2014 Plus
Hello everyone,
As an infrequent user of SP I am having a difficult time figuring out how to: A. Develop various details and B. insert them onto a drawing sheet individually so that I can reference them properly and to adjust their scale accordingly. I would appreciate any help that is rendered.
Thanks, Tom S
Hi Tom,
Have a look at the attached table. In most cases you'll be adding details to a sheet that is set up for 1/4" = 1'0" (that's what all the default SoftPlan Title Blocks are set up for). So here's how it works:
I assume you're using Multi Drawings. If you're using PlanSets, you'll have to get someone else to help you out. I haven't adopted them yet.
Phil
Thanks Phil for your help, Unfortunately, I am using plan sets. But I don't think I was clear in my initial request. Maybe it's because it's such a rudimentary process for experienced users like yourself. What I want to do is develop a printed sheet to go with the other sheets that has only the details on it. My first problem is where do I initially draw and edit those details. I know I can put them on a sheet with my elevations or foundation plan, etc. but that detail is then subject to the scale that is associated with the elevation, foundation plan, etc. I would like to be able to move and adjust the detail on the print sheet as needed.
Thanks again, tom
Tom,
From what I can tell plan sets don't allow you to put details on to the page. The best I can find to do is create a page of details and then drag them into a plan set. This will allow you to keep the scale for those details. The issue I see with that is that you have to go to your details page and edit the details. Another down fall of plan sets that I am running into is that there is no paste function, I like to copy many notes at once and place them on the page then move them where they need to be, i.e cross sections. With plan sets I have to create the notes all over again.
I think it would be a nice added feature to be able to add details to the plan set and also be able to copy and paste from the Softplan clipboard.
Maybe Bill has some other workarounds that he could share, I would also like to know if anyone has made these suggestions to Softplan.
Jeff
Thanks Jeff.
I suppose I can use the Custom pages to draw my details and insert them that way, but the only problem is that I have to set them all to one scale and position them so that when I save them for printing they will be okay on the sheet. Seems like going around my elbow to get to my..... well you get the idea. It would be nice to be able to pull the detail out of the catalog and set it directly and independently on the plan set sheet.
Tom
Details in Plan sets. In your drawing open a new sheet. Call it whatever you want to and draw whatever you need to. When you are done with it save it.In the navigation tree grab your detail from the "drawing" section and drag it down to the "details" section. You don't have to do this but it just keeps everything sorted out. When you are ready to put it onto a sheet just drag it over like any other drawing. You can do this for any number of your details, in fact, you can have the whole .spp as nothing but a collection of details. Perhaps one for foundation, another .spp for framing details, etc. Hope this helps
Plan sets are a replacement for the old Multi-Drawings and are much simpler to use, more flexible, and more powerful than Multi-Drawings.
A "Plan Set" is a collection of pages that you can print one at a time or as a "set". Each page can contain one or more drawings. Each drawing can have a different scale if desired. When you create a plan set you define the paper size, border, and whether you want to show a watermark. Each Plan Set can have a different border if you want. And each page within the plan set can override the border set in the Plan Set. You could set up different plan sets for different paper sizes. For instance you could have a Plan Set for 11x17 paper and another for 24x36 paper.
The "page" is just a sheet of paper. You set the paper size when you create the Plan Set. Then you can simply drag drawings onto the page and edit them to set their scale. The white space on the page indicates the size of the paper when printed.
Note that the scale is just for the selected drawing. Each drawing can have a different scale. And you can also select which Drawing Mode you want displayed. You can, in fact, drag the same drawing onto a page multiple times and give each instance a different scale and/or mode.
Each Plan Set can contain one or more pages. For example the image below shows the plan sets for one of my builders. There are 4 plan sets, each one has a different border indicating which plan set is being printed. There is a Pre-Construction set which is basically the full set but has not been deemed "Final". There is an Appraisal set which has just the floor plan set to a mode that has just minimal information. There is the Final set. And there is a Plan Review set which is a subset of the final plan. Each plan set can be printed as a whole or you could print just an individual page from the set.
So to answer your question you would create your details in a drawing file at full scale. Then create a plan set with a page for the detail. Then drag the detail onto the page and set the scale for that individual detail.
Bill is the owner and maintainer of SoftPlanTuts.com
Thanks Bill and everyone who helped in this endeavor. I do enjoy using the SP program when I get the opportunity. Unfortunately, this is not how I make my living. The problem with being the occasional user is that due to the infrequency of use, a lot of the things that I should have known or have previously learned get lost or confused with other software that I use on a regular basis. Please know that I don't just jump on the forum without at lease looking at the training videos, looking in the reference book or looking a past posts.
Thanks again
Tom
Great information Bill. I prefer plan sets also, however I have not mastered them to
the extent that you have. This is very helpful.
Mike