How I Onboard a New Project in under 10 Minutes (Using Rayon) — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:00Where do you start when you're building
2. 0:01a house? Obviously, in the ground, the
3. 0:03foundations. [music]
4. 0:05Get these wrong and everything else
5. 0:06becomes an issue. One of my first
6. 0:08mentors in practice used to compare that
7. 0:10directly to our project processes.
8. 0:12Before the design gets complicated,
9. 0:14before the team even opens a file, you
10. 0:17need the groundwork laid properly.
11. 0:18That's always stayed with me, and it's
12. 0:20exactly how I run my own studio. Every
13. 0:22one of my projects needs a strong
14. 0:24foundation, a [music] clear system, a
15. 0:26clean setup, and files that make sense
16. 0:29from the very beginning. So, in this
17. 0:30video, I'm going to show you how I
18. 0:32onboard a new project in under 10
19. 0:34minutes. The workspace, the layers,
20. 0:36canvases, styles, blocks, and teams
21. 0:38access. So, the whole thing starts
22. 0:41cleanly.
23. 0:43Now, I'm building all of this in Rayon,
24. 0:44and if you want to follow along, there's
25. 0:46a link in the description to create a
26. 0:47free account and set up your own project
27. 0:50whilst you watch. But before we start,
28. 0:51let me know in the comments what your
29. 0:52foundations are like. What's the first
30. 0:55thing that you do on a project? I want
31. 0:56to know how other studios are
32. 0:58approaching this.
33. 1:00The first thing I do is create the
34. 1:02project in the right place. Now, that
35. 1:04may sound obvious, but for a studio
36. 1:06managing multiple projects at once, the
37. 1:08workplace structure matters. If every
38. 1:10project is named differently, stored
39. 1:12differently, or started from a blank
40. 1:13file with no logic, the studio quickly
41. 1:15becomes dependent on people's memory
42. 1:18rather than a system. Okay, so we can
43. 1:20start on the Rayon homepage. You can see
44. 1:22up on the left-hand side, this is the
45. 1:24studio Chris Simmons page, and you can
46. 1:26see a number of the sort of projects
47. 1:28that I've been working on. If you look
48. 1:30slightly lower than that, you can see
49. 1:32workspaces, and this is where I set up
50. 1:34all of my projects. So, you can see the
51. 1:36current projects that I'm working on.
52. 1:38And if you want to create a new
53. 1:39workspace, we can just press the plus
54. 1:42button.
55. 1:43We'll name it, so we'll call this
56. 1:46project 215, and we'll make sure the
57. 1:48slider is set to public. And that means
58. 1:51that everyone in my team, so if I have
59. 1:53other members of the team, I can invite
60. 1:54them to that workspace. Now, why would I
61. 1:57want to set up as a workspace? Well,
62. 1:58that's a really good way to categorize
63. 2:01and to collate all my different files.
64. 2:04So, you can see here, you know, in the
65. 2:05example, I have a number of different
66. 2:07drawings all living within, you know, my
67. 2:10different workspaces. And that means
68. 2:12that I can directly find them and I can
69. 2:15make sure everything is organized
70. 2:17correctly. And similarly, on the
71. 2:18right-hand side, you can see who's been
72. 2:20invited to the workspace. So, it could
73. 2:23be other members of the team or people
74. 2:25outside of the organization. And if we
75. 2:27get started, we can set up a new model.
76. 2:29We can import a model, so you can import
77. 2:31a separate rail model. Or you can set up
78. 2:34from a template. So, the templates,
79. 2:36there are lots of different rail
80. 2:37templates that you can use. They're
81. 2:39already set up with the sort of
82. 2:40standards. Or we can create our own,
83. 2:42which is the process we're going
84. 2:43through.
85. 2:44So, I'm going to click on new model.
86. 2:46Just take 1 second to load and then
87. 2:48we're straight into our model canvas.
88. 2:50And I'm going to rename this
89. 2:52general array.
90. 2:54And now, we're ready to start setting
91. 2:56our standards. And just to keep the
92. 2:58destination visible, this is what we're
93. 3:00building towards. A project foundation
94. 3:01that's ready to draw in, present from,
95. 3:04and hand over without confusion. Before
96. 3:06I start drawing anything, I check the
97. 3:07scale, the units, and I create a layer
98. 3:10system. This is one of those small setup
99. 3:13decisions that can quickly damage the
100. 3:15whole file if it's not done correctly.
101. 3:17Okay, you can see on the right-hand
102. 3:18side, we have our units set. Now, I'm
103. 3:22based in the UK. Everything I do is set
104. 3:24to millimeters. It's the way I've been
105. 3:26taught, it's the way my brain works. But
106. 3:28you can change that to centimeters, to
107. 3:30meters, inches and feet if you're in the
108. 3:32US, for example. You can just change
109. 3:35those here. I can also determine what my
110. 3:38areas are calculated in. So, whilst my
111. 3:40length units are millimeters, my areas
112. 3:43are calculated in square meters. And you
113. 3:45can define the precision and the
114. 3:47suffixes that are related to that. And
115. 3:50when you're in the middle of drawing,
116. 3:51you can change down here as well. So,
117. 3:53this is related to the canvas. I can
118. 3:55change my units, my suffixes. I can also
119. 3:58relate it to angles. So, the precision
120. 4:00of the angles and, you know, how many
121. 4:02decimal places that's calculated to. The
122. 4:05other thing I can do from here is set my
123. 4:06stroke scale. So, stroke scale is the
124. 4:09visible scale that your lines will
125. 4:11appear in. So, you know, if we have set
126. 4:13line weights like 0.05 or 0.35,
127. 4:17the stroke scale is what you're viewing
128. 4:19it at within your model camera. So, I
129. 4:21can adjust that if I want.
130. 4:23I can set it to something familiar to
131. 4:25myself. I think, you know, Layout comes
132. 4:27in at a standard of 1:40 and normally
133. 4:29that's okay for me. Unless I'm working
134. 4:31on a large site plan, for example. So,
135. 4:33I'll set that to 1:50 and then move
136. 4:35forward from there. Since I'm in the
137. 4:37model camera, so I'm going to start
138. 4:38thinking about my layering. So, just
139. 4:40like many other drawing tools, the
140. 4:42layers are really, really important. So,
141. 4:44we have our default layer. So, that's
142. 4:46without any additional layers in and
143. 4:48then I will create my own custom layers.
144. 4:50Now, you may have a style that you do in
145. 4:52your own offices, but I normally, you
146. 4:54know, tend to have things like import.
147. 4:57So, that will be for, you know, CAD
148. 4:59references or PDFs that come in. I'll
149. 5:02have a layer for external
150. 5:05walls. I'll have a layer for internal
151. 5:09walls. I normally have a layer for
152. 5:11elements. So, you know, things like
153. 5:13doors and windows that come in. A layer
154. 5:15for furniture, a layer for fills. So,
155. 5:19things like the areas, the annotation
156. 5:21fills, the hatches, and then something
157. 5:24like shadows
158. 5:26as well. And obviously, you can drag and
159. 5:28drop these layers and order them how you
160. 5:30want. So, you know, I normally have my
161. 5:32walls, anything I'm cutting through on
162. 5:35the sort of top layers, and then I'll
163. 5:37have my shadows, my furniture above my
164. 5:40fills, and then the import at the back.
165. 5:42[music] Now, obviously, this little tick
166. 5:44here on the left-hand side, that sets
167. 5:47your active layer.
168. 5:48But also you can lock a layer. So say
169. 5:50for example, I brought a drawing in, you
170. 5:53know, a reference, a survey, something
171. 5:55like that. I could lock that, which
172. 5:57means that I can't touch it or mess
173. 5:58about with it. And I can also turn that
174. 6:00off and on just like, you know, you're
175. 6:01you're probably familiar with. And as I
176. 6:03said, you will have your own way of
177. 6:05doing the layers. This is mine and this
178. 6:07is how I like to use it. With these
179. 6:09standards in place, I set up the model
180. 6:11canvas and the paper canvas. This is the
181. 6:13working environment, the place where the
182. 6:16drawing will actually be developed and
183. 6:17then ultimately collated and presented.
184. 6:19At this stage, I'm not trying to make
185. 6:21anything beautiful. I'm making sure that
186. 6:23the drawing environment is accurate,
187. 6:24clean, and ready to work in. We've spent
188. 6:27some time in the model canvas and
189. 6:28there's a couple of things that I just
190. 6:29want to finish showing you. So, in the
191. 6:32model canvas, I can change my
192. 6:34preferences. So, I can turn it on to
193. 6:35wireframe. This basically makes it look
194. 6:38like a, you know, traditional CAD tool
195. 6:40that you're probably familiar with, you
196. 6:41know, AutoCAD, MicroStation, things like
197. 6:43that. The dark background, the colorful
198. 6:45lines. I don't work in that way myself.
199. 6:48I can also turn on the grid. So, this
200. 6:50would help, you know, if you have
201. 6:52orthogonal or rectilinear things. And I
202. 6:55can just snap that on and off.
203. 6:56Similarly, I can show the axis, so where
204. 6:58the center point of the drawing exists
205. 7:01in. And also I can change the color. So,
206. 7:04you know, if you wanted something
207. 7:05slightly off-white, maybe that helps
208. 7:07your eyes for example, you can do that
209. 7:09very easily.
210. 7:10The other thing I can do from here is
211. 7:12adjust my snaps. Now,
212. 7:14you have a whole array of different
213. 7:15snapping, you know, similar to other
214. 7:17drawing tools. And you can snap for end
215. 7:19points, midpoints, centers,
216. 7:21perpendicular, you know, you can even
217. 7:22set it with the grid on, you can snap
218. 7:24directly to the grid or to the axes. So
219. 7:27again, it's worth exploring and seeing
220. 7:30what the best snaps for you are. And
221. 7:33honestly, I have most of these turned on
222. 7:34and that's how I like to work. But I'd
223. 7:36suggest exploring that. So, that's the
224. 7:38model canvas at a basic layer. And I can
225. 7:41obviously change the name of that. So, I
226. 7:43could say, you know, for example, I put
227. 7:45all my plans on one model canvas, and I
228. 7:48could even create another model canvas
229. 7:50and call it elevations. So, I can have
230. 7:53separate, you know, model canvases for
231. 7:55my different elements. So, if I want to
232. 7:57be really organized about these things.
233. 7:59So, I also want to show you the paper
234. 8:00canvas. So, if the model canvas is for
235. 8:02modeling, the paper canvas is for those
236. 8:04sort of final drawings, so the exporting
237. 8:07of the actual work. Every time you step
238. 8:09onto the paper canvas, it will say if it
239. 8:12does or doesn't create any pages, it
240. 8:14will prompt you to create one. Easy as
241. 8:16pie.
242. 8:17And then I can click on this, and I can
243. 8:18set the size of the drawing. So, you
244. 8:20know, I have my A standard drawings from
245. 8:23A0 to A5. I normally work in A3, and I
246. 8:27can set that as a landscape image or a
247. 8:29portrait image. I can also put in, you
248. 8:31know, my own custom sizes. So, I do
249. 8:34things in social media, for example, and
250. 8:35I can change that as well. I can change
251. 8:38the color of the background as well. And
252. 8:41I can also, you know, just create more
253. 8:44pages very simply. Each page I can set
254. 8:47to have a name, so I could say this one
255. 8:49as site plan, or I could do it by
256. 8:53drawing number, you know, 1 2 3 5.
257. 8:56However, I want to name them. Another
258. 8:58thing I like to do is to kind of set up
259. 9:00a grid. So, if I set go down here to
260. 9:03guideline, I can set a
261. 9:06guidelines.
262. 9:07I normally like to do this for the
263. 9:08center. So, you know, I know where my
264. 9:11alignment of my drawings are. I also
265. 9:13like to do a vertical guideline, and
266. 9:14that will set to a center point, for
267. 9:16example. And that means that I can set
268. 9:18up my grid. I can copy my pages across,
269. 9:22you know, even if I'm setting my
270. 9:24parameters, my deliverables, for
271. 9:26example. So, you know, me um as the
272. 9:29senior architect is setting what our
273. 9:31deliverables are. This is what we're
274. 9:32being paid for. So, the junior architect
275. 9:34knows how how drawings to produce, you
276. 9:36know, no more, no less sort of thing.
277. 9:38Then we can name them. So, it's all very
278. 9:39clear, all very controlled. And
279. 9:41similarly, we can make sure things are
280. 9:42set out well. And again, in the paper
281. 9:45space, we can do that same process of
282. 9:47turning on grids, showing our axes, and
283. 9:50going into wireframe mode if we so wish.
284. 9:52>> Next, I'll jump into the drawing
285. 9:54standards and the elements. At the start
286. 9:56of a project, I'm not placing anything.
287. 9:58I'm making sure that the resources and
288. 9:59styles I'll use repeatedly are easy to
289. 10:01access. The furniture, people, planting,
290. 10:04title blocks in any of my
291. 10:05studio-specific drawing styles.
292. 10:07>> Okay, back into the model canvas. Now, I
293. 10:12want to show you the block library. So,
294. 10:14the block library just is over on the
295. 10:16left-hand side, just underneath our
296. 10:18layers.
297. 10:18>> [music]
298. 10:19>> And you can start by loading in your own
299. 10:21block library. So, obviously, as a small
300. 10:24practice, we have some standards that we
301. 10:25use. I can just go to find blocks. I'll
302. 10:28just click on libraries, and you'll see
303. 10:30here personal libraries. So, I have a
304. 10:32number of standards set up. Now, we do a
305. 10:35lot of work in, you know, UK planning.
306. 10:37There are certain requirements around,
307. 10:40you know, illustrating standardized
308. 10:42furniture in those situations. So, these
309. 10:44are a set of furniture from the London
310. 10:46Housing Design Guide, which I've drawn,
311. 10:48set up, and made sure that they have all
312. 10:50clearances around them. And that's
313. 10:51something we just need to do to kind of
314. 10:53prove to the planners that these are
315. 10:55kind of applicable and made me the
316. 10:57standards. And all I need to do is drag
317. 10:59and drop those in. So, I have my, you
318. 11:01know, standard sofas, for example, in
319. 11:04here, my standard beds. And they're all
320. 11:08set up, and I know that they will appear
321. 11:09accurately and exactly the same on every
322. 11:11drawing. And similarly, with our
323. 11:14standards, I've also got my title sheet.
324. 11:17So, let's jump over to the paper canvas.
325. 11:20Now, I can go to find blocks, find
326. 11:22blocks, title sheets. And again, I can
327. 11:25just drag these in. So, obviously, I've
328. 11:28taken a little bit of time to create the
329. 11:30Studio Criss Simmons title sheets. So, I
330. 11:33have a a landscape one, an alternative
331. 11:36landscape one. So, you know, where the
332. 11:39bar is at the bottom or on the side
333. 11:40depending on, you know, the parameters
334. 11:42that we're showing on the drawings, how
335. 11:44big they are. And also, there is a
336. 11:46portrait version as well. So, if we need
337. 11:48to show a vertical drawing, and you
338. 11:51know, let's just say we wanted to show
339. 11:52that on this one, I just come out of
340. 11:54here, click on this one, and I can set
341. 11:57that to portrait.
342. 11:59There we go, perfectly. And they
343. 12:01obviously, you know, we can add
344. 12:03parameters that allow us to change the
345. 12:05title, the scale, all as part of that,
346. 12:07all as part of our standards. And that
347. 12:09process works exactly the same for
348. 12:11styles as well. So, back to the model
349. 12:14canvas. So, we've got these examples of
350. 12:16blocks, but let's have a look at the
351. 12:17styles. So, styles are applicable to
352. 12:20lines, to text, to annotation, and even
353. 12:23to walls. And this is what I find really
354. 12:25helpful, that again, I have some certain
355. 12:28standards set up. You know, Rayon has a
356. 12:30number of styles already set up as well,
357. 12:31so you can explore those. But for me, I
358. 12:34have some standard external walls,
359. 12:36internal walls, for example. And this
360. 12:39just makes sure that we're showing, you
361. 12:41know, adequate thicknesses at a
362. 12:42feasibility stage, that I know we can,
363. 12:45you know, explore later. So, I can make
364. 12:47sure that I've ported these styles. So,
365. 12:50all I need to do is click on that and
366. 12:52press import. That and then when I go
367. 12:54back to my library, I can now see those
368. 12:57styles in shapes, and in walls, and in
369. 13:01text, and in annotations. So, if I was
370. 13:03just to draw a standard wall here, using
371. 13:07the wall tool, I can then click on this
372. 13:09one over here, select style, and I can
373. 13:12select my standard external wall. I can
374. 13:15copy that and do exactly the same thing
375. 13:17and select my internal wall. Exactly the
376. 13:20same thing if I want to do a hatch, for
377. 13:23example, I can just create a shape.
378. 13:25Again, I can go to my styles and I know
379. 13:28that
380. 13:29you know, my sort of bathroom tiling
381. 13:32texture or my timber plate texture or
382. 13:36even my brass texture are all consistent
383. 13:39across my projects. Now, you can go
384. 13:41through and you can adjust these if you
385. 13:43so wish. You can assign them to a
386. 13:46particular project. You can go back in
387. 13:48afterwards and adjust them. You know, it
388. 13:50really is a useful sort of system. You
389. 13:53know, even my shadows for example, I
390. 13:55know everything looks right when I'm
391. 13:58setting things up. So, and you know, it
392. 14:00avoids confusion and frustration when
393. 14:02other people are doing the drawing.
394. 14:05And that works exactly the same whether
395. 14:06it's a shape, a wall, text, annotation,
396. 14:09and all of these things can be set up
397. 14:11and shared across your team and your
398. 14:13workspace.
399. 14:14And if you wanted to set that up, you
400. 14:15could very easily just create a new
401. 14:17style. So, say for example, in here we
402. 14:20want to create a new wall style and we
403. 14:22said, "Actually,
404. 14:24this is a super thick insulated wall."
405. 14:27And we could go into here, say style,
406. 14:30and call this
407. 14:32thick wall example. We can change the
408. 14:35thickness of the lines, make sure it
409. 14:36appears correctly. And then I could go
410. 14:38to share, so that's over here on the
411. 14:40right-hand side. And I can go to
412. 14:42libraries and here I can just slide this
413. 14:45toggle to styles. And that means that
414. 14:47from this drawing, my new styles will be
415. 14:50shared. And similarly with blocks. So,
416. 14:52if I created a new block, I all I need
417. 14:55to do is publish that block and again,
418. 14:57it will be shared amongst my team and
419. 15:00you know, so I can use it again in the
420. 15:01future. The final setup step is sharing.
421. 15:04I'll invite the relevant team members
422. 15:05and set the right access levels from the
423. 15:07beginning. Hopefully, allowing the
424. 15:09people to get on with their best work
425. 15:11whilst knowing that the foundations have
426. 15:13been built correctly. So, we go to share
427. 15:15on the right-hand side and I can go to
428. 15:17access. And this will make sure that I
429. 15:19can invite others in that team in my
430. 15:21team.
431. 15:22So, I'm just going to select my other
432. 15:24email address and I'm going to set it as
433. 15:26an editor. You can change this, so you
434. 15:28can set it as an admin, an editor,
435. 15:30reviewer, depending on, you know, how
436. 15:31you want people to use it. I just go to
437. 15:34invite and that will mean that email
438. 15:37receives the link to be able to access
439. 15:39this drawing. I could also set it, so
440. 15:41I'll just jump back to my model space.
441. 15:44In my workspace, I can also allow people
442. 15:47enter into my workspace. So, this means
443. 15:50that if any drawings come up within that
444. 15:51workspace, they're free to use those as
445. 15:54well. So, again, I can
446. 15:56select my standard email.
447. 15:59Like that. Or I can just set it, so all
448. 16:02members can access. So, that lives
449. 16:03within this parameter. There are some
450. 16:06access settings available. And with
451. 16:09that, we're ready to get started
452. 16:10drawing. So, back into the file and I
453. 16:13can get to work. The foundations of a
454. 16:14project aren't really about design at
455. 16:16all. They are about facilitating [music]
456. 16:18design, creating an environment of
457. 16:20confidence and consistency that allows
458. 16:23you and your team to do your best work.
459. 16:25For me, building a contemporary
460. 16:26architecture practice means creating a
461. 16:27clear, standardized system for
462. 16:29onboarding a project. So, the process is
463. 16:32taken care of and we can concentrate on
464. 16:33the creative decisions that actually
465. 16:35shape the architecture. And if you want
466. 16:37to try this setup yourself, there's a
467. 16:39link in the description to create a free
468. 16:40Wren account, set up a project, build
469. 16:43out your layers, create your sheets, and
470. 16:45see how quickly the file starts to get
471. 16:47ready for the real work. Thanks so much
472. 16:49for joining me and I'll see you in the
473. 16:50next one.