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Hi folks,

Haven't been around much lately, but I'm evaluating an upgrade from Fundamentals 11.5 to Architect 2008 and have a couple questions.

I'm a long time user. I run a cabinet shop and produce drawings for approval and construction. These are in the form of an A4 booklet, usually with about 10 pages: plan,elevations, details, site dimensions,specs and so forth. All old-school 2d.

We're thinking Architect mostly for the productivity tools. Chief among these is batch printing and pdf output. Til now it's been print to pdf one (design) layer at a time, and a third party app to combine into one doc.

It appears there's no batch printing or pdf'ing of design layers. Is this true or am I missing something?

If it is true, it looks like I'll be building a template with a design layer for each page (like i use now), with each of these VP'd to corresponding sheet layers. Then I'll draw as I always have, but with the sheets happening in the background until it comes time to output. Looks pretty workable to me at this point.

Anyone have a better way?

So far things are going well. All my custom stuff works as before. Rotate plan, 2 way worksheets and nav palette are worth the price of admission.

I'm also looking at the cabinet pio's for simple perspectives. Unfortunately these don't have the level of detail I need to be able to rely on 3D alone. Maybe one day we'll get InteriorCad, but that's a ways off.

Thanks for any input,

Charles

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In terms of the Cabinet PIO's being limited,

I would suggest that you create your 3D Cab's own just using simple 3D tools (Extrudes, etc) adding all the detail you need.

Then create symbols out of these.

Since you do a lot of cabinets you would build a great library of these very quickly,

saving time in the long run and providing the great 3D perspectives you are looking for.

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Thanks for the replies.

Pat...hmmm decisions decisions. I set up a drawing using views and that's more like how I'm used to working. But I have a feeling that if I set up sheets/viewports that I might find new and better ways. Guess I'll just have to try it for a while. At this point I'm not sure if I can see the advantages of one over the other. Either way this'll all be in a template so it's more about workflow than setup.

gmm... I'll be looking at working with the PIO's. Seems like the main problem is changing sizes and keeping the details in place. I'm also thinking of using a combination of cab PIO's and 2d detailing.

Back to drawing organization. If there are people out there doing this kind of thing I hope they'll share their ideas!

Thanks

Charles

Edited by ccroft
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Rather then stretch the group, edit the group and use the 2D Reshape Tool. Draw a marquee using the tool and then click and drag on something in the marquee (or nudge). Only the points inside the marquee will move all the rest will remain stationary.

If you pick your points right, you should be able to keep your verticals the correct width and just change the horizontal lengths.

Pat

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In regards to your template set up, may I suggest creating a sheet layer with multiple pages set up on it. That way you can export to pdf all the sheets for your booklet at once. We use templates which contain 10 to 25 sheets on a single sheet layer. Not only can we print them all at once, but also have the opportunity to view all of the drawings at once. Useful when it comes to aligning sheet titles.

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Thanks Atari,I'll have a look at that one too.

Pat:One of the things that keeps me in 2d is the script I wrote for sizing my 2d groups. Just input the new height and width and the components are moved/stretched appropriately. Able to edit multiples too.

Manually editing these is too time consuming, given the number of times I have to tweak cabinet sizes in a day.

I did make a couple of 3d cab PIO's that almost work the way I want, and was planning on a full suite....but then I saw InteriorCad. I think this'll be my final solution to custom 3d cabinet design. Until then...homebrew tools and 2d for the most part. And some further tinkering in Architect to see what's feasible.

Thanks all

Charles

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Hi folks,

Haven't been around much lately, but I'm evaluating an upgrade from Fundamentals 11.5 to Architect 2008 and have a couple questions.

Wait a few days and it will be 2009!!

Back to your original questions.

Making the transition from 2D to 3D is surprisingly easy, with all the benefits for you as a designer, your clients visuals and the team making the furniture.

I have always produced 3D visuals, since starting with MiniCad, adding them to the standard shop and working drawings.

On the design front 3D resoulution comes very quickly.

Also with a 3D model you then have all the elevations, plans and sections you need as all the VPs are dynamic.

You can create templates for different styles of projects, including VPs, Worksheets, etc and

We're thinking Architect mostly for the productivity tools. Chief among these is batch printing and pdf output. Til now it's been print to pdf one (design) layer at a time, and a third party app to combine into one doc.

You can even build the batch printing into the template.

HTH

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