Creating Schedules in AutoCad

[daniel.191403]

Hey,

So I’ve been thinking about this mad rush to BIM programs like Revit and others and all I really need to make AutoCAD work flow better is just a great way to produce all the kinds of schedules that are typical for residential design: Door/window, Elect /Plumb Fixture, Room finishes, and perhaps Area calcs. It would be awesome to generate some basic material takeoffs using areas of walls and roofs tagged with descriptions [attributes], but that might be getting too close to BIM and all the challenges that come with learning that approach to design.

Sure, we can all do these things manually but is anyone aware of an add-on or lisp routine or some other functioning tool which can create, automate and keep updated Schedules via block w/ attributes which are linked to the schedule? I've not explored the excel linkage with AutoCAD, but perhaps that’s the intended purpose??

Anyone?

Thanks, daniel

[irneb]

Welcome to AUGI & congrats on your 1st post.

You mean like Data Extraction? Basically you place some hidden attributes in your room, door & window tags ... so you can place the relevant data directly on the plan. Then you create a table using Data Extraction ... which can be updated with one or two clicks.

The problem here is how do you handle revisions.

As for Areas, using Vanilla ACad you'll have to create the boundary polyline (or some such) then you can add a field into (say) a hidden attrib of the room tag. This way the field's value changes after a regen if the polyline was stretched or otherwise modified.

[daniel.191403]

Thanks for the reply....yeah, basically this kind of functionality is there, but not very user friendly....and it can be made to be automated just like in Revit or ACA. Wouldn't that be great? All you do is take a door or window or any other kind of TAG off your tool palate and place it in the drawing where you need it and then automatically [just like placing a window or door in Revit] a schedule gets generated!!! And as you add tags to the drawing it numbers them correctly....Wow, how cool and easy would that be, or if Tags are removed the numbers all get updated accordingly!! When you place the Tag you can immediately enter all the data you want in an attribute dialogue box or choose to do so later or even have a library of such Tags which are commonly used and so preloaded with all the Data just like you would with your regular block library.....

But this functionality all takes place directly in AutoCAD...no need for excel extraction. And it tracks the drawings linked to it to keep it current as changes are made. AND can be bi-directional so you can edit the data in either the tag attribute editor or directly in the Schedule....super cool, right?

Vectorworks does this quite well with what they call Worksheets which is essentially an excel functionality within the program for all the kinds of scheduling tasks we do, both 2D & 3D. It works for landscape plans by simply tagging the plants and sending the info off to a schedule [Worksheet] which tracks all the desired data -- quantities, types, cost, notes, sources, specs, etc...

This would make our lives soooo much easier!! You should tell everone about this idea as I'm sure there would be a universal thumbs up...and something that would easily make the Top 10 on the user wish list.

[irneb]

It's available in ACA ... the new versions of Architectural Desktop. And there isn't really a reason for buying Vanilla ACad over AutoCad Architecture ... pricing is very similar.

But even with Vanilla, if you setup a table using Data Extraction, the table does update automatically. There's a new statusbar icon, with a pop-up, like xref's to show you that something's changed. Then one (or two) clicks updates the table adding any new tags, removing deleted tags, and updating text as per attribute values (or Dynamic parameters, or whatever properties you asked for). It is a bit difficult to setup, but once it's done, you don't need to do it again.

Bi-directional is a bit of a problem though ...

The ACA system works a lot like Revit's scheduling. In some ways even better, e.g. with door tags, the tag is automatically linked to the room number into which the door swings (this can be overridden by user door-by-door). In Revit it depends where you place the tag, so if the view is congested you may have a room name other than expected in your door compilation sheet.

Previously I did this using MS Office Access, linked to Acad 2005 using VBA coding. Was bi-directional but slow as hell!

[daniel.191403]

Yes, but ACA is a different beast then AutoCAD. You shouldn't have to commit to ACA or Revit in order to have this built in functionality. I've had ACA since it was ADT and I don't like using the program for a whole host of reasons.

AutoCAD, vanilla or not as it is so called, is a powerful program with virtues that make is extremely relevant for users who do not buy into the BIM or quasi BIM ACA due to all the short comings of using those options.

I understand the functionality I'm promoting is available to a degree in AutoCAD. Still, I am wanting it to be more fully realized, streamed lined, user friendly and be an integrated "on the tool bar" feature. There is no technical reason that I can fathom why this has not been done already. It can even be integrated into the Sheet Set functionality to organize drawing data over a set of sheets. Brilliant!!

In other words take all the limitations you yourself have noted and fix them...i.e. "it’s a bit difficult to set up," "Bi directionality is an issue", "slow as hell" with the VBA coding, ect.....and more that i can name!!

I don't want to have to create my own VBA code, or lisp routine, or set my tables to work for extraction to another program like excel....etc....when it can work so beautiful right in AutoCAD. Its just the logical prorgession of pulling these disperate tools into a unified whole for everyday work.

Are you suggesting this would be something you would not use if it was in your AutoCAD tool palate? Let’s make AC Vanilla....Cookies & Cream!!!

[irneb]

I'll be honest ... I also don't like ACA much, it just simply falls appart with the size projects we're usually doing. For scheduling, I'd like to use Revit instead. But with straight forward (as you say "not named") Vanilla ACad (as most of the projects here is done in this) ... the standard Data Extraction just has too many limitations. It's a bit unwieldy. It has improved in functionality since the older Attribute Extract of 2006, but IMHO the user interface has actually been a whole lot of steps backward.

What I did to make ACad work reasonably well, is create a bunch of lisps to link room tags, door tags & window tags together. The lisps "link" specifically named attributes from the room tag to the others using fields. Then I created a import & export lisp to save & read CSV files (one for each tag named as per the drawing). Then in Excel I use the data import utility to create an ODBC link to these and format it in an Excel table ... you just have so much more options in Excel and it works a lot faster and easier than Data Extract. Then if the schedule needs to be on a title sheet I copy the excel into ACad as a linked table.

It's still not perfect, as bi-directionality only works with the CSV (unformated) files . But my lisps are still a work in progress, as they're very involved & specific to block & attribute names. I was thinking of creating a setup interface for these, but (you know how it is) I just don't have the time ... it all "has to work right now!" Another thing I'd like to implement is to remove the intermediate CSV step and import / export directly to the XLS file ... but again that's going to be a few weeks worth of work, and it's going to make the setup a whole lot more complex.

That's why I've been asking why ADesk doesn't simply produce an ODBC driver which reads blocks in DWG files as if they're tables in a database. That way you could use Excel (or whatever other program you want) to link directly to the drawing, format your data as you'd like and go from there. IMHO this would be the simplest solution for ADesk ... it would be much less of a program change than redesigning Data Extract to provide all these features & bi-directionality, while making the user interface simpler. Most spreadsheet and database client apps have those things done to a tee (as they've been at it for decades already), so ADesk don't need to reinvent the wheel. If this driver can then also write to the DWG you've got your bi-directionality sorted, as any database client (Access, FoxPro, Open Office Base, ect.) can directly edit tables, or you could design an entry / edit form.