Adding a disclaimer to a drawing.

[stelthorst]

Hi Everyone.

I received a drawing from a company that I'm working with that contained a disclaimer (see attached) This disclaimer has somehow been embedded in the drawing and I only have the ability to hide it (via turning off the layer it was inserted on or using the olehide command). I don't want to remove it, I want to know how it was done so that I can do the same to my drawings. Does anyone know how this company did this? It's pretty cool.

Thanks in advance,

[Mike.Perry]

Hi

Check out the following threads -

OLE Objects

.xls image?

Especially the references to Technical Document ID: TS64541 this document will answer what the Non Selectable Object is.

How is it done? Have quickly experimented here and it appears the following procedure will create a Non Selectable OLE Object within a AutoCAD a drawing file -

Create a New Word Document (AutoCAD_OLEtest.doc) -> Write the required text -> Save

Start a New Drawing (OLEtest01.dwg) -> Paste Special (As: Microsoft Word Document) -> Save

OLEtest01.dwg now contains a working OLE Object.

Start a New Drawing (OLEtest02.dwg) -> Insert -> Browse to OLEtest01.dwg -> Check the Explode tick box.

OLEtest02.dwg now contains a Non Selectable OLE Object (as per the original drawing posted "test.dwg").

Have attached a ZIP file containing the files I created during my little experiment.

Have a good one, Mike

[sinc]

Heh. Good one. I had figured it was an OLE object, but couldn't figure out how they had gotten it non-selectable.

[stelthorst]

Hi All,

Thanks Mike for the link to the Technical Document. I don't know how you're able to find all that information.

Now I'm conflicted about inserting a disclaimer in my drawing that can't be removed. The designer side of me says to do it in order to protect myself, but the AutoCAD side of me has a problem inserting something into a drawing that can't be removed.
Also, since my work involves sharing information between several trades (ie mechanical, plumbing, fire sprinkler, etc) I'm afraid everyone will start doing this and I'll have drawings with disclaimers all over the place.

What does everyone think?

[slayer913]

Hello -

For my company, I've made it standard policy to never release dwg files to anyone, unless absolutely critical to the success of the project. Send out dwf's or pdf's for those who do not need to edit the drawing (which shouldn't be anyone outside of your company).

Disclaimers are part of the ball game now because of the ease in which outside information can be "borrowed." There should be a proprietary statement on every sheet that is plotted / sent out. Ethicly, if you send out a drawing to be edited by (5) trades, who will all enter disclaimers about the drawing being their own work yada yada, then those people are taking credit for your work to some degree. This is wrong, and also very hard to clarify in court!

The common ground that I find is as this: Say if a fire sprinkler contractor wants my complete floor plan in dwg to edit for his layout. Because it would otherwise take their draftsman a few days to redraw the plan from scratch, time that we typically don't like to waste, I'll send them a dwg on a compromise - just the floor plan object lines, completely exploded, without dimensions, text, or blocks. Purge the file, put everything on layer "0", they have everything to scale and let them do what they must. For the notes, send them hardcopies or dwf's to read. You've given none of your company info out, and you can then deduct your drafting time (nominally) from their invoice.

Thanks,
Albert

[stelthorst]

Thanks for you're input Albert.

I think we're looking it this situation from different perspectives.

I work for a large electrical contractor and my job is to coordinate routing and elevations of my conduits, cable trays, etc with the routing of the other trade's systems (mechanical ductwork, plumbing and fire sprinkler piping etc) and with the architectural and structural drawings. It is not unusual for me to be working with a drawing with xrefs for all of these trades and architectural, structural and civil drawings for several floors included. It is not unusual for me to be working with a drawing with 20 or more xrefs and well over a 1000 layers. When I release my drawing to the other trades for their coordination effort I do not include any of the xrefs (since they should have them in their drawings already). My concern was that if I, and everyone else I work with, add this disclaimer to their drawings then I have that much more clutter on my drawing.

From my perspective, I have received drawings in the format you describe (all entities on one layer) and end up spending a lot of time putting items back on layers that allow me to turn on and off the features I am focusing on at the time.

Hope this gives you some in-site into what I do and where I'm coming from.

[Mike.Perry]

What does everyone think?

Hi

Personally I wouldn't go down the Non Selectable OLE Object path (unless I first carried out a lot of testing).

Why?

Main reason, I don't think any of us (unless we've carried out extensive testing) can say for sure if such a method is safe ie Doesn't cause drawing file corruption....

Albert has made some good suggestions....

Have you looked at using Digital Signatures (AutoCAD 2004 & 2005).

or

A Third-Party product like http://www.cadlock.com/

Have a good one, Mike

[Civil Samurai]

A Third-Party product like http://www.cadlock.com/
Have a good one, Mike

We have used the Cadlock program and it seems to work well at locking down whatever portion of your drawing you want to lock down. Many times we use it just to allow a consultant to view and plot the drawing. This is better in some ways to a pdf or just plot files and it helps ensure our drawing integrity. The only down side that we've seen in Cadlock is that with your locked drawing you have to send the Cadlock plug-in and the person you send it to needs to install it before they can even open up your drawing. A few places haven't been technical enough to even install the plug-in and others just don't like the inconvenience. Hope this sheds some light on at least the Cadlock ideas. Love the discussion.

Mike
Rothman Engineering Inc.