Old drafter at my first job taught me a trick I still use

Back in 2018 at a small firm in Austin, this 60 year old guy named Joe showed me how to trace a messy raster floor plan by dimming the background to 10% opacity. He said, "You gotta let your eyes do the work, not your brain." Has anyone else picked up a weird little tip from a veteran that stuck with you for years?

2 comments

2 Comments

blairm4418d ago

The oldest guy at my first firm, a guy named Mike (probably 65), taught me to never delete anything in CAD. He said to just move it off to the side or hide it on a frozen layer, because you always end up needing that weird wall or random line three weeks later. I still do this (even though it makes my files a total mess) and it has saved my butt at least a dozen times. His exact words were, "The computer forgets, but you don't have to." That little rule sticks with me more than any fancy software trick.

betty_shah18d ago

Old Mike knew what he was talking about, for sure. @blairm44 that frozen layer trick is gold, but I'd add one thing - name the layer something like "OLD CRAP DON'T DELETE" so you don't accidentally freeze it and forget where you put stuff. I've had times where I was digging through my mess three months later and found the exact linework I needed for a permit revision. It's a pain to keep a messy file, but way less of a pain than redrawing something you already had.