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Faster Than AutoCAD! Create a Title Block in Minutes — Transcript

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0:00Creating a title block sounds simple,
0:01until you're staring at a blank sheet,
0:03unsure of what information to include,
0:05where to put it, or how to make it
0:07consistent across your set. And let's be
0:09honest, most existing title blocks out
0:10there feel clunky, outdated, or just
0:13don't fit the way we actually work
0:14today.
0:15I'm David, a US-based architect, and in
0:17this walk-through, I'll show you how I
0:19built my own custom title block faster
0:21than in AutoCAD, clearer, and way more
0:23flexible. We'll break down what to
0:25include, how to structure your title
0:26block for team clarity, and how I use
0:28Rayon Design to build reusable,
0:30professional-grade title blocks in
0:32minutes. Rayon is the fastest 2D drawing
0:34tool for architects and designers. It's
0:36web-based and collaborative. So, you can
0:39open the link to my free template in the
0:40description below to follow along with
0:42this tutorial. Let's dive in.
0:45So, what does the title block include,
0:46and why does it matter? Title blocks
0:48aren't just formality. They hold
0:49essential project information, like the
0:51drawing title, date, author, and
0:53version, helping everyone stay aligned
0:55and up-to-date. But, when there's no
0:57standardization, they can quickly become
0:59a bottleneck, especially on team
1:00projects, where mismatched formats or
1:03missing details can slow everything
1:04down.
1:06A good title block includes the project
1:08title,
1:09general notes that outline key info,
1:11like codes, conventions, or dimensions.
1:14The drawing name, so viewers know
1:15exactly what they're looking at, and a
1:17drawing number for easy tracking and
1:19referencing across the set. This will
1:21typically be placed in a sheet legend at
1:22the beginning of the drawing set.
1:24It also includes a revision number to
1:26show changes and history, the date of
1:28the revision for version control, and
1:30who drew and approved the drawing for
1:32accountability.
1:33Lastly, company details, like firm name,
1:37logo, and contact info, add
1:39professionalism, and ensure the origin
1:41of the work is clear. It all seems
1:43simple, until you're managing a 50-page
1:45set and manually updating every single
1:47title block. That's why I use Rayon
1:49Design, a free, lightweight tool that
1:52lets you batch edit title blocks using
1:54smart metadata. I've been using it
1:56instead of AutoCAD for years to work
1:58faster and cleaner.
2:00With just a few clicks, you can update
2:01info across your entire set. Let me show
2:04you how. It's quick and easy to set up.
2:07To create your own title block, I
2:08recommend one of the following flexible
2:10options. For each of them, you're
2:12welcome to create a free Ryan Design
2:13account.
2:15First, import an existing title block
2:17and upgrade it by adding smart metadata
2:19fields. This lets you input consistent
2:21project info across multiple sheets with
2:23just a click.
2:25Next, you can create a title block from
2:26scratch, incorporating metadata from the
2:28start for a fully customized and
2:30reusable solution. Another great option
2:33is to browse Ryan's block library, which
2:35includes over 10,000 blocks. These
2:37built-in title blocks are ready to use
2:39and fully editable, allowing you to
2:41tweak the layout, add your logo, update
2:43fields, or align with your firm's
2:45graphic standards.
2:46All right, so first let's take a look at
2:48importing. So, let me first go over to
2:51our paper canvas. And so, here we've got
2:55a title block already kind of set up.
2:57Um, but I'm going to go ahead and I'm
2:59going to import a DWG file. And I've got
3:03this sample title block set up. Uh, this
3:05is actually created in AutoCAD, and so
3:07this is exactly the kind of
3:09uh process that we might be looking at,
3:11um,
3:12you know, for a real project. So, I'll
3:14just go to import.
3:17And now it's going to ask me to scale
3:19this. Um, and so I know this is set up
3:21for a 24 by 36 size sheet. So,
3:27uh that is not in fact 36 ft, that's 36
3:30in,
3:30and I'm going to say continue.
3:33Um, and then it's going to ask me for
3:34the insertion point. And I'll just go
3:37ahead and click there.
3:38Close that.
3:40And sometimes this goes a little bit
3:42off, but that's easy to find. Um,
3:46and now I've got this title block set
3:48up, and I can just go and I'll go to my
3:51page tool
3:53and I'll just go to that grab point
3:57and
3:58there we're all set up with that title
4:00block and I can also always go in here
4:03and you know start to change the address
4:06or do whatever I need to do
4:08and there's a few more steps that you
4:10know of like creating this making this
4:11into a block and all that which we'll go
4:13over as we get into
4:15how to create your own custom title
4:17block.
4:18All right and now for a really more of
4:19the fun part. So creating your own
4:22custom title block. So I'm just going to
4:24do this completely from scratch.
4:26I've already created my own title block
4:29which you know basically I want to show
4:31you how to recreate this just totally
4:33from scratch.
4:34So first I'm going to go ahead and
4:37create a page and same as before I'll
4:39make this
4:4124 by 36. All right.
4:45And I'm just going to line that up so
4:47that everything is nice.
4:48And then you know I one of the nice
4:51things about round is that you're
4:53assuming that these are being viewed as
4:55as PDFs rather than
4:57black and white plots and so I'll go
4:59ahead and I can start to add some some
5:02shades and color if I want all that. So
5:06just gets to be a little bit nicer. So
5:08I'm going to do a 4-in width.
5:11And I'm going to go ahead and add
5:13a gray fill and maybe
5:17Oh, maybe that was looking good before.
5:20So I'll kind of keep that.
5:22Obviously I want to take off that stroke
5:24for the surround.
5:25So that's gone and that's all looking
5:28pretty nice.
5:30And then the first thing I'm going to do
5:31I'm going to go ahead and import my
5:34logo.
5:35And so I know I've got that in here.
5:39And let's see I think that's looking
5:41good.
5:43So then I can just drag this and size
5:47it.
5:49And that's maybe looking a little big.
5:51So, let's see.
5:54Maybe 3 in.
5:56And I'm going to bring it down another
5:59I don't know, 1/2 in or so.
6:01Um let's see. And then
6:04I know I'm going to want to have some
6:05lines.
6:08So, maybe I'll bring this
6:11Yeah, maybe 4 in down.
6:14And I'll bring this in a little bit. 3
6:18in.
6:19Um as you notice everything kind of
6:21snaps to that center line.
6:23Um that makes things really easy.
6:25And just to make sure my layers are all
6:28showing correctly, I'm going to go ahead
6:30and uh
6:31I'll add a layer for
6:35backgrounds.
6:37Uh and then maybe another for just
6:38content.
6:40All right. Um and I'm going to bring
6:42this default layer up to the top.
6:45And let's see. I'll put this on the
6:48background layer.
6:51And everything else can go to content.
6:55Um and that way I know for sure that
6:58these elements, any element that I'm
6:59adding is going to sit on top of this uh
7:02this shaded area.
7:04All right.
7:06And next, need to add a text box cuz I
7:09need
7:11my address. And I'm not going to put my
7:13address here, but
7:14you know, maybe I'll do
7:18street address. And
7:22I live in Sausalito. So, do
7:27that.
7:28And then I can go ahead and
7:34change the fonts. I know I like Lexend.
7:38And this is looking pretty small. So,
7:41let's see.
7:42Maybe this wants to be a quarter inch.
7:47And I can center that here.
7:49I'm going to make these all centered as
7:51well.
7:54That's looking a little big.
7:57So, maybe 3/16 of an inch.
8:00Well, we can start with that. We can
8:01always go ahead and adjust that later.
8:04All right. Um and next, I know at the
8:06bottom I'm going to have
8:09my sheet number.
8:11Um which actually this is something
8:13Maybe I'll hold off on this. I'll do,
8:16you know, maybe I'll do a placeholder
8:18for now.
8:19Um so, I'll do a
8:210.0 and this is looking super small, so
8:26Yeah, let's start with that.
8:29And let's see. I know we're going to
8:32want to have another
8:34line separating this out, so
8:38maybe I'll do
8:41uh like 2 in here.
8:46And then
8:48let me go and look and see what what
8:49else we are doing here.
8:52So, yeah, sheet number, scale, and the
8:56sheet title.
8:58So,
8:59I can go add on, you know, maybe a half
9:01inch
9:04for our scale, and then
9:09maybe another maybe
9:10uh
9:11inch and a quarter.
9:13And these all, you know, might want to
9:17see a little bit more information, so
9:18I'll do
9:193 and 1/2 in width.
9:22All right. And if I want this to be
9:23centered,
9:25very easily just drag that there.
9:31All right. Cool.
9:33And then I'll
9:34copy that up.
9:36and I think this
9:40can be a little bit smaller.
9:41So, maybe I'll do a half inch there and
9:44see how that goes.
9:45And this can be
9:48sheet title.
9:50And one kind of nice thing, so see how
9:52I've got this set for centered and then
9:55centered both vertically and
9:57horizontally. So, say my sheet title
9:59winds up getting really long, like this
10:01is
10:02interior
10:04kitchen
10:05millwork details.
10:08Um then I can go and, you know, make
10:12this
10:14um a set dimension, and then actually I
10:17probably want this to be a little bit
10:19taller just in case I have some drawings
10:21going into uh
10:24three
10:25um
10:26yeah, three lines.
10:29So, that's all super easy, and actually
10:31this is looking a little big, so maybe
10:33I'll bring this down a little bit more.
10:37Uh what am I going for? 7/16?
10:41Yeah, that looks fine.
10:43And I'll change this back to
10:46sheet title.
10:49All right, and then let's see.
10:52I'm going to bring this down. So, now we
10:54want
10:58kind of a signifier of what this is, and
11:02this is going to go back to
11:04those alignments.
11:06Bring that snap that to the top.
11:10Just bring down 1/16 inch.
11:13All right. Um same thing here. I'll do
11:19scale, and I'll just do as noted cuz I
11:23want that to just reference the drawing.
11:26And sheet number.
11:30All right, so that is all going pretty
11:32smooth
11:34Um and then I know that we're going to
11:35have our
11:38title and our our project title and
11:41address and all that
11:43as well as
11:46version history. So
11:49yep, that looks like
11:51everything I need.
11:53All right, and I'll actually use the
11:55array tool and I'll start that as my
11:58starting point. So I want to do 20
12:02and then it's going to ask me the
12:03distance. So maybe I'll want to do three
12:05so an inch and then for the angle just
12:08vertical
12:10and I'll copy this up as well and this
12:12can be our
12:15issued
12:17drawing sets.
12:21All right, so super simple
12:25and I'm going to move this up
12:2716th of an inch. All
12:31right, and I know here we need some
12:34vertical divisions. Oop.
12:38For our
12:39sheet numbers.
12:42And let's see that
12:451/2 inch? No. You can All
12:50right, so I got a 1/2 inch there and
12:54maybe 2 inches here.
12:56As then that gives me room to
12:59yeah, I'm going to start to
13:03revision one
13:08and I definitely want this to be
13:10centered here. So
13:13let's go ahead and do that. That's fine.
13:18And then I can go here and start to do
13:20you know, this is maybe
13:23finding set
13:26and then can give it a date.
13:30So.
13:34Let's do it that way. And looks like
13:36these are
13:38maybe a little further over than I want.
13:40Um but I can always go in and you know,
13:43tweak this stuff as I see fit.
13:46Um and next
13:49I'm going to need the project title and
13:51all of that information. So,
13:53I'll start with that sheet title. That
13:55seems good.
13:57And I'll just go ahead and rotate it
13:59that way.
14:00And it's nice to, you know, line here.
14:05So, let's see. I got that centered. Got
14:08that centered.
14:10So, that is all looking good.
14:12Um and then same thing here.
14:15Project address.
14:18Um maybe I'll line this up.
14:20Okay, there at the bottom.
14:24And this one at the top.
14:27And this will be, you know, the
14:29small number. So,
14:31that can be
14:34just those seven digits.
14:37All right, and that is all looking
14:38pretty good. And then all I have to do
14:40is also then um
14:42bring in my stamp. So, same thing. I'll
14:45go in here.
14:47And I'll put that in.
14:51And actually while I'm importing, I'm
14:53going to go ahead and import
14:55my signature as well.
14:58So, that will make things really easy.
15:00And I know this is completely off off
15:03size, but we're going to bring these
15:04down together.
15:08Just to show you how that works really
15:10simply.
15:12And I'm actually going to group these.
15:14So, now this is all moving together.
15:16All right, and let's see.
15:20First, I'll just
15:22quickly scale it down to there.
15:24That's looking a little still a little
15:26too big.
15:27So, 2 in. That looks
15:29That looks nice. And
15:32there we go.
15:34All right. And the next thing I'm going
15:35to do is I'm actually going to make this
15:37whole thing into a block.
15:39Um and that's going to allow me as I
15:41expand my sheet set, it's going to allow
15:43me to update just one instance of the
15:46title block and that'll populate to all
15:48of the versions. So, um and obviously
15:51there's a few things like the sheet
15:53title and number that I don't want to
15:55copy, but and actually while I'm at it,
15:58I'll change this to project title. Um
16:00but all the other information um is
16:02going to populate um and that's because
16:06as I issue new drawing sets, then
16:08that'll just continue to populate. Um or
16:11you know, a lot of times I will
16:14drag this off to the side um and I'll
16:17have, you know, like a not
16:19instruction note, something like that.
16:21Um and so I can really easily just bring
16:24my stamp in and out of the drawings
16:25depending on whether or not it's for
16:27official um issuances. So,
16:31now that I've got this set up as a
16:32block, I'm actually going to
16:36uh title this. So, I'll do
16:40DH
16:41title block.
16:42All right.
16:44And next, how do we go about showing
16:48these as kind of like, you know,
16:51metadata that can be updated on a per
16:54sheet basis. So, I can just go over to
16:56our properties panel under metadata
16:59and add an instance. And so,
17:01I've already done this and so it's going
17:02to actually show up down here, but if I
17:04didn't, I could just add a new metadata
17:07up here. Um and I could change the type
17:10um of content and all that. So, really
17:12easy to go ahead and do. Um
17:15but for now, I'll just go ahead and
17:17check these on. Um and that'll actually
17:19be important
17:20um as we bring this into other projects
17:22to see, you know, how this how this
17:24works. So,
17:25sheet number um I'll go ahead and give
17:27this something different just so that we
17:29can see the difference.
17:32Um
17:33And I'll call that site plan.
17:35All right. And now we go in here.
17:38I'll delete that out and
17:42instance
17:43and this is sheet title.
17:46So, that automatically populates with
17:47that site plan. And I'll do the same
17:49thing here.
17:51We'll go to instance and oop, did the
17:54wrong thing.
17:56Um and I'll go back down to sheet
17:59number.
18:01All right. And so now, if I
18:04copy this whole thing over,
18:07um
18:08then, you know, I
18:11Hopefully, you can see both of these at
18:13the same time.
18:14I can change this to, you know, A2.0
18:18and I can change this to
18:20uh
18:22existing
18:24floor plans.
18:27And so, then that's all super easy to
18:30bring in.
18:31Um and then I can also, you know, say I
18:36uh I'm doing another
18:39another drawing set.
18:42I can do two
18:45and
18:47building permit
18:50submission.
18:54Oh, that is looking good.
18:57Doable.
19:00And I can update the date and all of
19:02that and that will now have populated
19:05across over here.
19:08All right. And so, now, what if I want
19:11to see this on another project? Super
19:14easy. All I have to do is go up here
19:16um and share and then I can go to
19:20libraries and publish blocks. I already
19:22have this checked on, but now I can go
19:24to update.
19:26And now I can go to any other project.
19:30So, here's back to that sample project
19:33we're looking at. And I can go over to
19:35my blocks library
19:37um and now this, you know, that copy of
19:40ranch house is available.
19:43And I'll go ahead and search for DH
19:46title block.
19:49And that'll just bring everything in.
19:53And you can kind of see I was actually
19:54pretty close in recreating that.
19:58Um and so here we're seeing our metadata
20:01tags are showing
20:03um
20:03you know, as not found. And that's super
20:05easy fix. It's simply because it's not
20:08checked in here. So, I'll just go over
20:10to our metadata instances and I'll check
20:13these back on.
20:14Um and then I can go ahead and populate
20:17this as needed. So,
20:19um A0.0
20:21and just sheet title.
20:26Um and so I've actually already kind of
20:29done this on my own. Um so, I've got
20:32uh my own
20:34uh library of title blocks and stamps.
20:36So, for any of my projects I can just go
20:38in here and I've got my title block.
20:40I've got my stamp. Um I also created
20:43this kind of presentation title block.
20:46Um and so this is
20:48you know, if I'm doing just kind of a
20:49couple of floor plan options, I can show
20:52that really easily to the clients.
20:55And lastly, you can use Round's own
20:57built-in libraries. And so, if I go over
20:59to our blocks and just libraries and I
21:03already searched for title blocks, so
21:06you know, we can go and look at that.
21:07and here's a library of title blocks, or
21:09we can scroll through all of these.
21:11Um and so this just makes it really
21:13easy. It gives you a good starting point
21:15if you don't want to go through that
21:16whole process that we just covered. Um
21:19so you can just like scroll through
21:20here, try anything that you want. Um
21:24and you can just drag it in.
21:27And I'll go ahead and make a
21:29page so that this is looking good.
21:33Um and same with everything else. Like,
21:36you know, same as that I could go in and
21:38edit this. I can also go in here. Um I
21:41can swap this out for my own logo. I
21:44can, you know, change the project name.
21:47Um I can start to add more of that
21:49metadata. So you can really then just
21:51develop this as your own. Um and then
21:54same same with everything else. You can
21:56then go and add that to your own
21:58library, uh bring it in on other
22:00projects, uh really just customize it
22:03however you need. So that's how I
22:04rethink title blocks, making them
22:05clearer, faster, and easier to work
22:07with. It's not just about filling in
22:09project info. It's about setting up your
22:11whole drawing set for success.
22:13Rand Design has made this process way
22:15more efficient, and it's now my go-to
22:17for building customizable, professional
22:19title blocks in minutes.
22:21You can explore the templates I used and
22:22start your own in the link below.
22:24Thanks for watching, and if this helps
22:26simplify your workflow, be sure to
22:27subscribe for more tips on drawing
22:29standards, design tools, and working
22:31smarter. See you in the next one.

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