Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
Speaker
Dennis McNeal, AIA Software Quality Analyst, Autodesk Inc.
Assistants
Bill Glennie QA Manager, Autodesk Inc. Matt Dillon Consultant Nauman Mysorewala - CAD/BIM Manager, GBBN Architects
AB300-1 In this hands-on lab, youll get an overview of the AutoCAD Architecture Details feature and learn how to make your own custom detail components. Learn how easy it is to make your own details from within the Details interface without having to manually create/edit complicated XML files. Once we make a custom detail component, well leverage AutoCAD Architectures Annotation Scaling tools to complete a realworld detail. This lab will help you supercharge your detailing productivity!
Matt Dillon is a non-practicing, registered architect in Texas, specializing in consulting with architectural and engineering firms to make the most of their AutoCAD Architecture and other BIM software. Matt is also a regular speaker at Autodesk University.
Nauman Mysorewala is a CAD/BIM Manager for GBBN Architects, Inc. a multi-national firm specializing in Healthcare, Housing, Institutional and Entertainment. He has over nine years of experience in this role as well as working as an architect. He has been working with Autodesk products including AutoCAD, AUTOCAD ARCHITECTURE, Revit, 3D Studio Viz/Max since 1986. He also teaches AutoCAD & Architectural Desktop at College of Mt. St. Joseph to Interior Design Students and has been teaching at corporate level and conducting customized training sessions for Architectural Desktop and Revit. Nauman holds a Bachelors of Architecture degree and is an Autodesk Architectural Desktop Certified Expert.
This lab assumes that you already have a basic understanding of AutoCAD but are not an expert in using AutoCAD Architectures Details.
AutoCAD Architecture Details is a database driven feature. The good news is you dont need to know anything about databases to use or understand Details. Just knowing that Details is organized by a database and can be edited easily without needing a database editor is all you need to understand.
What is Details?
AutoCAD Architecture Details is a 2D detailing program made specifically for architectural and structural documentation. Details can be productively used alongside of your AutoCAD Architecture model. Your AutoCAD Architecture model can be externally referenced into your detail drawings as an outline and drawn over. As the model changes and the external reference reloaded you can easily see when your detail needs modification.
AutoCAD Architecture Details is complemented by traditional AutoCAD drawing and editing tools and AutoCAD Architectures Aec Modify tools, available from the context menu. Details is made to quickly assemble and edit your specific detail drawings
Details Interface
The primary interface for accessing AutoCAD Architecture Details is the Detail Component Manager accessed through the Navigation toolbar.
Starting Detail Component Manager The organization of Detail Component Manager should be familiar to many US design professionals as is based on CSI 2004 standards. If youre familiar in finding products in Sweets Catalogs you will easily find the detail components you need in AutoCAD Architecture Details.
Expanded Component List Adding a Component to your drawing is achieved by simply selecting your Component from the list then picking the Insert Component button.
Detail Component Add Options Another way to add Detail Components to your drawing is Tool Palettes. AutoCAD Architecture ships with many stock detailing Tool Palettes. By right clicking the Name bar on the Tool Palette you can easily select the Detailing Tool Palette Group.
AutoCAD Architecture Details is database driven using a Microsoft Access database organizing thousands of pieces of content. Many components contain multiple 2D views (Top, Front, Side, etc.) and each of these views is made available through an XML recipe. Detail recipes are like cooking recipes in that they contain the ingredients for creating the component. A simple recipe might insert a block and determine things like its Layer and Linetype. Complex recipes can call routines to draw Detail Components and use complex jigs to help you place the Components in your drawing. Unless you enjoy working with XML files you dont need to understand recipes other than to know that XML recipes are an important part of Details and are made for you automatically when you customize AutoCAD Architecture Details. Important! Before we make any edits to the Detail Component Manager database you need to make a backup copy of the database. By default the Imperial database file is found at: C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Autodesk\ACD-A 2008\enu\Details\Details (US))\AecDtlComponents (US).mdb. 1. 2. 3. 4. Open Windows Explorer and browse to the database file Select the file, right click and select Copy Right click again in Windows Explorer and pick Paste By default Windows will paste a copy named: Copy of AecDtlComponents (US).mdb
The Details Feature in AutoCAD Architecture Adding Sizes to Default Detail Components
Adding additional sizes to default Detail Components is done from within the Detail Component Manager. By selecting the Edit Database button (1) and adding your field values to the data grid (2) you can make your own Detail Components. Congratulations, youre now a database genius! In the image below we are adding a 1x2 Lumber component to the database. To complete adding your new database component just unselect the Edit Database button and confirm the prompt that you want to change the database. Thats all there is to adding a new component size!
Dancin A Jig
A jig is used by AutoCAD Architecture Details to provide greater flexibility when you add Detail components to your drawing. There are six types of jigs available to you for creating a Detail component and they are described below.
Stamp Jig
Use the Stamp Jig to place single instances of a component or the same component inserted multiple times. AutoCAD Architecture Details offers many Stamp Jig components Custom Millwork is a good example.
Bookends Jig
The Bookend Jig uses three blocks to make a single Detail Component. The interior blocks are arrayed at a specific distance and the bookend blocks are placed at the start and end points. The Fixed Aluminum Louvers component is a good example of a Bookend Jig.
The Linear Array jig arrays a single component along a straight path. The Wood Strip Flooring component uses the Linear Array jig.
Surface
A Surface Jig Draws a predefined rectangular component based on user start and end point picks. Paving components use a Surface Jig.
Surface Linetype
The Surface Linetype jig extends the Surface Jig to include a user defined linetype. Resilient Flooring is an excellent example of a Surface Linetype jig.
Surface Top
The Surface Top jig is exactly like the Surface jig except it doesnt draw the bottom line of the rectangle. The Concrete Topping component uses the Surface Top jig
The Details Feature in AutoCAD Architecture Dancin Your Own Jig Making Custom Detail Components
Now we will examine how to create Custom Detail Components. Lets say youve been using Details to place wood framing members in your section and detail drawings. Youve noticed that most standard lumber sizes can be had using components from Nominal Cut Lumber and you want to make spaced lumber components to represent joists or studs in your details. Using standard jigs we can easily make Detail Components that automatically draw spaced framing members. The first step in making a custom Detail Component is to decide where they are located in the Detail Component Manager. For our lumber enhancements your first inclination might be to modify the existing Nominal Cut Lumber components but his will be problematic. As you can see in the image below, when you edit a stock Nominal Cut Lumber component you find that they use pre-programmed parameters that arent editable.
Completed Component
10. When the data grid is fully filled in, deselect the edit button and confirm that you want to save your database changes.
Congratulations, you just made a custom Detail Component! If you want to create additional spaced components for a 2-0 spacing you only need to repeat the above steps with a new Component name and increased gap size.
The Details Feature in AutoCAD Architecture Using Your New Spaced Lumber Components
Adding your spaced lumber components to a drawing is as simple as opening Detail Component Manager and selecting a component followed by picking the Insert Component button. Helpful Hint: When adding a Detail Component to your drawing, Properties Palette provides many useful options, therefore its recommended that you enable the Properties Palette by typing Props @ the command line or selecting Properties Palette from the Standard toolbar before inserting a component.
To add a Spaced Lumber component to your drawing, follow these steps: 1. Open Detail Component Manager, select and Spaced Lumber Component then pick the Insert Component button 2. I selected 2x8 @ 16 O.C and the Property Palette is populated with the component data.
Property Palette during Component Add 3. Lets say you changed your mind and wanted 2x10 @ 16 O.C. instead. You only need to pick the Description dropdown and select that component.
4. Follow the command line prompt and pick a point to start your component placement. 5. When prompted for a second point just drag your cursor without picking and notice your 2x10s drawing @ 16 O.C..
Component Highlights when Dragging Curser 6. Complete the routine by dragging the cursor and picking when you see the desired number of components or drag & type a distance to fill. 7. After picking the second point AutoCAD Architecture returns you to the command line and each 2x10 in your drawing is a unique block. 8. During placement you might have noticed the additional command line options that were available. Lets take a quick look @ those. 9. A cool way to add additional spaced detail components to your drawing is to select one of the 2x10 blocks, right click and pick Add Selected from the context menu.
Platform Lumber Component Parts 1. We will start making our new component by entering the Detail Component Manager and selecting the Wood Framing category, then picking the Edit Database button 2. Now select the Edit button The New Component dialog displays with the General tab active 3. Fill in the general tab as shown in the image below. To specify the image, right click in the Viewer Window > Specify image > Browse C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Autodesk\ACD-A 2008\enu\Details\Details (US)\06 - Wood, Plastics and Composites\images \PlatformLumber.png
1. After exiting the dialog you will notice that the Description field is active in the data grid. Fill in the
data fields as shown in the image below.
Completed Platform Lumber Component 1. When the data grid is fully filled in, deselect the edit button and confirm that you want to save your database changes.
The Details Feature in AutoCAD Architecture Using Your New Platform Lumber Components
To add a Platform Lumber component to your drawing, follow the following steps: 1. Open Detail Component Manager, select and Platform Lumber Component you want to draw then pick the Insert Component button 2. During the insert process you will again see that Property Palette is populated with the component information and all of the components are available to you
Properties Palette - Component Insert 1. You will notice the bookend blocks of the components previewing on your curser. Follow the prompt and pick a first point in your drawing area 2. For the second point you can drag in any direction, using Xflip or Yflip Command Line options if needed or drag and type a distance.
Platform Lumber Drag to Second Point You will sometimes find the need to adjust framing to match your project requirements and this is easily accomplished with AutoCAD editing commands since the inserted framing members are individual blocks. Each block is a unique anonymous block so it can be easily edited without the worry of changing other blocks in your drawing.
Custom Tool If you right click your new tool & select Properties you can see the default properties of this tool and you can change the properties of the tool here. By selecting the tool you can easily insert the Platform Lumber component.
The Details Feature in AutoCAD Architecture Create Lumber Beam Component - Section View
Although Details provides many wood lumber sizes they are all inserted as single members using a Stamp Jig. In this exercise we will again leverage our lumber blocks to make multiple member beams or girders so you can draw beams in a single step. The Lumber Beam component will use a Linear Array jig to allow you to place a beam and control the number of members by dragging or specifying a count. Once the beam is in your drawing it will be made of individual blocks for easy editing.
Lumber Beam Components 1. We will start making our new component by entering the Detail Component Manager and selecting the Wood Framing category, then picking the Edit Database button 2. Now select the Edit button The New Component dialog displays with the General tab active 3. Fill in the general tab as shown in the image below. To specify the image, right click in the Viewer Window > Specify image > Browse to C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Autodesk\ACD-A 2008\enu\Details\Details (US)\06 - Wood, Plastics and Composites\images \LumberBeam.png
Lumber Beam General Tab 4. Select OK in the New Component Dialog & notice your new component under the Wood Framing Category. 5. We will now fill in the Parameters information. Select Lumber Beam component > right click > Edit & select the Parameters tab. 6. Fill in the Parameters tab as shown below then select OK
Lumber Beam Parameters Tab 7. After exiting the dialog you will notice that the Description field is active in the data grid. Fill in the data fields as shown in the image below.
Lumber Beam Component 8. When the data grid is fully filled in, deselect the edit button and confirm that you want to save your database changes.
Properties Palette Component Insert 1. To complete adding your Lumber Beam component, pick a point in your drawing then drag to add the desired number of members. The Count Command Line option is also very useful allowing you to specify an exact number of members to make up your beam.
Lumber Beam Elevation Parameters Tab 5. After exiting the dialog you will notice that the data grid has changed and now provides fields for thickness and hatch. Fill in thicknesses shown in the image below.
Properties Palette Component Insert 5. To draw your Lumber Beam Elevation follow the Command Line prompts to Pick start point and Pick end point.
The Details Feature in AutoCAD Architecture Using Details with Your AutoCAD Architecture Model
Even though details are not automatically created from your AutoCAD Architecture model you may find the following solution to be very productive and useful for coordinating your documents. Due to time constraints (& the length of this document) Ill cover this workflow suggestion from a high level. You may need to investigate further on your own or ask me questions if needed.
2D Section/Elevation
Wall Section using Details Drawn Over 2D Section/elevation Object 6. If your building model changes you only need to update the Section/Elevation object, and then edit your 2D wall section to match. 7. Another production tool related to Details worth mentioning is Annotation Scaling. Lets say we want to make a large scale roof edge detail from the section above. Again, by using Drawing Management I can make an xref copy of the annotated section at a large scale and just add any additional dimensions and notes. By reusing the original section drawing and annotation Im assuring that my drawings are coordinated.
Feel free to show off your custom Detail Components to your boss, workmates and clients. If after seeing your cool routines they think youre a database expert, your secret is safe with me!