Forums >> General Discussion >> Revit Project Management >> Professional Seal on Revit Title Block

leothelionator

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In the State of Texas, we are legally allowed to reproduce an image of our signature onto our issued sheets for construction.  In other words, electronic signatures and seals are permitted. However, there is reservation among some A/E firms to use this practice since there is no way to control the usage a jpeg signature which can easily be inserted onto a digital title block.

Is there any way to restrict this practice so that seals can only be placed at the appropriate time by the appropriate individuals?  Even a third party plug-in would be acceptable idea.  How is this practice handled at other A/E firms?

Forcing all sheets to be physically printed, signed, and scanned is not only a cumbersome process; it also reduces the linework quality since all drawings become second generation at best by the time they get to the contractor.  And yes, I understand that even this antiquated process is not foolproof as any dimwit with Microsoft Paint could clip out any handwritten signature and illegally use it anyway.

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WWHub

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This is a simple process.

If you don't want all users to have access to the seal, create two title blocks, one without the seal that is in the project and normally used and one that has the seal but is not loaded into the project.  At print time, load in your sheet that contains the seal - it will replace all sheets in the project.  Print, then undo the sheet load and close without saving the changes.

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leothelionator

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I see where you're going but it starts to get complicated once you involve other disciplines in-house.  For instance at our firm, Architectural, MEP, and Structural all use the same border sheet but we assign visibility settings through checkboxes for each discipline's preliminary seal.  This method works great for text and graphics such as the preliminary seal, disclaimer, date and engineer info.

However, I cannot find a way to assign a visibility setting to a jpeg of the signature when editing the border sheet family.  When I click on it and go to properties, there is not a "Visible" line item like there is with any other object.  Therefore, by adding the jpeg signature to the master border and reloading the family to the project, every sheet gets my signature whether I like it or not; not just Architectural.  Any ideas?

I'd prefer not to separate out border sheets just for one snag such as this.  Then we get into issues of border sheets deviating through the course of the project as one engineer thinks the border line weight is too light, and the architect forgets to tell people that he updated his client's logo, or another engineer failed to correct the project address, etc.

Thanks,

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TKennedy

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Drop the jpeg into a symbol family, then insert the symbol into the titleblock. You can then control the visibility with a parameter.

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leothelionator

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Great idea!  Thanks for your help.

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zonker

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Pictures of a signature are not a legal signature. Electronic signatures are legal signatures. The simplest way to deal with the issure is to print the plans to a secure format (Acrobat) with the seal but without the signature. Then electronically sign the acrobat file before distribution. That type signature will stand up in court and its easy to verify that signature is actually yours. There are services that produce and track really secure electronic signatures but Adobe Acrobat has some simple ones built in. I beleive that Adobe just purchased a electronic signature firm so they probably have a slick new product for sale

PS - The electronic signature doesn't have to appear to be a signature, just a electronic mark indicating it has been signed. I include the date and time on mine.

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leothelionator

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Zonker,

I'm still unclear on the legalities in Texas since "electronic signature" could be interpreted both ways and your interpretation seems to be the most advanced in terms of understanding today's technology.  However, I tend to think that the bureacratic system that we live in (at least in Texas) is still stuck on legally binding contract documents as being physically printed drawings with a seal and signature affixed to each sheet.  Even if they do interpret the electronic signature as being a process exercised in a secure program like Acrobat, wouldn't the Contractor still need to see a physical signature and seal on the drawings to build off of them?  He may not know otherwise that they've actually been signed digitally.

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zonker

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Don't know about Texas but in Virginia the seal/signatures on each sheet except the cover can be reproduced but must include the date. The cover must have an original seal/signature, but federal law requires that a electronic signature be considered a legal signature, so we put the electronic signature on the cover of an acrobat document. (VDOT required that it be 1/2 inch by 2 inches under the seal so everyone has started doing it that way.) Everything else is just copies of the orginal (which is the only legal copy). Don't know where that leave the paper copies of the legal electronic copy but the contractors I deal with don't seem to care.

I've been playing with puting a qr code on the cover so that anyone can access the legal electronic copy and varify that their copy match the legal one.

I think a big problem is that typically the building department guys are not from silicon valley.

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arcat2112

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I was able to accompish this by drawing the stamps in a legned view and adding it to the sheets as I needed it.  Also if you have a onld cad file or scan you can pull it into this type of view easily.

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joemalbro

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maybe you could have the signature/seal generic annotation family under some sort of Workset restricted or constantly checked out by the PE or RA user account and only he can toggle the visibility parameter... obviously it would have to be more thought out as im not even sure if this is possible with worksharing, or what would stop someone from just placing a seperate instance of the annotation. 

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WWHub

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I never liked the stamp loaded into the project because if the project is shared with anybody, they can extract it.  That's why my 2011 post does not do this.  My process is very easy and protects me. 

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