New Commands in AutoCAD 2005: Part 9
Marking Up Drawings
by Ralph Grabowski
Introduction
Drawing are never done. After you use the Save and Plot commands, others
look at your drawings, make changes, ask for revisions, modify them
as-built, and so on. When drawings are on paper, it is easy to take
out a pencil and make changes. When working electronically, the process
is more difficult.
Autodesk provides several tools for dealing with drawing revisions
-- a process that is called "reviewing" or "marking up"
or "redlining" after the red pencils commonly used to note
changes. The problem is that Autodesk is still developing its markup
software strategy; AutoCAD 2005 is in the midst of the changeover process.
Older markup software has been retired; some older markup commands are
still available; new software is being introduced.
Figure 1: Marking up a drawing with "redlines."
RmlIn
Autodesk's first software for marking up drawings was called Volo View.Volo
View saved markups in .rml files. To import .rml markup
file, AutoCAD 2000i was outfitted with the RmlIn command,
which converted the data to AutoCAD entities, and then placed them on
a red, locked layer called _Markup_. Autodesk recently abandoned Volo
View for DWF Composer; the RmlIn command still exists in AutoCAD 2005.
Notes: Volo is Italian for "flight." RML
is short for "redline markup language," an XML-based format
that Autodesk hoped would become an industry standard. Volo View Express
was included free with some releases of AutoCAD, but did not perform
redlining.
RevCloud
Autodesk next moved redlining inside AutoCAD 2004 with the RevCloud
command. It's job is to draw revision clouds that highlight portions
of drawings that need changes. The command optional converts polylines
to revision clouds, and AutoCAD 2005 adds the Calligraphy option.
Markup
With AutoCAD 2005, Autodesk went to an entirely new model. Instead of
marking up .dwg drawing files in Volo View, users are now expected
to mark up .dwf files in DWF Composer. The marked-up .dwf
files are then viewed in AutoCAD with the new Markup
command. The advantage is that Markup is intelligent enough to also
load the original drawing; the drawback is that drawing files have to
be converted to DWF format. (AutoCAD 2005 includes DWF Viewer, which
does not markup drawings; DWF Composer cost US$199.)
Markup displays the Markup Set Manager, which places
and edits redline markups in drawings. You then change the status of
the markups, such as "needs more work" or "completed,"
and then return the .dwf file to whoever is running DWF Composer. Note
that Markup command works only with .dwf files containing
markup data; it will not open markups from third-party software, nor
does it “import” non-marked-up DWF data.
Related commands include OpenDwfMarkup (also opens
marked-up .dwf files) and MarkupClose (closes
the Markup Set Manager window), both of which are primarily meant for
scripts and macros.
TIP: DWF Composer software is meant for viewing, redlining,
and printing DWF-fromat files. It is also a "publisher," merging
files from sources other than AutoCAD into multi-page documents. Install
DWF Writer as a printer driver, and then print raster images, word processing
documents, spreadsheets, and drawings from other CAD packages to .dwf
files, which are then added to the DWF document in Composer. DWF Writer
is available free from Autodesk.
Finding the Commands
RmlIn Command
To start the RmlIn command:
• From the Insert menu, select Markup.
• At the command prompt, enter the rmlin command.
AutoCAD displays the Insert Markup dialog box; select an .rml
file, and then click OK.
RevCloud Command
To start the RevCloud command:
• From the Draw menu, select Revision
Cloud.
• On the toolbar, click the Revision Cloud button.
• At the command prompt, enter the revcloud command.
AutoCAD displays prompts at the command-line.
MarkUp Command
To start the MarkUp command:
• From the Tools menu, select Markup
Set Manager.
• On the toolbar, click the Markup button.
• Press Ctrl+7.
• At the command prompt, enter the markup command.
• Alternatively, enter the alias msm.
In all cases, AutoCAD displays the Makrup Set Manager window.
TIP: What's the difference in AutoCAD between dialog
boxes and windows? Dialog boxes must be dismissed before
you can continue editing in AutoCAD; windows can remain open.
Step-by-Step Tutorials
Redlining in AutoCAD
The RmlIn command is meant to help you do redlining
inside of AutoCAD. The assistance is rudimentary: it only draws revision
clouds; everything else is up to you -- including creating a layer to
hold the redlines, setting it to red, placing redline text (use the
Leader command), and other common redlining actions.
1. Start AutoCAD 2004 or 2005 with a new or existing drawing. If a
new drawing, draw some lines.
2. Enter the Layer command, and then create a layer
called "Markup."
Set the layer's color to red, and then make the layer current.
Exit the layer dialog box, having created a layer for placing the redlines.
Figure 2: Creating a red "markup" layer.
3. Start the RevCloud command, and notice the preset
options. (The options might have different values in your copy of AutoCAD.)
AutoCAD determines the size of the arcs that make up the revision cloud
from the scale of the drawing. (I wonder why other scale-dependent objects,
such as hatches and linetypes, are unable to determine an appropriate
scale factor? Anyhow...)
Command: revcloud
Minimum arc length: 4' Maximum arc length: 4' Style: Normal
Specify start point or [Arc length/Object/Style] <Object>: (Pick
a point.)
4. Pick a point, and then move the cursor. As you move the cursor,
notice that the revision cloud is drawn automatically. When the cursor
comes near the start point, the cloud is automatically closed.
Guide crosshairs along cloud
path... (Move cursor around.)
Revision cloud finished.
Figure 3: Drawing a revision cloud.
TIP: The RevCloud command provides
these other options:
• Object converts existing circles, polylines,
and splines into revision clouds.
• Arc Length lets you make the billows larger
or smaller.
• Reverse Direction turns the cloud inside-out.
• Style changes the cloud to a calligraphic style
(new to AutoCAD 2005).
Figure 4: Calligraphic revision cloud.
5. Use the QLeader command to place revision text.
If you wish, lock the Markup layer so that the redlining can be seen
but not edited.
Working with the Markup Manager
AutoCAD 2005 introduces a new way of handling revisions and markups:
the DWF Composer marks up DWF copies of drawings, while AutoCAD's new
Markup command views them. Despite its name, the Markup
command does not markup drawings! (Perhaps that limitation will be lifted
in a future release of AutoCAD.)
1. Start AutoCAD 2005 with a blank drawing.
2. Start the Markup command.
3. In the Markup Set Manager window, click Open.
4. From AutoCAD 2005's \sample folder, select the "8th
floor markup.dwf" file. Click Open.
Notice that the top half of the markup manager window lists the "pages"
of the DWF file, while the lower half provides additional information.
Figure 5: The Markup Set Manager window.
5. Click the + next to a DWF page name, such as "8th floor-8th
Floor Plan". Notice that all redline notations are listed.
Figure 6: Redline markups are listed under each DWF page.
6. Double-click a redline notation, such as "Show room names,
TYP." Notice that AutoCAD opens the associated drawing file and
displays the redline markups. You cannot, however, edit the redlines
-- just view them.
Figure 7: Redline markups opened in AutoCAD.
7. The markup window has a toolbar with three buttons that allow you
to toggle (turn on and off) the display of redlines, the drawing, and
the DWF image.
Figure 8: Toolbar for toggling redlines and drawings.
8. The only change you can make to markups is to their status. In
the lower half of the markup window, notice Markup Status item. Click
it to select a different status item from the four provided by Autodesk.
Figure 9: Changing the status of the markup.
9. Save the changes by clicking the Republish Markup DWF
button on the markup window's toobar. The changes are saved in DWF format.
10. Close the Markup Set Manager window by pressing Ctrl+7.
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