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What exactly are templates?


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#1 Dennis Hilborn

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Posted 29 October 2019 - 10:05 AM

I haven't tried templates yet and may not due to the problems with them switching wall types.

What I would really like to do is to have standard plan sets  to import so that I don't have to set them up every time I do a set of plans.  Is this what templates are for or is there a better way to do this?



#2 Jon Davis

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Posted 29 October 2019 - 01:58 PM

Plan set templates are great. You can set up as many as you want...

 

Create a plan set you like, right click and save as a template. You'll still have to edit things like the title block each time, and unfortunately SP hasnt fixed the issue

where it doesn't save scale factors as default.  But it still saves a lot of time if you have a template.



#3 Keith Almond

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Posted 29 October 2019 - 03:23 PM

You'll still have to edit things like the title block each time ...

 

Why do you have to edit title blocks? I have 29 Custom title blocks set up that allow me to use different size sheets with different standard layouts, and I NEVER have to edit a title block ... for anything. What do you need to edit? The Idea of the standard title block setup, IS that it NEVER needs to be edited, as it pulls ALL variable information from elsewhere.

 

Apart from that, I suspect that Dennis is referring to drawing/project templates NOT plan set templates.


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#4 Dennis Hilborn

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Posted 30 October 2019 - 07:30 AM

Ok, so there are plan set templates AND drawing project templates.  I assume that the wall problems are with the project templates not the plan set templates.



#5 Dan Fishtorn

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Posted 30 October 2019 - 10:55 AM

Its the project templates, we use them and they are great but it will replace all your wall types with the ones in the template. 

 

If you have a wall type named the same as one in the template, the wall to change to the template version. We had this issue with exterior walls with sheathing. They were defined slightly different and when we brought in the template, all the exterior walls shrank in 1/4". Very frustrating until we figured it out.



#6 Dave Pazyniak

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Posted 01 November 2019 - 06:22 AM

That is not the only issue with project templates.  If you paste a wall into a drawing that is a style not in the template, it often is not added to the wall style list.  If you do that, your drawing looks fine, until you save it and re-open it.  At that point your walls have changed, with no notice from the software.  on occasion, mine have changed to completely different materials and thicknesses.  That also changes all the dimensions on those walls, and there is no way to undo the wall switch, other that fixing the wall style, correcting it everywhere in the drawing, and then fixing all the dimensions.  I have had other issues the tech support has not yet been able to pinpoint, but it always ends with changed walls with no notice or undo...



#7 Jon Davis

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Posted 04 November 2019 - 09:57 AM

Why do you have to edit title blocks? I have 29 Custom title blocks set up that allow me to use different size sheets with different standard layouts, and I NEVER have to edit a title block ... for anything. What do you need to edit? The Idea of the standard title block setup, IS that it NEVER needs to be edited, as it pulls ALL variable information from elsewhere.

 

Apart from that, I suspect that Dennis is referring to drawing/project templates NOT plan set templates.

 

The Job # and name of the project.............. Different for every job. :)



#8 David Zawadzki

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Posted 04 November 2019 - 10:01 AM

The Job # and name of the project.............. Different for every job. :)


Don’t you use the project information with information stamps in your title block?
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#9 Jon Davis

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Posted 05 November 2019 - 07:11 AM

Don’t you use the project information with information stamps in your title block?

 

Didn't know this was an option.



#10 Keith Almond

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Posted 05 November 2019 - 11:22 AM

Jon,

 

Using INFORMATION STAMPS pulls all the title block information from the project information into the title block independently. This is an example of how my title block is set up ...

 

Attached File  2019.11.05_08h48m38s_001.png   190.39KB   11 downloads

 

I have complete control of the area displayed, as it's typed into the project model box in the project information.


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Keith

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#11 Jon Davis

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Posted 07 November 2019 - 08:24 AM

Jon,

 

Using INFORMATION STAMPS pulls all the title block information from the project information into the title block independently. This is an example of how my title block is set up ...

 

attachicon.gif 2019.11.05_08h48m38s_001.png

 

I have complete control of the area displayed, as it's typed into the project model box in the project information.

 

I tried it.... Very cool. Will save me a little time in the future setting up sheets. 



#12 David Bearss

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Posted 07 December 2019 - 10:18 PM

Hey wait, I would like to know more how people are using templates. In Chief and Archicad it is common for people to simply use a previous project as a template for a new one. That way all the elevations, sections, schedules, etc. are simply updated when the model and project data is updated. Any suggestions would be great.



#13 Brian Berzinskis

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Posted 09 December 2019 - 11:17 AM

I went though and reset the default template back to the original file from SoftPlan installation.

 

Then I went through and created 4 different project templates based on the type of drawing that I am creating.

 

My main template has all of my new wall definitions now and is the main template that I use for most of my files including floor plans and elevation drawings.

 

The next one is a Section template. That one I adjusted the scale of all the text and arrows for as I draw most of my sections at 1/2 inch as opposed to my floor plan and elevation drawings which are usually 1/4 inch scale.

 

Then I have a Detail template. Which again this mostly just adjusts the scale of all the drawing items and text as many of my details are either 3/4 inch scale or 1 inch equals 1 foot.

 

And the last is a Plot Plan template. This again adjusts mostly the scales of the items on the drawings but also converts them over to decimal feet instead of feet and inches and I will mostly draw a plot plan around 1 inch equals 10 feet.

 

The one thing that I do not like about templates is that if I choose to make a new wall type for some reason, I now have to go back through and do it for every one of my custom templates if I plan on using it in them. It is almost like I wish that I had one main template and the some sub-templates just for changing around the scales based on my drawing type.



#14 Kerry Calvert

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Posted 01 November 2021 - 04:04 PM

Brian, are your templates  actual project "Templates" or blank drawings with values, walls, etc. in them?






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