Single Template, Single Standard, Multiple "Drawing Styles"

[Curtis_Waguespack]

The goal here is a single template, with a single company standard, set up and managed by the CAD admin , where the users can switch the "drawing style" with one click, rather than having to remember to switch dim styles, then switch balloon styles, the leader styles, etc. (see example image below).

Do you struggle with the Styles and Standard editor? Or are you a CAD Systems Admin who understands the Styles and Standards editor all too well, but have users who get a bit turned around in there and muck things up a bit?

If so maybe this idea is something you'd find useful.

I think this idea would need A HUGE amount of support from the Inventor community to be implemented, so ask questions, leave feedback, etc. but kudo it if it sounds like you'd be interested.

So here's the idea:

Using this strategy let's say you want to create a "Sales Drawing". You would open the template (you only need one now) and switch a new "Drawing Style" dropdown  to "Sales". And then the dim styles, the text styles, the balloon styles, etc. would all update at once.

If you needed to create a "Detail Drawing" you would open the template and switch the "Drawing Style" to "Detail". 

If you needed a "General Arrangement Layout Drawing", you would open the template and switch the "Drawing Style" to "Layout". 

If you need a _____________ drawing.... , well whatever the style of drawing you often create, you set those up as a collection of styles (like the Object Defaults) , name it what you want, and that becomes your list of "Drawing Styles" that you can switch between quickly, without having to dig into the Style and Standards editor.

That's the short version of this idea. Kudo it now and get back to work, or keep reading if you're still interested.

Long version continues below:

As far as I know this can't currently be done this way without:

a) using multiple template files ( each of which has to be managed individually anytime a style is updated, or a title block is update, etc.)

b) users stepping into the Styles and Standards editor (which we don't want them to do if this is being managed by a CAD Systems Administrator)

c) using some customization

This approach is the correct way for "enterprise" standards to be set up, used, and managed, but there is not a built in way to do this currently.

Generally these things are true:

1. The CAD Admin, would prefer ( most ) users never dig into styles and standards once they are set up.
2. The average user would prefer they not ever need to dig into the styles and standards (isn't this the CAD admin's job, what's he doing over there anyway?)
3. The CAD Admin and the average user is the same person, and that is you, and you have to relearn all of this stuff every time, because you don't do it that often.

Using this "single template, single standard setup" ensures that the users start out correct, and makes it very easy for the these things to be managed.

Ultimately, what I would like is a "Drawing Style" drop down that switched between multiple Object Defaults collection in "one fell swoop", as in the mock up above. This makes it easy and intuitive for the user.

I do something like this currently with ilogic by presenting users a pop up containing a list of "Drawing Styles" to choose from when they open the template to start a new drawing. Then the code sets the active dim style, parts list style, balloon style, and so on, so the user never has to worry about any of this. Some of these "Drawing Styles" resize the sheet and change out title block, standard notes, and some other things as well.  If the user needs to change from one "Drawing Style" to another, that can be done as well.

Currently, I know of no way to do this without:

• having multiple templates to start off with
• or multiple Standards to allow quickly changing between style (Multiple Standards for the same company doesn't even make sense, and is challenge to manage and update)
• and/or having the user get into the Standards and Styles editor to switch between Object Defaults styles (which most people don't set up), or switch a bunch of individual styles
• employing a code monkey to create a custom solution

Employing this single template, single company standard, multiple Drawing Styles approach simplifies things for the users, the CAD Systems Admin, and just makes a lot of sense once it's in place, but it seems very few places connect the dots in putting this together, because currently it can't be done with out some customization.

Pretty much everything is already in place, we just need to create multiple Object Defaults to control these "Drawing Styles", and provide the dropdown to allow the user to change between them quickly without entering the Styles and Standards editor.

In addition to the "Drawing Styles" drop down the other missing piece is some ability to control the sheet size in the style, so I think an addition to the Styles, such as a new Sheet Format Style, would provide this.

[PaulMunford]

Could you create one standard for sales, one for Design, one for manufacturing etc and then switch between these?

You can choose your active standard under:
Tools > Document settings

Paul

[Curtis_Waguespack]

Hi Paul,

Great question.

Creating multiple standards, and then using the Document Settings option to choose an active standard, is one of the ways people deal with this currently. The other is to use multiple templates, and cache styles. Or they do both, which can often turn into a mess.

Standards as  Styles

The problem with using standards as styles arises in managing sub-styles across these multiple standards. It can be done of course, but it's more effort than should be required.

Let's say we are using 4 standards to manage our different "drawing styles". Then one day we need to update a text style. That text style resides in 4 different standards, so we must edit each of those standards to make this one simple change.  That should catch our attention right there, and make us realize that Inventor is missing something here.

Add styles cached into the templates on top of this, and then it can really be a challenge.

Document Settings option to choose an active standard

Then there is the 2nd part of the "use standards as styles" approach, which is the use of the Document Settings option to choose an active standard. Doesn't it just seem wrong to ask a user to be changing Standards to create different drawings to be used within the same company? I know when I've offered that as a solution to users in the past, I get confused and frustrated looks, and a lot comments like: "Okay whatever. This Inventor program doesn't make sense sometimes..."

Multiple Standards used correctly

I know that some companies create drawings for others, and so in those cases it makes perfect since for them to create different standards. For instance, let's say we contract design work for BMW, Volkswagen, and Nissan. It would then make perfect sense to have 3 standards, one for each of those companies. And Inventor currently handles this perfectly.

But if I work for a company called Acme Rockets, Inc., and I only create drawings for Acme, then it seems to go against best practice to be creating 3 standards.

Getting Support for this idea

I suspect this idea will have trouble gaining support, because Inventor users have become accustomed to using Standards as  Styles, or using some combination of Standards and Templates for this. And/or nobody likes to think about Styles and Standards all that much anyway.

The "Single Template, Single Standard, Multiple Drawing Styles" approach would just make it much more intuitive for the average user to use and manage all of this. If implemented well, I suspect it could even resolve many of the "style conflict" issues that plague Inventor users, as it would make all of this more discovererable, and user friendly.

Hope that helps clarify the idea a bit more.

[jtylerbc]

We already do something very much like this, using currently available tools.  This is not an argument against the idea from @Curtis_Waguespack, but instead a practical example of how it could work and why it would be useful.

Currently, we achieve a similar effect to what Curtis is suggesting by using different Standards for several common types of drawings.  They are structured something like this:

• General (used for drawings that aren't one of the specialized types)
• Weldment (ft-in fractional dimensions, also sets a specific parts list and balloon style)
• Fabrication Details (Used for detailing parts from weldments.  Same as Weldment standard, except uses Part Number in the view label)
• Assembly (used for hydraulic and other final assembly drawings.  Similar to Weldment, but uses different parts list and balloon styles)
• Machining (decimal inch dimensions)

Rather than forcing the users to fiddle around in the Styles & Standards editor to change these, we have a VBA form that does it.  This allows us to make it a simple radio button pick (which includes some helper text to guide users on which one they should use).  An additional drawing type listed in the form (Specification Sheet) activates the General standard, but also uses a Sheet Format to change the sheet size and add Symbols appropriate to that drawing type.

In short, we have already achieved something very much like what Curtis has described, and it has saved a lot of time on setting up common types of drawings.  For us to do so with the currently available tools, it required creating not only all the Standards and Sheet Formats involved, but also a VBA form and all the code behind it.  Having a built-in way of accomplishing this would allow companies without programming resources to do the same thing, while also potentially allowing my company to remove a part of our customization and replace it with a built-in function.

[Curtis_Waguespack]

Hi jtylerbc,

Thanks for the detailed reply.

That's exactly the scenario this idea speaks to.

Just to clarify for others, this idea is to :

• Use multiple Object Defaults as the mechanism to set up and switch the "Drawing Styles" (rather than using Standards as  Styles as many of us have done over the years). This is existing functionality.
• Add a new "Drawing Styles" drop down menu to the interface, that allows users to change this easily. (I suppose instead of "Drawing Style" we could just keep "Object Defaults" for the name of the dropdown)
• Add a new "Sheet Styles" or something similar, that allows use to set up "sheet formats" in the styles, that controls the following things are on a given Sheet Style. Things such as the sheet size, border, title block, pre placed sketched symbols (for standard notes, tolerance blocks, etc.), Rev blocks, and so on.

So the end result (using jtylerbc's examples) we'd have a nice drop down that has the drawing styles / object defaults listed such as this:

And using this menu would switch the current sheet (maybe all sheets in the file?) to a predefined "Drawing Style".

[josh]

so if i am reading this right, you just want a drop down to access the "Standards" list of different standards at the top of the style and standard editor?

That sounds like a good idea. Keeping it per sheet would be REALLY handy.

[Curtis_Waguespack]

---

joshjosh wrote:

so if i am reading this right, you just want a drop down to access the "Standards" list of different standards at the top of the style and standard editor? 

---

@josh No. I'm requesting a drop down to access the Object Defaults not the Standards.

I see no reason for most companies to use multiple Standards, and if there is that need within an organization, changing between them can be currently accomplished via the document settings of the Drawing.

Quickly changing between a collection of styles to use by default for a certain style of drawing ( i.e. Object Defaults), can not currently be done quickly and easily by the user.

In addition to the drop down to quickly change Object Defaults, I'm requesting some additional styles to control "sheet format" related things, such as sheet size, and drawing resources such as sketched symbols for "standard notes", and so on.

The general idea is to make it easy to change from one "Drawing Style" to another, once these "Drawing Styles" are set up in the company Standard.

[stevenL2ZFM]

I agree. The way Inventor standards and styles functions now is not user friendly.

[Anonymous]

See the links below for additional standards and styles functionality that should be added.

https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/inventor-ideas/import-and-replace-standard/idi-p/6899976

https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/inventor-forum/import-and-replace-standards-and-styles/m-p/6897125#M6...

[Anonymous]

Hi Curtis,

I like your idea you mentioned above. Where I work, we deal with the need to have multiple drawing styles and have used multiple templates to handle all these styles. I did not like this approach. I am not the CAD administrator where I work, but I wanted to see one template that would handle all the different styles that we needed. I think I talked to you about this at AU last year.

This is what I created (to be implemented in the very near future, I am just catching up on shop orders first):

1. When creating a new file, I created one template and wrote iLogic code to change the styles and sheet size, based on user input though a form that pops up.

2. If the user makes a mistake in their selections or changes their mind on what style they wanted; I created code to automatically update  the drawing to do the following:

   a. Update the dimensions automatically to the new style

   b.Switch the drawing to the new active style - change sheet size if, needed.

3. I created rules to update old drawings to the latest standards.

4. I added in a few checking rules to see if users faked any balloons or dimensions.

I would like to see more improvements, as you stated, to make it easier to manage.

Best Regards,

Jason Hunt

[SlavaSnitser]

@Anonymous 

Jason, you're the last one to comment and what you wrote is excellent! 

Can you share your codes with us?

Especially I'm interested in applying a new standard to existing drawings

and updating all objects to match styles defined by the standard.

Thanks 🙂

Slava

[Anonymous]

@SlavaSnitser

I am afraid that I have way too many external rules created to post here. Please PM me your e-mail address and I will be happy to share my code with you. 

I just finished writing the code today, as I have finally had some free time to tweak it.