Workflow 1: Project & Panel Setup
Every ConstructiVision job starts with a project: one folder holding the panel drawings, the site drawing and the project file that ties them together. This workflow sets up that project, the job details every sheet carries, and the preferences you keep from one job to the next.
Overview
You enter the job's details once, in the Project Details form, and they flow into the title block of every panel in the project. Then you add panel and site drawings to the project. ConstructiVision 12 runs inside full AutoCAD 2025, 2026 or 2027 for Windows (2027 is recommended for now); it does not run in AutoCAD LT, AutoCAD for Mac or AutoCAD on the web. Download it here.
Key Steps
- Create a New Project — New Project opens the Project Details form, then creates the project folder, its project file and the first drawing.
- Fill in Project Details — The form records:
- Measurement system (Imperial or Metric). This is the one setting you cannot change after the project is created.
- Dimension precision, language, and the paper size panel prints are scaled for
- Concrete compressive strength at time of lift, and concrete weight: values your engineer provides
- Project name, building name or number, location, contractor, superintendent, city, state and ZIP, and who drew it
Everything except the measurement system can be edited later with Project Details.
- Add Panel and Site Drawings — New Drawing adds a panel or site drawing to the project from a template; Open Drawing opens an existing one.
- Mark Each Panel — In Main Panel Details, each panel gets its mark (prefix, number and suffix) and the gridline marks it spans. Those gridline marks are what Autosite later uses to place the panel on its wall.
- Set Up the Embed Catalog — Edit Embeds defines the connection and embed types this project uses. The project supplies the designations; ConstructiVision records them and uses the same names on every sheet and in the materials list.
- Link Repeated Panels — Linked Panels lets one panel drive its clones and mirrors, so a change is made once.
- Sign In Once Per Workstation — Sign In (Link Workstation) links AutoCAD to your SimpleStruct account through your browser, with nothing to type. Your organization's tokens and drawing licences come with it.
Project Features
- Projects — every ConstructiVision project on this computer, with its panels; pick one and open it. It also tells you when a project folder is a copy of another one.
- Tracker — how far the project has got, phase by phase (Project, Site, Panels drawn, Pick points, Brace points), the next step, and how long until drawing is done. Open any of its drawings from the list.
- Change Project Folder Location — rename the project or point it at another folder.
- Account — your email, organization, plan and panel tokens, read only, without leaving AutoCAD.
- Project backup (coming soon) — an encrypted backup of each saved project file to your account is being finished. Your organization’s administrators can already turn it off in Account Settings.
- In ConstructiVision Web — Project Settings hold the job's details, job-site weather, concrete and joint conventions, display units and precision, and the embed library; Drawing Setup picks the units and the title block sheet (24 × 36, 30 × 42 or none).
Preferences That Carry to the Next Job
- Color Theme — the named set of colors for dimensions, weld connections, reveals, hardware, the grid and the wall lines. Switch themes or save your own.
- Sky and Background — the sky behind a 3D view, from AutoCAD's own skies or the Professional photographed-sky library when it is installed. Your choice can be the default for new drawings.
- Shop defaults in your AutoCAD profile — your units preference, and the wall-line reference face Autosite uses, are kept in your AutoCAD profile.
What Gets Created
- The project folder and its project file
- Project details that fill every panel's title block
- Panel and site drawings, each holding its own panel or site data, so the data travels with the drawing
- The project's embed catalog
Best Practices
- Settle Units First — the measurement system cannot be changed once the project exists.
- Enter Job Details Once — fill in Project Details completely before drawing panels, so no sheet has to be corrected by hand.
- Plan Panel Marks — choose a mark scheme that leaves room for later phases or added panels.
- Draw One Panel First — draw and print one panel before the rest, to check the title block and sheet size.
- Coordinate with Your Engineer and Fabricator — confirm the concrete values and embed designations with them; ConstructiVision records what they give you.
Integration with Other Workflows
Project & Panel Setup provides the foundation for the other workflows. The details entered here fill every panel's title block in Design & Detailing and Documentation, the embed catalog names every connection, and the project file feeds the Tracker and the Projects list.
Ready to Move Forward? Once project setup is complete, proceed to Design & Detailing to begin creating specific panels and connection details.