UK CAD STANDARDS_ layers and plot styles

[madcad]

hi - I am trying to write a AEC (UK) compliant cad manual. The AEC (UK) docs show the layer name conventions which I can adopt. Is there any standard that relates plotstyle, line weight etc to these layers? Thank you.

[Paul Munford]

Here's something to start you off:
http://www.cadsetterout.com/drawing-standards/line-weights/

[madcad]

Thanks for this. Am I correct in assuming that each architects office is basically reinventing the same wheel in that they are each producing individual Cad standard manuals - all based on either AEC (UK) standards or similar? Its a huge job to take all the AEC(uk) layer names , for example, and create new templates with these. The AEC standards are also limited in that they do not specify line weights, model space drafting colours etc etc for each layer therefore leaving a huge amount of individuality in producing template drawings.
In my web searches I found an American company www.cadstandardsmanager.com which sells ( expensive) layer manager software based on the American CAD standards system - providing fool proof and universal layer management - I haven't been able to find any UK companies offering this kind of product? Is there company in the UK which sell/provides template files with Cad standard layers already loaded? I do appreciate any enlightenment as to current practice in this area. Thank you.

[madcad]

Hi - Thanks for this. ( thought I had posted a reply yesterday but not showing on Thread - don't know what happened to it...)
Anyway - am I correct in assuming that there isn't an 'out of the box' file somewhere that has CAD standard layers embedded into the layers manager etc. That each practice has to go thro the onerous task of creating Cad standard layers from scratch???

[dkoch]

In my web searches I found an American company www.cadstandardsmanager.com which sells ( expensive) layer manager software based on the American CAD standards system - providing fool proof and universal layer management - I haven't been able to find any UK companies offering this kind of product?

The US National CAD Standard does not assign colors or lineweights to layers. Lineweight does get some mention with regard to specific symbology, but there is no chart of layers with assigned colors and lineweights.

[Paul.84958]

I presently have an Application going through the exchange store that has been used by specific Clients for many years for creating layers to a specific standard.
OCSL Layer Maker provides options to produce Layers based upon the following International Layer Standard Formats:

•BS1192:2007 (UK Latest standard using Uniclass Version 1.4)
•AIA (US based on NCS5)
•AIA – ISO (US ISO 13567 based on NCS5)
•CP83 (Singapore Standard)

It also maps Colours or Colors depending upon which side of the pond you sit and also line weights.

Whilst the US National CAD Standard may not assign colors or pen weights the implementations within AutoCAD Architecture and Revit do. I have therefore captured these and documented into a data file that is used by the OCSL LayerMaker application
Samples of the application can be downloaded from my website:

http://www.ocsltools.com/index.php/autocad-tools/ocsl-layermaker

Please note that the BS1192:2007 version is based upon the requirements of PAS1192-2 2013 which is the latest version to comply with HMG requirements as opposed to AEC UK which does not comply. Uniclass 2 has not been officially sanctioned so I will release this when it is launched.

[madcad]

Thank you very much for this info. The website info is great. I am still confused why there are conflicting UK cad standards. Surely the point is to have one standard that everybody uses? Why are there PAS standards and AEC (uk) standards and how do practices decide which one to use.?

[jaberwok]

Thank you very much for this info. The website info is great. I am still confused why there are conflicting UK cad standards. Surely the point is to have one standard that everybody uses? Why are there PAS standards and AEC (uk) standards and how do practices decide which one to use.?

http://www.freesmileys.org/smileys/smiley-laughing025.gif (http://www.freesmileys.org/smileys.php)

Oh, if only.
♫ What a wonderful world it would be.♫

[dgorsman]

All fine and well, until the standards prove insufficient for the task. Or converting legacy drawings from an existing system would be so time consuming (expensive) to be prohibitive.

[Paul.84958]

OK BS1192:2007 provides a framework and allows the use of various classification systems. Such as Cisfb / Uniclass / AECuk versions etc...
The BSI then published other standards such as BS854:20121 parts 1 to 4 but specifically Part 2 dealt with graphic representation and symbols including line work displays. PAS 1192-2:2013 then stated that you must use Uniclass and follow the linework conventions from BS8541 etc...

Just to confuse the situation Uniclass was rewritten from version 1 to version 1.4 which was released. Then NBS and CPIC released Uniclass version 2 for testing but this received a lot of kickback so wasn't released formally. This is why AECuk and others haven't updated and why chaos exists.

However mapping from one system to another is straight forward and I have written routines to map 1000s of drawing to do this. Extract all the layer names from the existing file to excel. Create a mapping file and update all the files... The issue is making sure that you have a standard that you can map too.

clear as mud...........

[madcad]

Thank you all for your input. I had researched it quite a bit and all I could make off it 'was as clear as mud'. Thank you for confirming that I haven't missed the Holy Grail of Cad standards somewhere - but that indeed 'chaos exists'. Jaberwok - I do like you little man rolling around laughing at my naivety :))))