Autodesk’s new logo

You will soon see this new logo made up of an update logotype and a new logomark pop up everywhere.

“The visual change is the most significant branding update in the company’s 30 year history, but since 1982, we’ve made subtle changes to things like color and imagery, eventually moving from the original calipers icon (a tool used to measure the distance between two opposite sides of an object) to the use of the Autodesk name. Our new visual identity includes a logomark with the Autodesk name for the first time in more than a decade. A talented team of Autodesk designers created the new branding and found their inspiration in origami. The style beautifully shows the convergence of art and science, form and function, aptly representing the Autodesk software portfolio. ”

Via In the Fold. See also this post Autodesk | The New Brand and Origami Logo.

Here are what the old ones looked like with the oldest first:

Learning To Use AutoCAD Sheet Sets Training Video

Sheet Set Manager in AutoCAD can be really useful to manage sets of drawings or sheets.

In this AutoCAD Sheet Sets training course, Autodesk CAD expert Brian Benton will show you how to create and manage Sheet Sets for your CAD projects, making you more efficient and organized. This tutorial is for users that already have a working knowledge of AutoCAD and want to get more organized and efficient. Sheet Sets are a way for you to organize your CAD sheets from one or more sets drawings. Brian will show you to how create Sheet Sets, and how to manage them in a way that will make organizing your projects much easier. You will learn how to automate data and info exchange with powerful properties, apply Sheet Sets to manage your projects, print and publish your Sheet Sets, and finally how to archive and submit your Sheet Sets. By the conclusion of this computer based training video for AutoCAD Sheet Sets, you will have a greater understanding of how to use Sheet Sets to effectively organize your projects and CAD drawings. Working files are included, allowing you to follow along with the author throughout the lessons. 3.25 hours and 37 lessons.

The video is available here as download or DVD.

Sample Movie Links and Table of Contents:

00. Free Videos From This Course
	What You Will Learn
	About The Author
	Typical Uses And Advantages
	Getting Sheet Set Properties Into Your Drawings
	The Single Most Advantage To Using Sheet Sets Is Printing
	What To Do With Your Electronic Files?
1. What You Will Learn 
	0101 What You Will Learn
2. Introducing AutoCAD Sheet Sets 
	0201 Introducing Sheet Sets
	0202 Typical Uses And Advantages
	0203 The Sheet Set Manager
	0204 Sheets
	0205 Subsets
	0206 Publishing And Exporting
	0207 Properties
3. Creating A Sheet Set 
	0301 Where To Start
	0302 Starting With A Blank Sheet Set - Inserting Layouts
	0303 Create A Sheet Set From A Template
	0304 Advantages To Both Methods And My Recommendations
4. Automating Data/Info Exchange 
	0401 The Power Of Sheet Sets Is In Properties 
	0402 Getting Sheet Set Properties Into Your Drawings
	0403 Default Properties
	0404 Custom Properties
	0405 The Differences And Uses Of Sheet Properties
	 And Set Properties
	0406 Sheet Views
	0407 Using Sheet Views And Their Benefits
	0408 Sheet List Table
5. Project Management 
	0501 Use A Sheet Set Template And A Drawing Template
	0502 Prepare You Title Block For Sheet Sets
	0503 Put Page Setups In Your Template File
	0504 Put Project Data In Custom Sheet Set Properties
	0505 Creating New Files With The SSM
	0506 Folders
6. Plot/Print Publish 
	0601 The Single Most Advantage To Using
	 Sheet Sets Is Printing
	0602 Print To DWF, PDF, Plotter
	0603 Publishing
	0604 Miscellaneous Printing/Publishing Options
	0605 Sheet Set Publish Options And Subset Publishing
	0606 Page Setup Overrides
7. Submitting And/Or Archiving Files/Drawings 
	0701 What To Do With Your Electronic Files?
	0702 eTransmit
	0703 Archiving With The Sheet Set Manager
	0704 Transmittal Setups
8. About The Author 
	0801 About The Author

And there are more Learning Resources Books Training Videos eBooks available.

To further help with the usage of Sheet Set Manager try our SSMPropEditor for free.

Hotfix - Autodesk Revit 2013 - Stability, Productivity and Server

This hotfix for Revit addresses issues in the following areas so you surely want to install it:
Revit Stability and Productivity:

• Prevents data loss during upgrade of families containing specific material parameters.
• Improves stability and memory usage within graphics display.
• Improves vector print output of transparent elements and masking regions.
• Prevents accidental data loss during cancellation of the in-place family editor.

Revit Server:

• Revit would occasionally report that an operation could not be completed when attempting a worksharing operation after a period of inactivity, if Riverbed devices were used in conjunction with Revit Server. A subsequent retry of the operation would then succeed. When this hotfix is applied to Revit, this behavior is eliminated. No changes to Revit Server are required.

Get it here: DL21147820

See also Autodesk Revit 2013 Update Release 2

BricsCAD Sheet Set improvements and fixes

Almost two months ago BricsCAD Sheet Set functionality was added and I was not impressed. BricsCAD v13.1.11 is the most recent version but in BricsCAD v13.1.10 there were some improvements in this area:

SHEET SETS:

• New Sheet dialog:
  • added browse buttons for folder path and layout template.
  • new number is entered automatically, based on current number of sheets and using the new 'SheetNumberLeadingZeroes' preference
  • import from existing drawings: new sheets are automatically numbered, the sheet title can now be the drawing name, layout name or both.
  • when creating new sheets, custom sheet properties are now copied into the new sheet(s).
• Edit Custom properties: adding, editing and removing sheetset and sheet custom properties.
• when a sheet is opened, paths are now being resolved (dst: NewSheetLocation, DefDwtLayout; dwg: AcSheetSetData).
• a sheet can now be associated with another layout, when it is opened and the drawing is not found.
• when creating a new subset, the parent subset's properties are now copied into the new subset.
• Sheetset fields sometimes failed to update correctly.
• when changing a property in a subset that contains nested subsets, the user is asked if he wants to apply the same change to the nested subsets.
• Explorer: removed "Prompt for Template" property from sheetset/subset property view.
• Explorer: added "New Subset" to the sheet context menu for inserting a new subset between existing sheets.
• added automatic backup of DST files upon opening, controlled by the 'SheetSetAutoBackup' preference.
• added sheetset XML import/export.

Version 13.1.6 included this fix:

SHEET SETS: fields failed to update.

Version 13.1.7 included these fixes:

SR37041 - Sheet Sets:

• When a sheetset was modified 'Save changes?' dialog now appears before the Drawing Explorer closes; a Cancel button was added; when 'No' is chosen, the sheetset tree branch is restored to its original contents.
• Improved finding the dst for for drawings coming from another location.

Version 13.1.8 included these fixes:

SR37058 - SHEET SETS:

• Sheet sets coming from another location (or older application version) can contain paths that do not exist on the current system. These paths are now resolved as much as possible upon opening of the sheetset.
• New Sheet Set dialog:
  • reorganized pages
  • display nested subsets
  • display subsets also when creating sheetset from existing drawings
  • added context menu to layout list for selecting none/all/first of drawing
• Field dialog: sheetset fields value was not displayed unless one of the format types was selected.
• Added 'total number of sheets' to sheetset properties and sheetset fields: SheetSet.SheetCount and Subset.SheetCount (BricsCAD-only field types).

Via BricsCAD Release Notes.

Want to do more with Sheet Sets? Check out JTB World’s SSMPropEditor.

See also Sheet Set Manager Sheet Views in AutoCAD

How to rotate or twist the view in AutoCAD

Here are some AutoLISP commands that can be useful if you want to rotate or twist the view. Change 90 to any other angle if you like. For counterclockwise change to –90. If you have a recent version of AutoCAD and just want 90 degrees relative rotation use the built in ViewCube functionality and the two arrows at the top right.

The DVIEW command can be used to also manually to twist the view using the twist option that twists or tilts the view around the line of sight. The twist angle is measured counterclockwise, with 0 degrees to the right.

The AutoCAD system variable VIEWTWIST stores the view rotation angle for the current viewport measured relative to the WCS and is also named as “Roll angle” (Displays the rotation angle of the view within your viewing plane, which is a plane parallel to your monitor's screen.) in the View Manager. This is being used for rotating the view relative the current rotation.

; By Jimmy Bergmark, www.jtbworld.com
; Rotate 90 degrees relative the current twist rotation
(defun c:r90 ()
  (command "._dview" "" "_twist" (+ (* 180.0 (/ (getvar "viewtwist") pi)) 90 ) "")
  (princ)
)

; Rotate -90 degrees relative the current twist rotation
(defun c:r-90 ()
  (command "._dview" "" "_twist" (+ (* 180.0 (/ (getvar "viewtwist") pi)) -90 ) "")
  (princ)
)

; Rotate to 90 degrees fixed twist rotation
(defun c:r90f ()
  (command "._dview" "" "_twist" 90 "")
  (princ)
)

; Rotate to 0 degrees fixed twist rotation
(defun c:r0f ()
  (command "._dview" "" "_twist" 0 "")
  (princ)
)

Before

and after rotating the view 90 degrees.

AutoCAD Map 3D 2013 Service Pack 1 Hotfix 1

AutoCAD Map 3D 2013 Service Pack 1 Hotfix 1 addresses issues reported by customers who use the Customer Error Reporting (CER) utility.

Updates have been made in the following commands and features:

· A fatal error can occur when opening the Properties panel after selecting features in offline mode (MAPWORKOFFLINE).

· AutoCAD Map 3D 2013 becomes unstable after deleting AdeTopView objects.

· AutoCAD Map 3D 2013 becomes unstable when a value in registry exceeds 1024 characters.

· AutoCAD Map 3D 2013 cannot be launched once AutoCAD Map 3D 2010 has been uninstalled.

· AutoCAD Map 3D 2013 becomes unstable when moving the cursor over a polygon feature if other Autodesk products are installed in the same machine.

The following issues have been fixed:

· Some commands like MAPPOLYLINETOPOLYGON and MAPTOPOLOGYTOPOLYGONS can only be invoked once. Any further attempt to use the commands will not work.

If you have not got SP1 yet here it is.

Primary AutoCAD Map 3D Issues Resolved by Service Pack 1

API - DRAWING CLEANUP

· Usage limitation to TopologyClean has been extended.

DATA EXCHANGE

· Crash when change to offline mode for the electric industry model from SQL Server with an invalid template.

· Crash when try to convert data from different feature class sources to the same feature class as a target.

FDO WFS

· DigitalGlobe server can now be connected through the FDO WFS provider.

FDO SQL SERVER

· SQL Server Spatial Connection works when get functions with geometry parameter from server side.

FORMS

· The last used setting of label creation is remembered on the Choose label definition dialog.

INDUSTRY MODEL

· Industry Model Structure Update with Genx file which GeomSelectStatement is NULL will not result in invalid geometry select statement

USER & WORKSPACE

· Oracle user permission for workflows is now working for Map Client and application extension.

VECTOR SYMBOLIZATION

· Special characters (especially German characters) are now converted correctly by the “Convert Blocks” tool.

See also AutoCAD 2013 Service Pack 1.1.

AutoCAD Civil 3D 2013 Service Pack 1

Here’s what Autodesk says about SP1 for Civil 3D 2013:

In a continuing effort to provide high quality products, Autodesk has released AutoCAD Civil 3D 2013 Service Pack 1, which fixes or addresses a variety of issues discovered by customers and by Autodesk's internal testing team.

This Service Pack includes all previous hotfixes for AutoCAD Civil 3D 2013. It also includes the fixes included in AutoCAD 2013 Service Pack 1.1 and AutoCAD Map 3D 2013 Service Pack 1.

Note: This update applies to all language versions and to versions of AutoCAD Civil 3D 2013 with previous hotfixes applied. Before applying this update, make sure that any customizations made to the user profile (such as, customizations made to the support file search paths, print file customizations, printer support file paths, redirections, custom template settings, and so on) are exported to a secure location, then imported and reapplied after the update has been successfully installed. You cannot run an automatic uninstall to remove this update. To restore your version of AutoCAD Civil 3D 2013 to its pre-update state, uninstall AutoCAD Civil 3D 2013 and reinstall it.

The following issues have been resolved in AutoCAD Civil 3D 2013 Service Pack 1:

.NET API

• The IsUsed property in StyleBase now reports whether a style is in use by an AutoCAD Civil 3D object.

Cogo

• The COGO Editor now accepts Degrees/Minutes/Seconds in a spaced format.
• The COGO Editor now retains the saved value in the description field.

Corridor Design

• An issue with the Offset End Station value that prevented a drawing from opening has been resolved.
• Switching between drawings while Station Tracker is enabled no longer causes the application to close unexpectedly.
• An issue that caused errant feature lines to be generated between stations has been resolved.

Corridor Volumes

• An issue where cut/fill volume shading was displaying incorrectly in some cross sections has been resolved.

Cross Section Views

• The Update Section View Layout command no longer causes the application to close unexpectedly.
• Opening a AutoCAD Civil 3D 2010 drawing containing the OverlayAndMill subassembly no longer results in a display issue with the section views.

Cross Sections

• Selecting multiple existing polylines when creating sample lines no longer causes the application to close unexpectedly.

Data Exchange

• An imported structure will now use the expected dimension rather than the dimension of the first structure of the imported group.

Feature Lines

• Creating feature lines from objects when the objects are overlapping closed polylines no longer causes the application to close unexpectedly.

General/Other

• An issue that caused an error when closing a drawing has been resolved.
• An issue that caused an error when starting AutoCAD Civil 3D after migrating settings from a previous release has been resolved.
• The stability of the Audit command has been improved.
• Using the Move/Copy/Rotate Express Tool after grip editing an object no longer causes the application to close unexpectedly.
• In drawings with a custom UCS, switching from the model tab to the layout tab will no longer reset model tab to isometric.
• Using your mouse wheel to pan while in a command no longer causes an unexpected error.
• Deleting the last remaining layout while set to model viewin that layout no longer causes the application to close unexpectedly.
• File sync of custom Tool Palettes has been disabled.
• Opening a drawing by double-clicking on the file no longer causes an unexpected error.
• The performance of tooltips has been improved.
• North rotation is now calculated as expected between Coordinate Settings and Geolocation.
• An issue that caused an error when saving a drawing has been resolved.

Grading

• An error while using the Grade to Surface command has been resolved.
• Deleting a PI from a feature line no longer causes the application to close unexpectedly.

Hydraflow Storm Sewers

• Storm Sewer calculations have been clarified to follow methodologies according to HEC-22.
• Storm Sewers using HDS-5 inlet control option now report expected results.
• The following issues related to inlet calculations and reporting have been resolved:
  • Inlet section view displays spread correctly in 2D when depression is ignored.
  • Slotted drains in sag condition now calculate expected depth and spread values while transitioning between weir and orifice flow.
  • Open Area Design calculations are now less than or equal to the product of grate length and width.
  • A column in theInteractive Designer is now labeled "Local Depression" to be consistent with the data-entry field.

Hydraflow Express

• The following issues related to Inlet calculations and reporting have been resolved:
  • Inlet Section View display shows spread correctly in 2D when depression is ignored.
  • Slotted drains in sag condition now calculate expected depth and spread values while transitioning between weir and orifice flow.
  • Open Area Design calculations are now less than or equal to the product of grate length and width.
• The following issues related to culvert calculations and reporting have been resolved:
  • Circular culverts now report consistent tailwater results as expected across a flow range.
  • Elliptical culvert calculations now report expected headwater values above the crown of the pipe.

Hydraflow Hydrographs

• Hydrograph plots are now displayed correctly on computers running Windows XP 32-bit.

Inquiry

• Switching between drawings while the Profile View Elevation and Grade Between Points inquiry command is active no longer causes the application to close unexpectedly.

Labels

• An issue where referenced pipe spanning labels list the incorrect distance after reopening a drawing has been resolved.
• An issue where referenced pipe network labels in section view disappear after reopening a drawing has been resolved.
• Wipeout frames used in styles now display as expected.

LandXML

• When importing LandXML data, alignments are now imported to the specified drawing layer.

Object Enabler

• Importing a drawing using Navisworks Manage 2013 no longer results in the application becoming unresponsive or closing unexpectedly.

Parcels

• Deleting a PI of a perimeter parcel no longer causes the application to close unexpectedly.

Pipe Networks

• Solid hatching now displays as expected in profile views.
• Issues recognizing the correct Manning roughness n-value for parts has been resolved.
• Pipe length data is now available in structure tables displaying connected pipes.
• Synchronizing a pipe network with a part swapped in the source drawing now updates the style as expected.

Points

• Creating a point no longer fails if a survey point with the same number already exists in the drawing.
• Assigning user-defined properties to a point group from the Summary tab no longer results in the application closing unexpectedly.
• The next point number is now assigned correctly when creating points from objects.

Pressure Networks

• Deleting pressure networks while the Pressure Network panorama is open no longer causes the program to close unexpectedly.
• Minimum radius values for curved pipes are now updated when changing pipe sizes during layout.
• Quantity takeoff reports now list lengths of pressure pipe when linear pay items are assigned.

Profiles

• Grip editing a PVI marker with OSNAP enabled no longer causes the application to close unexpectedly.
• Linetypes used for profiles that are referenced now appear as expected.

Project Management

• Drawings with circular dependencies now generate a prompt when being checked in.
• An error is no longer generated when checking in a drawing with a reference, when the reference drawing is checked out by another user.

Quantity Takeoff

• The Pay Item and Pay Item Categorization files now default to the previously browsed path.

Reports

• The PVI Station and Curve report is now generated correctly when the ambient setting for Grade/Slope format is set to Per Mille.

Shortcuts

• An issue that allows the same profile object to be mapped to two different parent alignments has been resolved.
• Performance when opening a drawing containing references has been improved.

Superelevation

• The diagram in the Create Superelevation View dialog box is now displayed as expected when the alignment is referenced.

Surface

• Watershed analysis performance on DEM surfaces has been improved.
• The Drape Image command no longer results in a reversed image when hardware acceleration is enabled.
• The stability of the Level of Detail command has been improved.
• The stability of the Resolve Crossing Breaklines command has been improved.

Survey

• The lower pane of Figure Properties dialog box now displays the Import Events as expected.
• Modifying figure data in Figure Properties dialog box no longer causes the application to close unexpectedly.
• Editing Chain Type Figure Properties no longer causes the layer to reset to 0.

Get SP1 here.

Autodesk University 2012 #AU2012

Autodesk University 2012 is at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, November 27-29, 2012. If you could not attend at the location there is AU Virtual so you can watch classes on demand. Live Streaming of Keynote Address and Innovation Forums will start today at 8 a.m. PST.

My class Autodesk® Network License Manager from last year is still available online if you want to learn about this topic. Also available on YouTube and on the Autodesk Network License Manager page.

AutoCAD Architecture Classification Definitions Export/Import

How can AutoCAD Architecture Classification Definitions be exported and imported?

With JTB World’s ClassificationDefinitionTools this can be done. I’ve now updated the tool for AutoCAD Architecture 2013 and AutoCAD MEP 2013. Windows 8 is also supported as long as you are able to run the Autodesk product in question on it.

Here is the program’s import form where the first column defines the level in the resulting classification tree. This will also work fine with thousands of classification items.

After importing this definition the result in the Style Manager is as below.

One user is using ClassificationDefinitionTools to add OmniClass Construction Classification System (known as OmniClass or OCCS) classifications to AutoCAD MEP drawings. “There are over 10,000 of them so this tool makes it easy.”

Trial is available at here.

Autodesk’s Official support for Windows 8

Have you started using Windows 8 or plan to do it? If so you may wonder what Autodesk says about support for their products.

Is compatible with ?

Windows 8 Support for Autodesk products

According to KB id TS19048377

Issue

You want to know which Autodesk products are supported on Microsoft Windows® 8.

Note: Unless indicated otherwise, this information applies to the 2013-2010 versions of all Autodesk products. Autodesk product versions of 2009 and earlier are no longer supported and are not included in considerations of Windows 8 compatibility.

Solution

Autodesk intends to support many of our key products on Windows 8 and will add additional products to the list of products supported on Windows 8 as updates and future versions are released. Product Support will provide its best effort to assist customers who have issues with products that are not currently supported.

The Autodesk products listed below have been tested and are confirmed as working correctly on Microsoft Windows 8 operating system:

• Autodesk 3ds Max 2013
• Autodesk 3ds Max Design 2013
• Autodesk Maya 2013
• Autodesk MotionBuilder 2013
• Autodesk Mudbox 2013
• Autodesk Softimage 2013
• Autodesk SketchBook Designer 2013

Note: This technical solution will be updated as new Windows 8 compatibility information becomes available.

See also Windows 8 and Autodesk product compatibility

AutoCAD MASSPROP Hotfix

If you are using MASSPROP and an AutoCAD 2013 based product this hotfix is for you.

According to DL20864100 from where you can download it: Autodesk MASSPROP Hotfix. This hot fix addresses an issue with the MASSPROP command returning an error or invalid results on certain solids created by extruding regions along closed polylines.

This hotfix applies to the Service Pack 1 or 1.1 levels of AutoCAD 2013 and AutoCAD 2013-based vertical products: AutoCAD 2013, AutoCAD Architecture 2013, AutoCAD Civil 3D 2013, AutoCAD ecscad 2013, AutoCAD Electrical 2013, AutoCAD Mechanical 2013, AutoCAD MEP 2013, AutoCAD P&ID 2013, AutoCAD Plant 3D 2013, AutoCAD Raster Design 2013 and AutoCAD Structural Detailing 2013

Catenary for AutoCAD - JTBCatenary 1.0 released

JTBCatenary 1.0 is now released. This Catenary program for AutoCAD makes it easy to create or draw a catenary curve as a polyline by specifying the start and end point and the length and optionally a diameter (width). This can be useful for drawing a freely hanging cable, hose, chain, transmission line, anchor line (anchor rode), cord, rope, string, suspension bridge cable, arch, hawser, wire or the like.

Feel free to visit JTBCatenary and download the trial.

Windows 8 and Autodesk product compatibility

If you like to know about Microsoft Windows 8 compatibility of Autodesk products you can visit the Windows 8 Compatibility Center and search for your product.

What does Microsoft say?

Here are a couple of examples:

AutoCAD 2013 is compatible with Windows 8.

Autodesk Revit 2013 is compatible with Windows 8.

But what does Autodesk say?

This is according to TS19048377

You want to know if you can run AutoCAD, AutoCAD LT, or AutoCAD-based vertical products on Microsoft Windows 8.

At this time, Windows® 8 and the Windows® 8 Consumer Preview are not supported operating systems for any AutoCAD versions.  The AutoCAD team is investigating compatibility with these new platforms, but we do not have any further information at this time. In the meantime, please refer to Operating system compatibility for AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT for details on currently supported operating systems.

Windows 7 was released July 22, 2009 not a long time after AutoCAD 2010 was released in March 24, 2009. In the case with AutoCAD 2010 Windows 7 became supported by Autodesk. We have to wait and see if Autodesk officially will support some or all of their 2013 products on Windows 8 or not.

UPDATE: Autodesk’s Official support for Windows 8

Sheet Set Manager Sheet Views in AutoCAD

AutoCAD’s Sheet Set Manager (SSM) can be used to just manage Sheets and their title blocks in a Sheet Set but there is also functionality to manage callouts and view labels.

A view on one sheet can refer to a view on another sheet. Hyperlinks of callouts makes it possible to quickly open the sheet that is referenced by the callout zooming into the view. There can be multiple callouts referring to one sheet view and when the sheet view is renamed and renumbered this will be reflected on all callouts.

Sheet Set Manager is now included also in AutoCAD LT since the 2012 version.

----

Here is what AutoCAD’s documentation says about Sheet Views:

A view on a sheet, called a sheet view, consists of several coincident entities:

• an xref or geometry in model space
• a layout viewport on a sheet
• a named view in paper space

The Sheet Set Manager automates and enhances the process for adding views to a sheet.

• The sheet view can display model space from a different drawing file. In this case, that drawing is attached as an xref in your current drawing. The layers of that drawing file are displayed only in the sheet view that you create.

  Note The xref is attached using a relative path. If you need to change the path to a fully specified (absolute) path, use the External References palette.

• A layout viewport that displays the model space view is created on your current sheet.
• A named view that encompasses the area of the layout viewport is created in paper space.

When you place a sheet view on a sheet, all the layers in the current drawing (including layer 0) are frozen in the new viewport created by the view. The layers are shown as frozen in the VP Freeze column of the Layer Properties Manager.

If you need to remove a sheet view from a sheet, you can delete the layout viewport to remove the view. However, to remove all unused items, you need to detach the xref and delete the named paper space view.

Note! The easiest method for removing a sheet view immediately after placing it is to use UNDO.

----

A prerequisite for creating Sheet Views is that there is at least one location added to Model Views tab in SSM.

Then the models need named modelspace views that can be created with the VIEW command. Only sheet views created in AutoCAD 2005 or later are listed on the Sheet Views tab. Then they will show up like this.

Right click on a Model View and select Place on Sheet or drag and drop it into a sheet that you have open. This will create a viewport based on the view boundaries on the layout of the sheet, attach the model as an xref taking layer visibility into account and add a view label with its insertion point at the lower left corner of the viewport.

Before the view is placed you have an option to select the view scale. Just move the mouse over the blank sheet and the preview of the view. Right-click and a list of scale options appears where you you can select a scale.

Having placed a Sheet View on a Sheet you can double click on the View found on the Sheet Views tab in SSM.

One problem with moving the viewport in AutoCAD is that the actual view often get distorted as seen below showing much more than needed.

The Sheet Views are named Layout Views views on steroids. They can be edited and deleted with the View command. Note that Viewport association is Yes. Viewport association displays whether the named view is associated with a viewport on a sheet in a sheet set. It is not possible to create a new view in View Manager to have a viewport association or to change an existing view if Viewport association is set to No as it is greyed out. A limitation is that changing the view on the master drawing after a view has been placed on a sheet will not either update the view as expected.

In SSM right click on the view and you get the options to Display, Rename & Renumber, Set category, Place Callout Block and Place View Label Block.

After using Rename & Renumber the Sheet View name can be different than the name of the view that shows up in View Manager and the other way around.

To delete a sheet view just erase the viewport and its view label block. This will leave the callouts not knowing what sheet view to point on. The xref to the model needs also to be detached manually if not needed longer.

A general warning is to never overwrite fields (text with gray background) like the one seen when double clicking on a sheet view label block. Doing that will break the smart link that the field holds.

What if you want to move the sheet view to another sheet? If you take CUTCLIP and PASTECLIP of the viewport and view label block you will notice that the xref to the model view is not included and the linked callouts will not know where to go and so on. Right now the way to do it is more or less manually recreating the sheet view and its callouts.

There is still a lot of room for improvements to the Sheet Set Manager within AutoCAD as you will notice if you try to use it to the full. But even with the existing functionalities it can help to ease your AutoCAD life.

JTB World’s SSMPropEditor can be a useful complement to the Sheet Set Manager. At this point there is no support for handling sheet views but if you have this need feel free to let me know and it might be added in a future version. We are also able to do other kind of Sheet Set Manager customizations based on user requests.