The best way to create a legend

[Petri]

Architects, the lucky bastards, seldom need legends. Landscape architects, on the other hand, do every time.

What would be the best way to produce a legend?

1. A specific design layer ("Legend") & a viewport (or more than one) - hoping that one remembers to exclude the Legend layer from all quantity reports.

2. A layerwise "empty" viewport with symbols etc. as annotation.

3. Something actually clever.

(I know how it is done in VW 9 and earlier. Don't want to go there any more!)

[jbrhwy]

Petri

My legends & typical road sections are symbols & placed placed directly on the sheet layer, making it is easier to position them relative to the drawing border & so that they don't obscure objects on the drawing.

[Petri]

As annotation?

[Chris D]

Architects seldom need legends

Actually, most of my drawings have a key or legend. Legends are drawn on a key layer (design layer) and viewported onto the sheet layer. That way the object scale and hatch scale are correct as per the drawing (or e.g. doubled by changing viewport scale).

Big problems with sheet layer legends:

Classes may not be turned on when you go to that sheet layer and then you may issue a drawing inadvertently with stuff missing. Viewports on the other hand remember their class settings. One rule in my office for sheet layers - ain't nothing on any class other than None - too risky.

Symbols would need to be duplicated at a reduced scale, in fact at every scale you need the legend. Viewports control this automatically.

[jbrhwy]

Petri

Directly on the sheet layer not as annotation.

Chris

They don't have to be scaled as the sheet layer is 1:1, therefore, the symbol is the size it was created at & classes are automatically added to the file when the legend symbol is applied from the resource browser.

I thought this was a wonderful feature that Nemetschek had built into sheet layers.

[Petri]

Bruce,

I'm afraid I don't quite understand... Road sections 1:1?

[Chris D]

They don't have to be scaled as the sheet layer is 1:1, therefore, the symbol is the size it was created

When would a 1:1 symbol of ANYTHING fit on a sheet, unless your talking mechanical design, not architecture and landscape?

classes are automatically added to the file when the legend symbol is applied from the resource browser.

Er...do you never turn classes off? I'm afraid we use hundreds of classes, and they can't all stay on all the time.