Introduction
As an application engineer, I get many questions from our
clients regarding best practices for keeping a level of
consistency from drawing to drawing and project to project. For
a draftsperson, sometimes it is easier to accomplish a task his
or her own way rather than taking the time to think about
company standards and making the necessary adjustments. One way
to help your drafters have the proper tools to keep drawings
consistent is the use of a company template.
A template is a file with certain saved information that is a
starting point for new drawings. Many types of information can
be saved in a template file including basic drawing settings,
text styles, line styles, dimension styles, object styles, label
styles, table styles, layouts, and point groups. In Civil 3D, it
is particularly useful to maintain a company standard template
with object and label styles saved so that each draftsperson,
regardless of the project or drawing, has access to the same
styles as the other members of the design team. For example, two
different drafters each creating an existing surface in
different projects will have identical-looking surface contours
because they both had access to the company standard surface
style and applied it to their object.
Drawing Templates
Templates are saved as DWT files and Civil 3D 2007 comes right
out of the box with a handful of useful templates to get anyone
started. When a new drawing is created from the “File” pulldown
menu and the “New…” command, it gives the user an opportunity to
select a template from a list. Each workstation in a company can
be set to read this template list from a network location which
gives everyone access to the company standard template. Better
yet, each workstation can be set automatically to select a
certain template when the QNEW button is selected from the Civil
3D Standard toolbar. The template location setting is found on
the Options dialog box here:
Templates can be modified by using the “Open” command then
changing the file type to DWT. (This is obviously different than
the “New” or “QNEW” command because these will begin a new DWG
ready for editing.) This will bring up the default list of
templates and give the user an opportunity to select a DWT. Once
the file is open, it works just like DWG’s in terms of “Save”
and “Save as…”. Updates to the template file that are saved will
be available to every person who accesses that template from
that point forward.
With this in mind, it should be noted that it’s not a good idea
to permit several people to change the company standard
template. The task of updating the company standard should be
given to one person, a Cad Manager or senior level drafter. If
someone in the company other than the Cad Manager feels a change
should be made to the standard, a process should be in place for
documentation, review, testing, and implementation.
Making Changes
The simplest way to change a setting in the template is to open
it as described above, make the change, then “Save.” Another way
to accomplish this is to drag and drop styles from drawing to
drawing using the Master View on the Prospector tab. Here is a
step by step process using two files called “Target.dwg” and “_Company_Standard.dwt.”
A style has been created in the drawing “Target” that needs to
be made available to those accessing the company standard
template. For this case, it is a surface style called “City of
Memphis Contours.” Step one of the migration process is to
simply open the standard template file.
Step two is to switch to the Settings tab in the Toolspace and
change the drawing view at the top of the Settings Tab to
“Master View.” This will enable the user to see all the
currently opened drawings and templates. Note here that the
current open drawing will appear in bold print on the list. Make
sure the template is in bold print.
Step three is to find the surface style called “City of Memphis
Contours” under the drawing called “Target” and select the style
with a simple left-click.
Finally, use the left mouse button to drag that style into the
drawing window depositing the style into the open company
standard template drawing. Then save and close the template.
Multiple Templates
Oftentimes, it may be necessary to use different templates in
different situations. Here are some examples:
