:
a. In the TBC ribbon, select Home > View > View Filter Manager.
b. In the View Filter Manager, uncheck the check box for the newly created
Dynaview Frame.
You will now insert a second dynaview on the new sheet that provides a close-up of a
section of the corridor.
If the dynaview is too large (for example, larger than shown here), press Ctrl + Z to
undo the dynaview. Then change the scale to a higher number (for example, 50).
3. Click the Create button.
Next, you will add two drafting elements to the sheet: a North arrow and a scale bar.
Before adding drafting elements, you'll need to have a better view of the sheet.
1. Right-click the Plan View Insets tab header and select Move To Previous Tab Group.
The first thing you will add is a North arrow icon, which you will import as a CAD
block.
2. In the TBC ribbon, select Drafting > Blocks > Import Blocks to display the Import
Blocks command pane.
3. In the Files list, check the North Arrows check box. Then click the Import button.
7. To add the same icon to the second dynaview, repeat this procedure using a Scale
of 0.15 and a Rotation of 30º (to match the rotation of the dynaview). You can
position the icon anywhere on the second dynaview. Then, click the Insert button.
13. Close all tabs except for the Plan View tab. Also, close any command panes that
remain open.
This completes Workflow 1.
1 = The Preview pane displays a preview of the sheet view for the selected stations,
showing how the configured sheet settings affect the view. By default, a cross-
section of the first station in the corridor (10+00.00) is displayed at the top of the
sheet, followed by a cross-section for each subsequent station. The height of each
cross-section determines how many stations are displayed on each sheet. The
selected template includes several rectangles located on the right side of the sheet
for inserting various metadata, including a company name and sheet number. For
this tutorial, you will not make any changes in this area.
2 = The Station field and slider control allow you to select the station whose cross-
section you want to preview.
3 = The Explorer pane allows you select the type of sheet settings you want to view
and/or edit.
4 = The Settings pane allows you view and edit settings.
Note that the default grid labels are difficult to see due to their light color. You will
start by making these labels more visible.
Next, you will change the size and color of the section labels.
For this tutorial, you do not need to make additional changes to the settings.
However, you are encouraged to use the Explorer pane to explore the settings
available. For example, note that the Sheet Settings > Cross-section Locations
settings allow you to select the stations and/or intervals to include in the sheet set.
Also, be sure to use the Station slider control to see how each of the station cross
section sheets displays.
You are now ready to build the sheet set based on the specified template settings
and station intervals.
5. In the Project Explorer, right click the Cross sections 24x36 node and select Build
Sheets.
Eight separate sheets are automatically created to display all of the station cross-
sections.
6. To view one of the newly created cross-section sheets, right click it in the Project
Explorer and select New Sheet View.
Note that some sheets include more station cross-sections than others. This is due
to the varying heights of the cross-section views.
You can use the View drop-down list located at the bottom of the tab to easily view
any of the other sheets in the Cross sections 24x36 sheet set and the Plan sheets
24x36 sheet set.
1 = The Preview pane displays a preview of the sheet view, which includes a
dynaview of the Plan View showing stations 10+00.00 through 26+00.00 and a
profile view aligned and scaled horizontally with the Plan View. The selected
template includes several rectangles located on the right side of the sheet for
inserting various metadata, including a company name and sheet number. For this
tutorial, you will not make any changes in this area.
2 = The Station field and slider control allow you to preview each sheet to be
created in the sheet set.
3 = The Explorer pane allows you select the type of sheet settings you want to view
and/or edit.
4 = The Settings pane allows you view and edit settings.
3. To make the grid labels used in the profile view more readable, do the following:
a. In the Explorer pane, select Sheet Settings > Grid and Axes > Station Label
Settings.
b. In the Settings pane, change the Color from By Layer to Blue.
c. Make the same change in Sheet Settings > Grid and Axes > Elevation Label
Settings.
4. To insert a North arrow in the sheet view, in the Explorer pane, select Sheet
Settings > Plan and make the following changes in the Settings pane:
North arrow block: NA4
North arrow block origin: Top RIght
North arrow scale: 0.20
North arrow block location: -2.50 in, -2.50 in (This specifies to locate the arrow
2.5 inches to the left and below the corner of the Plan View. Be sure to include
the minus sign.)
Note that the North arrow is correctly oriented based on the orientation in the
dynaview.
You will not be making additional changes for this tutorial; however, feel free to
view other settings.
You are now ready to create the sheets for the sheet set.
5. In the Project Explorer, right-click the Plan and profile 24x36 node and select Build
Sheets.
Two new sheets are displayed nested beneath the Plan and profile 24x36 node.
In addition, two new dynaviews are displayed in the Plan View, one for each of the
new sheets.
6. In the Project Explorer, right-click Sheet 1 [10+00.00] and select New Sheet View.
This completes Workflow 3. You are now ready to clean up your project by removing
unused imported blocks.
Note that North Arrows block group is checked since this is the only group you
imported. The member blocks of this group are displayed as read-only.
2. Click Apply.
The member blocks of the North Arrows block group are all checked to be deleted,
except for the NA4 block, which is used in a sheet view and cannot be deleted.
Print sheets
You can print one or more sheets in each of your plan sets to any of the printing or
plotting devices supported by Windows. Or, you can print to PDF, as you will do in this
tutorial.
1. In the Project Explorer, right-click the Feet - Arch D (24x36)- 1 Column - Inset Grid
plan set node and select Print Plan Set to display the Print Plan Set command pane.
Note that you can select which sheets you want to print. For this tutorial, leave
them all selected.
c. Press Ctrl+A to select all of the objects in the Plan View. Then right-click on the
Plan View and select Delete to delete them.
d. In the Project Explorer, use Ctrl + click to select the following items:
All of the sheets in the Cross-section 24x36 sheet set (Do not delete the
Cross-section 24x36 sheet set node.)
Both of the sheets in the Plan and profile 24x36 sheet set (Do not delete the
Plan and profile 24x36 sheet set node.)
Both of the sheets in the Plan sheets 24x36 sheet set (Do not delete the
Plan sheets 24x36 sheet set node.)
The two Imported Files: Plotter fonts in inches.vcl and corridor.vcl
e. Right-click and select Delete.
Your Project Explorer should look like this:
3. In the TBC ribbon, select Home > Data Exchange > Export.
4. In the Export dialog, click the Construction tab and select VCL Project Link exporter
in the File Format list.
5. Click in the Data box. Then, use Ctrl + click to select the following nodes in the
Project Explorer:
Cross-sections 24x36
Plan and profile 24x36
Plan sheets 24x36
This will effectively select the sheet settings and any paper space objects they
include (for example, sheet border, title block, North arrow, and so on).
6. Optionally, change the VCL file name and folder path in the Data box.
By default, the file is named the same as the project and it is stored in the project
folder.
7. Click Export.
When you start a new project in which you want to use the same drafting settings
and layout, import the VCL file and save your project.
This completes the tutorial.