revision finder

[Anonymous]

We are a small MEP consulting firm working for multiple Architectural Clients. They constatly send us drawings with revisions, but refuse to take the time to cloud them. They get very testy when we ask them what they changed--to save us a little time--and help us meet their unrealistic deadlines. It would be great to run an external program or add-in that could compare two versions of the same file and cloud the revisions on a separate layer?

[Anonymous]

Even better, if you have a color-capable plotter, you xref the two files together (temporarily) and plot the old file as all-green, and the new file as all-red. Where there is overlap, the objects are black, the old deleted objects are green, and the new objects are red. -- R. Robert Bell "z34jcm" wrote in message news:404b4468$1_3@newsprd01... We are a small MEP consulting firm working for multiple Architectural Clients. They constatly send us drawings with revisions, but refuse to take the time to cloud them. They get very testy when we ask them what they changed--to save us a little time--and help us meet their unrealistic deadlines. It would be great to run an external program or add-in that could compare two versions of the same file and cloud the revisions on a separate layer?

[Anonymous]

Good idea. Given the complexity of the display rep system and the chance that there could be preset colors in nested objects, how would you conveniently do that? Could one plot a monochrome plot with a non black color? Would it require adding two extra STB or CTB files? "R. Robert Bell" wrote in message news:404c1029$1_2@newsprd01... > Even better, if you have a color-capable plotter, you xref the two files > together (temporarily) and plot the old file as all-green, and the new file > as all-red. Where there is overlap, the objects are black, the old deleted > objects are green, and the new objects are red. > > > -- > R. Robert Bell > > > "z34jcm" wrote in message > news:404b4468$1_3@newsprd01... > We are a small MEP consulting firm working for multiple Architectural > Clients. They constatly send us drawings with revisions, but refuse to take > the time to cloud them. They get very testy when we ask them what they > changed--to save us a little time--and help us meet their unrealistic > deadlines. It would be great to run an external program or add-in that > could compare two versions of the same file and cloud the revisions on a > separate layer? > > >

[Anonymous]

Mr Bell's idea is a good one. If you don't mind looking at the file on the computer (vs plotting it out and looking at it on paper) you could easily find the revisions by xreffing the old and new plans together, and make all the layers on one of the files gray, and all the layers on the other file green (or some other bold color). When you display them both at the same time, any differences should jump out at you. If you do this in a drawing OTHER then your own construction document drawings, then you won't even have to mess around with changing the layers back or anything.

[Anonymous]

At the same time, the less steps in the process and modifications you make to files, the better the quality control will be AND the more efficient the process will be. Having a command or add-in that will efficiently identify changes and OPTION to/or not to auto cloud on a separate layer would be more efficient. You wouldn't have to tinker (much) with the original files. Mr. Bell's idea is a great solution for the meantime. JPB "John Bixler" wrote in message news:404c817d$1_3@newsprd01... > Mr Bell's idea is a good one. > > If you don't mind looking at the file on the computer (vs plotting it out > and looking at it on paper) you could easily find the revisions by xreffing > the old and new plans together, and make all the layers on one of the files > gray, and all the layers on the other file green (or some other bold color). > When you display them both at the same time, any differences should jump out > at you. > > If you do this in a drawing OTHER then your own construction document > drawings, then you won't even have to mess around with changing the layers > back or anything. > >

[Anonymous]

Hey All - This is a very interesting subject and I'd very much appreciate your opinions on the items below... What are revisions? Are they just visual differences from one version of a single file to another version of that same file? If I change the height of a ceiling, but don't change the layout of the grid, is that a revision that you want to be notified of? It won't be a visual difference (at least in "plan" views). What if a walls construction changes from fire rated to non-fire rated, or vice-versa. The actual construction of the wall may not have changed (5/8 gyp both sides + 3-5/8 mtl studs), but wouldn't you want to be notified that you now need dampers (or need to remove dampers) in that wall? What about changes at the project level. Let's say that the architect changes the floor to floor height on level 2. That doesn't show up in any of the floor plans (project setting), but should you be notified about it (ideally the architect would tell you about a change like this, but...)? Will simply pointing out the visual differences between two versions of the same file satisfy your needs? Will this satisfy 80% of the cases or will you need significantly better "change management tools" to track what has happened between different versions of the file(s). Thanks for any input. jason "Joshua P. Benoist" wrote in message news:404c8a18$1_3@newsprd01... > At the same time, the less steps in the process and modifications you make > to files, the better the quality control will be AND the more efficient the > process will be. Having a command or add-in that will efficiently identify > changes and OPTION to/or not to auto cloud on a separate layer would be more > efficient. You wouldn't have to tinker (much) with the original files. Mr. > Bell's idea is a great solution for the meantime. > JPB >

[Anonymous]

Yes, you should be able to setup single-pen plot styles to do this. (Blissfully said without going thru the effort to test... ) -- R. Robert Bell "Doug Broad" wrote in message news:404c6fa5_3@newsprd01... Good idea. Given the complexity of the display rep system and the chance that there could be preset colors in nested objects, how would you conveniently do that? Could one plot a monochrome plot with a non black color? Would it require adding two extra STB or CTB files? "R. Robert Bell" wrote in message news:404c1029$1_2@newsprd01... > Even better, if you have a color-capable plotter, you xref the two files > together (temporarily) and plot the old file as all-green, and the new file > as all-red. Where there is overlap, the objects are black, the old deleted > objects are green, and the new objects are red. >

[Anonymous]

True, Jason, there are changes that can be made that are not a visible change. A compare report would be great. Since I'm a visual sort of guy, I would want to be able to select two separate dwg files, get a composite on screen that shows additions/deletions similar to the plot approach (changes that otherwise wouldn't show in color, e.g. ceiling grid, would still display as red). Select a marked item, get a popup that describes the change similar to a DDim compare perhaps, and a "mark as read" option. After I have "read" the revision and marked it as read, change the display color of that object to neutral. If I feel a comment is needed for a particular change; e.g. "You lowered the grid to 6'-6"! What were you thinking?!", automatically cloud the area with the note to shoot a markup dwf back to the idiot, I mean, client. -- R. Robert Bell "jason martin [Autodesk]" wrote in message news:404c9002_3@newsprd01... Hey All - This is a very interesting subject and I'd very much appreciate your opinions on the items below... What are revisions? Are they just visual differences from one version of a single file to another version of that same file? If I change the height of a ceiling, but don't change the layout of the grid, is that a revision that you want to be notified of? It won't be a visual difference (at least in "plan" views). What if a walls construction changes from fire rated to non-fire rated, or vice-versa. The actual construction of the wall may not have changed (5/8 gyp both sides + 3-5/8 mtl studs), but wouldn't you want to be notified that you now need dampers (or need to remove dampers) in that wall? What about changes at the project level. Let's say that the architect changes the floor to floor height on level 2. That doesn't show up in any of the floor plans (project setting), but should you be notified about it (ideally the architect would tell you about a change like this, but...)? Will simply pointing out the visual differences between two versions of the same file satisfy your needs? Will this satisfy 80% of the cases or will you need significantly better "change management tools" to track what has happened between different versions of the file(s). Thanks for any input. jason "Joshua P. Benoist" wrote in message news:404c8a18$1_3@newsprd01... > At the same time, the less steps in the process and modifications you make > to files, the better the quality control will be AND the more efficient the > process will be. Having a command or add-in that will efficiently identify > changes and OPTION to/or not to auto cloud on a separate layer would be more > efficient. You wouldn't have to tinker (much) with the original files. Mr. > Bell's idea is a great solution for the meantime. > JPB >

[Anonymous]

The points you make about revisions not all being visual are very true, insightful, and entirely accurate. However, even having something to track visual changes would be a good start. Something that would track every little change (ie adding paneling to a door, etc) might get too cumbersome. There's a subtle line that should be drawn between a product/program that would be extremely useful, and one that could be so detailed that using it would be cumbersome, mundane, and frustrating (I'm glad it's not my job to draw that line).

[Anonymous]

"jason martin [Autodesk]" wrote in message news:404c9002_3@newsprd01... > Hey All - > > This is a very interesting subject and I'd very much appreciate your > opinions on the items below... > > What are revisions? Are they just visual differences from one version of a > single file to another version of that same file? The changes that get clouded are the visual differences. It would be great to be able to get a visual color override of the items that changed visually, as well as Mr. Bell's suggestion of some sort of dialog box. > If I change the height of > a ceiling, but don't change the layout of the grid, is that a revision that > you want to be notified of? It won't be a visual difference (at least in > "plan" views). This is where some sort of dialog or list of all changes, labeled visual and non-visual, would address the other type of changes. The document "originator" or person making the original changes would 1) notate those changes with a description for the other project members to read, 2) enter an "official" date, 3) Indicates (to Autocad)whether the change is to be automatically clouded, manually clouded or not clouded. A simple box or circle could be viewed or grip modified prior to acceptance of each "Auto-Cloud." Someone may want to grip edit the cloud to encircle a much larger area. Nodes could be added to change shape of the "Auto-Cloud." If the user chooses to manually cloud, then the software would simply highlight or step thru each visual object to be clouded. Mr. Bell's suggestion is perfect for quality control and project communication. A project member thru the x-refs gets a dialog box of their own notifying that a change(s) have been made. The project member goes down the list and 1) checks off that he/she has seen the change, 2) Annotates comments back, 3) generates an e-mail to the "originator" and/or project group and/or bulletin board. Tracking changes, who has communicated, how and when, is very important to both quality control and project management. > What if a walls construction changes from fire rated to > non-fire rated, or vice-versa. The actual construction of the wall may not > have changed (5/8 gyp both sides + 3-5/8 mtl studs), but wouldn't you want > to be notified that you now need dampers (or need to remove dampers) in that > wall? Love this idea! Don't know how many times a wall rating changes and dampers added/removed are missed. The dialog box described above and by Mr. Bell should include these changes. > > What about changes at the project level. Let's say that the architect > changes the floor to floor height on level 2. That doesn't show up in any of > the floor plans (project setting), but should you be notified about it > (ideally the architect would tell you about a change like this, but...)? Same here, Love it. Mr. Bixler brings up a very valid point, we don't want every little change to be mentioned to everyone, however, what is little? Maybe, instead of the software making that decision or only filtering small things like single linework added, the document "originator" should be asked this question and given the final say. > Will simply pointing out the visual differences between two versions of the > same file satisfy your needs? Will this satisfy 80% of the cases or will you > need significantly better "change management tools" to track what has > happened between different versions of the file(s). > > Thanks for any input. > > jason Visual notifications are a great start, but the remaining suggestions about dialog boxes and e-mails, and "Auto-Clouds" would be a very very powerful tool. The answer to your question, how far should the software go, depends on how much Autodesk want to build. The age old problems of quality control, how errors are kept to a minimum, getting project member to communicate, and what system is used to enforce and track that communication will never go away. Maybe Autodesk can help! > > "Joshua P. Benoist" wrote in message > news:404c8a18$1_3@newsprd01... > > At the same time, the less steps in the process and modifications you make > > to files, the better the quality control will be AND the more efficient > the > > process will be. Having a command or add-in that will efficiently identify > > changes and OPTION to/or not to auto cloud on a separate layer would be > more > > efficient. You wouldn't have to tinker (much) with the original files. Mr. > > Bell's idea is a great solution for the meantime. > > JPB > > > >

[mmermel]

Guys:

There are viewers on the market that will highlight the differences between versions of a drawing. They are not that expensive, and investing in one is probably your best answer

Mitch Mermel
CADD Manager
Matern Professional Engineering

[mmermel]

jason:

if you change the height of a ceiling, or the space between a drop ceiling and the level above it then, yes, we'd need to know about it. did you decrease the space above the drop ceiling so we need to resize the ducts? Did you raise the ceiling to the point where we can use a different type of bulb in fewer fixtures because the light from a fixture will cover a larger area at the ground? Elevation changes really are important, and the architect should provide elevation drawings along with the revised plan drawings, even if the elevation has not changed. This way the consultant has a true current set to work from.
Of course, the architect could e-mail us and say "changed elevation to 25 feet. Have a nice day."

Mitch