My Favorite Place for Favorites

I am sure you are aware of the Favorites function in Autodesk products allowing you to quickly navigate to jobs by picking them off a "short" list.

 Buried in the tools drop down, is the "Add to Favorites" function.

This I hope you know already. You may not know that you can right click on the taskbar, select Toolbars, then pick New toolbar...

Browse to your Favorites folder to add it to the taskbar. Now you can access your favorites for more than just CAD.

My Top 15 Cool Things about AutoCAD 2015

Here is my top 15 Cool Things about AutoCAD 2015 in no particular order....

1. Pin drawings to the start page
2. Block galleries
3. + Layout tab with overflow stack
4. Lasso Select
5. Natural order layer sort
6. Cap lock and shift
7. Badges on cursors
8. Dimensions that don't snap to dimensions
9. Fillet plines
10. Print map data and keep it static
11. Point cloud cropping
12. Where's my tool?
13. Design feed - note to self
14. Performance reports
15. Command Preview

Get ready for 15 posts on where I will tell you why each of these are awesome!

Always an Asterisk

There are so many asterisks in life we tend to ignore them. If you have embraced file tabs in AutoCAD 2014 you may have missed the asterisks on the tabs and what they mean.

Well, if you see an asterisk on a tab, that drawing file has unsaved changes. If there isn't an asterisk, you are saved and good to go.

Now you know that.

360 Support for Apple Air

Who is very busy these days? Our friends at Autodesk. This just came off the presses last night.

AutoCAD 360 Optimized for iPad Air and iPad mini with Retina Display and AutoCAD 2014 for Mac is here!

Autodesk is excited to report that Autodesk AutoCAD 360 is the first professional software app that is optimized for the iPad Air & iPad mini with Retina Display. The new Apple-designed A7 chip with 64-bit desktop-class architecture provides designers and engineers a much improved experience out of the gate when working with AutoCAD 360.

“We are thrilled to be the first professional application to be ready for prime time iPad Air and iPad mini with Retina display. From a user’s perspective, navigating and editing large models will be snappier and much more fun,” said Jonathan Seroussi, director of AutoCAD web and mobile. “Users will see an immediate improvement in a number of functions such as rendering – render time is twice as fast in both navigation and editing.”

In addition to faster rendering, opening drawings is much faster, and selection is also twice as fast.

AutoCAD 360 is one of the most popular and widely used Autodesk mobile apps, with more than 5.5 million downloads on the App Store, more than 40 million uploaded drawings, and there are more than 1 million active monthly users on iOS alone.

AutoCAD 360, optimized for iPad Air and iPad mini with Retina display, will be available on the App Store.

On the new iPad, AutoCAD 360 opens files faster, and rendering and selection is also twice as fast.

AutoCAD 360’s compatibility with the new iPad is the latest evidence of the company’s ongoing commitment to development on Apple platforms. In addition to optimizing the user experience for the new iPad, Autodesk has already updated seven of its mobile apps to take advantage of iOS7. Users can now experience enhanced functionality with AutoCAD 360, BIM 360 Field, BIM 360 Glue, Sketchbook Mobile, 123D Creature Show, InfraWorks mobile and Pixlr on iOS7.

What are you Hiding?

Every users hits a point when AutoCAD displays a dialog box alerting you to something and you see the check box that says something to the effect of "Don't ask me again" and that box gets checked.

Many people have enjoyed the not being bugged afterward, but occasionally there is regret.

Here is how to erase that regret.

Go to the Systems tab of the Options dialog, and click the "Hidden Messages Settings" button.

This will open the expected dialog revealing everything you have chosen to hide. More importantly, you can choose to see the regretted dialog boxes of your choice, by checking the boxes next to them.

Oh Snap!

Today I got asked why every time a user pressed F3 the Osnap settings dialog appeared instead of the Osnaps toggling on and off. Clicking the osnap icon at the bottom of the drawing window produced the same result. The answer was revealed when I looked at the settings dialog.

No snaps were selected, so AutoCAD figured if you want to toggle on the snaps, you might want it to mean something by selecting a snap. Selecting any snap, returned the toggling tools back to normal.

I am naming this phenomena the Dan Maneuver, in honor of Dan's perplexing question. 

AutoCAD, when did you get smarter than us?

Limiting Layers

Layers are awesome. 

They are the key to everything visibility in AutoCAD. 

Because of that, people generally feel that for maximum control, you need maximum layers. Compound that with the fact that a drawing rarely stands alone. In fact most drawings have other drawings with maximum layers in them being referenced in. The result... (infinity)x(infinity) layers.

Well, not infinity, but in the example below, the user needs to navigate 233.

By selecting "Xref" in the left panel, then checking the "Invert filter" box, the user only has to navigate the 98 layers that are actually in the drawing being used. That helps!

CUI Tricks

You might not need this tricks everyday, but when you do.... boo ya!

Grey out a command....

 

 

Explode a block on insert....

 

Insert a Block Over and Over Again...

 Invoke a command but surpress the dialog...

Convert Exploded Attributes to Text

It doesn't happen often that I need this LISP, but when I have, it has been a life saver. 

In today's situation, we are linking a CAD file into a Revit project and the text would not come through. Looking at the CAD file we received, the text is all attributes that have been exploded.

This little gem saved the day. One other thing we end up doing is changing the font for the text in AutoCAD to Zurich LT BT. It looks like Simplex, but plots way better out of Revit.

I don't remember where this lisp came from and it isn't documented, but thank you so much stranger.


;;;
;;; Convert Attribute definitions to text
;;;

(defun c:A2T (/ eset1 blkcnt en enlist vl space)
  (setq eset1  (ssget (list (cons 0 "ATTDEF")))
blkcnt 0
  )

  (if eset1
    (while (<= blkcnt (- (sslength eset1) 1))
      (setq en   (ssname eset1 blkcnt)
   enlist (entget en)
   space  (cdr (assoc 67 enlist))
      )
      (setq vl (list
(cons 0 "TEXT")
(cons 100 "AcDbEntity")
(cons 100 "AcDbText")
(assoc 7 enlist)
(assoc 8 enlist)
(assoc 10 enlist)
(assoc 40 enlist)
(cond ((assoc 62 enlist))
      ((cons 62 256))
)
(cons 1 (cdr (assoc 2 enlist)))
(if (= space nil)
  (cons 67 0)
  (cons 67 space)
)
      )
      )
      (entdel en)
      (entmake vl)
      (setq blkcnt (1+ blkcnt))
    )
  )
)

Spell Checky Thingy

Two things;

1) When writing out the title to this article I noticed that "Thingy" is some how a word, and "Checky" is not.

B) When you are typing, that's a good time to notice that words are misspelled. AutoCAD has been providing this feedback for a while in the form of a red squiggly line under misspelled words.

Some how, this function can get turned off, and no matter how appropriate soooo Aweesome! is, it would be nice to know that it is not proper English.

Right click in the text editor and select "Editor Settings" to put a check mark by "Check Spelling". Or turn it off and be the free spirit you deserve to be.

Acaddoc.lsp Instead of Scripts

I had a situation today where the base point in a whole mess of drawings were all wrong causing an X-reference nightmare. You can create a script file and use something like script pro to run a series of commands on a batch of drawings. As an alternative I added a specific set of commands to acaddoc.lsp specific to the user who was doing the work. the result was that every drawing she opened afterwards would move the base point to the proper location before the command line even showed up. She open the 60+ drawing from Windows Explorer, then used the "Closeall" command to shut the whole thing down. Took just a few minutes, and I had time for extra donuts.


It's something to consider anytime you have something to do over and over again in a lot of drawings. Don't forget to turn off the command string when you are done though!

Squeezing the License Pool

Rumor has it the Autodesk is preparing to raise the price of licenses come July 1st. At the same time businesses are doing a little better than years past and everybody wants to do as much work as possible. So how do you squeeze the most value out of the licenses you do have?


Stand Alone vs. Networked

Autodesk licenses can be managed one of two ways. If a license is stand alone, it works where it is installed and that's it. A networked license can be accessed by any number of users one at a time. Licenses can be migrated from stand alone to networked and back (talk to your re-seller). Most all the advice that follows is based on a networked license.

Use Viewers

This is an easy idea that is sometimes hard to put into practice. If you have users that spend most of their time viewing or plotting, encourage them to use a viewer for those activities and not to pull from the license pool. You can download Autodesk DWG Trueview for DWG based products, and use the Revit Viewer found under all programs to access RVT files.

Leverage the Options File

If running networked licenses, the network license manager is a given. What you may not be aware of is that the system manager can create a text document to help control how licenses are used. That file is generally referred to as the options file. Use Notepad to create a a plain txt file then name it with the extension "OPT". Put it in the same folder as the "LIC" file and enjoy the benefits.


Benefit #1
Time out inactive users. Every office has people that automatically open an Autodesk product then promptly does nothing with it all day. The timeout option will reclaim inactive licenses and let others use them. The user of the reclaimed license rarely realizes they lost a license because when they become active in the Autodesk program again, they usually get a license back if one is available. If they a license is not available they will get a dialog telling them they need to save and exit. There is a 5 minute grace period to save and exit, last time I checked. The line below will time out user of the indicated version of Revit after 1200 seconds (20 minutes) of inactivity.


TIMEOUT #####REVSYP_F 1200

Benefit #2
Max out users. If you have some license hogs, limit them to how ever many licenses you want. The line below is holding John Doe to a maximum of 2 licenses.


MAX 2 #####REVSYP_F USER jdoe


Benefit #3
Reserve licenses. Sometimes its best to ensure that certain users always get licenses. Use the reserve option to hold a license for selected users.


RESERVE #####REVSYP_F USER jdoe


Combine options to suit your firm's needs either by individual or by groups. Find out more by checking Autodesk help page.

AutoCAD WS is in Your face!

The newest version of AutoCAD WS is out and apparently in your face!

Besides viewing 3D from a smart phone, you can also access built in GPS functionality and plot from mobile by sending DWFs and PDFs to any email address or compatible HP eprinter.


Shut the back door and download the mobile version immediately.

Rename all Files in Folders with Sub-Folders

I recently wanted to update version numbers on a ton of AutoCAD Blocks. I copied the old blocks in their current folder structure to a new location and needed to add a version number to the end of each DWG file. This folder structure treed out like a Mighty Oak and the idea of manually changing every file made me nauseous.


You can go old school and open up a DOS prompt by typing CMD in the search box in the start menu. To change every file in a folder quick by browsing to the folder in question and type out...


REN *.dwg *_V2.dwg


I gues you should some DOS commands like CD to change directories. To find out more, just type HELP in the DOS window. DOS will supply a whole list of helpful commands and what they do. Once you figure that part out, the command above works fine,one folder at a time.


To handle a folder structure like I had you'll need a DOS statement with more horse power. This baby below does the trick. Just go to the top folder in your structure and let her rip! It takes about two seconds to rename hundreds of files.


for /f "tokens=* delims= " %a in ('dir /b /ad /s') do rename "%a\*.dwg" "*_V2.dwg"


If you are a copy/paste type of person, you might be annoyed to find the DOS command prompt doesn't seem to want to copy or paste. Click the little icon at the left of the title bar, then click Edit, then Paste. To copy, do the same except pick Mark then highlight want you want to copy out of the DOS editor.

What do you know, that old school DOS really is good for something.

acaddoc.lsp and Who Gets What

When your firm different disciplines that all require different lisps to be loaded. Using the acaddoc.lsp to load only the lisps individual users require and nothing more can increase everyone's speed. To do this, I combined a group of lisps in to a FAS file and then load them only for the users that need them by name with an if statement. While we are at it, you can also add some lines to update fields, lock layers, and add a Mode Macro. Click on the image below to see an example.

The first portion of is the statup lisp.

• cmdecho=0 turns the command line reporting off, so what we are doing here is kind of a secret.
• Use command to perform anything that could be typed on the command line in AutoCAD.
• Setvar can be used to set any AutoCAD variable.
• cmdecho=1 turns the command line back on. 

The next portion is any standard lisps that all users will need. they are loaded no matter what. Princ is used to report on the command line that the All-Users FAS file has been loaded.

The last portions are used to load mechanical and electrical lisps based off the users login name. This is the login they use to login to their PC every day. The extra princ brings up a blank command line to start a drafting session.

Know Everything About AutoCAD

Mastering AutoCAD can take years. When trying to learn everything there is to know about AutoCAD, it is not hard to miss the ever increasing number of developments, add-ins, and third party packages that can take your designs to the next level. It’s no place for the technology challenged, but it is also an opportunity for the technology savvy with their eye on the latest developments. This article will explore how to stay on top of the latest developments in the CAD World.


Knowing What You Don’t Know
How does one stay informed on the latest and greatest developments in the CAD world? The internet is a great place to start but there are so many great sites and so much data out there, it can be hard to sift thought it all to actually find relevant information. Here are some suggestions.

• Take a half hour every work day just to research. It is so easy to be in fire fighting mode all the time. There never seems to be a shortage of things going wrong. If it means coming in early or staying a little late, turn off your phone and email, set a timer and explore the internet for something new.
• Join AUGI and follow the AutoCAD Forums. Ask questions or just mine the valuable information, tips and tricks, and the official AutoCAD Wish list found there.
• Whenever you find a blog or website that has good information, follow it. Some will send email alerts when there are new posts, most have RSS feeds.
• Use a RSS reader to bring your data together. I use Google Reader, but there are others. A good reader will allow you one stop shopping for the blogs and websites you visit most.
• Follow the authors and rock stars of the AutoCAD world. Do they tweet? If they do, I bet the information is timely.
• Use Google Alerts to receive an email when ever there is something of interest posted on the internet. Create alerts for things like; #D AutoCAD, AutoCAD Add-in, Lynn Allen, anything or one at all that interests you. These alerts can be sent to your email or straight to Google Reader.
• Add the Autodesk Press Room to your RSS reader or receive emails. Go to http://pressreleases.autodesk.com/ to find out what Autodesk is up to the second they release it.
• Autodesk Labs is constantly thinking of the unbelievable. Check out there web page at http://labs.autodesk.com.
• Talk to other people. Other people think differently than you, which means they solve problems in a way you may not have thought of. It also means they may know something that you do not. These people are in your office, and they are outside of your office. Go to the user group meetings (start one if you have to). These people are facing the same issues as you, looking for the same types of information as you, and they have these meeting just to share the solutions you need. The point is go out there and meet people.
• Get training. Your reseller likely offers great training and is in touch with the latest trends. CAD Camp is rolling out this month. Autodesk University has the greatest collection of AutoCAD geeks in the world.
• You Tube. Can’t beat it for just in time training. Autodesk has its own channel http://www.youtube.com/user/Autodesk, and users all over the globe are posting incredibly helpful videos of just about everything.

Draw Order by Layer - Autodesk Labs Plugin of the Month

If you are not trying to stay ahead of technology, you are already behind. One way to keep an eye on developments at Autodesk is to follow Autodesk Labs webpage. There is so much going on there it's scary. One of my favorite parts is the Plugin of the Month. Back in January they put this out.


"DrawOrder by Layer for AutoCAD
This plugin can be used to reorder AutoCAD objects by their layer. This is done by selecting the layer to reposition in the list, and pressing the move up or move down button to change its relative order."


It works with version 2007 and up, which makes it even cooler. Visit the Catalog page to download archived plugins, and happy hunting.

Register your 2012 and Get a New LIC file

So you got your new 2012 software, and you are ready to dig in. First things first, you need to register your software by going to Autodesk's Registration Site. If you have trouble with that site, you can fill out a Licensing Registration and Activation form.


For more information on licensing check out Autodesk's Help page.

Status Bar El-Gone-O

The Status Bar occupies the bottom 1/4" of your AutoCAD screen. I has tools to control object snaps, grids, object tracking, workspaces, and a ton of other things. If it ever disappears it can be brought back by typing "statusbar" on the command line and changing it back to "1".

Rotating Block Attributes Lisp

Here's a LISP routine I use all the time when I have a attributed block that has to be rotated. What happens is that the attribute rotates with it. To rotate the attribute back without rotating the block I use this LISP. I wish i could remember where I got, so I could credit the writer. Where ever you are... Thanks for the great LISP.