The entirety of the “Document Properties” settings applies to the drawing template. A drawing template contains a sheet format. This tutorial will cover the main modification that can be made to a drawing template.
Saving the Template
Contents
Save the file as a .drwdot in the templates folder.
Document Properties
Begin by selecting the standard to be used for annotations, dimensions etc. It is common for all text in drawings to be capitalized, tick “All Uppercase for Notes” and “All Uppercase for Tables”.
The leader styles can be modified from the annotations section.
Each of the subcategories of annotations allows for some modification, the image below shows the weld symbol section. In each of these subcategories a layer can be selected, the symbol will automatically be placed on that layer.
Tip: set the default layer of the template to “-Per Standard-” for it to function properly.
Similar to the Annotations section, dimensions can also be customized. Editing the precision of dimensions, from the window below, does not affect the precision of “Angle” or “Angular Running”.
Each of the individual dimension types can be further modified by selecting the specific dimension. Each type can be set to its own layer, in this case all dimensions were set to a layer called “Dimensions”.
The first sheet of a drawing typically contains notes and a more detailed title block. Another sheet format can be specified for all subsequent sheets added to the drawing. Only a single sheet format can be specified per template, consider creating separate templates for each drawing size to ensure the proper sheet format is used.
Similar to part/assembly templates, the units for the drawing template need to be defined. This is done from the “Units” section, select one of the pre-set options or use custom and specify the units to be used in each case.
Leave “Line Font”, “Line Style” and “Line Thickness” as default, unless you have access to those standards.
Predefined Views
Place a “Predefined view into the drawing template, set the desired view orientation. From there, use the view to create the required projected views. Custom view labels can be added to the pre-set views, however their position will likely need to be adjusted. Either leave them out and place the blocks into the drawing or keep them in the template and reposition as required.
The next time “Make Drawing from …” is selected from the file menu, the drawing will be pre-populated with views. Custom view labels will need to be repositioned, in the image below the right side label was repositioned.
