Does anyone here use revision clouds?

[Seth]

Does anyone here use the revision cloud library objects (CAD Blocks->Designer Blocks->Revision Clouds)?
If not, do you use another method to add revision clouds to your design?

[Don Randall]

Library - CAD Blocks - Designer Blocks
CA X1.

[Seth]

What I meant to ask is whether people are finding the revision clouds in the library acceptable for their needs, or if they use other methods to make them the way they want.

[gawdzira]

I use the revision clouds from the library out of convenience (desperation). I find it unfortunate that they are not procedural and scalable in a more intelligent fashion.

When I drag them out to cover a large area they become less "cloudy" than I would like.

[sutcac]

You can explode them and add breaks, but of course this is also tedious.

It would be nice to have some kind of free-hand pencil/sketch tool that would make them more quickly.

[Ron Ravenscroft]

You can explode them and add breaks, but of course this is also tedious.

It would be nice to have some kind of free-hand pencil/sketch tool that would make them more quickly.

A line style that drew a "cloud" line would be fantastic. I think some CAD softwares do have one.

[Seth]

I use the revision clouds from the library out of convenience (desperation). I find it unfortunate that they are not procedural and scalable in a more intelligent fashion.

When I drag them out to cover a large area they become less "cloudy" than I would like.

By intelligent scaling, do you mean adding / removing arcs to keep arcs reasonably sized?
I.e.:

I guess that would keep things cloudy unless you make it too small.
And by procedural, I am assuming you mean having some sort of custom cloud creation procedure, like the sketch tool Bryce mentioned?

[Dan Park]

FYI, Seth is doing some research on a new tool for a future versio of Chief, so any input you can provide as to how revision clouds would work in an ideal world would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

[sutcac]

I think the scaling thing could work, but you would need to be able to scale it on both X & Y directions independently, not just both at once.

But often you might also want L-shaped or T-shapes, etc. With a sketch type tool, I guess ideally you would just draw the loops the same way you would on paper, but Chief would just convert each section to an arc automatically and I wouldn't want it to work like drawing sections of a polyline (click, drag, make sure your'e snapping to the end of the last arc, click, drag, etc.). I would want it to be one click, drag all the loops around, unclick.

Just my two cents about something I don't use very much.

But I suspect more and more building departments might start requiriing them as they are often part of the paper trail.

[Pat1217]

Can you please tell me what revision clouds are used for? I couldn't find anything in the help menu..

Thanks
Pat

[Ron Ravenscroft]

Can you please tell me what revision clouds are used for? I couldn't find anything in the help menu..

Thanks
Pat

When we submit drawings to the cities in the "Valley of the Sun" they turn into a very large fire hydrant & the reviewers (dogs) can not resist goin on them with a red pencil. We then have to correct the drawings. Each correction must be "clouded" and a revision triange next to the cloud.

[hotrodracer]

When we submit drawings to the cities in the "Valley of the Sun" they turn into a very large fire hydrant & the reviewers (dogs) can not resist goin on them with a red pencil. We then have to correct the drawings. Each correction must be "clouded" and a revision triange next to the cloud.

Ol hotrod during his 12 years of FHA service has been both a plan checker, building inspector, Cost Section Chief, Appraiser, and general 'know nothing.' Also Calif lic B contr since 1965 drawing plans w/ pencil and a Mayline board until I finally upgraded from Chief 1 thru 3 to CA 10.08a.

Now about Clouds? First encountered them a couple years back in Chino Hills. Not only had to use red outline clouds, but also attach a separate listing on which page the cloudy corrections were placed. Redundant to say the least. To be a PITA to offset the pita received, I placed the revised clouds all over the drawing sheets instead of my usual just change the 'offending,?,' area under consideration. Sometimes it is just difficult to tell the person on the other side of the counter that they do not know what they are looking at, and IF they did know what they were looking at, that all was OK as drawn... Yes, I did not earn any brownie points, but sure got a load of frustrations off my chest.

Excuse the long reply, but IMHO the talent on the other side of the counter is now mostly trained in some accredited school and follow a printed list of items for compliance, if they can read, and understand same.

Paul Gerber

[MarsWyoming]

I use them as well in both plan and now layout.
They are a very necessary tool I feel to bring
items to clients attention. I believe the tool
needs to be more along the line of Autodesks.
It is a free hand drawing tool wiith a few line
styles that bring the cloud to ones attention.


George Kelley

[WHirsch]

I frequently need revision clouds.

Seth, I suggest you download a demo of Bricscad and try out its revision cloud tool. It is the best I've seen. It is essentially a free hand tool. Like Autocad, an arc length variable specified by the user is required, but the Bricscad version has minimum and maximum arc length inputs. The arc length input is what makes scaling simple and allows the user to produce decent looking clouds quickly and without subsequent editing.

[Ron Ravenscroft]

I think the scaling thing could work, but you would need to be able to scale it on both X & Y directions independently, not just both at once.

But often you might also want L-shaped or T-shapes, etc. With a sketch type tool, I guess ideally you would just draw the loops the same way you would on paper, but Chief would just convert each section to an arc automatically and I wouldn't want it to work like drawing sections of a polyline (click, drag, make sure your'e snapping to the end of the last arc, click, drag, etc.). I would want it to be one click, drag all the loops around, unclick.

Just my two cents about something I don't use very much.

But I suspect more and more building departments might start requiriing them as they are often part of the paper trail.

I think a linestyle that made a "cloudline" would be nice