When you’re drafting curtainwall layouts or glass installation plans, every detail matters. Every panel needs a name. Every name needs a location. And every drawing needs to make sense to the people who’ll use it in the real world—especially installers and manufacturers.
That’s exactly what one AutoCAD user recently faced: a manufacturing drawing filled with closed polylines representing glass panels. The task? Assign unique names (like GL1-1, GL1-2, GL2-1), place them at the center of each panel, and produce a full table showing each panel’s layer, width, height, and count.
Doing that manually? A nightmare. But there’s a smarter way.
Giving Every Panel a Voice
Imagine having a layout with hundreds of glass panels. They’re all clean, closed polylines—but unless you assign meaningful names to them, they remain just lines. The user wanted not just sequential numbering, but a format like GL1-1, GL1-2, and so on—grouped by area or floor, and clearly visible inside each shape.
But AutoCAD doesn’t support this natively. Not with custom prefixes. Not with labels placed in polyline centers. And certainly not with auto-generated tables.
A Smarter Way to Label Your Panels
That’s where three custom AutoCAD commands come into play:
-
legende
Automatically assigns names to selected closed polylines. You choose the prefix (e.g., GL1-) and the system generates the suffixes. So what used to be “1, 2, 3…” becomes GL1-1, GL1-2, GL1-3. -
cizimcenter
This command places each generated name directly into the geometric center of the polyline—visibly, neatly, and perfectly aligned. Now installers can see exactly what belongs where. -
creatable
It gets better. With this tool, you generate a full table that summarizes the layer, width, height, and number of identical shapes. Great for quantity takeoff, fabrication, or QA.
Turning Names into Data
Here’s how it works in a real scenario: You’re designing a façade split into multiple zones—GL1 for ground level, GL2 for upper floors. You use legende to assign names like GL1-1, GL1-2, GL2-1, GL2-2. Then, cizimcenter drops those names into the panels. Finally, creatable gives you a formatted table that can be dropped into your drawing or exported.
Suddenly, a chaotic CAD file becomes a clean, trackable, production-ready document.
Built for Professionals Who Value Time
Whether you’re managing five glass panels or five hundred, this method transforms your workflow. It removes manual effort, eliminates inconsistencies, and bridges the gap between digital design and real-world construction.
At Upkey, we support professionals who want more than just a license—they want efficiency. That’s why we offer AutoCAD software tailored for teams building smarter, faster, and more accurately.
More Time Designing, Less Time Naming
Labeling polylines may sound small, but it’s often the difference between a project that flows and one that stalls. With these tools—legende, cizimcenter, and creatable—you automate the things that shouldn’t take your time.
Want more productivity tools like these? Follow the Upkey blog for hands-on tips, automation tricks, and smarter CAD workflows built around real user needs.
