Need some coaching for creating sheet sets in v14

Joe Dunfee

I am new to using sheet sets, and am perhaps missing something.

I attempted to create a sheet set by selecting a directory.  There is actually only one .dwg file that has the pages I want.  However, that directory has some x-ref files, and a sub-directory that has backups of the drawings.  If I choose that directory, I get everything in every .dwg file.

I am sure there is a way to un-select the unwanted files.  If I just continue, a window that seems to be in the drawing explorer for my curent drawing.  However, on that list is a large number of "layout-1" pages, and other pages that have the same name (from all my back-up drawing files).  Note that I had the option to include the drawing name as a prefix, and did have that option selected.  The problem is that when I view the sheets in drawing explorer, it shows a list with the list of sheets that omit the file name prefix.  Note that further down the list, it also seems to list the same sheets with the prefixes.

Am I just approaching this process in an incorrect manner?  Really all I want to do is create a PDF that has all the layout tabs, but not the model tab.  I thought a sheet set would be the way to do that.

-Joe Dunfee

Daniel Eiszele

 Hi Joe, I don't know if you figured this out but after a bit of playing around I think I have sorted your issue with the following process:

1). Open up the drawing explorer and select the Sheets Tab.

2). Click on the new sheet button and choose the "Empty" Sheet Set option. Then follow the prompts.

3). Right Click on the Sheet Set name in the tree view and select "New Sheets". Choose "Import Layouts from existing drawings" in the new sheet dialog and click on add drawings. Select the drawing/s that you are interested in.

4). Deselect the layouts you don't want.

5) Job Done!

Hope that helps.

Joe Dunfee

Thank yo very much Daniel.  I never would have figured all those steps out on my own.

The only thing I have left is to find an easy way to print to a single PDF.   I just need software that will allow all the PDF pages I print to collect in a cue, that I later can specify where they go. (there is another thread I had started on that topic; https://forum.bricsys.com/discussion/21734 )

-Joe Dunfee

Joe Dunfee

I am attempting to follow Daniels process, and use PDFCreator to save all the layout pages to a single PDF. 

When I go to publish my sheet set, it defaults to printing to the printer in the sheet set-up.  This in on a drop-down list, indicating that I should be able to choose a different printer. The help file only says that you can choose the printer by using this drop down list.  However, when I attempt to do so, the list only shows the one option, "Printer named in sheet set-up."  How do I populate this list?

Thank you for the help,

Joe Dunfee

Daniel Eiszele

Hi Joe, I don't think there is any way to populate the list you are referring to.  If you look at the grid below the drop down list, you will notice that there is a page setup field.  This can be changed to any page setup that is already within the drawing you are working on or imported from another drawing.  If you are going to change the page setup it is important that all your layouts must be the same size, scale and location that is expected by the particular page setup or you will miss parts of the drawing from your print out.  You can select multiple page setups to change at the same time by holding down the control and shift keys while clicking on the sheet name as per standard windows user interface design.  I downloaded PDFCreator to try this out and it works like a charm.

Joe Dunfee

While I have a system working for printing all the tabs in a drawing, I find the process quite cumbersome. And even after I have created the sheet set, to print all the tabs in a drawing takes (and this is a total guess) about 20 clicks.  If I add a new layout tab, I must do the entire process of creating a new sheet set all over again, which adds another (roughly) 10 clicks to the process.

Other AutoCAD related tutorials that I have seen, admit that the sheet set process is cumbersome. But, I have a hard time imagining that there is not an easier way to print all the layout tabs in a drawing that you have open.

Is there no simpler way?

-Joe Dunfee

Hans De Backer

Using the publish command directly should be much faster: only takes two clicks or so?

Joe Dunfee

Thanks, Hans.  That was exactly the information I needed.  I was unaware publishing could be used that way.

-Joe Dunfee

Joe Dunfee

I have been doing a bit more research about the various PDF creation methods.  First, I want to mention some file size issues.  I know most PDF printer drivers use the Postscript printing driver and capture that information.  So it is not surprising that PDFCreator and Bullzip PDF Printer have the same file size.  But, I am surprised that the PDF file size using BricsCAD's own export is more than double. Of course, it has different information in it, such as the layer names, and line weights. And I know it sends the PDF the vector information. I sort of was expecting the printer driver versions to rasterize the image, and make the files much larger. But now I am not so sure that is what it is doing. I will mention that my test DWG file is 389k.

Method                 | Filesize.
BricsCAD Export   | 927k
PDFCreator           | 421k
Bullzip PDF Printer | 421k

Does anyone have the official Adobi printer driver, and can test if it makes smaller files?  I would prefer to use a method that makes smaller file sizes.

-Joe Dunfee