Mastering Revision Clouds in DraftSight: Features and Tips for Better Design and Drafting

In the world of design and drafting, change is inevitable. It is a significant part of a drawing’s life cycle, often represented through revision cycles. This is where DraftSight, a proven DWG-file-based CAD tool, steps in to streamline the process with its extensive features. One of the most notable features being the use of Revision Clouds, which help to highlight the changes made in a drawing.

DraftSight makes it easy to create and add revision clouds to your drawing, offering a lot of flexibility in the process. The Cloud command and its options pulldown can be found in the Markup panel of the ribbon’s Annotate tab. There, you will find four creation options and a settings menu item.

These options include rectangular, elliptical, freehand, and entity styles. The rectangular style is akin to drawing a DraftSight Rectangle entity; you simply pick two opposite corners. The elliptical style is similar to the Ellipse entity, and FreeHand is like drawing a free-form polyline. The last style, Entity, allows you to select closed entities, such as rectangles, polylines, circles, ellipses, and splines, to turn them into revision clouds. This method can be used to alter a rectangle into a Cloud, for instance.

While creating Clouds in DraftSight, it’s good practice to keep an eye on the Command Window as there are many options you can use. During the creation, you’ll be prompted to use either the Normal or Calligraphy style, and you’ll have the opportunity to reverse the direction of the arcs. You can specify T for Settings, and you’ll be able to use the handy Cloud dialog box, which will let you make all your settings and choices before creating your Cloud.

Additionally, you can create your Cloud using the stylized Calligraphy style. When the Calligraphy style is specified, Cloud will taper the width of the PolyLine from the start point to the endpoint. This highlights the flexibility of DraftSight in catering to different needs and preferences.

It should be noted that most CAD Standards will have a section on exactly how revision clouds are created. This provides an opportunity for savvy CAD Managers to create a script or Lisp routine that will do it for you, saving valuable time and effort.

If you're interested in trying out these features yourself, DraftSight Premium offers a 30-day free trial, which you can find on the NOVEDGE website.

So, while revisions are indeed an integral part of design and drafting, with tools like DraftSight, managing them becomes significantly easier. And remember, if you're looking for more information about the newest and most advanced design software technology, don't hesitate to contact our sales team at NOVEDGE. We’re here to help you stay ahead of the curve and optimize your design and drafting process.