Drafting Sheets

A HighDesign project is made of different sheets, each with its own page size, drawing scale and units, depending on the part of the project it represents. HighDesign provides an intuitive way of managing projects by introducing the concept of “Drafting Sheets.”

A drafting sheet is a space where you can freely draw at any scale and units, without particular constraints. You can use a drafting sheet to lay out a sketch of the project, insert a DWG/DXF drawing or a picture, create a structural grid, draw a component of the product, a symbol, or a full detailed drawing.

Each sheet in a project can have its own drawing scale. Measures and dimensions must be entered in their natural, real-world scale and are automatically adjusted to the current scale. Annotative objects, like texts, annotations and dimensions are entered at their 1:1 scale.

  • A drafting Sheet in HighDesign has special attributes such as visibility, write-protection, etc., that make it a convenient way of organizing a project: you can, for instance, put a different drawing on each sheet or use a sheet for the main drawing and draw sections on additional sheets. 
  • A HighDesign project, either for architecture, engineering or design, is thus made up of several drawings contained in a single document. 
  • The ability to show or hide sheets, transparency and write protection allows you to compose a complex project even in a single layout. 

These are some of the properties and advantages that sheets provide: 

  • Independent drawing scale and optional paper size of the current sheet; 
  • Independent drawing units;
  • Write protection and display mode (visible, hidden and dimmed);
  • You can search and select items on a single sheet or on all sheets; 
  • Visible sheets can be merged into one; 
  • You can create and delete any number of sheets;
  • The print functions only prints the visible sheets;
  • A sheet can be saved as a new document;
  • Sheets can be reordered and renamed; two or more sheets can share the same name; 

Drafting Sheets are managed through the Project Browser Panel of the Sidebar and via the Project menu, which provide all the commands to create, rename, delete and reorder sheets, move and duplicate items across sheets, show and hide, etc. 

Drafting Sheet Properties

Drafting sheets have adjustable properties that control their behaviour and look and can be modified both via the Project Browser panel and the Object Info “Drafting Sheet” panel. The Object Info panel shows all the sheet properties while the Project Browser only shows the most commonly accessed properties, such as visibility, name, scale, etc.You can also open the “Drafting Sheet” info panel by double-clicking the sheet’s icon on the Project Browser.

New sheets automatically inherit the default page size and units set in the Project Settings window.

  • Name: you can enter any sheet name without particular restrictions.
  • Visibility: a drafting sheet can be visible or hidden. Hidden sheets are not computed in the general drawing bounds and do not intercept the snap options. Click the icon to change the visibility.
  • Write protection: this option locks the sheet. Objects on a locked sheet cannot be selected and modified.
  • Drawing Scale:
  • To change a drawing scale, enter the scale ratio (e.g. “1:200”) or click the popup arrow to open the menu of predefined scale. When using imperial units, it is possible to switch the scale representation between ratio and verbal (e.g. 1" = 1’) by clicking the icon on the Drawing Scale popup menu.
  • It is also possible to enter a scale value below 1.0, such as 2:1.
  • The scale of a sheet can also be changed via the Sheet Scale dialog, available from the Scale popup menu or from the menu item Drawing > Sheet Scale. This dialog provides the ability to define the origin point for the scaling operation and options to apply the scale to the current sheet only, to the visible sheets or all drafting sheets.