Single element construction drawing

[KondensTTD]

Hello

When producing documentation for construction, I often have to single out elements which are part of a bigger structure, eg. steel beams/columns - as to produce more detailed drawings

Of course this means that other elements in the structure are in the way of producing easy readable drawings.

My problem is that i have not found an effective solution to produce these drawings fast.

My solution right now is to:

 - Copy the elements to another project

 - Dissassemble everything to the parts I want to document

 - Create elevations and sections

Is there a way to optimize this process? Thanks

[Eduardo Rolon]

Depends:

If they are Details

• Read up on the Detail Tool its purpose is to copy and convert to 2D elements specific areas of the drawings in addition to adding the marker for that specific area. There is no need to copy them to a different file.

If they are Shop Drawings

• Your procedure might be the correct one by keeping specific 3D information of the Detailed Assembly without having to coordinate a lot of Layers Etc. This is a good option for general details.
• Alternatively you can keep everything in the original project but then you will need to define specific Layers to turn everything off
• Which one to use will depend on the project and how far along it is. If the project is changing a lot then go with Layers for all specific assemblies if the project is already past the design stage then separate files are an option.

[DGSketcher]

If only we had in model instancing... 🙄

But to be fair it's only been on the Wishlist for 19 years...

[Dave Seabury]

I prefer to keep everything in one file as Eduardo suggested.  This means that you will need separate layers to isolate specific items. ie steel columns vs steel beams, wood columns and wood beams.  I use a section marker rather than a detail marker to keep everything updated as changes are made.  i produce 4 elevations and a 3d view for each item.  Not the quickest, but its accurate

and updates quicker then a detail view

[Tim Ball]

You could pick the element or a group of elements and view them in 3D

Save as a view and it remains live

Save the view as a 3D, plan, elevation

Save as a section using the cutting tool

Create a 3D doc from the view you want

Set the scale, pens, graphic override,  level of detail you want

Label and dimension iot

Drop it into a layout or save out as a dwg for flat cadders

[KondensTTD]

Thanks alot all of you

I can see that there is no golden solution that I have missed

I would very much like to avoid a ton of layers (thou the folder structure could be implemented in a workflow)

I appreciate your advices, and will have them in the back of my head in the next project

[thesleepofreason]

Or a criteria based visibility control...