The capabilities of DWG TrueConvert were added to DWG TrueView starting with DTV2008. However, I have seen a few people still wanting to download the the old standalone DWG TrueConvert

In a previous post from April 2008, I had a link to DWG TrueConvert 2007. That URL actually pointed to DWG Trueconvert 2004. I don't know if Autodesk changed the target of that URL or what. Here are the current links as of today:

• DWG Trueconvert 2007 (33.1MB)
  
• DWG Trueconvert 2004 (18.9MB)
  

Labels: Add-on utilities, DWG Trueconvert, DWG Trueview, Notices, Tips

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PermaLink       Posted 11/14/2008 06:16:00 AM      Comments (0)

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

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

If you have a CUI file that you would like to convert back to an MNU file, download cuitomnu.vlx.
( alternative download URL )

Disclaimer: This routine works on some CUI files, but not all. I tried converting the stock OOTB "acad.cui" from AutoCAD 2007, and it failed. I tried converting a custom CUI and the Express Tools CUI from AutoCAD 2007, and it worked OK.

Labels: Add-on utilities, CUI, MNU, Notices, Tips

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PermaLink       Posted 9/29/2007 03:06:00 PM      Comments (2)

Firefox includes a search bar that allows you to search frequently accessed sites such as Google, Amazon, Wikipedia, etc.

You can add more search sites by visiting this page. However, what if you want to add a site that is not listed there?

Download this Firefox plugin (Add to Search Bar), then go to your favorite Autodesk KB search site (AutoCAD, Land Desktop, ABS, etc), and right click in the search box and choose "Add to Search Bar".

If you find a search site on which this plug in does not work, it's still possible to manually add a search site. More details here.

Labels: Add-on utilities, Other software, Tips

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PermaLink       Posted 8/17/2007 06:55:00 AM      Comments (0)

Here is a quick list of some of the free AutoCAD add-ons to which I frequently point people. Take a look, there may be something in here you can use. Be sure to read the download page for details or changes regarding the "free" policy.

DOSLib - A library of AutoLISP-callable functions that provides a variety of Windows operating system capabilities to AutoCAD.

Deter.vlx - Makes a copy of your drawing very difficult for others to edit.

Impview.zip - Imports named views from a second drawing.

Layerhtm.exe - Create a printable HTML table of your layer settings.

New-lin.lsp - Extract all linetype definitions from a drawing.

To-lin.lsp - Extract a single linetype definition from a drawing.

Getpat.lsp - Extract hatch pattern definitions from a drawing.

Tlen.lsp - Returns the total length from a selection of lines, polylines, arcs, etc.

Autovbaload.lsp - Define AutoCAD commands that autoload and run VBA macros.

Dlf.lsp - Delete named layer filters.

CopyPlineSeg.lsp - Copies a polyline segment

Dwgman.exe - Drawing Tabs for MDI

Labels: Add-on utilities, Notices

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PermaLink       Posted 7/30/2007 08:34:00 PM      Comments (1)

Do you have an application such as AutoCAD that is displaying any of the following symptoms?

• Starting up slower than normal?
• Running slower than normal?
• Long delays when you try to run a particular function, like save, open, or plot?

If you have already ruled out typical suspects such as a virus, spyware, malware, hardware limitations, etc., then there is a good chance that maybe the application is simply looking for something that isn't there.

Windows and windows applications like to search for things for what seems like en eternity. How can you find out what is going on behind the scenes?

I've been using FileMon for years to view file activity in real-time. Many times you can spot a missing file or path that your application is looking for.

FileMon was originally developed and released by Winternals Software, available on their website, www.sysinternals.com. However, in July 2006, Microsoft acquired Winternals Software and now FileMon and other similar tools are available at http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/default.mspx

FileMon (and most of the other "sysinternals" tools) are simple yet powerful, require no installation, very small in size, and best of all, free.

After you download the program (a tiny 280k download), unzip the contents. You can unzip the contents to a flash drive if you want it to be portable or you can simply unzip it into a local directory like C:\Program Files\FileMon . You will end up with 3 files. An executable, a help file, and the EULA.

Run the executable (filemon.exe) to get started. The first thing you will see is the "FileMon Filter" dialog. Here you can include, exclude, and highlight certain strings. For now, don't change anything, just press OK.

Now, depending on what applications you have running, you will see a variety of file activity going on. Even if it seems like your computer is idle, there may still be quite a lot of file activity happening. Things like virus checkers, media players, email applications, etc. may be working away even though they seem idle. Now that you have seen what this tool does, how can you use it to find out what is slowing you down?

Let's say your AutoCAD takes a long time to start up, and let's assume that the problem lies completely within AutoCAD to start with. So let's filter out all other file activity. Press Ctrl+L to open the filter dialog again. In the INCLUDE field, enter *acad*. This will instruct FileMon to ignore everything unless it contains "acad". If you have dual monitors, place FileMon on the opposite monitor from where AutoCAD opens. If you have a single monitor, position and size FileMon so that you can see the AutoCAD command line and then click the Options menu in FileMon and select "Always on Top". This will keep FileMon visible even when AutoCAD takes focus.

Now start up AutoCAD. You will see a line after line start scrolling by, probably faster than you can read it. Pay attention though, and when AutoCAD seems to freeze up, take a look at the FileMon screen and look at the last few lines, particularly the Path and Result columns. Is AutoCAD looking for a drive letter or network path that does not exist? Maybe it's looking for an add-on file that doesn't exist any more. If you don't see anything obvious, you may have to go back to the FileMon filter and remove the *acad* filter. Press the Defaults button to allow it to monitor ALL file activity. Maybe another application is slowing down AutoCAD by running some sort of process during AutoCAD startup.

FileMon has helped diagnose a problem where a particular DWG file just would not load in AutoCAD. It looked like AutoCAD was just locked up after loading about 20% of this drawing. FileMon revealed that the virus checker was busy scanning four, 18MB .SID files that were referenced in the DWG file. In another case, AutoCAD was taking almost a minute to open the MTEXT editor, but only the first time it was initiated. After using FileMon, it was determined that AutoCAD was finding over 300 fonts in the various search paths, and AutoCAD was reading each font once, the first time the MTEXT editor was launched.

Hopefully, you can use this tool to help diagnose a problem that you are having.

Labels: Add-on utilities, Tips

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PermaLink       Posted 7/10/2007 05:25:00 AM      Comments (7)

The Google Earth™ Publishing Extension is now available for AutoCAD and other products*. You can use this utility to publish your models directly into Google Earth™

This extension works with:

• AutoCAD 2007
• Architectural Desktop 2007
• Autodesk Civil 3D 2007
• Autodesk Map 3D 2007
• AutoCAD 2008
• AutoCAD Architectural 2008
• AutoCAD Civil 3D 2008

It's beta, it's unsupported, but it's "really cool"... so give it a try if you have an interest.

Google Earth™ Publishing Extension available here: http://labs.autodesk.com/

Google Earth™ available here: http://earth.google.com/

Labels: Add-on utilities, AutoCAD 2008, Tips

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PermaLink       Posted 5/30/2007 04:09:00 PM      Comments (0)

How do you "bind" a raster image in AutoCAD?

Raster images can only be referenced into AutoCAD drawings. If you send the drawing to someone else, you must send the image file also.

See the following Autodesk Tech Docs:
Sending images with a DWG file | Raster files in drawings

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So what's this article about? You probably came here because you want to "bind" a raster image. Here are a few ways:

1. Insert the image as an OLE object
   
   
   
   • In AutoCAD, run the INSERTOBJ command.
     
   • Choose "Create New", then choose "Bitmap Image".
     
   • Next, Windows Paintbrush should open up.
     
   • In Paintbrush, choose the Edit menu, then PasteFrom
     
   • Select your existing image file (JPG, BMP, PNG, TIF, etc.)
     
   • While still in Paintbrush, choose File, then Exit and Return to AutoCAD
     
   
   
2. Use the IMAGE BIND command in Dotsoft ToolPac. This command reads the image (either an image on disk, or one that exists in the drawing) and creates AutoCAD geometry to represent the image.
   
3. Use an standalone program such as Img2CAD. This program will accept most raster images as input, and then output one of the following: DXF, EMF, WMF or HPGL. I tested a 132,000,000 pixel TIFF file and converted it to a DXF. Depending on the options selected, the output DXF was anywhere from 52MB to 96MB in size. Quite large, but the program was able to perform the conversion in about a minute. Not bad for such a large image.
   

If you know about other options, let me know.

UPDATE:Raster Design 2008 allows you to embed (or bind) an IMAGE into a DWG. See this post for more details.

Labels: Add-on utilities, Raster Design, Tips

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PermaLink       Posted 4/26/2007 11:59:00 AM      Comments (7)

Since AutoCAD move to the MDI world back in 1999, users have wanted a fast way to switch drawings. Some of these include...

• Set the system variable TASKBAR to 1 and you get a button for each open drawing on the Windows taskbar. This is how R14 would have appeared when you had multiple "sessions" open.
• The Windows pull-down menu allows you to select an open drawing.
• Ctrl+Tab cycles through drawings pretty quickly if you are a keyboard junkie.

How about another layer of "tabs" like you have for switching layouts? 8 years later and it's still not built into AutoCAD, but there are several vendors out there with add-on's that provide this functionality. We use the "DWG Tabs/Manager". It's basic, but free and stable. I have tested some, but NOT all of these. This is not meant to be a rating grid, only a summary so that if you are looking for this type of tool, all the links are here.

If I have missed any, let me know.

Name	Version	Cost	Notes
DWG Tabs/Manager	2000-2007	FREE	Very basic, but stable.
DWGSTRIP	2000-2007	FREE
iDwgTab	2000-2007	FREE	Multiple files, no install program. Customizable.
AcadXTabs™	2000-2007	See Prices
DocBar	2000-2007	See Prices	Many features as seen on website.
Drawing Tabs	2007 Only	FREE	Limited features, no Vista support, no tooltips in Win2k.

Labels: Add-on utilities

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PermaLink       Posted 1/16/2007 08:22:00 AM      Comments (1)

Here are some links to utilities that allow you to print the contents of STB and CTB files.

Autodesk Tools - Select your AutoCAD version

2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2002

3rd party tool

All versions - noliturbare.com

Labels: Add-on utilities, Tips

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PermaLink       Posted 9/25/2006 09:00:00 AM      Comments (0)