Custom Plan Sets

  2022+   >   2024+ couple days ago

  I am behind the curve on plan sets.  I knew this day would come and during a recent conversation with TS, I mentioned I still used Multi Pages and had no trouble with them.  TS kinda said Multi Pages days were numbered.  My cover sheet is the problem.  It is laid out how I like, with the "boiler plate" that I like to include.  I just spent the last hour scanning videos and couldn't find anything that indicated my old CS could be duplicated.

  Is it possible to recreate the attached CS into a Plan Set cover sheet?  If so..could anyone point me in the direction of a tutorial that could help. 

Many thanks

Mike 

If multi drawings end up getting phased out, that will be the last upgrade I do in softplan.  

I setup my cover sheet with notes and such and space for schedules such area, drawing schedule and so on.  Page number, dates, project name, address etc that auto populate are on the title block.  I save my cover page to a SP drawing that I have other stuff I import a lot such as CAD details.  I open the cover page from this drawing file and place it on the title block that is now part of the plan set.  I can add any photos, notes,  or whatever to the cover page on the plan set at this point.  Sometimes I save the title block to the project so I can edit the title block as needed and not mess it up for other projects.  I hope this makes sense to you.  It has worked well for me.  

I am attaching a sample (I have changed my title block since this) of the cover page moved onto the title block.  Most everything on the right boarder is auto populated.  The building data and drawing schedule are from the project and will auto update.  The photo and info I copied to the cover page on the plan set.  Hope this all helps.... -

Plan sets are the best thing ever. I hated multi-drawings from the first time I used them and when Plan Sets came out I never looked back.

One of the best features is Plan Set Templates. Create a plan set and get everything set up just the way you like it. Page names, title blocks, which drawings go on each page, the correct modes for the drawings, etc, etc. etc. Then save the plan set as a template. Anytime you want to use the same setup for a different project just import the template into your project and your entire plan set is set up for you. You can save as many different Plan Set Templates as you like for various configurations.

You can have multiple Plan Sets in each project. I have different ones for different phases of the project. As the project progresses more pages are added such as HVAC, Plumbing, Foundation, etc. As I progress to the next phase I just open up the associated Plan Set and everything is already set up.

If multi drawings end up getting phased out, that will be the last upgrade I do in softplan.  

Sam, your Cornflakes are soggy!

I didn't say plan sets were bad, just that I haven't found a tutorial that covers a transition from Multi Pages to Plan Sets.  Maybe there should be one and it may convert those that have gotten comfortable with Multi Pages.  The last version I bought before converting to + was 2018. I have the 2018 book and there is  a couple pages in the back.  I also have the V.13 book and nothing in that one.

So somewhere between V13 and 2018 it was introduced.  I guess.

Thanks for the feedback.

As I typed the above comment, the light came on, so when I finished I googled "Softplan Tutorial Multi Pages to Plan Sets" and some came up from 2015 and 2016.  Got to something in there I can use to get on track.

Mike

....the first one I opened was from Feb 2016 from Randy Cohn btw

Softplan TS dragged me from multi-drawings to Plan Sets kicking and Screaming. I fought a good fight for a good while. But I finally surrendered. Did I mention that I absolutely LOVE Plan Sets. 

Yesterday Warren I read your post from 2/25/2016 expressing the same comments as you did above.  

I'm in.  The comments are overwhelming positive and I just need to get up to speed.  The terminology and how it applies is what I need to wrap my head around.

I am going to tinker a few more days with Plansets,  then Jason you can expect a call from me next week....thanks.

Thanks to all for the comments

Mike

Plan sets are great what we have done is created plans set templates so the general notes and details are organized the exact same way. It works great. 

We have 

Architectural Template

Structural Template

Marketing 

We are working on a presentation template for the early part of the process.

I was working on an older multi drawing project and really missed the planset way of doing things. Let me know if I can share anything I would be happy to.

In essence, plan sets and multi drawings do exactly the same thing, they just do it better in Plan sets.

If multi drawings end up getting phased out, that will be the last upgrade I do in softplan.  

Sam, what is it that Multi Drawings do that Plan Sets cannot do?

New Plan Set Template video posted to SoftPlan's YouTube Chanel: https://youtu.be/R8S...Of5o6RDPUxZGe4J

Does anyone know if you can change the default folder location for plan set templates? 

I checked options>setup options>folder locations but didn't see if an option for PSTs. 

Reason for doing this: we're trying to standardize templates, details, etc. across the studio. 

Does anyone know if you can change the default folder location for plan set templates? 

I checked options>setup options>folder locations but didn't see if an option for PSTs. 

Reason for doing this: we're trying to standardize templates, details, etc. across the studio. 

Well, I figured out the easiest way to do this using the "symbolic link" tool in windows command prompt. 

For those wondering how to make this work with dropbox or whichever cloud sync utility:

I'll use the Plan Set Templates (PST) folder and dropbox for this example. 

1. Copy your PST folder to your dropbox within file explorer

2. Scary part: delete the PST folder in C:\softplan 

3. Open CMD (run as admin) and type this:

    mklink /d "c:\softplan\plan set templates"

4. copy the full file path of the PST folder in dropbox

5. add a single space after what you typed in step 3 and paste the file path 

6. hit enter, you should receive a message "symbolic link created for ...." 

It should look something like this: 

mklink /d "C:\SoftPlan\Plan Set Templates" "C:\Users\username\Your Dropbox\STUDIO - STANDARDS\SOFTPLAN LIBRARY\Plan Set Templates"

Note: you MUST use quotation marks around the file paths 

Check your c:\softplan, there's now a PST folder with a little "shortcut" symbol on it. 

Open a project in softplan and check to make sure it worked. 

I did this and it was absolutely seamless, just make sure to have your sync software set to autosync for that folder so everyone on your team stays updated on the latest files. 

Also, there's an easy way to undo this if needed using the "rd" tool in CMD: rd "file path you used"

In essence, plan sets and multi drawings do exactly the same thing, they just do it better in Plan sets.

I have only been using softplan for the last 3 years so I've used plan sets from the out set and love it. But I do utilize the multidrawings feature for my actual drawing process. I like to have quick access to all my drawings without having to keep clicking on tabs of pages. I find that softplan runs smoother this way as well. So I'm not really using multi drawing for creating the final product and still use plan sets for that. But I'm still generating drawings instead of using the annotated drawing feature which is maybe a bit old school? Mainly because of how much more I can customize my drawings vs the model version being printed out with using annotated drawings. I tried to upload a screen shot of what I mean but I couldn't in this forum. 

There are so many ways to do things within SoftPlan. 

Robert- when you go to upload an image or file it will load it to the folder, but then you have to click the box to add it to the post.