Pro tip: I started using a custom UCS icon set in my AutoCAD templates about 3 months ago.

It cut down the time I spend explaining view orientation to junior drafters by half. Anyone else have a go-to method for making complex coordinate systems clearer?

4 comments

4 Comments

jordan_miller921mo ago

My buddy Dave at his old firm had them color code the UCS arrows for each floor plan. New hires stopped asking him which way was north after that.

spencerross1mo ago

We just made the north arrow bright red on every sheet. Sounds dumb, but it cut down on questions by half (people's eyes just go right to it).

joseph_green138d agoMost Upvoted

Our office tried something like what jordan_miller92 mentioned, but we used a big blue N for north and a smaller red S on the opposite side of the title block. It sounds obvious, but it stopped the weekly "which way is up" call from the field. The key is keeping it dead simple so it guides the eye without needing a legend. We found any extra colors beyond those two just made things busy again.

casey2681mo ago

Okay, custom UCS icons sound like a game changer. What exactly did you change about them? Like, did you add text labels for common views, or use totally different colors and shapes? I'm trying to picture how it works without just being more visual clutter.

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