MERGE DRAWINGS

[Anonymous]

There seems to be two ways to keep a set of layouts together.  Project manager can keep layouts in several different DWG in one project.  In fact if I use Project manager to duplicate a layout it comes into existance in a new DWG not the DWG the layout being duplicated is in.

On the other hand if I duplicate a layout in show drawings and layouts it creates a new layout in the same DWG but that layout is not visible to the project and there seems to be no way to add it.

Since properties are part of the project a layout created by duplicatio inside a DWG apparently cant have properties.

Is there any way to make a project which is a single DWG and create new layouts within that file?

[maxim_k]

Hi,

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@Anonymous wrote:

Is there any way to make a project which is a single DWG and create new layouts within that file?

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No, in AutoCAD for Mac it is impossible, while in AutoCAD for PC you can add (duplicate) Layout inside drawing and then add this new Layout to the current Project (Sheet Set on Windows side).

On Mac you can only add the whole drawing with all Layouts in it and cannot add new Layouts created in the drawing already added to the Project. The only one way to add newly created Layouts in the same Project is to remove this drawing from the Project completely ant than add it again. But in this case all custom properties for each Layout will be reset to default values defined in the Project.

Maxim

[Anonymous]

Thanks, that is what I suspected.  Do you know if there is any place where there is a general discussion of the relationship between projects, drawings, layouts and blocks.

As far as I can tell a project is a list of layouts which may be in more than one DWG.  A DWG consists of a model and a set of layouts.  Blocks seem to belong to drawings.  There must be a way to create a custom block libraray but I have not learned it.

[maxim_k]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Do you know if there is any place where there is a general discussion of the relationship between projects, drawings, layouts and blocks.

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You can ask your questions here, or in AutoCAD for PC forum. But keep in mind, that what we call "Projects" in AutoCAD for Mac in PC version is "Sheet Sets".

Maxim

[Anonymous]

I don't understand why such an important feature is missing from the Mac version of AutoCAD.  The beauty of the software in general is its ability to handle a fluctuating design process.  I just don't see why Autodesk doesn't correct this.  At the very least, there needs to be a way in Mac to allow me to enter information in a project in one place and have it propogate automatically across layouts.

Scott

[Anonymous]

You are correct that this is a feature that seems very important but maxim_k who is a superuser says earlier in this discussion that this feature is unavalable in the Mac version.  I understand that this is because some Autocad features are written in a language that is not implemented on the Mac so they are not avalable.

The work arround I have had to use is to add a layout by duplicating it in view drawings and layouts.  Then I close the drawing, create a new project using the existing one as a template and add the drawing.  This makes the project aware of all layouts but looses all custom properties of the layout.  (In fact it looses all properties except the layout name).  For this reason I keep most properties in the project instead of a layout.  I also have a template drawing with many extra layouts.  I duplicate this, use however many layouts I need and turn off the publish checkbox on the layouts I did not use.