Drafting quality ugliness

[Ignacio Azpiazu]

About a third of the drawings I have been coming across recently have basic drafting problems --nobody seems to use geometry layouts, things that should be equal are not equal by 1/16", things start having funny dimensions, etc. *Very basic* drafting problems, coming from architects etc. And nobody seems to care.

About a year ago I thought such a situation scandalous and extraordinary, but now I am starting to assume it as ordinary and just the way some people do drawings. Was I lucky before? Am I being very unlucky recently? Is that just the way things are and I was not aware?

[Anonymous]

tom - that's something i've wanted for a long time, too... care to make a trip to the wishlists?

thanks
wes

[Dwight]

I always thought that an algorhythm was what you sang to yourself walking quickly through the woods on the way to grandma's house.

Or was that an igotrhythm? Who could ask for anything else?

In the meantime we'll just have to use white screen masking....

[Anonymous]

hmmmm....let me pull out my canary paper and my Ching book and see.....btw....this was resolved in Microstation 95.....

[Anonymous]

Dwight wrote:
use white screen masking....

another problem...this weekend I was talking to Richard (Mier)....these screens are anything but white....that misses the mark too..

[Anonymous]

Matthew wrote:
Ignacio,

Small inaccuracies, as nasty as they can be, are small potatoes compared to some of the practices I have seen. Walls, doors and windows drawn as lines and arcs, elevations drawn as 2D projections on the floor plan, etc...

I know exactly what you're talking about, I work in a very small office, were I am the only person drawing, when I came to this company a few months ago and started looking through the old files wish I was meant to be working from I thought i was going to cry. every drawing has completely line drawn elevations.... on the 1st storey floor plan... 3d models are completely non existent seeing as how the plans were never drawn with correct storey settings, project level settings, or even common sense things, like wall height.. let me show you an example (see pic). Going back to the original topic of this thread though, it's my personal belief that a lot of the basic drawing problems today come from peoples lake of appreciation for what draughting is, it's almost as though people (as appalling as it is... I would say this includes architects) just seem to forget that when you draw a line on a plan, something is going to be built. Another issue coming back to the topic of geometric construction, I have a feeling a lot of people just don't actually grasp the concept of how to do proper geometric construction in draughting, I am a firm believer that a person should not be allowed to draw a house on a computer, if they couldn't draw it by hand (I know i'm going to catch flack for saying that.. but oh well)

I by no means consider myself an expert in...well anything... especially considering the fact that i'm only 19 years of age. But it still doesn't mean I cant put in my 2p on the issue.

cheers,
dan

[Anonymous]

I have a sneaking suspicion that, when people talk about the quality of draughting, they mean rigidly observing the rules imposed by the software, e.g. being disciplined about layer management etc.

Drawings are really judged by the output - a sheet of paper used by the contractor to price the job, or to build it on site. Looking at this sheet of paper, it's not really an issue whether lines are on the 'right layers', or whether the elevations are drawn with 'just lines'.

What is an issue, though, is whether the damp proof courses are in the right place. Archicad is great at dumping windows into walls, but it doesn't concern itself with dpc locations, pointing, lintels etc.

So I agree with you Dan, if 'being able to draw with a pencil' means being thoroughly conversant with building construction techniques - but I don't agree that it's necessary to be pedantic about the way the tools are used to produce the drawings.

There's been a lot said about taking a bit more time to do things correctly. Which is fine if you're working for a corporate client with loads of dosh to throw at you. Not so fine if the contractor's on the phone every ten minutes asking when he's going to get his foundation drawing. He's not going to be very impressed if you tell him, you're just making some final adjustments to the 3d model!

[Anonymous]

Keith wrote:

So I agree with you Dan, if 'being able to draw with a pencil' means being thoroughly conversant with building construction techniques - but I don't agree that it's necessary to be pedantic about the way the tools are used to produce the drawings.

That's exactly what I'm saying about the hand draughting bit, the thing about using the right tools, and not using lines to draw elevations, etc. comes down to efficiency and in a way; professionalism. If you just need to get something out the door to a contractor, then you're absolutely right, there isn't anything wrong with just drawing it with lines. but if you're working a project which is going to incur many changes, or require finished renderings, or be worked on by different people, etc. you're much better off to model it correctly. all in all though, I agree with you Keith, if youre pressed for time it's more important to worry about getting something done accurately, and quickly than worry about symantics and things of that nature.

BTW were in glasgow are ya?

cheers,
dan

[Anonymous]

hate to upset you guys but I have worked with some pretty high end clients and they do care about two things....accuracy and quality....this also includes their GC's.....your a professional not some tv guide graduate....so it does make a difference...especially if you want them to be repeat clients...

[Anonymous]

sorry, maybe my point was lost... in my last post all I was saying was that I agree with Keith when he says that accuracy is most important. In defense of keith though, all h's saying is the GC isn't going to care how it was drawn as long as the print he has in his hands is accurate and of a high quality. The GC isnt going to come into your office and start fussing about the fact that a dimension line on the foundation is in the wrong layer. I personally think (with the exception of the aforementioned time crunch situation) that you should be careful to use good practice within the draughting program itself.

cheers,
dan

[Anonymous]

Dan - you ask where I am in Glasgow. Visit www.jaandw.co.uk.
Where are you?