Applying Group Plot Styles

Throughout this discuss, you have been working with several sheets worth of section views all neatly arranged within predefined sheet borders. You may be wondering what controls this behavior, and if you guessed that it’s some sort of style, you are correct. The arrangement of multiple section views is accomplished by a group plot style.

A group plot style uses an assortment of settings to configure the layout of multiple section views. When section view groups are created, there are two placement options: Production and Draft. When a section view group is created using the Production placement option, the layout of section views is made to fit within individual sheets. The size and shape of the individual sheets comes from a template (.dwt) file. When the Draft placement option is used, the section views are laid out as a single group and are not bound within a given area.

Another function of group plot styles is to overlay a grid on the sections. With this approach to sheet creation, the section views do not typically have their own grid but are superimposed on a grid that covers the entire sheet.

To use group plot styles to change the arrangement of multiple section views, follow these steps:

The Exercise File can be downloaded at the end of the article  

1. Open the drawing named Applying Group Plot Styles.dwg located in the Chapter 11 class data folder.

2. Click one of the section views displayed within the three sheets, and then click View Group Properties on the ribbon. The Section View Group Properties dialog box opens.
3. On the Section Views tab, click on the first row within the Group Plot Style column (see Figure 11.9). This is the code that you will use.

   Figure 11.9  Where to click to change the group plot style for the section view group.

4. Select Left To Right – Top Down and click OK.
5. Click OK to dismiss the Section View Group Properties dialog box. Notice that the section views shift toward the top left of the sheet and that they are arranged with the stations increasing from left to right.

6. Click one of the section views, and click View Group Properties once again. This time do the following:
   1. Click the top row in the Group Plot Style column, and select Bottom Up – Left To Right With Grid.
   2. Click the top row in the Style column, and select Design 1V – No Grid.
   3. Click the ellipsis in the Change Band Set column.
   
   4. Select the Section Data band listed in the Section View Group Bands dialog box, and then click the red X to remove it. Click OK.
   5. Click OK to close the Section View Group Properties dialog box.
7. Zoom in and study the newly configured sheets. With this configuration, the section views are superimposed on a grid provided by the sheets. Since the grid is already there, the section view styles do not show the individual grids. These styles also have their own offset labels across the bottom, so the section view bands were also removed.

8. Click one of the section views, and then click Update Group Layout on the ribbon. With the newly applied section view styles and group plot style, the section views can now all fit on two sheets (see Figure 11.10). This is the code that you will use.

   Figure 11.10  A section view group with a new group plot style applied.

Download Exercise File :

• C11 - Applying Group Plot Styles - Metric     --- ( 1.9 MB )
• C11 - Applying Group Plot Styles - Imperial  --- ( 1.6 MB )