Create points

[Gary Cottrell]

If I create an AutoCAD drawing using a coordinate file, then send the drawing to an engineering company to add their input, will the returned drawing automatically reattach itself to the original coordinate system? and can I then autocreate new points of only their added design without duplicating the original or reassigning different point numbers?<br

[Jeff]

Gary that depends on the ability or desire of the engineering company to have it return to you in a format you can use. If they choose to randomly scale and rotate it in the process of their work, no it will not be very usable to you. Any lines they create will not have C&G Attributes so you could auto-create new coordinates on them only. The auto-create routine looks at the lines in a drawing and determines if it all ready has C&G attributes (was created by C&G) if so it is left alone even if it is in a different position on the screen than it should be. The routine next determines if there are any coordinate points on the coordinate file you have open which are situated at the ends of any lines it is trying to create points on, if it does have coordinate points at the line end or deflection points it simply attaches that line to your existing coordinate. So in answer to your questions of automatically no it will not. You can induce the C&G LINES to snap back to your coordinate base with DRAW>REFRESH. But what are you going to do with the rest of the drawing? There are many ways to accomplish this in Cad and the method I used would depend on the drawing.
THE BEST METHOD AND THE ONE I USE IS TO PATIENTLY EXPLAIN ON ON-GOING CONTRACTS HOW MUCH JIGGLING MY DRAWING AROUND IS GOING TO COST THEM EXTRA DUE TO THE EXTRA HOURS I WILL NEED TO SPEND TO MAINTAIN MY COORDINATE INTEGRITY. I always explain that I don’t mind fixing it if there drafters interfere with my ability to maintain consistent coordinate integrity if they don’t mind paying me by the hour to do so, after all I am in business just like you. Let them know you want to work with them and for them not against them.<br

[Mark Ware]

I wish that Engineers would listen, like you say. In reality, though, I have found that most Engineers know very, very, little about coordinates and the importance of maintaining their integrity throughout the project. Not only that, most view the work of the Surveyor as menial, secondary and just a necessary evil that they have to deal with in order to do the "important" work, the design. They just do not seem to have a grasp of how we get the design off the paper and onto the ground. I have been fighting this battle for more years than I can remember - good luck!<br

[Jeff]

I agree, however I found most engineers do understand cost overrun. Have I lost clients this way? YES. Do I miss those clients? Not really. I try now to generate the contracts in my office and refer the client to engineers that will work with me. There is no law that says we must work for them, they can and will work for you if you have the client.
Another note of interest is that often the engineer is not aware of the difficulty his cad operator is causing to everyone else involved in the project.