Printing Electrical, Plumbing, and HVAC Plans for a Renovation

QCAD Professional QCAD 'How Do I' Questions
1

Hi,

I am modeling my kitchen renovation in QCAD. I will need to print separate plans/pages for the electrical, plumbing, etc. I am using ANSI D size paper ( I have downloaded and imported these Imperial (US) drawing sheet templates, ANSI A-E from Huskey). I am using a Layout Block.

What is the best practice for printing separate drawings for electrical, plumbing, etc.? Can I make multiple layout blocks that show different layers? Or just print and then turn on/off the respective layers and print again?

Thanks,
Andre

2

Hi,
As far as I know/have read:

  • Blocks are used to keep things/parts together/separate.
  • Layout Blocks do this in Paper_Space >> Menu .. Draw .. Viewport .. Add Viewport
  • Blocks store the last zoom-state but don’t store Layer States >> Menu .. Layer .. Layer States
  • Layers serve to keep similar entity props together/separate.
  • In Model_Space the layer States don’t store the zoom-state.
  • Views store the zoom-state >> Menu .. View .. Stored Views

So, yes … different Layouts + stored Layer states
And, yes … printing from Model_Space + stored Layer states + stored Views

But I can be O so wrong :wink:

Regards,
CVH

Edit [Confirmed]

3

Hi Andre,

To answer that question we need more details. :open_mouth:
Is your goal to print always the same extract? Basically the kitchen with all walls surrounding the kitchen area? Then printing it once for electrical installation, once for plumbing etc. etc.?

Your choice to use Layout Blocks: Have you seen this tutorial?

Yes and no.
Yes - you can create Layout Blocks as many as you need. And yes you can create Layer States. e.g one shows all layer, one shows only electric installation, one shows only plumbing etc. You get the idea.
No: You can’t create a Layer State which works automatically only on one Layout blocks. You have to activate them manually before you print that Layout Block. But that is just one shortcut like Y1 etc. …

Layer States comes close to this idea but Layer States are more convenient - they will turn on/off multiple layer at once with ONE shortcut … :wink:

4

Thanks Huskey -

Yes, my goal is to always print the same extract (walls & electrical, walls & plumbing…)

I am not married to the idea of layout blocks. What do you recommend?

Thanks,
Andre

5

Looks like I have now everything what I need. Thank you!

I would skip the idea with the layout blocks. It would be just an overkill with no benefits.

What would I do?
I would draw just in Model_Space. Scale 1:1. Settings like unit and print page size etc. can be adjusted below Drawing Preferences.

Start with the kitchen geometries. Load for that the ANSI D Template. Unlock the layer Drawing Sheet. Select ALL in Model_Space and delete everything. Don’t worry to much about that - you have still the blocks in that drawing! Save then the drawing with a file name regarding to you project. Something like: My new kitchen … :wink:

Draw now the kitchen geometries. When that is done you need to figured out what would be the best printing scale. You can do that below "Print Preview. Why? We need the print scale information to scale the ANSI D Frame blocks. If your printing scale is e.g. 1:10 you have to insert the ANSI D blocks into Model_Space with a scale of 10:1. On that way you compensate the scale which is used to print on paper.

When that is done you can start to draw the electrical stuff, plumbing stuff etc.etc.. Don’t forget to create layer for each one. The Golden Rule is: As much layer as needed - not more than needed. :wink:

When you are done then we can talk about the Layer States, ok?