One of the most misunderstood commands in AutoCAD is the SAVE command. Note that SAVE, QSAVE, and SAVEAS all do different things.

• SAVEAS saves the current drawing to a new file name. Example: If you are working in "A.DWG" and you run the SAVEAS command and specify "B.DWG", then "B.DWG" is created and is now the current drawing in the editor.
  
  
• QSAVE simply saves the current drawing. If the current drawing is unnamed (not yet saved) or it is read-only, then QSAVE behaves like the SAVEAS command and allows you to specify a file name and location.
  
  
• SAVE writes the contents of the editor to disk. It is like SAVEAS in that you get to specify the file name and location, but the currently loaded drawing remains unsaved and unchanged, even though DBMOD is reset to zero in the current drawing. Using the above example, if you are working in "A.DWG" and you run the SAVE command, and specify "B.DWG", then "B.DWG" is created from the contents of the editor, but "A.DWG" remains loaded, unchanged, and unsaved.
  
  The exception to this rule is that when the SAVE command is executed in an unnamed drawing, it behaves like the SAVEAS command and names the current drawing.
  

To confuse things even more, the pull-down menu entry titled SAVE, actually executes the QSAVE command. The SAVE command is only available at the command prompt.

Labels: AutoCAD, AutoCAD LT, Tips

---

PermaLink       Posted 10/21/2008 06:22:00 AM      Comments (0)

Some of you may remember the recording of an Autodesk "support call" featuring New York resident Harry Field - if not, have a listen.

Anyway, Harry turned up again at last years AU, (at the 3:39 mark) where he reveals he is from Brooklyn, and that AU2008 was his "50th" AU. Apparently the DWF thing worked out OK for him.

Labels: DWF, Field, Harry, mp3, support

---

PermaLink       Posted 10/15/2008 11:32:00 AM      Comments (0)

The Cadforum has published some tips regarding 'hidden commands' in DWG Trueview 2009. Using this, I created this list of all of the available commands. Some of the interesting ones that add a bit of capability to Trueview are...

• You can use RibbonClose and Menubar to remove the ribbon and restore the normal pull-down menus.
  
• You can use the Menu command to load any menu you want, even though it won't help all that much since commands not on this list will not work.
  
• The Xref/Image/ExternalReference command (they all do the same thing) opens the palette which is missing the right-click commands, but if you use the -XREF and -IMAGE commands, you can actually attach a drawing or image.
  
• The Dsettings command is available.
  
• The ClassicLayer command is available.

Here is the complete list.

3DCONFIG            
-3DCONFIG           
3DORBIT             
3DPAN               
3DPANTRANSPARENT
ABOUT
AI_EMPTYPRINC
ALLPLAY
AREA
BGPLOTRECEIVE
BROWSER
CAPTURETHUMBNAILS
CLASSICLAYER
CLOSE
CLOSEALL
COMMANDLINE
COMMANDLINEHIDE
DDPLOTSTAMP
DIST
DSETTINGS
+DSETTINGS
DWFCLIP
DWGCONVERT
DWGPROPS
EPLOTEXT
EXTERNALREFERENCES
EXTERNALREFERENCESCLOSE
GRID
HELP
HYPERLINKOPEN
ID
IMAGE
-IMAGE
LAYER
LAYERCLOSE
LAYFRZ
LAYOFF
LIST
MASSPROP
MENU
MENUBAR
MSPACE
NAVSMOTION
-NAVSMOTION
NAVSMOTIONCLOSE
NAVSWHEEL
NAVVCUBE
OPEN
OPTIONS
+OPTIONS
PAGESETUP
PAN
-PAN
PERSPECTIVE
PLOT
PLOTSTAMP
-PLOTSTAMP
PLOTTERMANAGER
PREVIEW
PROXYNOTICE
PSPACE
PUBLISH
-PUBLISH
+PUBLISH
PUBLISHTOWEB
QUIT
QVDRAWING
QVDRAWINGCLOSE
REDRAW
REDRAWALL
REGEN
REGENALL
RIBBON
RIBBONCLOSE
SEQUENCEPLAY
SETVAR
SHADEMODE
SNAP
STEPSIZE
STYLESMANAGER
SYSWINDOWS
TEXTSCR
THUMBSIZE
TOOLBAR
-TOOLBAR
VIEW
-VIEW
VIEWERPREFERENCES
-VIEWERPREFERENCES
VIEWGO
VIEWPLAY
VIEWPLOTDETAILS
VSCURRENT
XREF
-XREF
ZOOM

Labels: DWG Trueview, New Features, Notices, Tips

---

PermaLink       Posted 10/09/2008 06:48:00 AM      Comments (0)

Hurricane Ike hit the area one month ago this Friday/Saturday. We are about 70 miles inland and most of the area here is back to "normal", as far as work and school go, but the closer you get towards the coast, the longer it will be until things are back to "normal". Many people I know even around here didn't have power restored until 2+ weeks after the storm. There are still some schools closed. Galveston and eastward are pretty much still a wreck.

Photos do not fully convey the damage, but here are a few that try...

A common site up in this area even a month later is the mountains of what used to be living trees, still piled along neighborhood streets.

Interstate 45 just north of the Galveston causeway, the day after the storm.

Highway 146 a few miles inland.

Some people think all of Texas is like this...

...but we do have a few towns here also... Downtown Houston after the storm.

Labels: damage, Hurricane, storm

---

PermaLink       Posted 10/09/2008 06:27:00 AM      Comments (0)