Making Changes to one layer Set

[Gorlock]

I know I'm missing something simple here, but if I add a notation to the Framing Set, why is that notation added to the entire plan? I have to go back and use the Layer Painter to send those items to the appropriate Layer Set. What am I doing wrong?

 

I'm on X8

[Chopsaw]

Annotation sets control what layer your text and dimensions or cad etc...   will be automatically placed on.  You will need to do a bit of research to get it all figured out as it is rather complex and not setup by default unfortunately.

[Gorlock]

I figured that was the case but the videos I've seen on Anno Sets aren't very helpful and I would have expected it to be something a little more simple. 

 

Thanks you for the reply!

[Chopsaw]

If you are in a rush to complete a set of drawings you can shift select all your text on the screen at once to change the layer.  Just click the text tool once first.  But the Anno Set system is the solution when you have time.

[Gorlock]

Thanks again. I understand a little better now how it works and I think I have the basics set up. I just made a sample plan and it did what I had hoped it would

[DRAWZILLA]

Make an anno-set for every plan type, like floor ,framing, roof, site, then you can switch quickly without having to change the layers. For me it's the number one most important thing in Chief. I even have different anno-sets for sections and elevations, wall elevations, etc.

[Alaskan_Son]

14 hours ago, Chopsaw said:

Annotation sets control what layer your text and dimensions or cad etc...   will be automatically placed on.  You will need to do a bit of research to get it all figured out as it is rather complex and not setup by default unfortunately.

 

I won't argue that this stuff could be made easier but part of the reason this stuff is so complex is because there is such much misinformation out there with regard to what Annotation Sets really do.  I only have a few minutes so I'll make this quick...

 

• Annotation Sets do not control what layer your text, dimensions, CAD, etc. are placed on, its the Active Defaults that do that...

...More specifically:

• Your Current CAD layer is the layer any new CAD will be placed onto
• Your dimensions will be placed onto the layer set in your currently active Dimension Default...

• Your text will be placed onto the layer set in your currently active Text Default...

• Etc. etc.

If you want to change what layer these things are automatically placed on, you either need to change the layer for the existing defaults for CAD, Rich Text, Text, etc. as shown above or you need to create new defaults for those items.

 

You can set which one of those Defaults is currently active by simply switching the appropriate default in Active Defaults as shown above.

 

All that Annotation Sets really do is activate a whole set of the aforementioned defaults.  They can certainly increase productivity but in and of themselves, they don't actually do what so many people say they do.  It's very similar to the faulty statement made in the first post of this thread...

14 hours ago, Gorlock said:

I have to go back and use the Layer Painter to send those items to the appropriate Layer Set

You don't send items to a Layer Set.  You can change what is displayed by changing the layer set, but it's not the layer set that is controlling the display of those items...it's the settings for the layer itself.  Switching the layer set simply switches to a layer set where the layer in question is set a little differently.  Similarly, annotation sets don't control the display of anything.  They're simply a quick way to change several Active Defaults at the same time. 

 

Again, the real key piece of information I'm trying to get across here is that its the Active Defaults that really control which layer all your annotations are placed onto and you don't even need to use Annotation Sets to take advantage of them.  You can simply use Active Defaults.  Annotation Sets just work better for a lot of people because you can use them to change all those Active Defaults along with the Layer Set all at once.

[DRAWZILLA]

Michael I think you are giving the wrong info here, you can put all those things on a different layer, using Anno-sets, I never use Active defaults., Anno-sets are just the best thing Chief has and everyone should use them.

[Alaskan_Son]

2 minutes ago, DRAWZILLA said:

Michael I think you are giving the wrong info here...I never use Active defaults...

 

Truth is that you ARE using active defaults.  In fact, EVERYBODY uses them.  They just don't realize it.  There are always a group of various defaults active whether you actually use the Active Defaults dialog to change them or not.  There are just 2 ways to change those currently active defaults...

 

1.  Piecemeal by using the Active Defaults dialog.

2.  All at once using an Annotation Set.

 

When you switch to a specific Annotation Set you are just changing all your active defaults (the group of CAD, dimension, text, callout, etc. defaults that are currently active). 

[dshall]

1 hour ago, DRAWZILLA said:

Make an anno-set for every plan type, like floor ,framing, roof, site, then you can switch quickly without having to change the layers. For me it's the number one most important thing in Chief. I even have different anno-sets for sections and elevations, wall elevations, etc.

 

I concur.  

[DRAWZILLA]

Michael

I call that using anno-sets , that's is what they are called and I do realize what I'm using.

[Joe_Carrick]

Just to be clear, Both Michael, Perry & Scott are correct.

 

The Active Defaults control almost everything.  Annosets specify what the Active Defaults are to be - essentially a 1 click way to set/change the Active Defaults.  When Perry & Scott say they don't use the "Active Defaults" they are just saying that they don't select the "Active Defaults" tool to make changes.  They rely on selecting an "Annoset" to make those changes.  This is the way I work as well.  If we need another set of Defaults - we create a new Annoset which may require additional Layers, an additional Layer Set and maybe additional Text Styles.  I've been doing this for quite a while and everything is in my Plan Templates, so I seldom need new Annosets.  Occasionally a special condition makes it necessary.

 

Typically, I have the Text Style in the Annosets set to use the Layer Set Text Style.  That's the one place where I use the Layer Set to control the annotation - but the Annoset sets the Layer Set and the Current CAD Layer. 

 

I'm scheduled to make a presentation on this subject at the UGM.  I'll know in a couple of days if I will be able to make it to the UGM.  My wife may have to have spinal surgery and if so it will depend on when that happens.  It may present a time conflict for me.

[Dermot]

Quote

I know I'm missing something simple here, but if I add a notation to the Framing Set, why is that notation added to the entire plan? I have to go back and use the Layer Painter to send those items to the appropriate Layer Set. What am I doing wrong?

 

Your new text will always go onto the layer that is specified by your active text defaults.

 

You can either change your text defaults to create text on a different layer or you can move it to a new layer after you create it.

 

If you are just looking for a quick way to change your text defaults before placing text, all you need to do is double-click on the text tool to open up the text defaults dialog box and specify the layer you want it to go on.

 

If you are looking for a more efficient way to work, then I would recommend learning more about your active defaults and setting up annotation sets in order to quickly change them.