topic Re: Teamwork "Layout" File Takes Forever to Update Layouts in Documentation

Teamwork "Layout" File Takes Forever to Update Layouts

BenATA — Mon, 29 Aug 2022 01:00:08 GMT

Hi All,

I would appreciate your wisdom on this subject:

Our office is working on a new school project that consists of 6 buildings. Each building is modelled in an individual .pln file that is accessed through BIMcloud as a Service. All layouts are linked to a "Layout" file which is also stored on BIMcloud as a service. From this file we manage revisions, issues and publish all layouts. We have approx. 1000 drawings across 150 layouts.

The issue we have is that updating all these layouts takes 3+ hours to complete, and as such has to be done overnight. If there is an issue then the updating the process needs to be started again, often during work hours - which we really want to avoid.

Has anyone had a similar issue and if so how did you solve it? Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

Thanks in Advance

Ben

AC23-25

MacOS Big Sur

Re: Teamwork "Layout" File Takes Forever to Update Layouts

ryejuan — Mon, 29 Aug 2022 02:59:14 GMT

Do you use one file to export all your drawings?

Re: Teamwork "Layout" File Takes Forever to Update Layouts

BenATA — Mon, 29 Aug 2022 03:09:41 GMT

No, we export from each hotlink. So we export from 6 different files and collate them all in the layout file.

Re: Teamwork "Layout" File Takes Forever to Update Layouts

ryejuan — Mon, 29 Aug 2022 06:42:00 GMT

If you're doing a a few sheets I think it would work but you guys are doing 1000 sheets.

Have you tried setting up the layouts for each of the 6 files and exporting it within them rather than placing everything in one file? 🤔

Re: Teamwork "Layout" File Takes Forever to Update Layouts

Gerry Leonor — Mon, 29 Aug 2022 06:57:56 GMT

so what's the file setup here? You mentioned hotlinked files.

is the file setup similar to which of the 2 below?:

setup 1:

or setup 2:

if it's setup 2, External drawings will take alot longer to load only because every time you update a drawing, it has to:

1. open the source Model file
2. update the drawing
3. close the source Model file

if you're updating one drawing from multiple Model files, it will repeat the 3 steps above for each drawing. that takes time. sure you can open all 6 model files at once to skip stels 1 & 3, but no-one else gets to work on those files.

If your file setup is closer to Setup 2, my suggestion is to use PMK exports from each of the Model files. all your saved views will be exported as PMK files. these will still be brought into the Layout files as "External Drawings", but the updating will be instantaneous, as it avoids steps 1 & 3.

note of caution: this may cause issues with Linked Markers. you might want to do some tests prior to permanently switching to the PMK method.

Re: Teamwork "Layout" File Takes Forever to Update Layouts

BenATA — Mon, 29 Aug 2022 07:00:13 GMT

Hi @ryejuan, just to clarify, we only have 150 sheets (layouts) that are composed of 1000 drawings. About 25 sheets (layouts) per model.

Re: Teamwork "Layout" File Takes Forever to Update Layouts

BenATA — Mon, 29 Aug 2022 07:05:20 GMT

Thanks @Gerry Leonor - this is helpful, and a suggestion I was considering but exactly as you mentioned I'm worried about the linked markers (and of course the time involved with replacing all linked drawings with .pmk files.) Do you know if it is possible to relink a drawing to a .pmk file without having to reorganise or crop the drawing?

Re: Teamwork "Layout" File Takes Forever to Update Layouts

Gerry Leonor — Mon, 29 Aug 2022 07:10:37 GMT

i would do a test -- but from memory, the cropped area should be OK. i don't think it moves the model around. if it does, you'll have to consider that & if the change of the system will be better/faster compared to sticking to the current setup.

do a test for each drawing type if you can -- Plan, section / elev, detail, 3D doc.

Re: Teamwork "Layout" File Takes Forever to Update Layouts

ryejuan — Mon, 29 Aug 2022 07:15:06 GMT

@Gerry Leonor which method are you using? setup 1 or setup 2?

Re: Teamwork "Layout" File Takes Forever to Update Layouts

BenATA — Mon, 29 Aug 2022 07:19:21 GMT

@ryejuan @Gerry Leonor Setup 2

Re: Teamwork "Layout" File Takes Forever to Update Layouts

Gerry Leonor — Mon, 29 Aug 2022 07:26:04 GMT

for humungous projects with multiple AC files (teamwork or solo) & it's own Layout File, i would begrudgingly go with the PMK setup & keep an eye out for any Linked Marker issues. it doesn't happen too often, but when it does, it might be an easy fix.

Re: Teamwork "Layout" File Takes Forever to Update Layouts

ryejuan — Mon, 29 Aug 2022 08:19:25 GMT

I haven't tried .pmk though not sure about how the process works. 😐

Re: Teamwork "Layout" File Takes Forever to Update Layouts

Gerry Leonor — Mon, 29 Aug 2022 11:11:37 GMT

i haven't done it since v22, so i'm assuming the processes haven't changed. it's pretty easy. it's all set up in the Publisher Sets.

create a new Publisher set for PMK
in the Publisher Manager, create a shortcut for all your Saved Views in the View Map into the PMK publisher
set them all up to publish to PMK, in the correct directory in your server / workstation.
when in the Layout file, either re-link the already placed drawings, or import the PMK as an external drawing.
when you need to make changes to any of the drawings, simply re-publish the PMK from Publisher & just update it in the Layout file. this was the way drawings were organised in Plot Maker pre AC 9(?) but it still has its uses.