How are companies using the Sheet Set Manager ?

[nhugley]

How are companies using the Sheet Set Manager (SSM) ? At what level are they taking the SSM ? Is all the work in setting up the callout and label blocks really worth it. Renumber whole sheets is easy, but can you move one detail from a sheet to another and not loose the link. What's the "View List" and category for other than internal organization ? This is a lot to digest and I would really like to hear from someone else.

I've done all of the tutorials. Read magazine's. I have been searching the internet and my CAD soul to come up with a way to use the SSM to it's limit but yet make it as simple as possible to use. Most everything I find so far is the basics. How to use the SSM wizard with your existing projects, How to use the fields in title blocks and sheet indexes. I've also found some things (very little) on how to setup the linked callouts and labels.

This I know for sure! There are (3) levels in which to use the SSM.

Level 1 - Out of the Box Sheet Management

Creating sheet sets with the wizard using our existing drawings mirrors the way our production folders and files already setup. Our file and layout tab naming all falls right into place with the wizard. I use the publish feature, including saving our sheet sets for future publishing. My thought that’s easy, the SSM as just an extension of the publish command.

Level 2 - Advanced Sheet Set Manager

This is using the sheet set manager just short of using fields for title blocks and linked callouts. In a nut shell you are creating your models with resource drawings and placing named model space views on to paper space (predefined sheet and/or project specific template).

Resource files are building models, plans, elevations and sections. The resource files will not have title blocks, layouts etc.. and their file names will be more of a description of what that drawing is, foundation, framing etc.

The plotted sheets that are listed in the "Sheet List" tab will be just that, for plotting only. Even at this level using the SSM requires some thinking about project templates, file names, view naming etc…..As for what entitles are really drawn in the "Sheet List" plotted drawings, very little. At this point you're not using fields so I don't know why you would be using the "View List" tab. I know what it does and how to create categories but I obviously don’t get this tab until you are renaming and numbering with callouts and labels. Maybe that's the point you don’t' have to use this tab until you get to Level 3.

Level 3 - Sheet Set Manager on Roids

It's Level 1 + Level 2 all rolled together = Level 3. At this point you are more than just drawing lines but coordinating your drawing set with more than just the command line, folders and filenames. You are linking your drawings thru a conduit (the Sheet Set Manager Palette) to each other and taking advantage of linked, updated fields. I do think this is "complex" or above and beyond what an average "CAD Operator" has been doing for the past few years.

Now there is hidden time in these drawings that is not seen as lines and text, but as pregame setup to get to the game. I really have to look at changing the way we develop and put together our drawings. Yes I have standards, customized menu's, lisp etc…..All of which will be used again but will have to be massaged and redirect to put our drawings together in a linked (smart) set of drawings.

I want to go to Level 3 and I would like some feedback from anybody before I proceed. So if you are not tired of reading this l let me share some of the road blocks I have come across and see if you've come to them yourself and maybe you can or someone else can shed some light on which way to go.

Plan and elevation sheets are the no brainer. I have this under control. Create resource drawings of plans with simples names for files and views.

Detail sheets that’s another story.

History lesson first. Currently I draw a sheet's worth of details in model space, including the label blocks, then make one view in paper space. It get's a little more involved with multiple dimscales. Actually I create our details drawings applying Joseph Reams' "Detail, Details and More Details" class from Autodesk University 2002.

So with that in mind applying this to the Level 3 doesn't work out all that well. Here's why. I can put 20 details on plot sheet "A" but I've drawn 25 details in the resource file. For linking I need 25 named model space views. Now I start dropping these views on to paper space and place the label block. Which in turn I now place the callout block on the plan using the "View List" tab (see now this tab makes since). Not all of the details are on sheets yet, so I start a new sheet "B" placing the remaining 5 details and coord them on the plan with callouts.

This is where problems start to happen. I want to replace detail 3 on sheet "A" with detail 1 from sheet "B".

The easy one first. I remove detail 1 from sheet "B". I use the "View List" and re-number sheet "B". Save the drawing and all of the plan callouts are updated and sheet "B" is done.

Now, how do I get detail 1 from sheet "B" to sheet "A" without loosing the link. I can cut and paste from "B" to "A" ? No I can't it's lost it's link.
I have place the detail on the sheet from scratch and apply the callout on the plan all over again. If it's one detail and one callout fine but if it's one detail and the callout has been placed multiple times on more than one plan I have to re-place all of the callouts again. This doesn't see right ? I've "re-pathed the link from plan callout to a moved detail but again if there are 20 plan callouts you have to do this 20 times ? What am I missing.

How do you move a detail from one sheet to another without breaking the link and having to start from scratch, in particular replacing multiple plan callouts of the same label reference.

Let's look at a few other things I am currently doing that doesn't work well to get to the Level 3.

If I have 3 resource drawings with 25 details in each. I can place 20 of these details on 4 plotted sheets. I start plucking details onto sheets and now any one sheet can have up to 3 resource drawings xrefed in to make up that one plotted sheet. Is that good or bad. What are you using for view names in the resource drawings ?

Now let's take a look at a new plan of attack for detail sheets.

Draw each detail and save as it's own file. 100 details = 100 files. Have the model space view name match the file name. I can pluck these details on to sheets to my hearts content. This makes it so that only the details that are on the plotted sheets are only the details xrefed in. I match my "View List" category per plotted sheet so I can see which files are on what plotted sheet. I can plot books of details on 8 1/2 x 11 having the details in individual files and I can mix and match details on sheets as needed.

But I still can not move a detail from one sheet to another without breaking the link.

I could go on about this topic but I'll stop there. Any feed back would be appreciated.

[tmullins68225]

I, for one, will not be using the Sheet Set Manager.

I was impressed with the concept and thought it had potential. But as usual, Autodesk has made the details too complicated and it just doesn't work the way I want. I'm sure it will work great for some people, it's just not my cup of tea.

It's yet another Revit item and has been poorly implemented into AutoCAD.

-Tripp

[Wanderer]

I agree that it is a little cumbersome. I personally am looking forward to future improvements in the feature.

I work in facilties management and use the feature for my composite plans which are separated by discipline. I use the main sheet as a jumping-off point to get to whatever drawing I need to.

I know that it will really be a long time before I see any of my contractors using this. But, it is a start. I get so tired of receiving a set of drawings and the index sheet is completely wrong, and trying to find the drawing I need, whose sheet number is not even contained in the drawing name! I think when the details get ironed out, this will be a great tool.

just my $0.02

[red2002yzfr1]

I am also NOT using the sheet set manager. I tried to use it with the way we have our drawings set up. We have a "Master" drawing for the facility and from there we create layouts of the areas of the plant. With doing our drawings in that way, the sheet set manager does not work well. It seems to be usefull if you have one layout for every drawing, which we do not.

[tomdillenbeck]

We have just upgraded our office to ACAD2005 from 2000i. We've decided in the first round of training (100 AutoCAD staff) to use SSM in a limited capacity. We are using is SSM to:
1. Create new sheets
2. Open sheets
3. Complete the title block information
4. Sheet Index for small jobs (Sheet List Table doesn't wrap and therefore is no good for more than 100 sheets)
5. eTransmit
6. Batch Plotting (publishing - don't do it in the background)

We've told our people to ignore the View List tab altogether. Partly because we need to teach things in incremental steps. Partly because we have a rule about not having anything in paper space.

For what we use it for it works nicely. Our advanced team who uses ADT finds SSM very familar, but the common cad workers are struggling to accept these new features. With time I'm confident they'll be an advatange and we'll rollout the rest of the SSM features.

[nhugley]

tomdillenbeck, i seem's we are using it a very similar fashion.

i don't use the "View List" either, again this is where you'll place your linked tags and they are insert at a scale of 1 so you have to tag your drawing in paper space which right now we don't do, we only xref the title block in paperspace and create our vports, so really we only use paperspace for plotting purposes

i guess if you are going to tag plan work you'll have to create your tag blocks with the plan work's dimscale, 49, 96, 192 etc.... now that's alot of blocks, when placing views for say details the label block again comes in paperspace and i could get comfortable with that but i would rather not tag my plan work in paperspace

yes there are work arounds i did think of placing my plan tags in paperspace and use the express tools to switch spaces, i haven't tryed this but in theory it seems to work

again my goal is to make a smart set of drawings where if i move, delete or add details the sheet set is updated

i know my first post was very long but this is (in my mind) a big topic because it can really change the way you put together your construction documents, i appreciate the feedback and again look forward to reading how other people are looking at using the SSM

thanks

nick

[Hippigypsy]

I work for a contactor and I'm running one seat of Autocad (so, I have to function as the Cad manager) and I've found it useful just for dwg. identifcation purposes, and would really like to use it more.
Cathryn

[brad.67018]

I work in the Exhibit industry and I have mandated all of my CAD user to use SSM and fields. Sheet Sets and Fields probably save each user about 1 hour per day with updating title blocks and organizing sheets. I created a drawing template that includes all of my different title blocks (8x11,11x17,D size, etc..) with the same fields. I then created my Sheet Set Template with all of the standard field information.
I generally plot 10 to 20 page sets and I may do 5 different ones per day. The numbering of sheets and automagic dates is a huge time saver. Since I generally never have more than 3 or 4 pages per drawing I don't have to go hunting through drawings for the proper layout tabs. We add pages to the sheet set as we create them.

This way of doing things works really well for my industry. It probably doesn't work too well for other industries though. The other thing that really helped was having a very receptive crew of employees that wanted to figure out everything about it to see if they could make it better or easier to use.

[valeriu_chiorean24144]

We use it too but I don't like some things about it:

#1 I name my drawings like this "01-GENERAL LAYOUT"," 02-LAYOUT", "03-PROFILE", "04-"XSECTION" etc. Each of these drawings has layouts that are actual sheets to be plotted, I use SSM like a binder, to keep all sheets tied together to be able to better control the plotting process. Well when I'm starting a new ss and import the folder into it it messes all my order, I just wanted it to do it in "alfabetical order"!

#2 I want to be able to hit publish to plotter button and to specify the how many sets I need and go to have lunch while it's plotting.

#3 When it builds the import layouts list I wanna be able to modify the importing order.

Vali

[Wanderer]

We use it too but I don't like some things about it:

#1 I name my drawings like this "01-GENERAL LAYOUT"," 02-LAYOUT", "03-PROFILE", "04-"XSECTION" etc. Each of these drawings has layouts that are actual sheets to be plotted, I use SSM like a binder, to keep all sheets tied together to be able to better control the plotting process. Well when I'm starting a new ss and import the folder into it it messes all my order, I just wanted it to do it in "alfabetical order"!

#2 I want to be able to hit publish to plotter button and to specify the how many sets I need and go to have lunch while it's plotting.

#3 When it builds the import layouts list I wanna be able to modify the importing order.

Vali
All great points!!! I need #2 all of the time, but, I haven't complained much because it is still quicker than plotting all individually. ~sigh~ complacency has no place in technology...

These should definately be added to the wishlist!

[glen353712]

I know this message comes in real late but I am just now really getting into the sheet set manager.

Just to give everyone some background on our office we are a small Architectural firm and up to this date we have created and plotted all drawings from model space. We have used xreferencing and xclip to accomplish everything that paper space does.

With the above stated I see great potential for the sheet set manager. It may not have all the features that I would like in it now, but my hope is that it will be developed more. I see this as moving toward the future.

AutoCAD has made many improvements to how paper space works and is setup over the years, but we never saw a big improvement over our methods until now. Yes the sheet set manager is really setup to work with paper space with only one layout per drawing. You can create multiple layouts but that is more work. The sheet set manager makes using layout worth it.

It has some great time saving features and our office intends to completely change they way we setup drawings to use this new feature. We may like many of you mention not use everything to start off, but we will start off at what has been called level 3. I see no reason to do it half way to get a quick start. It is the setup and procedures that takes the time. Using the sheet set manager is a breeze.

I just hope that before you just brush this off as one of AutoCAD's useless new tools that you will really look at what it can do.

[davidmatyas]

I would have to agree that Sheet Sets are a force YET to be defined, BUT you see, THAT is what sparks YOUR creativity and YOUR own personal solutions for YOUR problems and workarounds and WE (the rest of the augi community!) want to hear about it. In the "OLD" days I used a product called autolog to keep track of project time (AutoCAD release 9) and have YET to see a product that is similar. My point is that for every problem that AutoCAD has, there is a EQUAL and OPPOSITE solution that will (trust me on this!) that will benefit ALOT of users and AutoCADheads such as myself. Thanks for listening!
Matyas

p.s. TWINS are fun HUH?? I'm suprised you have any time to acually type much less press the power button on the cpu. You thought remembering your logon was the most difficult thing to do. HA!
Good luck and keep drawing.

[sinc]

I'm just getting a handle on the SSM.

It doesn't seem to be well-integrated with Land Desktop, though. It's almost like the SSM creates a notion of a Project, so it can do its job. However, Land Desktop already has its notion of a Project, and the two seem to live in two different worlds. This isn't a really bad thing, but it causes some annoyances:
Create a new sheet in SSM. Even if the sheet set is living in the DWG directory of a LDD project, the SSM doesn't recognize the fact. So, now you must also select the LDD project to associate the new drawing to. It feels like the user has to add every drawing to the project twice. Couple that with setting PROJECTNAME (which is required for some of our jobs), and it feels like the user has to add the drawing to the project three times.
The SSM can't get Project Name and Description out of the LDD project.
It is necessary to drop out of LDD and go into Map in order to print the sheet set.


These aren't big issues, but they make things feel awkward. All in all, the SSM is handy, though. And I definitely like it much better if there's a DST file in there when I get a big set of drawings from another company...

[robert.1.hall72202]

Im not real sure what the SSM adds to my projects.
I can generate a print that involves multiple drawing files.
I could do the same on my own.

What else does it allow us to do?

[avdesign]

I use it you've seen some of my head scratcher posts. I have clients that want to use it and build it around their Standards. I'm finding that there's no free lunch. i really want to see far more customization with fields and what yo can do with it.

[sinc]

Im not real sure what the SSM adds to my projects.
I can generate a print that involves multiple drawing files.
I could do the same on my own.

What else does it allow us to do?
As near as I can tell:
Provides a way to organize and browse your project. Essentially, now you point to the drawing in the "Table of Contents", and open it that way. Makes it easier to jump around, especially if the drawing set comes from another company and you aren't familiar with their file naming standards.
Provide a central place for Drawing Set information, so that if any of this information changes, it only needs to be changed in one place. The change is reflected throughout the drawing set.
Automatically creates a Table of Contents for your index sheet, or for the first page of your drawing set. Makes it easy to keep this table up-to-date as pages are added/removed/reorganized.
Allows one to create "Dynamic Callouts" that update as the drawing is reordered. So, that Detail callout retains the proper page number, even if the detail moves to a different page.
Also provides another way for creating new sheets, and add them to the existing sheet set.


Basically, another convenience tool, more useful for some situations than others.

[dfarris75]

We use it too but I don't like some things about it:
#2 I want to be able to hit publish to plotter button and to specify the how many sets I need and go to have lunch while it's plotting.
Vali

disclaimer: I haven't read the entire thread...

You can do this thru the "publish dialog box" if your sheets are all set up for the same plotter and such. I ran into the issue a few days ago where my sheets were set up on an old plotter. I added the new plotter to my overrides .dwt file thinking I could publish multiple sets via the overrides, but noooo, I had to go in and reset the plotter in all my sheets first. Then I was able to plot multiple sets. That's one of my quams with SSM. Otherwise I really like it, especially when coupled with fields. Another quam is that you cannot delete or rename a sheet set in SSM (as far as I can tell).

summary: I want to be able to print multiple sets via the "publish using page setup overrides" and be able to delete or rename a sheet set in the ssm.

[Glenn Pope]

disclaimer: I haven't read the entire thread...

You can do this thru the "publish dialog box" if your sheets are all set up for the same plotter and such. I ran into the issue a few days ago where my sheets were set up on an old plotter. I added the new plotter to my overrides .dwt file thinking I could publish multiple sets via the overrides, but noooo, I had to go in and reset the plotter in all my sheets first. Then I was able to plot multiple sets. That's one of my quams with SSM. Otherwise I really like it, especially when coupled with fields. Another quam is that you cannot delete or rename a sheet set in SSM (as far as I can tell).

summary: I want to be able to print multiple sets via the "publish using page setup overrides" and be able to delete or rename a sheet set in the ssm.
Another option would be to open the publisher though the SSM. All your sheets should show up and then you can import the new page setup. Still would be nice to have the option to make multiple plots with overrides.

[Jeffrey.Wiggins]

We don't use it. Simply for the fact that you can't batch publish multi-sheet DWF's, meaning 20 different DWG's that each have 7 layout tabs. If there is a way, I havent found it. They need to simplify this =) Just 4 me !! Since it's my job to publish and publish and re-publish when adjustments are made. I demand automation !! Thx ....

[Chris.N]

hmmmm, before i switched our dept. to SSM, we still did all plotting from modelspace and xref'd a lot. of the things i've noticed and observed, the biggest thing some have a problem with is that SSM only recognizes one layout per file for a sheet in the set. since we had no previous biases, it wasn't a problem for us.

for printing, i have all page setups saved in the sheet template. i can batch plot to plotter, DWF, or any printer i have a setup for, and any quantity i need. unless i update or add them in the middle of the project, the large (full size) format is always default in my setup. it's also great being able to r-click and spit out a reference set on 11X17 by selecting an override plotter and not opening up anything. this info is linked from the sheet creation template also, so it's always the latest and greatest.

as for re-naming files, i've had no problems there either, as long as you are not in the file you are trying to rename. i just wish it would also rename the layout tab...

the SSM has been awesome with the ability to add your own SSM properties. i've even added fields in the SSM propertiesfor where certain types of drawings can be found (schedules, etc.) to update our standard front-end stuff at the 'callout' legend index.

with new stuff available, new thinking is required. for us, it has worked wonderfull! btw, i'm still in v2006.

[robert.1.hall72202]

As near as I can tell:
Provides a way to organize and browse your project. Essentially, now you point to the drawing in the "Table of Contents", and open it that way. Makes it easier to jump around, especially if the drawing set comes from another company and you aren't familiar with their file naming standards.
Provide a central place for Drawing Set information, so that if any of this information changes, it only needs to be changed in one place. The change is reflected throughout the drawing set.
Automatically creates a Table of Contents for your index sheet, or for the first page of your drawing set. Makes it easy to keep this table up-to-date as pages are added/removed/reorganized.
Allows one to create "Dynamic Callouts" that update as the drawing is reordered. So, that Detail callout retains the proper page number, even if the detail moves to a different page.
Also provides another way for creating new sheets, and add them to the existing sheet set.


Basically, another convenience tool, more useful for some situations than others.



Interesting points. Too bad I have not taken the time to learn all of the SSM functionality.
A dive right in kind of user will miss all of the mentioned features.

[KGC]

someone above mentioned that the SSM can create an index of drawings, where is this feature at.

That and is there any easy tutorial on dynamic callouts, that has been something that i have been wanting to get into, but just havent made the dive yet, i have been too bus playing with dynamic blocks.

[Chris.N]

someone above mentioned that the SSM can create an index of drawings, where is this feature at.

That and is there any easy tutorial on dynamic callouts, that has been something that i have been wanting to get into, but just havent made the dive yet, i have been too bus playing with dynamic blocks.look in the Dynamic Blocks forum and check out the 'Sharing' thread..

[Glenn Pope]

someone above mentioned that the SSM can create an index of drawings, where is this feature at.
In the SSM right-click on the Sheetset name. In the pop up menu near the bottom you will see "Insert Sheet List Table". You will need to have a sheet open in AutoCAD to be able to use the feature. Otherwise its grayed out.

[KGC]

yeah i figured it our, i was right-clicking on the wrong button. Now its time to figure out the dynamic call outs

[rdaniel]

My point is that for every problem that AutoCAD has, there is a EQUAL and OPPOSITE solution that will (trust me on this!) that will benefit ALOT of users and AutoCADheads such as myself.


We're in our 3rd ADT project utilizing the project navigator and project structure. The 1st project was a small (12,000 SF) building in which I used live sections, view - sheet placement, and linked callouts. That went fairly flawlessly.

Moving from there, I applied the project tools to a 100,000 SF project and hit a huge wall - SERIOUS SYSTEM BOGGDOWN. For example, a section details sheet had about 25 details on it = 25 viewports. This meant processing all 25 viewports and xrefs every time the drawing was regened, saved, and plotted. Plotting a sheet like this was the worst - approx. 45 minutes to process everything and we are running on high-end BOXX computer systems. The thing we learned from this project is that view - sheet placement was not at all an option - too much time lost.

Where I am moving now with the 3rd project is skipping the views step altogether and simply drawing with constructs (floor plans, site plans) and sheets (everything else). Of course, this is because I am not really utilizing BIM and modeling the building, but I assume you could and still skip the views step. I am then linking everything through an outside excel spreadsheet. I simply place all the sheet numbers and titles in the excel database and then reference them in ADT through fields. So, far it is working pretty well. We are still automating coordination, but avoiding the serious system slowdown.

If anyone else is doing something similar to this, I'd be interested in what you are doing.

.... and about the time I get all this down, I'll probably be moving to Revit.

[robert.1.hall72202]

I was passed some drawing files that contain sheet sets.
I have since swapped the sheet sets for
publishing pagesetups while saving sheet lists.

The files did not have any fields and I do not see
much of a difference in functionality. It takes less
time to create pagesetups.

[Chris.N]

I was passed some drawing files that contain sheet sets.
I have since swapped the sheet sets for
publishing pagesetups while saving sheet lists.

The files did not have any fields and I do not see
much of a difference in functionality. It takes less
time to create pagesetups.i think that whoever created that set didn't know how to use it (SSM)... the benefits are enormous when used to it's full potential!! i.e.: r-click plotting of any and all sheets of choice, is one deal-maker!

[keelay711]

the SSM has been awesome with the ability to add your own SSM properties. i've even added fields in the SSM properties for where certain types of drawings can be found (schedules, etc.) to update our standard front-end stuff at the 'callout' legend index.

This paragraph intrigued me. I have been playing with SSM to see if it will work for us. It sounds like your company does approximately the same style of drafting setup (IE model space with x-refs, going to one layout per dwg).

I would be interested to see what your "standard front-end stuff" is and how it updates with the use of your custom properties.

[Chris.N]

This paragraph intrigued me. I have been playing with SSM to see if it will work for us. It sounds like your company does approximately the same style of drafting setup (IE model space with x-refs, going to one layout per dwg).

I would be interested to see what your "standard front-end stuff" is and how it updates with the use of your custom properties.i added fields within the text strings telling the contractor where to find info. i didn't want to type the same thing more than once, especially if the location changed!!

here's screenshots of my drawing with the fields, and the SSM properties...

[yangarcht]

I believe SSM is just one of those tool like "paper space" when it just came out in the older version of ACAD where every one refuse to use. Now every one is using it.

Yet, I see many improvement require to make this tool more user friendly in Autodesk part...

Link detail view port name to sheet automation like Revit



I wish Revit and ADT will eventually merge into one as more advance program. This will just save many learning curve for many company.

[StaceyG]

We've told our people to ignore the View List tab altogether. Partly because we need to teach things in incremental steps. Partly because we have a rule about not having anything in paper space.


I have found that SSM is just a glorified version of PUBLISH unless you are using the View List Tab.
If you already have your Titleblock on Paperspace, I dont realy see the benifit of using the SSM at all.

[Opie]

We've told our people to ignore the View List tab altogether. Partly because we need to teach things in incremental steps. Partly because we have a rule about not having anything in paper space.


I have found that SSM is just a glorified version of PUBLISH unless you are using the View List Tab.
If you already have your Titleblock on Paperspace, I dont realy see the benifit of using the SSM at all.
To me, SSM is faster than Publish, as I do not have to open the Publish dialog. I can send one drawing in the set, many drawings in the set, or even the whole set to Publish. I can do this with the defined page setup in the drawings or can override the page setup. All of this with a few clicks.

I can also link text in one drawing to a sheet name and number of another drawing in the set. If the name or number is changed, I don't have to go open the drawings to find the text to update.

I don't use the View List tab either. We don't use views. We setup our sheets, which most of the sheets have the same view but with differing layer states. We then import those layouts into the sheet set. Our fields are already setup for the title blocks.

It is also a quick link to the drawings for the set.

There are probably additional benefits, but I can't remember them at this time.

[Chris.N]

We've told our people to ignore the View List tab altogether. Partly because we need to teach things in incremental steps. Partly because we have a rule about not having anything in paper space.


I have found that SSM is just a glorified version of PUBLISH unless you are using the View List Tab.
If you already have your Titleblock on Paperspace, I dont realy see the benifit of using the SSM at all.
who's rule? up till 3 years ago my department was all in Model space, then embraced SSM (in its entirety) along w/ DB's & tool Palettes.

last spring i was able to bring up the other 80% of the company out of the ModelSpace abyss and into paperspace w/ the SSM. what helped the most was documentation on how to set up & use the features according to discipline (department).

[pmedina]

I have used it to do the automatic sheet numbering and detail callouts, sheet index.

Some just use it to organize drawings. Most, i guess have not used it alot. We might have about 275 users.

[binary.youth]

I work in an architectural office - I am the as a young intern (I try and embrace it)

SSM is somewhat useless without the objects to support it.

Trying to update my office is much like herding cats. Much of our office says things like: well I mastered autocad in version 12/14 in 19XX when I took a class - "this is how its done". I have been slowly transitioning our office standards to SSM and other Database related functions (annotative feature, table linking - we get a lot of excel files from consultants, basic display settings/wall&window types etc., and a script to transitions our old files from the office CTB to AIA compliant CTB) .

Most of the drawings from other Architects are line Based (I can no longer relate to this, except for casework). At least enforce the use of basic blocks - this way the blocks or their attributes can be updated/replaced with intelligent objects in a single script (there is free third party software available) - its a huge time saver.

In addition placing several common wall types and other elements, page layouts w/ viewports set to the correct display settings into the office standard template made a huge difference in office compliance. I distribute/over-write the office standard files (dimstyles, sheets templates, drawing templates, PC3's) on user machines with the server login script which is run at every login. These had an interesting tendency of reverting to old/ancient/odd files.

I do not believe the rest of the staff will be using views anytime soon.

[guitarchitect7]

hmmmm, before i switched our dept. to SSM, we still did all plotting from modelspace and xref'd a lot. of the things i've noticed and observed, the biggest thing some have a problem with is that SSM only recognizes one layout per file for a sheet in the set. since we had no previous biases, it wasn't a problem for us.

for printing, i have all page setups saved in the sheet template. i can batch plot to plotter, DWF, or any printer i have a setup for, and any quantity i need. unless i update or add them in the middle of the project, the large (full size) format is always default in my setup. it's also great being able to r-click and spit out a reference set on 11X17 by selecting an override plotter and not opening up anything. this info is linked from the sheet creation template also, so it's always the latest and greatest.

as for re-naming files, i've had no problems there either, as long as you are not in the file you are trying to rename. i just wish it would also rename the layout tab...

the SSM has been awesome with the ability to add your own SSM properties. i've even added fields in the SSM propertiesfor where certain types of drawings can be found (schedules, etc.) to update our standard front-end stuff at the 'callout' legend index.

with new stuff available, new thinking is required. for us, it has worked wonderfull! btw, i'm still in v2006.

Okay, how did you do that. It seems that when I try to reduce down my Arch C & D sheets to 11x17 I'm unable to do so. When I set my plot are to layout as needed for SSM, "fit to page" is grayed out and not valid. I've been just importing the page setup every time within the publish dialog box.

[Chris.N]

Okay, how did you do that. It seems that when I try to reduce down my Arch C & D sheets to 11x17 I'm unable to do so. When I set my plot are to layout as needed for SSM, "fit to page" is grayed out and not valid. I've been just importing the page setup every time within the publish dialog box.
in my template, (and default override file, if separate) i create the required page setup, but so i don't have to create size specific reduction setups for all my sheet sizes, i have to use the "EXTENTS" Option for printing area. this also means that in your sheets, you can't have any objects outside of the layout area.

[sinc]

Okay, how did you do that. It seems that when I try to reduce down my Arch C & D sheets to 11x17 I'm unable to do so. When I set my plot are to layout as needed for SSM, "fit to page" is grayed out and not valid. I've been just importing the page setup every time within the publish dialog box.

Create your reduced layouts so that they use "Extents" instead of "Layout". Then you can select "Fit to page".

This means you can't leave clutter lying around the outside of the layout, the way some people like to do. Instead of that, try to get used to using things like Tool Palettes or the Dashboard, instead of leaving your commonly-used items lying around in the DWG layout. Also, make sure you don't do something like leave something on a non-plotting layer (such as a viewport boundary) hanging outside your title block - that can mess up the zoom extents, and cause your plot to come out reduced and off-center.

[guitarchitect7]

Normally I do extents, but I thought for the SSM overrides you had to use layout. I will have to double check that and see if extents will suffic. Thanks.

[Rerehou]

My company seem to struggle with the SSM concepts. People are happy to work with what they know and usually wont use a new concept within Autocad. (makes me wonder why we bother upgrading all the time).
Personally, I find the SSM features are great for managing the drawing files and as SSM develops hand in hand with fields I will endeavor to exploit SSM.
To answer the title of this thread, We dont use SSM globally within the company, but I do locally (as do the other 2 Draughtsmen)
My Company seem more interested in spending mega-bucks on front-end applications for AutoCad that dont get used by anyone. These are developed by very bright engineers that require even brighter people to use it.

[robert.1.hall72202]

I have given up on sheet sets. The publish dialogue and a sheet list
seem to get me the same results.

[Chris.N]

I have given up on sheet sets. The publish dialogue and a sheet list
seem to get me the same results.
quite honestly, Printing and publishing are only about 25% of why we use the SSM. it's the most obvious benefit when set up properly, but still is only about 1/4 of the 'why' part. (IMO)

[elmoleaf]

ssm benefits:
1. speeds batch plotting. That alone makes it worthwhile.

2. when producing plot files, the plots file names will actually use the names you gave the sheets in SSM. Same with EPS files. No more plt files with mystery names.(Only drawback is I cannot get it to use sheet names when plotting directly to PDFs. I end up using Acrobat distiller to convert EPS files to PDFs).

3. use the Resource Drawings tab! It's like a mini windows explorer. No more drilling through endless directories every time you want to open a drawing. The drawing directories relevant to your project are always right there in front of you.

4. makes working with & creating a set of CDS easier. You can see at a glance through the sheet list what drawings are in your set or missing. The mini-preview window gives you a snapshot of what the sheet looks like. The file lock feature tells you who in the office may have a drawing from your set open. The details tab tells you who last saved the drawing.

5. list of sheet names can be inserted as a table on your title sheet. If you update a sheet name, your drawing index gets updated.

[jgroeninger]

Its interesting to review these posts as they relate to previous versions of AutoCAD. We are using AutoCAD 2008--SSM since 2004 release.

SSM is an invaluable tool for our company. All of our title block data is set up as attributes, We use SSM to set-up, organize and maintain our projects. The index preparation is a bonus. I set up my table in model space in one file. All index sheets reference this "master" file. data is presented through viewports in paper space.

The only weak point in SSM is in our "Design Services During Construction" phase of the project when all contract drawings are controlled and only availabe for edits when involved in a change order. The SSM is always looking for the remainder of the drawings.

A wish list item would be the ability to toggle the SSM entry off. This feature would allow SSM to function as if all drawings were on-line even if they were not.

[TerribleTim]

Ok, I'm gonna weigh in.

We started using the SSM manager a few months ago. When I made the move, it was to automate some call-outs and aid in batch plotting. Since then, I have incorporated some more automated items for title block info and cover sheet info that was getting messed up by people not paying attention. The SSM gave me a way to get them in line with our standards. Batch plotting, as stated, is about 1/4th of the benefit. The automated detail bugs, the automated reference call-outs, the automated title block & cover sheet info, the automated drawing index, all those things add up to make it worth using IF SET UP RIGHT. The goal is to get my users to set it up right. I'm not there yet. Add in the factors of having all your project files right in that little SSM window instead of digging through Windows Exploder, or the ease of clicking on a reference to go to that drawing, or the many other little things the SSM does for you, and it is invaluable!

Dare I say, I'm not sure how I ever got by without it! All I need to do now is figure out the BEST way to incorporate my sub-consultant drawings in the list for the drawing index.

[wroebuck]

We use it too but I don't like some things about it:

#1 I name my drawings like this "01-GENERAL LAYOUT"," 02-LAYOUT", "03-PROFILE", "04-"XSECTION" etc. Each of these drawings has layouts that are actual sheets to be plotted, I use SSM like a binder, to keep all sheets tied together to be able to better control the plotting process. Well when I'm starting a new ss and import the folder into it it messes all my order, I just wanted it to do it in "alfabetical order"!

#2 I want to be able to hit publish to plotter button and to specify the how many sets I need and go to have lunch while it's plotting.

#3 When it builds the import layouts list I wanna be able to modify the importing order.

Vali

#1 - You can drag them to the right order once it is done building.

#2 - Right click on the top of the ssm tree & select publish dialog box rather than publish to plotter. By doing so it also solves issue #3.

[TerribleTim]

I agree with the answer on this one. Use the publish dialog box. It works great, and has tons of flexibility for how many sets, and order arrangement. As for them plotting while you're at lunch, I got a faster plotter, so I wouldn't be able to finish my lunch. :mrgreen:

[Mgalicki]

I've used this "publish dialoge box" method. But when I want PDF's it builds a PDF with all the drawings in (1) file. Weather I select the "Multi-sheet file" or "Single-sheet file".
I still get (1) file with all the drawings in it. Can you get single pdf's for each drawing from the "publish dialoge box" method?
Thanks, Mark

[BlackBox]

I use SSM extensively, but only for project organization & navigation, and do not recall ever using the SSM publish options... I used PUBLISH Command instead, and since AUTOPUBLISH was released (in 2009?) I have only use PUBLISH on rare occasion.



For SSM, I do not just add 'sheets' to SSM, I also add my 'dref' models or 'xref' drawings to the Sheet List tab... I add a simple snippet of code in AcadDoc.lsp that automagically switches the latter drawing type to ModelSpace at drawing open, which makes this really simple for end-user.

For AUTOPUBLISH, I developed a persistent, WCMATCH-based .NET plug-in (http://apps.exchange.autodesk.com/ACD/en/Detail/Index?id=appstore.exchange.autodesk.com%3aappblackboxautopublishforautocad00a402624802_windows32and64%3aen) (so anyone can use it), which allows one to only produce PDFs for 'sheet' and 'exhibit' drawings, instead of wasting production time, computer resources, and server space for PDFs that would otherwise also be produced for DREF, XREF-only drawings.

Cheers

[LGB]

Hi,
I use SSM in all jobs for years and I'm very happy with it. In conjunction with SSMPropeditor, is totally unbeatable. It's just a matter of people getting to know what actually it can do. Some drafters from other branches use spreadsheet to "control" the title block, and it's not friendly at all. It doesn't have the automation, speed, neat organization, flexibility, etc, as SSM has. I noticed that some people won't abandon what they know and control, for something new to be learnt. I recommend it!

[Kevin.Sturmer]

From compiling sheets for specific packages to driving the templates and managing the title block changes (revs, dates, etc)

[IrishSnake]

To get your sub-consultants drawings in the drawing index just create sheets with the titles of their drawings. They will be blank "dummy" sheets that you will not plot but they show up in your index.