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In my previous blog post, “Migrating to Autodesk Design Review”, I discussed  utilizing Autodesk Design Review to improve your process, in this post let us take a practical use case where we will discuss how to utilize Symbols.

Markup Symbols for Design Review

Before we get into this discussion we should explain a Symbols, these refer to special Shapes which you utilize on the drawing to reference a specific Product.  For example, you would utilize the 110 Outlet Symbol to represent a 110 V Electrical Outlet.  Multiple Symbols can be combined into a Catalog for easy reference.

Currently once you install Autodesk Design Review you will not have a set of Symbols to utilize, you will need to create them on your own or you could utilize the ones we offer.  Either way to really take advantage of this application you will need to have some type of symbols.  Within this post we will not cover how to create these symbols, but keep checking we may have that coming in the future.

Now let us work through this process.  First we need to open a DWF File, which we want to Annotate or Markup (Redline).  If you do not have a DWF Project or Symbols Files, at the end of this posting we will provide a link to Sample DWF Project and Symbols Files.  Once you have opened a file, you can now access the Markup & Measuring Menu section where the Symbols resided.  To utilize the Symbols you must have them recognized by Design Review.  Now in the Markup & Measure Menu section select the Arrow below the Symbols to expose the menu and select [Create Catalog…].  You will now need to locate the Symbols file, select it then the [Open].  Next you will be prompted to enter the Catalog Name, select “Import each sheet as a symbol” option, and then [OK].  You have now have successfully loaded a Symbols Catalog.  We are now ready to proceed to utilize these New Symbols.

To utilize these New Symbols, select [Symbols] Icon then select the Catalog and finally the Symbol.  Now all you need to do is click onto the current Project File and it will drop that Symbol.  Notice to the left then Markups & Markup Properties windows.  Here as you keep adding more symbols you will keep seeing this list grow in the Markups Section.  In the Markup Properties is an import part of this process.  First there is a Label, basically it is the Name of the Symbol which was determined at time of development and it then includes a Number.  This Number will increase as you include into this project more of the same Symbol.  Try that now, add that same symbol again, do you see the Number increase?

Next look at the Status, this allows you to change For Review, Question, or Done.  As you change from one to the other you will see 2 things change – Markups Section and the Symbol on the page.  The Symbol on the page changes Color and in the Markups Section you will see the second column Icon change.  This is a great feature to add into your process helping you communicate more effectively about this Project.

Something else that is useful is the Lock Markup, which locks the Symbol on the page form a User moving.

Now to the New Note area, this provides a way to keep track of when and who added this Symbol to the Project and the various people’s comments.  As you make notes on a selected Symbol you will see them in the New Note window, but the next time the Project is opened they will now display in the History window.  This window displays the User, Date, Time, along with their notes.

A few built-in Tools, Callouts which allow you to add to the Project an Annotation to a specific Item or area, Draw provides drawing tools for you to modify the Project, and Measure if you want to annotate a dimension (this is truly accurate if the DWF Project File was created from AutoCAD).

Once you have completed all the Markups you can save this as a New DWF Project file and also Export the Markups to Excel – instant Change Order Request.  Select the [D] in the upper left to display the menu and then the [Save As].  You will see several options, but the one we are looking for is the [Save Markups Summary].  This process will prompt your for a File Location and Name.  The format is CSV which you will be able to open inside Microsoft Excel or compatible product.

This posting should get you on your way to utilizing Autodesk Design Review Symbols, our next posting will be on “How Do I Create a DWF?”.  This will help explain the various ways to create a DWF from a DWG File, especially if you do not have AutoCAD.

Links

Podcast and More Information

Sample DWF Project and Symbols