Customize drawing templates

Procedures:

Customize drawing templates

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The following steps get you started quickly with your company standard for drawing files. These steps are overview of the main components of a customized drawing template.

The Drawing Resources folder in the Drawing browser contains folders for sheet formats, title blocks, borders, and sketched symbols. Each can be reused in new sheets and saved in the template file.

Custom IDW template setup overview

  1. In Autodesk Inventor, open a new drawing (.idw) file.
  2. Set template options in the Tools tab ac.menuaro.gif Options panel ac.menuaro.gif Document Settings dialog box.
  3. Preparation: Make sure Sheet:1 is active, and then delete the Border and Title Block.
  4. Create a Border.
  5. Design a Title block. Add properties and format the text.
  6. Create a Sheet Form as needed.
  7. Save the file in the default Template folder.
  8. Add note text, revision tables, and sketch symbols to the sheet as needed.

To make a template the default, save it in the Templates folder with the file name standard.idw:

Microsoft Windows XP: Program Files\Autodesk\Inventor [version]\Templates.

Microsoft Vista: Users\Public\Documents\Autodesk\Inventor [version]\Templates.

Note: Alternatively, you can specify a different template location for each project in the Projects dialog box.

To avoid replacing the existing default template, move or rename the existing standard template before saving the new template. Files that reside in the Templates folder appear on the Default tab of the New dialog box when you create new files.

Note: To add tabs to the new dialog box, create new subfolders in the Templates folder, and add template files to them. The New dialog box displays a tab for each subfolder in the Templates folder.

Configure Document Settings

Use the Tools tab ac.menuaro.gif Options panel ac.menuaro.gif Document Settings dialog box to set the options in the templates.

Tip: You can copy iProperties from one Autodesk Inventor file to your template by selecting Copy Model Properties, and then selecting the desired iProperties in the Properties dialog box. Copied iProperties are not associative so do they do not update when the source file is updated.

Clean up the browser

For optimum workflow, create the title block formats and any custom borders and sketched symbols before creating the templates, so that they are available when you set up the sheet formats.

  1. Right-click the Default Border under Sheet:1 in the browser, and select Delete.
  2. Perform the same action on the Title Block, so that the Sheets folder is empty.

Setting the border

The default border is parametric. It automatically adjusts its size and labeling when the sheet is resized. All sheets using that border automatically update to display your changes when you edit a default border definition.

Custom borders can be created and saved in the current drawing. To create a custom border, right-click Borders, and select Define New Border. To make a user-defined border parametric, use the General Dimension command to define the distance from each side of the border to the theoretical sheet edge.

  1. To customize a default border, in the browser, right-click Sheet :1, and select Edit Sheet. The sheet displayed is the default sheet from the Standard.idw file.
  2. Click the drop-down list, select the sheet size that to be your default.
  3. Select a default orientation, and click OK to save and close.
  4. Expand the Drawing Resources folder and then expand the Borders folder.
  5. Right-click the Default Border, and select Insert Drawing Border. The Default Drawing Border Parameters dialog box displays.
  6. Click More icon_more1.png on the bottom right corner of the Default Drawing Border Parameters dialog box to expand it for more settings.
  7. Set the border parameters to your company specifications. Click OK to save and close the dialog box.

Note: The input value for Number of Zones must be even numbers. Alternately, you can use your custom border as described previously.

You cannot edit the default border after it is placed. To change the border, delete it and insert a new border with the appropriate properties.

Title block basics - Part A: Set up and maintenance tips

The title blocks used in an Autodesk Inventor drawing are dynamic and include information about the drawing, the sheet, and the design properties. The title block automatically updates to display current information, as information changes.

Dynamic information in a title block is referred to as a property field and is added through the text command. The information can be entered through the Drawing Properties dialog box or through user input (as prompted entries).

  1. Right-click the ANSI-Large title block under Sheet:1 in the browser, and select Delete from the context menu.
  2. Expand the Drawing Resources folder, and then the Title Blocks folder.
  3. To base your title block on an existing one, right-click the title block and select Edit. To create a title block, select Manage tab ac.menuaro.gif Define panel ac.menuaro.gif Title Block .
  4. To insert an AutoCAD title block, select the AutoCAD icon (the Define new title block must be active).

    Tip: For better visibility, turn off the Grid Lines in Tools tab ac.menuaro.gif Options panel ac.menuaro.gif Application Options . Select the Sketch tab, and cancel the Grid Lines selection.

  5. Use the sketch commands to modify the title block, dimension, or to place property fields. (See Setting Property Fields in the following section.)
  6. Insert a .bmp (only one allowed) into the title block by selecting the Insert image command, and then browsing for the image.
  7. After completing the title block, right-click and select Save Title Block. In the Save Edits dialog box, click Save As and save a new custom title block to create a title block, or click Yes to save edits to a pre-existing one.
  8. Double-click the title block to insert it into the drawing.

Note: Dimensions used to set the size of elements in a title block or border are hidden upon exiting sketch mode.

You cannot directly modify the title block on a drawing sheet. To change a title block, edit the title block definition that you used to create it. Editing a definition changes all title blocks in the file you are editing from it.

Note: To copy a titleblock from one template or drawing to another, right-click the titleblock in the browser and select Copy from the menu. Paste to the titleblock folder in the browser of the other drawing.

Use the Drawing Resource Transfer Wizard to make a change in one template and apply the changes to any existing drawing files. It comes in handy in many circumstances. For example, you can use the Drawing Resource Transfer Wizard to distribute a company area code on a title block that was used to create many drawings by updating the existing title blocks in selected drawings with the new area code.

Title block basics - Part B: Adding Properties

Use the Text or Edit Text commands to set or change the values of Properties (including prompted entries) in a title block, border, or sketched symbol.

Note: In drawings, the default text format is controlled by the active object default style of the standard. To change the default text format for a drawing or template, modify the text style and object defaults style using the Styles Editor.

  1. On the ribbon, click Sketch tab ac.menuaro.gif Draw panel ac.menuaro.gif Text .
  2. Left-click or window the position to insert the property field.
  3. In the Format Text dialog box, select the Type of category of properties from which to choose.
  4. Prompted Entry specifies a prompt to enable entry of information at the time that a title block is placed. Select Prompted Entry to prompt the user for information when inserting the template or the title block.
    • Select the field name in the Edit window, and then enter the appropriate prompt. This is like AutoCAD attributes.
  5. Select a property from the drop-down to display in the title block.
  6. Add text or symbols to the annotation by placing them in the edit box. The value you select must be placed between the arrows.
  7. Select the contents displayed in the edit box and apply any of the format properties available.

    Note: Use Fit Text to sizes the text to fit the designated space, such as a text box. Use Stretch to specifies the text width. For example, enter 100 to display the text as designed, enter 50 to decrease the width of the text by 50%. Single line text removes all line breaks from multi-line text.

Title block basics - Part C: Format text tips

The Format Text dialog box provides several formatting features that can be applied to sketch text:

  • Use the text box to apply constraints and dimensions to text.
  • Use the Fit text feature to sizes the text to fit the designated space, such as a text box.
  • Use the Stretch feature to specify the text width. For example, enter 100 to display the text as designed, enter 50 to decrease the width of the text by 50%.
  • The Single line text feature removes all line breaks from multiline text.
  • After completing your title block, right-click and select Save Title Block. In the Save Edits dialog box, select Save As to save a new custom title block or Yes, if you edited a pre-existing one.

Setting Sheet Formats

A sheet layout contains a sheet format, border, and a title block. You can edit the information in the default sheet layout for the sheet name, sheet size, orientation, count attribute, and print attribute. The default sheet format is the last layout used or edited in the drawing template.

You can define one or several sheet formats and then add them to the Drawing Resources folder. Once you add a sheet format to a drawing, you can use it to add new sheets to that drawing.

  1. Add a new sheet to the drawing, using either the default sheet or one of the existing sheet formats.
  2. Set the size and orientation for the sheet.
  3. Add the standard components to the sheet, including a border, title block, and standard views.

    To be included in the format, views must be completely within the border of the sheet.

  4. Right-click the sheet and select Create Sheet Format from the menu.
  5. Enter the name for the new sheet format in the edit box. Click OK to save and exit the dialog box.

    Sheet formats are added to the Drawing Resources folder in the browser. To add a sheet using the new format, expand Drawing Resources ac.menuaro.gif Sheet Format, and then double-click the appropriate sheet.

    Note: A sheet format cannot be edited directly. To change an existing sheet format, use it to create a sheet, delete the unwanted format, then use the sheet to create a format with the same name.

Sheet formats contain a predefined of border, title block, and views. The format corresponds to a standard sheet size with an appropriate title block and border.

Updating styles

You can create new styles or rename styles in a document, but they affect only that document. Take a separate step to save a new or changed style to a style library because doing so replaces the library version. The CAD Administrator can control access to the style library.