Smart Components

[Lauren9QMTV]

I recently made the change in employers, I am coming from a company that uses smart components; such as dynamic blocks, using annotative scales, leader lines, keynotes, just to name a few. Currently my coworker came to this company 5 years ago and hasnt updated his drawings. For example using MTEXT with a line and arrow end with a seperate tick mark for everything, or keynotes he using MTEXT again, with a rectangle around it with a separate leader line.

I have been able to adjust a few things to work faster/ smarter as I am used to. I am at a standstill on how to create these two examples I gave with anything text related. How do I create components from scratch and make them look like the line drawings he has been using? Sadly with him not using scales, only 1"=1" it may be harder than I am imagining. When I try and search for the answers I come up with many conflicting results. 

To Summaries I need to create a new keynote block, and leader line, detail tag, elevations/section markers, room tags. These need to be modified to match the existing linework they have been using. 

I have attached his base model he has been using where he has all his components placed for him to copy all around. Anything in yellow boxes are the smart components I have been able to create in the last two months. 

[pendean]

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@Lauren9QMTV wrote:

...To Summaries I need to create a new keynote block, and leader line, detail tag, elevations/section markers, room tags. These need to be modified to match the existing linework they have been using. 

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A stock installation of AutoCAD adds an ANNOTATION tab in TOOLPALETTES that can pretty much replace these with similar dynamic blocks: did you get a chance to try them to use as a base to create new objects?

These look like the old style QLEADER or LEADER command results, you can use MLEADERSTYLES to create replicas then just start using MLEADER command

Instead of a letter + a Pline haphazardly floating above each other, this can all be a block with Pline objects instead

These can be one block instead of a two floating MTEXT each

These can all be MLEADERs with predefined BLOCKs+Attributes for the shapes with text, all in one

I'm not sure what these three separate objects are meant to be

Each cluster here can be an individual block for example

You do have a lot of work ahead of you, where are you getting stuck?

[Lauren9QMTV]

1. When I create a leader line using that command it still separates the text by the leader line.
2. I do not see those annotation options when I go to that tab. He doesn't use a pallet, I wonder if they were removed. I would love to get these items on my pallet, some let me some don't, while others attach to the pallet but loose his properties when I bring them in.
3. If I make the room names a block, how do I go about changing the text?
4. These square keynotes, I have not been able to figure out how to have a leader line with the square attached as a component.
5. Those tick marks I think he uses to note a slope or a measurement that continues when it's trimmed?
6. As for the detail titles is similar to the room tag issue.
He uses layer states for different sets of floor plans. For example there are layers for construction, electrical, and framing used for room tags, detail titles, ect, all on top of eachother. I will need to be able to edit multiple tags at one time, so I had changed them to single leader lines in order to do this, only coping all room names once. Where he is coping all three tags separate, changing all three to the layers needed, then going into each version to edit the text. 😩. That sounds like torcher, when there are much faster more efficient ways to do this. Also needing to adjust these items so they have no annotative scale creates another hurdle as I need to create multiple of each for each scale used. This will most definitely take a long time, Id like to at least get items in 1/4" and 1/2" scales to help for the time being.

[pendean]

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@Lauren9QMTV wrote:
1. When I create a leader line using that command it still separates the text by the leader line....

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MLEADER command: not "leader" not "qleader"

https://help.autodesk.com/view/ACD/2024/ENU/?guid=GUID-764DA12B-1280-4D1A-8673-F9F8A136CB83 

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@Lauren9QMTV wrote:
2. I do not see those annotation options when I go to that tab. He doesn't use a pallet, I wonder if they were removed. I would love to get these items on my pallet, some let me some don't, while others attach to the pallet but loose his properties when I bring them in.

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Not sure what you see, or don't, you did not share a screenshot. You can get to those blocks using ADCENTER too, and in Windows File Manager, at this address (change to your correct year version)

C:\Program Files\Autodesk\AutoCAD 202x\Sample\en-us\Dynamic Blocks

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@Lauren9QMTV wrote:
... 3. If I make the room names a block, how do I go about changing the text?

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ATTRIBUTEs in blocks are text you can edit. Good time to learn these basics 

https://www.engineering.com/story/a-closer-look-at-creating-and-using-attributes-in-autocad

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@Lauren9QMTV wrote:
... 4. These square keynotes, I have not been able to figure out how to have a leader line with the square attached as a component.

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MLEADERSTYLE command, with your block, then you use MLEADER command to add these too (MLEADER command is not just for text). Good time to learn that too

https://www.autodesk.com/learn/ondemand/tutorial/add-a-multileader-with-block-content#:~:text=to%20d.... 

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@Lauren9QMTV wrote:
....5. Those tick marks I think he uses to note a slope or a measurement that continues when it's trimmed?

I'm not sure I understand the use.

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@Lauren9QMTV wrote:
...He uses layer states for different sets of floor plans. For example there are layers for construction, electrical, and framing used for room tags, detail titles, ect, all on top of eachother...

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We all use layerstates too, but... Is this the-all-content-in-one-single-DWG-file method? I guess you all have never suffered an AutoCAD hiccup yet? While very rare, once a DWG is corrupt trying to recover less content is easier than trying to rebuild an entire project.

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@Lauren9QMTV wrote:
...Id like to at least get items in 1/4" and 1/2" scales to help for the time being.

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Annotative text/blocks/dimensions/mleaders is the way most of us have moved to in the last 20-years, one of each used in as many plot scales as needed. As long as you all use paperspace layouts of course.

[Lauren9QMTV]

I am still having trouble with the leader line with the rectangle, room name (getting them to look the same), and the detail title. can you give more step by step the video shows getting a block, which I don't have. Thanks