Setup of titleblock, custom report and parts creation
There's actually a very large amount to cover here. What have you tried so far?
1. Check out the entries in HELP, and see Doug McAlexander's excellent walkthrough on his website: http://www.ecadconsultant.com/tips.html#Template
2. Review the reporting functions in HELP, but achieving the exact output in your spreadsheet via ACADE's native tools might be difficult, if not impossible. (These reports pull data from the symbols and other things in your drawings, so you'd have to find a way to add attributes to symbols and then get them to show up in reports, things such as 'stock number', 'stock item', 'mass each', 'mass total', etc. There are a limited number of user attributes, and you have more stuff in your spreadsheet than that.)
3. See the following in HELP: type 'symbol builder' in the search bar and review the first 5 entries that pop up; read 'About Symbol Naming Conventions'; and 'About PLC Modules and Symbols'. That will get you started on the PLC stuff but which way to go from there will depend on your specific needs. (I can't open your drawing to see the example.)
FYI: Every few years, Autodesk rolls out a new version of the .dwg file format. Yours is saved as the newest version and no one using older versions can open it. Can you do a 'save as' and save it as an older version of .dwg? 2013 is usually far back enough to guarantee that lots of forum members can open it.
Hope this helps,
Jim Seefeldt
Electrical Engineering Technician
1. Check out the entries in HELP, and see Doug McAlexander's excellent walkthrough on his website: http://www.ecadconsultant.com/tips.html#Template
2. Review the reporting functions in HELP, but achieving the exact output in your spreadsheet via ACADE's native tools might be difficult, if not impossible. (These reports pull data from the symbols and other things in your drawings, so you'd have to find a way to add attributes to symbols and then get them to show up in reports, things such as 'stock number', 'stock item', 'mass each', 'mass total', etc. There are a limited number of user attributes, and you have more stuff in your spreadsheet than that.)
3. See the following in HELP: type 'symbol builder' in the search bar and review the first 5 entries that pop up; read 'About Symbol Naming Conventions'; and 'About PLC Modules and Symbols'. That will get you started on the PLC stuff but which way to go from there will depend on your specific needs. (I can't open your drawing to see the example.)
FYI: Every few years, Autodesk rolls out a new version of the .dwg file format. Yours is saved as the newest version and no one using older versions can open it. Can you do a 'save as' and save it as an older version of .dwg? 2013 is usually far back enough to guarantee that lots of forum members can open it.
Hope this helps,
Jim Seefeldt
Electrical Engineering Technician
With the BOM, it's not about what can and can't be automatically completed -- your only choice is to have it ALL automatically completed. The way it works is, the software scans your drawings for data and then builds a table around that. It seems like you want to have a blank table that ACADE fills in, leaving some spots blank.
You could still get pretty close to the BOM example you posted in a couple of ways:
1. Run the report as normal, then go to edit mode, and add columns/rows for that sections that you need to show but which have no drawing data (stock number, lead time), then place on the drawing
2. Edit all of your symbols and add attributes to reflect these things, then tweak your report settings to also pull these added attributes. (I'm thinking there's a limit to 'user attributes' but IDK what it is.)
The problem with the first option: any time you rerun the report, you'll have to redo all the edits you make in edit mode. The problem with the second option: could be a deep deep rabbit hole, depending on how many symbols you'd have to edit, and whether or not the report functions can find all of your added attributes.
And as far as an instruction sheet for a title block, that's in my first reply, the link to Doug's website. So far that's the best walkthrough I've found. Or, if you're meaning an instruction sheet for reports similar to the one for title blocks, then the best I know of are all in HELP.
Jim Seefeldt
Electrical Engineering Technician
You could still get pretty close to the BOM example you posted in a couple of ways:
1. Run the report as normal, then go to edit mode, and add columns/rows for that sections that you need to show but which have no drawing data (stock number, lead time), then place on the drawing
2. Edit all of your symbols and add attributes to reflect these things, then tweak your report settings to also pull these added attributes. (I'm thinking there's a limit to 'user attributes' but IDK what it is.)
The problem with the first option: any time you rerun the report, you'll have to redo all the edits you make in edit mode. The problem with the second option: could be a deep deep rabbit hole, depending on how many symbols you'd have to edit, and whether or not the report functions can find all of your added attributes.
And as far as an instruction sheet for a title block, that's in my first reply, the link to Doug's website. So far that's the best walkthrough I've found. Or, if you're meaning an instruction sheet for reports similar to the one for title blocks, then the best I know of are all in HELP.
Jim Seefeldt
Electrical Engineering Technician
Accepted solution
Converting Vanilla drawings to ACADE drawings is doable, but depending on your needs it could end up being a decent amount of work.
Before jumping in, evaluate the symbols in the vanilla drawings. You'll be looking to see how many already exist in ACADE's libraries. Take note of all that are left over after that, because those will need individual attention.
In general, the process is:
*create a new, empty project
*add the Vanilla drawings to the project
*rebuild all of your non-common and custom symbols - the ones that I said would need individual attention - using the Symbol Builder to ensure that you get all the right attributes in there
*use the Swap/Update Block command to change existing blocks to ACADE blocks (this also includes title blocks, because you'll need a new one if you want it to work with ACADE's automatic functions)
*use the convert lines tool to make certain lines become wires
*rebuild the project database
That's the main thrust of how this would go. Any conversion will carry with it certain unique things to address. It will take patience and some thinking, especially if the originating project is large. Just take your time and keep track of how you do things, you'll be fine.
Jim Seefeldt
Electrical Engineering Technician
Before jumping in, evaluate the symbols in the vanilla drawings. You'll be looking to see how many already exist in ACADE's libraries. Take note of all that are left over after that, because those will need individual attention.
In general, the process is:
*create a new, empty project
*add the Vanilla drawings to the project
*rebuild all of your non-common and custom symbols - the ones that I said would need individual attention - using the Symbol Builder to ensure that you get all the right attributes in there
*use the Swap/Update Block command to change existing blocks to ACADE blocks (this also includes title blocks, because you'll need a new one if you want it to work with ACADE's automatic functions)
*use the convert lines tool to make certain lines become wires
*rebuild the project database
That's the main thrust of how this would go. Any conversion will carry with it certain unique things to address. It will take patience and some thinking, especially if the originating project is large. Just take your time and keep track of how you do things, you'll be fine.
Jim Seefeldt
Electrical Engineering Technician
Accepted solution
Insert - place the chosen attribute in the drawing
Add - add another attribute to the list
Delete - erases the attribute from the drawing
Remove - remove an attribute from the list
Jim Seefeldt
Electrical Engineering Technician
Add - add another attribute to the list
Delete - erases the attribute from the drawing
Remove - remove an attribute from the list
Jim Seefeldt
Electrical Engineering Technician