Chapter

2
Working with drawings
PADDS drawing files are unique in the sense that they not only contain drawing definitions and entities, but can also incorporate some intelligent bending schedules with records of drawn rebars. A comprehensive collection of file management functions is provided with which drawings and bending schedules can be opened, saved, closed and printed. Support for foreign drawing formats is also provided, enabling you to open and edit drawings that were created in other CAD systems. This chapter introduces the following topics: The PADDS drawing file structure. General file management functions. Printing drawings. Printing bending schedules.

The PADDS drawing file structure

A typical PADDS drawing file comprises a scaled drawing and an associated bending schedule. Note: The bending schedule is embedded in the parent drawing, resulting in it being saved with the drawing. A drawing and its bending schedule are edited in separate windows displayed next to one another. When printing a bending schedule, you can divide it into separate pages if it is very long, or print it on the same page as the drawing or separate. Refer to Chapter 7 for detail on editing and printing bending schedules.

Drawings
The drawing part of a PADDS drawing contains the following general information and drawing entity elements: The drawing file name. The paper size, which could be an ISO size or a custom size. A table of defined layers with their descriptive names, scales, origins and grid information. Drawing entities, eg lines, text, rebars, etc, associated with the different layers. Erased entities are retained in memory for later retrieval. The listed elements are described in more detail in the following text.

File names
Drawing file names are restricted to valid Windows file names. The default extension for a PADDS drawing file is "PAD". The following characters are allowed: Letters : A to Z and a to z. Case is ignored. Numbers : 0 to 9. A few special characters : $ % ' - @ { } _ ! # ( ) &.

Paper size
At some stage during the creation of a drawing, preferably at the start, a paper size relating to the actual paper used in the printer must be defined. Available standard paper sizes include A0 through A5 for regular drawings, and reduced A4 and

A5 for bending schedule sketches. Alternatively a custom paper size can be entered in mm. The paper orientation may be specified as either portrait or landscape. The paper area is displayed in dark blue in a drawing window. Drawing entities are not prevented from extending beyond the defined paper edges but will however be clipped when printing the drawing. Drawings can be sized to fit the printer paper size when printing them or when printing bending schedules.

The layer table

Layers are used to group related drawing entities into functional units in order to isolate certain aspects of the drawing from each other. Typical examples include grouping of contour lines or concrete outlines on separate layers or drawing an elevation or a detail on a separate layer. Each layer has a descriptive name, number, scale and grid spacing that is recorded in the layer table. At any given time, only one layer can be the current layer to which newly drawn entities are added. Layers can be turned on or off in any desired combination to allow selective display, editing and plotting. Refer to Chapter 4 for a detailed discussion on layers and related topics.

Drawing entities
The visible items on a drawing, eg lines, circles, text, rebars, etc, are called drawing entities. Whenever you draw something, the new drawing entities are placed on the current layer. Drawing entities are stored as records of coordinates relating to the layers scale and parameters affecting their appearance, eg line type, pen, text font etc.

Deleted drawing entities

When a drawing entity is erased, it is not permanently removed from the drawing but simply marked as deleted and removed from the display. You can then restore, or unerase, any erased entities whenever required. Deleted entities can however be permanently removed from drawing by packing it. Chapter 3 gives a detailed description of the drawing and editing processes, erasing and unerasing entities.

Bending schedules
Every drawing has a bending schedule embedded in it. If it is not required, then it is left blank. To show the bending schedule select the Show/Hide bending schedule option under Windows on the menu. A bending schedule contains the following: Reinforcement information, comprising the bar mark, type, diameter, number of, shape code, cutting length and bending dimensions. Title Block and Print button: allows editing of the title block with schedule number and general information (eg project title, date, name of detailer, reference drawing number etc), lists total mass for each bar type and diameter, and provides printing options. Closing the title block window automatically saves the information entered. Page Break button: inserts a page break at the selected position in a bending schedule.

Schedule numbers
A unique number can be assigned to each bending schedule. No rules apply when assigning schedule numbers except that they are limited in length to thirteen characters. Schedule numbers appear on printed bending schedules and can, for example, be a combination of a project number and a schedule serial number and any special characters or spaces. Schedule numbers are automatically incremented when printing.

Reinforcement information
Static links exist between reinforcement records on the bending schedule and the rebars in the parent drawing. Rebar attributes are read from the drawing at the time of scheduling and automatically recorded on a bending schedule page. Subsequent changes to the rebars in the drawing must, however, be updated manually in the bending schedules and vice versa. Note: The cutting lengths of rebars are calculated automatically for all standard shape codes.

Total reinforcement masses

Each bending schedule page includes a table summarizing the mass for each bar type and diameter and the total mass for the page. The masses are updated automatically by the system.

General file management functions

The File menu provides standard file management functions. Some of these functions include:

New drawing : Open a new drawing window. Open : Select and open a drawing file. Save : Save the active drawing. Save as : Save the active drawing with a new name and/or in a different directory. Save all : Save all open drawing files. Close : Close the active window and all other windows containing views of the same drawing. Note: Both the File Open and the File Save as functions by default open the active working folder. To set another folder as the working folder directly without exiting PADDS, click on the Set as W Folder icon.

Backup copies
Every time a drawing is saved, the current disk file is first renamed to have the extension BAK. If something terrible goes wrong, you can then open the backup version of the drawing and retrieve the necessary information.

Timed backups
A second level of backups is provided with the timed backup facility. Backups are made at regular intervals of all drawings that were modified since last saved. The backup interval can be set under File Options on the menu. If a Timed Backup Interval of zero is input, then timed backups are not made. The timed backup files are named TimedBackup#.PAD, where # is the number of the drawings in the sequence they were opened. When saving the actual drawing, the last timed backup files are also renamed to have BAK extensions when saving the new versions. These backups of backups therefore provide even a third level of backups Note: In the rare case of a run-time error occurring, the open drawing is saved as $last.PAD. Tip: Irrespective any sophisticated backup procedures built into PADDS, it makes common sense to backup valuable information regularly on an independent medium (eg. CD or a network server).

Printing and plotting

Drawings can be plotted on large sheets, eg A1 or A0, or printed on A4 or A3 pages. The default Windows printer or plotter will be used by PADDS for drawings and bending schedules unless

another is selected.

Drawings
To print or plot a drawing, select Print from the File menu. The paper size selected under Set Paper Size on the menu will be used as the default printing size. The relevant dimensions are automatically entered into the Paper Height and Paper Width blocks. To print on a different sized paper, either click one of the buttons, or type in the height and width dimensions relevant for the paper size required. Then either select the Fit to Page option or enter a Scale factor to size the drawing correctly for the selected page size. The Rotate drawing option rotates the drawing through 90. Select the required paper Orientation i.e. either landscape or portrait. To print a drawing in colour, the Print line colours box must be ticked, and the selected printer or plotter must be capable of and set up for colour printing. The default background colour is white (i.e. The colour of the paper), but if the Print background box is ticked then the screen background colour is used. The Save setup button allows you to save groups of printing settings for a single drawing under different names. A specific group of settings can then be recalled by selecting the corresponding setup name.

Printing a window
You can print actual size or exact scaled versions of portions of the drawing by selecting the Window print command on the Window menu. The print window is selected with a rectangular frame that you can move to the desired position. The following options are available: Window orientation : You can choose to print a rectangular area in either a portrait or a landscape orientation. Scale factor: The size of the print window is adjusted according to the scale factor of the installed printer. A unity factor results in the print window being the same size as the printers paper size. A larger value zooms into the drawing, effectively reducing the onscreen size of the print window. Similarly a smaller value zooms out, effectively enlarging the on-screen size of the print window. A4 or A3 buttons: Select the required paper size. Note: The scale factor is used to zoom the print window and therefore changes its on-screen size. The actual print size will always correspond to the installed printer paper size.

Bending schedules
Bending schedules are printed using the Title block & Print button at the bottom of the schedule window. The active drawings bending schedule is superimposed on master bending schedules, which can be customized to display your company logo and text in the preferred language. Refer to Chapter 7 for detail on customizing the master bending schedules. On selecting the Title block & Print button, a dialogue box is displayed with the following elements: A summary of the steel quantities in the bending schedule which are calculated automatically. A bending schedule title block which can be edited. A Print redundant bar dimensions option: When ticked, redundant bar dimensions are shown on the bending schedule in brackets. If not ticked, then no redundant bar dimensions are shown on the printed bending schedules. A Print to file option: If this option is selected, print files of the schedules and/or associated sketches can be created. These files can then be combined onto a large drawing or printed as a batch using the PROKON Batch Print module. Print option buttons: Select the required button to print the schedule and associated sketch on the same page, or to select either the schedule or sketch which is then printed on its on page. A Create SDI file button : Allows a SDI file to be created which can then be read by the application Steelpac often used at bending yards. When including a sketch (drawing) in a bending schedule, the sketch is sometimes scaled to make it fit into the designated area. If however, page breaks inserted in the bending schedule do not leave sufficient space on the schedule page for the sketch, the sketch is then superimposed onto the schedule. Adjust the schedule page lengths to correct th