Autodesk University 2007 is over. There were a lot of good classes, and a couple that....well, I'll get to that later...

Here were some of my favorites.

• DEA path to Civil 3D migration - DEA presented a class on their migration from Land Desktop to Civil 3D. You can read all the blogs and websites you want, talk to all the resellers you want, but this was first hand info from a consumer on what worked and what didn't. Excellent class. Most of our assumptions were confirmed, one being the expected 5-6 days of training required for each user.
  
• The Secrets of cutting plan and profile sheets in Civil 3D - Michelle Rasmussen from IMAGINiT Technologies was easily the best speaker I had last week. The content fit the time slot, and it was presented in a logical and easy to understand manner.
  
• Vaulting the Civil 3D Data Chasm - Mark Evinger from Cowhey Gudmundson Leder presented a fairly technical class on why they decided on Vault over Data Shortcuts, the cost, time, and hardware needed to set up a Vault, and even shared their internal training schedule.
  
• Filling the gaps in the Sheet Set Manager - If you use SSM, you probably wish it could do some things that it can't. R. Robert Bell demonstrated how to use VBA to solve some of the shortcomings of the SSM.
  
• Anonymous - I did sit in on one class however that was brutal. It was advertised to users of the product, however the speaker spent the majority of the time talking about doing stuff like manually editing XML files using different 3rd party programs, and using VBA to edit files supplied by Autodesk. I do a fair amount of programming and I barely understood what was going on. About 3/4 of the 400+ user class left in the first 45 minutes.
  

That last example is an exception to the rule of course.

Outside of class...

• The exhibit hall was huge. Hundreds of booths with a variety of products exhibited.
  
• I met several people, some for the first time - others I have met before. Allow me to drop some names....
  
  
  
  • Melanie Perry - the Mistress of the Dorkness
    
  • Shaan Hurley - Technical Marketing Manager, Autodesk
    
  • Eric Stover - Product Line Manager, Autodesk
    
  • Kate Morrical - Kate's CAD Tips
    
  • Ralph Sanchez - texupport.net, AutoCAD Bugtracker
    
  • R. Robert Bell - AU Speaker, programmer extraordinaire...
    
  • Jerry Milana - Senior Consultant, Autodesk
    
  • Robert Green - CAD-Manager.com, Cadalyst Author, and all around good guy...
    
  • Bud Schroeder - Sr. Test Engineer, Autodesk
    
  • Amy Stankiewicz - Editor-in-chief, Cadalyst Magazine
    
  • Nancy Johnson - Editor, Digital Media
    
  • Bill Fane - Cadalyst Author
    
  • Murph - Map 3D and Murphs Law
    
  
  

Other notes...

I even ran into Shaan (camera in hand of course) out on the strip Wednesday night. Does he ever sleep?

During my 3:00-4:30 class on Thursday, my wife was out shopping and ran into Pete Rose over at a sports shop in Caesars Palace. You just never know who you might run into in Vegas I suppose....

Labels: AutoCAD, AutoCAD 2008, Autodesk University, Cadalyst, New Blogs, Notices, Vault

---

PermaLink       Posted 11/30/2007 02:20:00 PM      Comments (0)

TechSmith is offering a registered version of Camtasia Studio for FREE, with the opportunity to upgrade to the latest version at half price.

More details available here - Download Camtasia Studio with Registration Key for Free

Labels: Free, Other software, Tips

---

PermaLink       Posted 11/23/2007 02:54:00 PM      Comments (1)

Do you have .DWG files that are larger than they should be? Here are some quick things to check using AutoCAD.

1: Run the ._PURGE command. This will allow you to purge (or delete) unreferenced items like blocks, layers, dimstyles, etc.

2: Delete all unused layer filters. This was a huge problem a few versions ago in AutoCAD, because named layer filters were carried from drawing to drawing like a virus. You could easily end up with thousands of them. To delete, run the ._FILTERS command. (this is an undocumented command, but it is part of AutoCAD, so there is no add-on needed). The ._FILTERS command was added to R2006, so if you are still on R2005 or earlier, you will need the lisp file found here. (if you are not sure what to do with lisp code, see this)

3: Delete all unreferenced Regapps. Regapps are REGistered APPlication names. I have seen drawings will tens of thousands of these. You will have to use the command line version of the purge command (-purge) to purge these out. Add this to a toolbar button: (command "-purge" "_R" "*" "_N"). The output will be something like this:

Deleting registered application "EPAN100008_091928567580".
Deleting registered application "EPAN100008_094639251560".
Deleting registered application "EPAN100008_100698363170".
Deleting registered application "EPAN100008_111048971960".
Deleting registered application "EPAN100055_130935314550".
Deleting registered application "EPAN100055_133687974070".
Deleting registered application "EPAN100055_160874393360".
Deleting registered application "EPAN100055_161662973360".
....
....
Deleting registered application "EPLT79869_081758743487".
Deleting registered application "EPLT80159_093406689353".
Deleting registered application "EPLT80159_093454012749".
Deleting registered application "EPLT80159_093462674631".
Deleting registered application "EPLT80159_093565515344".
Deleting registered application "EPLT80159_093648013441".
Deleting registered application "EPLT80159_093767728351".
Deleting registered application "EPLT80159_093796266854".
Deleting registered application "EPLT933242145_878928800000".
20483 registered applications deleted.

In this particular drawing, I only deleted the regapps and the drawing file size went from 2679k to 1515k.

Labels: Add-on utilities, AutoCAD, AutoCAD 2008, Tips

---

PermaLink       Posted 11/12/2007 12:26:00 PM      Comments (6)

This is Part 2: (Part 1 is here)

Now you have a drawing containing layouts with the proper plot settings. Let's do some more things.

Create and scale additional viewports.



You can create as many viewports as you need in a given layout. Not only that, but each one can be scaled differently. Maybe you are putting together a detail sheet with various scaled details, or maybe you need a blow up detail of something in your first viewport. To do this, just repeat the steps in part 1. Let's number the steps here so we can refer back to them.

1. Type in the command MVIEW (or choose View, Viewports, 1 Viewport from the pull-down menus)
   
2. Pick a rectangle on your "paper"
   
3. The contents of model space will appear within this viewport. If you have objects spread out in MS, you may not see anything. Hang on, we'll fix this.
   
4. In the Status Bar of AutoCAD, find the PAPER button. Click it. It will change to MODEL. Now your cursor is restricted to the limits of the viewport. (If you do not have this PAPER button, use the type in command MSPACE to switch to Model Space)
   
5. Pan or zoom as desired. Notice how only the MS entities move. Layout entities stay put.
   
6. Now let's scale the model accurately. Type in ZOOM, the "C" for Center. Then pick a point roughly on the center of your model.
   
7. Now enter the scale factor. If the scale is 1"=50', enter 1/50XP. If the scale is 1"=20', enter 1/20XP. You can also use the viewport toolbar to set the scale, but you may get undesired results.
   
8. After you have set the scale, you can PAN without altering the zoom level.
   
9. Once you are satisfied, click the MODEL button in the status bar. It will change to PAPER. (If you do not have this MODEL button, use the type in command PSPACE to switch to Paper Space)
   
10. Click on the viewport to highlight the grips. Right click anywhere and choose Display Locked, Yes.
    

Viewport shapes other than rectangular



So far, all we have made is rectangular viewports. However, you can make polygonal, circular, or elliptical viewports also. You can actually make them any shape you want. Let's start with a polygonal viewport.

• Type in the command MVIEW (or choose View, Viewports, Polygonal Viewport from the pull-down menus).
  
• If you use the type in command MVIEW, then enter "P" at the next prompt.
  
• Now draw a figure just like you were drawing a polyline. Notice that arcs are allowed.
  
• Pick up at step 4 above.
  

Viewports from objects



Now you can create a polygonal viewport. What if you already have an object created that you want to use as a viewport, but you don't want to have to trace it. No problem, follow these steps.

• Type in the command MVIEW (or choose View, Viewports, Object from the pull-down menus).
  
• If you use the type in command MVIEW, then enter "O" at the next prompt.
  
• Now select a closed object. You can select any of these closed objects: CIRCLE, ELLIPSE, SPLINE, REGION, or POLYLINE. A viewport will be created.
  
• Pick up at step 4 above.
  

Note: Viewports created from objects retain the original object also, and they are linked. If you select a viewport created from an object, TWO items will be selected, the viewport and the original object. This is important to remember if you are trying to edit a viewport in the Properties window and it's properties do not show up.

Setting properties on a per-viewport basis



You can control entity color, linetype, lineweight, and visibility on a per-viewport basis. To do this...

• While you are in a layout, click the PAPER button in the status bar. (If you do not have this PAPER button, use the type in command MSPACE to switch to Model Space).
  
• Open the layer manager, and scroll over to the right.
  
• You will see columns that are not normally there while you are working on the Model tab. These are VP Freeze, VP Color, VP Linetype, VP Lieweight, and VP Plot Style.
  
• Modifying any of these properties for a given layer only changes those properties in the viewport that is active.
  

See the image below. There are 4 viewports. Three of them were copies of the upper left one. You can clearly see how we are able to modify properties of entitys per-viewport.

• The upper left viewport has not been modified. This is how these entities look in Model Space.
  
• In the upper right viewport, all the lines have been changed to color 6.
  
• In the lower left viewport, all the lines except the top one have been frozen.
  
• In the lower right viewport, all the linetypes have been changed. You can see how this gives you a lot of flexibility.
  

Plotting/Publishing



When you are ready to plot, everything should be in order since you have already set the plotting parameters for each layout (see part 1). To plot multiple layouts from a single drawing...

• Click on the first layout, then hold the Ctrl Key and click on the other layouts (you can also hold the Shift Key and click on the last layout to select them all).
  
• Right click and choose Publish Selected Layouts.
  
• The Publish dialog will open with your layouts included.
  
• Check the "Publish To" section of the dialog. If you want to create a DWF file, check this option - otherwise leave it set to "Plotter named in page setup"
  
• If you are plotting to file (including DWF), click the Publish Options button to verify the destination directory and other options.
  
• Click the Publish button to begin.
  

Note: Publishing layouts from multiple drawing files has other steps that I did not cover here. More detail on the PUBLISH command can be found in this article by Ellen Finkelstein.

Labels: AutoCAD, AutoCAD 2008, AutoCAD LT, Tips

---

PermaLink       Posted 11/07/2007 07:05:00 AM      Comments (1)

If you work with images in your drawings, you have probably wished you could embed (or bind) an image instead of it being referenced like an xref. I posted some work-arounds for this problem a while back. Now there is a built-in method, with a couple of catches....

AutoCAD Raster Design (ARD) 2008 includes a new command (IEMBED) that allows you to embed a raster image in the DWG file. What's the catch? Besides needing ARD, image embedding only works on bitonal (black and white) images and if the recepient of this DWG file does not have ARD, they will need the Raster Design Object Enabler to view the image. Also, commands like IMAGECLIP and IMAGEADJUST will not work on an embedded image. The embedded image is a AECIDBEMBEDDEDRASTERIMAGE entity.

Embedded images can be "unembedded", or converted back to an IMAGE entity using the IUNEMBED command in ARD. When you do this, you are asked to provide a file name and path. It does not link the IMAGE back to the original location.

Labels: AutoCAD, AutoCAD 2008, Raster Design, Tips

---

PermaLink       Posted 11/07/2007 07:00:00 AM      Comments (1)