What Is a Revision Cloud?

Find the revision number in the triangle. Find the same number in the title block and read the description: 'addendum 2, door 104 widened.' Then look inside the cloud. If the description and the geometry tell different stories, ask before you build the more convenient one.

Old clouds from prior revisions are usually removed when a new revision is issued, so only the latest delta is clouded. If a sheet still shows clouds from revision 2 and revision 3, confirm whether that was intentional. Most standards keep only the current clouds.

A cloud around an entire floor plan says nothing. Cloud the door, the dimension, the note, or the schedule cells that changed. If many cells changed, cloud the schedule and say so in the description.

A change that touches two sheets needs a cloud on both, plus the index if a sheet was added. Clouding the plan and not the schedule repeats the orphan-tag problem.

An addendum, an ASI, or a change order is the instrument. The cloud is how the drawing shows the instrument's effect. A cloud emailed as a sketch, with no instrument and no revision, is not an issue of the contract documents.

Say the instrument in the revision description. 'Revised per RFI 42' is a description. 'Misc changes' is not.

PDF markups and model revision clouds should plot onto the issued sheet. A cloud that exists only in a review session, and not on the PDF the field downloaded, was never issued.

Compare tools can highlight geometric deltas the cloud missed. That is a useful check before you send the addendum. It does not replace the cloud the reader was promised.

A superintendent looks at the clouds to see what to rebuild in the set in the trailer. If the real change is outside the cloud, they will miss it. If the cloud covers half the sheet for a one-word note, they will stop trusting clouds.

Record the revision in the set the trailer holds. A current PDF on a server, and a plotted set two revisions back, is how the wrong door gets framed.