Updating XRef and Adding Text Annotations in CAD 201 A201 Sheet File

In this video, we are going to begin our annotations. But before we start, let's take a look at our CAD 201 A201 sheet file, and let's see how the XRef has been updated.

I'll go File, Open, and I'll go to my Sheets folder by going up, up, and choosing Sheets, CAD 201 A201. We can see that it has automatically updated our XRef. We see a bubble down here that says an XRef was modified, and if I click that link, it will show me a comparison. Remember, we talked about using that XRef Compare—potentially as a consultant bringing in a background XRef—but in this case, it's helpful just to see where we've come from.

You can see that we added our doors, windows, and fixtures. I'll hit the checkbox to say that we're done. And just to show one other thing, remember that we said our sheet files manage the layers independently from our plan model. The sheet has XRef layers, which we can see here, labeled VDCI Plan Model, followed by a vertical line and then the layer name.

In this drawing, which is our sheet drawing, we have the A No Plot and the A No Plot Off layers on, and we have the Pattern Wall layer on. But in the VDCI Plan Model, we have the No Plot layer on and the Pattern layer off. This allows us to have a different-looking sheet file that references the same geometry. This is extremely helpful when we start to add our other plan sheets in this course.

I'll save the CAD 201-A201 file, and I'll jump back to my VDCI Plan Model. Let's continue by adding our multi-line text. I'll go to my layers, and I'll choose A-Text, and now I can add multi-line text.

I'll go to my Text and choose the Text button, and I'll simply draw a box about this big, and I can start adding my text. In this case, six-inch high is exactly what we need. I'll add an underline, and I'll change my justification to Middle Center.

Next, we could check the text style and make sure that Text 01 is our text style. Now we can simply type in our room text. This is the Bedroom, so I'll type BEDROOM, and I'll click the check mark to close the Text Editor. Now we can copy this text from room to room, and I'll use the grip editor to do this.

I'll select the text, click the grip to make it hot, right-click, Copy, and I'll copy to this room using my crosshairs to line it up—into the Family Room here, and into the Bathroom as well. Hit Escape when you're done, and then double-click on each text object and update the text. This one is BATH, and I'll double-click here and make this one FAMILY ROOM.

I'll Zoom Extents, Control + S to save, and in the next video, we will bring in our door and window symbols.