From AutoCAD 2008 to Design Review 2008 and Back
Think of the review workflow as a trip for design information. Not only do you want to send the design information to visit the reviewers, but you also want it to return with reviewer feedback. The best vehicle to use for that roundtrip is a DWF file.
Pack the Car and Go
Typically, the roundtrip begins in a design program, such as Autodesk® AutoCAD® 2008. Publishing a DWF file is like packing a car for a trip. The designer has to determine what design information is necessary for the trip (model, layouts, layers, blocks, named views, and so on). Once the design information has been selected, the designer packs, or publishes, the information into a DWF file.
To publish design information from an open AutoCAD drawing to a DWF file
1. Choose File > Publish.
The Publish dialog box opens. If the Include Layouts When Adding Sheets option is selected, all the layouts in the current drawing are listed in the sheet list.
2. Optional: Modify the list of sheets.
Note: If you include an uninitialized model layout, meaning the paper size is not defined in the page setup or is set to 0 x 0, it will be marked as Uninitialized in the Status column of the sheet list. The model layout can be plotted if, in the sheet list, you select a page setup. Only model space page setups can be applied to model space sheets, and only paper space page setups can be applied to paper space sheets.
Tip: When the sheet list is configured the way you may want to save the drawing set by clicking the Save List button. The list will be saved as a DSD (Drawing Set Descriptions) file.
3. If necessary, under Publish To, click DWF File.
4. Optional: Click Publish Options to change the desired output location, file type, formatting, layers, security, and 3D DWF file options (whether or not to publish materials, for example).
5. Click Publish. The Select DWF File dialog box opens.
6. Type a file name and click Select.
7. To begin publishing the DWF file, click Save.
If background publishing is enabled, the status bar indicates that the publish job is in progress.
Visit the Family
Once the DWF file has been published, it’s sent to the reviewers who will use Autodesk® Design Review 2008 to perform the tasks necessary to your review workflow, such as adding markups with notes and statuses. When done reviewing the DWF file, the reviewer saves changes, closes the DWF file, and either passes it along to the next reviewer or returns it to the designer, so that the markups may be considered against the original drawing.
Return Home and Unpack
To review the marked up DWF file, or markup set, in AutoCAD, use the Markup Set Manager. The Markup Set Manager can show or hide individual markups against the original drawing file in the drawing area. The Markup Set Manager also displays any information about a markup, such as who created it, when it was created, and any associated history. The Markup Set Manager can also be used to modify some markup detail, such as its status or responding to a note. When finished reviewing the markups, any changes or replies are added automatically to the DWF file when it’s republished.
To review the markups in AutoCAD
1. Open the original drawing.
2. Choose File > Load Markup Set. The Open Markup DWF dialog box opens.
3. Select the DWF file that contains the returned markups and click Open.
The Markup Set Manager opens and the tree view lists the individual markups that were added to the DWF file during the review process.
4. In the Markup Set Manager, double-click a markup to show it in the drawing area and to display any attached information in the Details area.
5. Optional: Change the Markup Status or respond to the markup by adding a comment to the Notes text box.
At this point, the roundtrip is complete. The design information was sent into the review workflow and returned with feedback.
Tip: You can also use automatically publish a DWF file when saving or closing a drawing by choosing Tools > Options. On the Plot and Publish tab, under Auto Publish, select Automatic DWF Publish. (You can control some Automatic DWF Publish Settings here as well.)
A note of thanks to Chris Blocher who wrote this article for us.
--Volker
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