Last week on the CAD forum, members engaged in some thoughtful discussions around best practices and challenges in our field. A recurring theme was the practical aspects of grid usage in architectural designs, with several users sharing their approaches and preferences. Another significant topic was managing references in Product Data Management (PDM) systems, focusing on strategies to avoid broken links and maintain data integrity.
This Week’s Hot Topics
Do you skip I and O on grids
This thread delves into the common practice of omitting certain letters on gridlines to avoid confusion. It’s an interesting look at how different professionals handle this small yet significant detail in their designs. Read more here
Preventing broken references in PDM
Here, members are discussing effective methods to keep references intact within PDM systems. This conversation could be crucial for anyone looking to maintain a seamless workflow and prevent data loss. Read more here
Looking forward to seeing these discussions grow. Your contributions make our forum a valuable resource for everyone.
We always “skip I and O” on grids — like airlines skipping row 13 — then bake it into the template and run a tiny checker (Dynamo/LISP) that flags those letters before issue. On the PDM side, mapping grid IDs to a GUID avoids broken xrefs when names change, which has saved us more than once.
After a shop-drawing mix‑up where I looked like 1, I added a pre‑issue script that fails the publish if any grid label hits I or O and auto‑renumbers so tags don’t shift when we insert a bay… “GUID avoids broken xrefs when names change, which has saved us more than once.” Same here — we resolve by GUID+version in PDM and freeze an issue snapshot so ‘latest’ can’t creep in; @Priya, do you pin versions on export too?
Quick example: we add a small ‘grid index’ on G‑001 (A–H, J–Z, 1–9) so subs know the gaps are intentional, and a hidden shared parameter stores a GUID for each grid so renumbers don’t break PDM refs. If your checker also writes a stable ID, @rajKumar85, that plays nicely with downstream mapping.