The master drawing type you should use depends on the type of the drawing that you want to create:

• You can create single-part drawings, assembly drawings or cast unit drawings using saved settings, rule sets, or cloning templates.

  

• You can create general arrangement drawings using saved settings.

  

• You can create multidrawings using wizards (old file-based rule sets)

  

• For more information about adding different master drawing templates to Master drawing catalog, see Add master drawings in Master Drawing Catalog.

Cloning templates

Cloning templates are Tekla Structures drawings that are used as templates for creating new drawings. You can select a drawing from Document manager and add it to the Master drawing catalog to be used as a template.

You can also use cloning templates that are located in other models. When you have similar parts in several projects, you can maintain a set of cloning template models and then take the cloning templates in the cloning template models in use when necessary.

For more information about cloning and creating drawings using cloning templates, see the links below:

Clone drawings

Create drawings using cloning templates in Master Drawing Catalog

Clone by using cloning templates located in other models

Saved settings

The saved settings in Master drawing catalog are drawing property files that have been created and saved in the drawing properties dialog boxes for different drawing types. There are also many predefined drawing property files.

Each drawing type has its own properties file. Default saved settings are located under the environment folder (..\Tekla Structures\<version>\environments\). The exact file location may vary depending on your environment. When you save your own settings, they are saved under the current model directory.

Below are some examples how the saved settings are shown in the Master drawing catalog dialog box.

For more information about creating drawings using saved settings, see the links below:

Create general arrangement drawings using saved settings in Master Drawing Catalog

Create single-part, assembly and cast unit drawings using saved settings in Master Drawing Catalog

Rule sets

Rule sets are sets of rules on how to create drawings for different object types. A rule set is a combination of object groups (model selection filters) and master drawing settings (cloning templates, saved settings) that define which objects to include in the drawing, and which drawing settings to use. You can use the existing AutoDrawings wizard files or create your own rule sets.

The order of sets is important, as Tekla Structures by default creates only one drawing for each object. For example, a rule set creates an assembly drawing for an object that fulfills the selection filter criteria in one set. Tekla Structures will not create another assembly drawing for that object, even if it matches the criteria of the selection filter in later sets in the same rule set file.

For more information about creating drawings using rule sets, see Create drawings using rule sets or wizards in Master Drawing Catalog.

Wizard files

A wizard file is a file-based wizard consisting of several sets of drawing requests containing drawing, attribute and part settings to apply to selected objects, as well as a selection filter. The order of sets is important, as Tekla Structures by default creates only one drawing for each object. You can edit the files in the Master drawing catalog. However, creating new wizard files is not possible in the Master drawing catalog. Instead, you can create a rule set, which is basically the same thing as a wizard: It applies drawing properties to objects selected by filters, but in a dialog box, not in a text file like a wizard.

For more information about wizard files, see the following links:

Create drawings using rule sets or wizards in Master Drawing Catalog

Modify master drawing properties