tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-110137262012-01-09T11:15:37.300+01:00Different information, observations, news and comments to the popular CAD application by Autodesk - AutoCAD. Related information to AutoCAD LT, Inventor, Revit, Map and Architectural Desktop.AutoCADderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15129132847149199163noreply@blogger.comBlogger1921100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11013726.post-22603217337769490992011-04-04T17:32:00.002+02:002011-04-04T17:48:55.235+02:00

When I look at the new features of the recently released AutoCAD 2012, I can see less new functionality than usual - compared to previous releases. There are interesting new functions for 3D - e.g. the import of the CAD formats of non-Autodesk CAD software, the 3D model views, the new 3D editing functions - but for 2D drafting there are not so many enhancements.One notable 2D feature is the

AutoCADderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15129132847149199163noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11013726.post-14583630621458665882011-04-04T17:29:00.002+02:002011-04-04T17:32:07.852+02:00

My job is no longer directly related to AutoCAD so I will contribute to this blog less frequently. But I am still an AutoCAD fan so whenever I find something noteworthy about AutoCAD, I will try to post a blog message.

AutoCADderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15129132847149199163noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11013726.post-78776609893045850162010-11-18T22:28:00.002+01:002010-11-18T22:37:49.527+01:00

If you happen to render a series of large scenes, don't bother with snapping a new superfast hardware - Autodesk gives you its own hardware to perform this task.Just login to the Autodesk Neon web service and upload your DWG file containing the 3D model (any size, any complexity), materials, lights and cameras. Then choose the camera (view), the output resolution, quality and the resulting file

AutoCADderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15129132847149199163noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11013726.post-29626676192828665242010-09-24T08:22:00.004+02:002010-09-24T09:03:23.228+02:00

It is an interesting phenomenon this autumn. Even respectable software vendors jumps to be the first ones who release an AutoCAD clone for Mac, and better AutoCAD clone for Windows.There is the Dassault's DraftSight, CAD Schroer's STHENO/LX, Graebert's ARES, ProgeCAD is said to be in the works, and maybe others.The first strange thing in these feverish activities is the Mac platform. I don't know

AutoCADderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15129132847149199163noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11013726.post-46187610990873204012010-09-20T15:34:00.003+02:002010-09-20T15:39:39.948+02:00

Do you know the "no operation" commands in AutoCAD? What AutoCAD commands do you know that do nothing?The usual command used for NOP function is ID. But there are more, maybe better examples of these idle commands - e.g.:DELAY 0HYPERLINKSTOP*SCROLL

AutoCADderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15129132847149199163noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11013726.post-29564611150821490372010-09-20T15:02:00.002+02:002010-09-20T15:34:37.408+02:00

I can see a single positive thing on the whole AutoCAD for Mac story, which still makes little sense for me - AutoCAD WS. My reservations about putting effort in developing "another AutoCAD" instead of polishing the right one can be found in my previous posts.But there is one offspring of the Autodesk-Apple story that is very interesting and very promising for Autodesk's future. AutoCAD WS (I

AutoCADderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15129132847149199163noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11013726.post-9196956815387758552010-08-26T07:49:00.002+02:002010-08-26T07:53:41.678+02:00

The first Service Pack (aka "Update 1") was released for AutoCAD 2011 and AutoCAD LT 2011. Unlike the SP1 for AutoCAD 2010, no really serious bugs has been found-and-fixed now.You can download Update 1 in 32-bit and 64-bit version at:http://usa.autodesk.com/getdoc/id=DL15569492 (ACAD2011)andhttp://usa.autodesk.com/getdoc/id=DL15569738 (LT2011)This update will not work in AutoCAD Architecture,

AutoCADderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15129132847149199163noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11013726.post-61127564514881567092010-06-29T17:51:00.002+02:002010-06-29T17:54:17.444+02:00

The CAD Notes web site publishes an excellent list of interesting AutoCAD tips - 100 AutoCAD tips you should know.This list is combined from several tips and tricks sites, including the CAD Notes own tips.

AutoCADderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15129132847149199163noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11013726.post-65427620190810179942010-05-24T08:50:00.002+02:002010-05-24T08:54:33.230+02:00

Well, it looks real now (via ItaliaMac):(see also my older posts about AutoCAD for Mac)

AutoCADderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15129132847149199163noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11013726.post-54499978456290720642010-05-05T19:43:00.003+02:002010-05-05T19:52:32.047+02:00

In a follow-up to one of my older posts to AutoCAD 2009 I am updating the chart of the number of commands introduced in the individual versions of AutoCAD.Again I have used the updated AutoCAD commands database on the CADforum.cz and compared the number of new commands introduced in each version. In this chart you can see that the AutoCAD 2011 is one of the major releases. In fact the biggest

AutoCADderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15129132847149199163noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11013726.post-24303293905903315972010-03-25T10:42:00.005+01:002010-03-25T10:52:12.050+01:00

Today is the official release date for the new AutoCAD 2011 and AutoCAD LT 2011 (plus over 60 other Autodesk programs in the "2011" family).The main new features in AutoCAD 2011 are:3D NURBS surface Transparency level as layer/object propertyPoint clouds (up to 2 mld. points)Materials browser (common to all 2011 products)Inferred constraints in 2D drawingsHatch, polyline and spline editing by

AutoCADderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15129132847149199163noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11013726.post-59959772911589985492010-02-23T17:26:00.005+01:002010-02-23T17:40:58.711+01:00

Many users need to edit DWG and DXF files only occasionally and they don't want to learn and install (and buy) large software beasts like AutoCAD. Sometimes such users also use obscure software platforms like Linux or MacOS.For all these users there is now the "hosted" version of AutoCAD (OK, it is not called like this, yet) - the Autodesk Project Butterfly. Despite it does not support all types

AutoCADderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15129132847149199163noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11013726.post-60954376468201919972010-01-11T11:32:00.003+01:002010-01-11T11:41:40.687+01:00

After performing the MacOS survey (see AutoCAD for Apple Mac - please no) it looks like Autodesk really means to release a native version of AutoCAD for Mac.This is a blurry leaked screen capture of possible AutoCAD Mac version:It doesn't look like a fake but you never know with these leaked pictures...When they really detach the platform user interface from the core functionality, it shouldn't

AutoCADderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15129132847149199163noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11013726.post-84762257471893758282010-01-08T20:57:00.002+01:002010-01-08T21:18:29.281+01:00

A very useful utility appeared today on CAD Forum. The LTFly tool creates linetypes (dashed lines with texts) as you go.Imagine you need to create a series of lines labeled "LINE1" to "LINE9" or pipe lines labeled "D30" to "D300". You can label the lines separetely with masked texts or you can create manually the encoded .LIN files with linetype definitions and load the text linetypes in your

AutoCADderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15129132847149199163noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11013726.post-25394757245567794752010-01-08T20:42:00.003+01:002010-01-08T20:57:27.486+01:00

The lightweight drafting version of AutoCAD - Project Cooper - is now available for all users worldwide from the Autodesk Labs web.Cooper may be compared to AutoSketch or to Autodesk Project Draw. It understands DWG files (saves to DWG, reads its own DWGs). I had limited success reading in some DWG files from full AutoCAD. 3D drawings and drawings from vertical versions of AutoCAD are currently

AutoCADderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15129132847149199163noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11013726.post-84870456174045603022010-01-02T16:29:00.002+01:002010-01-02T16:32:59.830+01:00

Or as we say in Germany "Einen Guten Rutsch ins neue Jahr". I wish a happy and prosperous new year 2010 to all visitors of my blog.For mere 3 months the latest AutoCAD version number will be synchronized with the calendar year. In March we will get a new baby, AutoCAD 2011....

AutoCADderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15129132847149199163noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11013726.post-10339687742273787002009-11-26T08:10:00.002+01:002009-11-26T08:21:48.950+01:00

My collegue has found an interesting problem in one of the drawings he worked on (AutoCAD 2010). Every operation on this rather large file started with a delay (about 10 seconds) accompanied with a progressbar "Scanning the drawing".We have checked all usual suspects - purged the drawing, annotation scales, loaded applications, references - but nothing helped. It was strange that the same drawing

AutoCADderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15129132847149199163noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11013726.post-83921470588738407482009-11-10T07:47:00.003+01:002009-11-10T08:17:02.501+01:00

I admit, I like to experiment. So I was happy to test AutoCAD and other Autodesk software in the new Windows 7 operating system.AutoCAD (and even more Inventor) is known to be rather touchy to the version of operating system and even to some OS service packs. You cannot simply upgrade your operating system and rely on that your AutoCAD version will keep to be compatible. It probably won't.As our

AutoCADderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15129132847149199163noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11013726.post-45650773070327971512009-10-22T19:48:00.002+02:002009-10-22T19:59:26.575+02:00

All Autodesk software of the 2010 family got a facelift. Subscription customers can now download their "Subscription Advantage Pack".This extension adds several functions to your software. These functions differ from product to product. A small group of commands is added to AutoCAD 2010. Much larger set of functions is added to AutoCAD Civil 3D 2010, Inventor 2010 and Revit 2010. Architecture and

AutoCADderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15129132847149199163noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11013726.post-70495401590738606962009-10-22T19:33:00.002+02:002009-10-22T19:47:29.426+02:00

Project Cooper is a new Windows 2D CAD (or rather CADD - drafting) application by Autodesk. What is special about this application is that it is free.Cooper is a simple sketching application which can be also controlled through Windows 7 touchscreen. It works with the DWG file format so you can use it as a sketching tool for your AutoCAD, Revit or Inventor projects.Project Cooper is time bombed (

AutoCADderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15129132847149199163noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11013726.post-91520883799970200492009-09-16T16:12:00.000+02:002009-09-16T16:12:00.409+02:00

Do you live within 1,000 miles of the San Francisco Bay Area? And do you have 5Mbps or greater internet bandwidth?Most of us do not. But if you do, you can test drive the latest versions of AutoCAD 2010, Inventor 2010, Revit 2010 and Maya 2010 without installing. Autodesk now offers trial versions of some of its applications in a "hosted" mode - where clients access the applications in a "

AutoCADderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15129132847149199163noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11013726.post-84125349386050845482009-08-20T07:46:00.001+02:002009-08-20T07:46:00.186+02:00

I didn't know that some subtle changes in the shape of the UCS icon tell so much information.There is a nice overview of all possible shapes of the UCS icon on the CAD Forum blog:Read more on The many shapes of AutoCAD UCS icons

AutoCADderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15129132847149199163noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11013726.post-33942080604537680912009-08-19T22:47:00.000+02:002009-08-19T22:47:00.167+02:00

Autodesk has just released the first Service Pack - or "Update" how it is called now - for AutoCAD 2010 and AutoCAD LT 2010. It fixes a quite unusual number of problems including some potentially serious ones, so install it ASAP.The calculation bug seems to be fixed as well - see ill AutoCAD.Don't try to install this SP on non-vanilla versions of AutoCAD (Mechanical, Civil...).(via Between the

AutoCADderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15129132847149199163noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11013726.post-32841829033907706232009-08-17T23:43:00.001+02:002011-06-12T15:24:30.113+02:00

The Budweiser blog refers about an updated Xanadu tool "TRANS" that translates drawing texts to another language.The manual translation is quite standard, although more useful in most situations.What I like much more is the automatic translation mode of this tool. It integrates AutoCAD with the online tool "Google Translate". This integration is a quick way to automatically translate large

AutoCADderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15129132847149199163noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11013726.post-42830049706641789582009-08-09T08:55:00.001+02:002009-08-09T08:55:00.270+02:00

There are new reports of malicious code spreading through the spurious file ACAD.VLX. It seems to use the same mechanism as the older virus hidden in the ACAD.FAS file (both VLX and FAS are compiled LISP files).This LISP virus writes random texts to your DWG files and it tries to spread itself by modifying the automatially loaded files like acad2010.lsp or acad.mnl.Antivirus software should now

AutoCADderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15129132847149199163noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11013726.post-4051379157405629772009-08-07T18:49:00.002+02:002009-08-07T18:53:47.556+02:00

There is a new Autodesk web site for us "AutoCADders" - AutoCAD Exchange - under the easy to remember address autocad.autodesk.com .AutoCAD Exchange puts together tips, videos, interviews with AutoCAD users, blog postings, comics and other useful resources. PR: wait... I: wait... L: wait... LD: wait... I: wait...wait... Rank: wait... Traffic: wait... Price: wait... C: wait...

AutoCADderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15129132847149199163noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11013726.post-35774411348443138882009-07-27T08:04:00.004+02:002011-06-12T15:28:19.870+02:00

One of the tools I use to convince my collegues (trying to replace AutoCAD with IntelliCAD or ProgeCAD) about the incompatibilities of these AutoCAD clones is the BUDWEISER.DWG test by CAD Studio. This AutoCAD drawing contains many tests which clearly prove that AutoCAD clones are not compatible with the original DWG format.As a CAD manager, I refuse to solve future problems resulting from

AutoCADderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15129132847149199163noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11013726.post-42595017725215284342009-07-21T17:54:00.003+02:002009-07-21T18:18:45.843+02:00

I was (and I still am) against developing a separate Mac version of AutoCAD.It seems that the risk of developing a Mac version is now over. Autodesk has found a painless method of having a "Mac version" of AutoCAD and not having to invest in the development - running it in the Windows dual-boot tool "Apple Boot Camp" shipped with Mac OS X. See the Autodesk Labs posting: Autodesk announces

AutoCADderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15129132847149199163noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11013726.post-46369705989076510992009-06-10T08:21:00.003+02:002009-06-10T08:38:17.752+02:00

This is to apologize for not updating this blog for a couple of weeks and leaving your valuable comments unmoderated (hidden). I was ill and now I am recovering. But it is a lot better now.It seems that I am not alone in my illness - AutoCAD has a light headache as well. It errs in one of the basic operations any engineering software should perform - integer arithmetic.Try yourself - open the

AutoCADderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15129132847149199163noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11013726.post-84966661182410457272009-05-04T08:27:00.001+02:002009-05-04T08:27:00.350+02:00

When you say "AutoCAD", most people think about the only Autodesk software they know - the basic plain AutoCAD. Quite a lot of people do know also the most popular mechanical and architectural flavors - "AutoCAD Mechanical" and "AutoCAD Architecture". GIS experts may also know "AutoCAD Map 3D". But in fact this patisserie offers much more flavors (including a couple of exotic ones) you can

AutoCADderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15129132847149199163noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11013726.post-82373298071941872252009-04-02T11:45:00.000+02:002009-04-02T11:45:01.014+02:00

I have somehow hoped that this an April Fool's joke only - Shaan Hurley has published a AutoCAD & Mac OSX Survey on April 1st.Unfortunately it seems to be meant seriously. Why unfortunately? Well, I am sure that Mac users will be happy about some AutoCAD 2011 for Mac but what about the 99% percent of the rest of us? With any software development, the pace of the development depends on the

AutoCADderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15129132847149199163noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11013726.post-35027677260455868362009-03-30T16:24:00.001+02:002009-03-30T16:24:00.184+02:00

If you need a list of the new commands and variables introduced in AutoCAD 2010, there is a README file displayed at the end of the AutoCAD installation. Traditionally, this Readme doesn't list all of the new commands nor variables. And traditionally, a more complete list can be found on Hyperpics and CAD Forum (and variables).This time the Readme doesn't list any obsoleted commands in version

AutoCADderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15129132847149199163noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11013726.post-89397541075946887282009-03-26T11:17:00.004+01:002009-03-26T11:35:46.693+01:00

A good book writer (author) has many readers - and similarly a CAD designer (good designer) has many consumers (viewers) for his CAD data.That's why it is important to have applications capable of reliable viewing of CAD formats. Autodesk has two of them, both of them free, and both were just released in a new "2010" version.Autodesk DWG TrueView 2010 is a free DWG viewer. It is basically a cut

AutoCADderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15129132847149199163noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11013726.post-17977074322089599202009-03-24T16:13:00.003+01:002009-03-24T16:29:27.303+01:00

The 24th version of AutoCAD - AutoCAD 2010 - was released today, March 24th.There are lots of smaller enhancements and a couple of big ones in ACAD 2010. The biggest are 1) 3D modeling and 2) parametrics.The 3D modeling capabilities now available in AutoCAD are better (and easier to use) than 3D tools of many specialized "3D" CAD software applications, including the existing versions of

AutoCADderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15129132847149199163noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11013726.post-88345311020016654392009-02-11T21:36:00.002+01:002009-02-11T21:46:55.461+01:00

The new AutoCAD 2010 should use the SSE2 extended instruction set in modern CPUs. This instruction set allows hardware-assisted (read: faster) computations of some mathematical functions and transformations which are quite frequent in CAD applications. Software source-code compilers have usually a simple switch for support of the SSE2 set.The SSE2 set is supported in Pentium 4, AMD Athlon 64, AMD

AutoCADderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15129132847149199163noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11013726.post-43558851080547872182009-02-06T07:45:00.006+01:002009-02-06T08:16:55.902+01:00

Yesterday, Autodesk has revealed the secrets of its new flagship product - AutoCAD 2010.Well, some of the secrets were already known or were expected - see e.g. my posts about the new DWG format, about dynamic blocks, or constraints, plus the usual common practice of embedding the Extensions (Bonus Packs) from the previous version. But this doesn't lessen the fact that the new AutoCAD 2010 (aka "

AutoCADderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15129132847149199163noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11013726.post-85872017260588084762009-01-14T23:47:00.002+01:002009-01-14T23:56:45.151+01:00

Parametric constraints for AutoCAD geometry is something that has been discussed for several releases already. There were even some beta tests when AutoCAD 2009 was to be released last year. Remnants of these tests has been inadverently left in the code of the released version - this is why AutoCAD 2009 knows the variables CONSTRAINTRELAX and CONSTRAINTSOLVEMODE (with no apparent functionality -

AutoCADderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15129132847149199163noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11013726.post-19124134703299310542009-01-06T10:03:00.002+01:002009-01-06T10:07:28.541+01:00

I have recently updated some of the CAD links in the left column. The CAD Panacea blog now runs on a new domain. And there is a new blog for CAD uzers, especially AutoCAD and Revit users - CADuzer.com (looks promising).

AutoCADderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15129132847149199163noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11013726.post-91929980915879980452008-12-23T12:56:00.005+01:002011-06-12T15:29:27.329+02:00

Most of you have probably come across a drawing where annotations and dimensions were randomly split in multiple layers with cryptic names.AutoCAD should have a mechanism to force users putting right objects into the right layers. Otherwise it can be very difficult to manage drawing information and edit such DWG drawings.If you use an add-on application, it probably employs some standards for

AutoCADderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15129132847149199163noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11013726.post-76170883934317916012008-11-18T21:10:00.003+01:002008-11-18T21:19:52.229+01:00

It is hard to believe but AutoCAD LT has about 580 less commands and variables than the full version. Some of the missing commands are not important but many of them are - so make sure you know the limitations before you choose LT over AutoCAD Mechanical, Architectural, MEP or Map for simple price reasons.See LT - missing commands PR: wait... I: wait... L: wait... LD: wait... I: wait...wait... C:

AutoCADderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15129132847149199163noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11013726.post-69381881854063807082008-11-14T23:40:00.003+01:002008-11-14T23:54:51.601+01:00

Yes, I know. You think AutoCAD 2009 doesn't need to learn PDF - it is already there. But the results of its PDF printing/publishing were less than perfect in many situations.With the release of "AutoCAD 2009 Subscription Bonus Pack 2" AutoCAD is much more fluent in PDF. This bonus pack (available to subscription users only, and - strange enough - only for the plain AutoCAD) adds new functionality

AutoCADderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15129132847149199163noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11013726.post-33851637503732965812008-11-01T17:30:00.002+01:002008-11-01T17:34:24.652+01:00

5 ways to insert the time/date stamp into AutoCAD drawings (I don't count the first trivial method). An interesting posting on www.cadforum.cz:Inserting and updating time and date in an AutoCAD drawing PR: wait... I: wait... L: wait... LD: wait... I: wait...wait... C: wait... SD: wait...

AutoCADderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15129132847149199163noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11013726.post-59911434781623019532008-11-01T16:45:00.002+01:002008-11-01T17:29:47.054+01:00

Most AutoCAD users use DesignCenter to transfer layers and styles from another drawing to their current drawing. But when you receive a foreign DWG file an you want to populate it with your standard layers, text styles, dim styles, etc., you can do this quickly with just the INSERT command.The trick is in an early, premature cancel of the insertion command (abrogare praecox). Open the foreign DWG

AutoCADderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15129132847149199163noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11013726.post-35865869810328122392008-10-08T10:30:00.002+02:002008-10-08T10:36:20.359+02:00

DWG TrueView is the official (and free) viewer for DWG files. It is known that TrueView is based on full AutoCAD (and also its size tells so). Unlike AutoCAD, DWG TrueView has no command line to enter commands and its set of menu commands is very limited - just the functions you need for viewing, measuring and plotting.CAD Forum has published today a very interesting tip how you can unlock more

AutoCADderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15129132847149199163noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11013726.post-31729789541152469612008-09-25T06:10:00.003+02:002008-09-25T06:19:30.933+02:00

Pretty short after the Service Pack 1 ("Update 1") for AutoCAD 2009, Autodesk has released a new SP - Service Pack 2.SP2 ("Update 2" as Autodesk now calls it) contains all fixes from SP1 and adds new in the areas of speed (fixes slow open of some DWGs), render (out-of-memory), dynamic blocks and others.What's confusing is the naming scheme - not only there is a mix of "Service Pack" and "Update"

AutoCADderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15129132847149199163noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11013726.post-70520176191770855192008-09-11T10:34:00.007+02:002008-12-23T13:19:22.900+01:00

Back from holidays, I have found fragments of information collecting on the new features of the upcoming new version of AutoCAD.Autodesk organizes user meetings in the US where it seeks feedback from existing AutoCAD users. Concluding from this and similar information we can estimate the new functions and features of the "AutoCAD X", the new version which will be probably called "AutoCAD 2010".

AutoCADderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15129132847149199163noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11013726.post-75014646327494241452008-07-30T17:25:00.002+02:002008-07-30T17:32:48.410+02:00

There are two new online resources of AutoCAD system variables (up to version 2009) - on the Hyperpics web and on the CADforum web.Both lists use a different presentation style, each has a little different number of variables covered so if you really hunt some unusual variable, search both these lists.As a user of German versions of AutoCAD, I like the list of international AutoCAD command names

AutoCADderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15129132847149199163noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11013726.post-27877668347730501272008-07-17T08:18:00.002+02:002008-07-17T08:25:22.919+02:00

The first Service Pack for AutoCAD 2009 and AutoCAD LT 2009 is now available on www.autodesk.com/autocad-updatesThere are no really critical bug fixes in it - at least for me. The most important fix seems to be the potential drawing corruption problem on PURGE.What is not clear is whether all the hotfixes which were published before this SP1 are already included in it. And the main confusion

AutoCADderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15129132847149199163noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11013726.post-85415632380557726722008-07-16T07:33:00.003+02:002008-07-16T08:02:03.738+02:00

Now, after a 3 month experience, I can express my feelings about the enhanced user interface in AutoCAD 2009 - the Ribbon. Almost all users I manage have similar experience (although there are some fans of the Ribbon in our office).Simply I do not like it. It is not hatred but I still have not learned to live with it. I must admit it is much better than the Ribbon in Microsoft Office 2007. It is

AutoCADderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15129132847149199163noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11013726.post-41322838912497684212008-06-03T17:33:00.004+02:002008-06-03T17:47:58.266+02:00

IMSI/Design has released an AutoCAD add-on for those who need a parametric 2D sketching tool with associative geometric and dimensional constraints -- IDX Variable Constraint System (VCS).You can imagine VCS as a parametric sketch environment similar to e.g. Inventor. By changing a single parameter you can quickly change the geometry of a whole diagram.While this can be interesting for some

AutoCADderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15129132847149199163noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11013726.post-31156211825907309182008-05-14T22:46:00.002+02:002008-05-14T22:49:34.864+02:00

CAD Forum alerts to a potential problem in names of action macros. See "Be careful when naming AutoCAD action macros".Do not give AutoCAD users too much freedom...

AutoCADderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15129132847149199163noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11013726.post-46726395222915588942008-05-14T22:38:00.002+02:002008-05-14T22:46:11.974+02:00

Another try to replace AutoCAD - The Prophecy. I am very skeptical about this. There were lots of commercial attempts and some half-hearted open source attempts to make this, but all failed. In my opinion the CAD market does not generate enough passion to replace AutoCAD. The original product is too good and too cheap (speaking about LT). Both commercial development and enthusiasts' efforts make

AutoCADderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15129132847149199163noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11013726.post-86218749544748435332008-05-07T09:34:00.003+02:002008-05-07T09:48:16.588+02:00

We have received an archive of old paper drawings scanned to a .JP2 format. It took us some time to find out it is a "JPEG 2000" raster format but unfortunately AutoCAD does not seem to support this type of images. We were prepared to convert the files to another, AutoCAD-supported format but then I have found a neat trick.If you install the free Raster Design Object Enabler for AutoCAD, it not

AutoCADderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15129132847149199163noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11013726.post-12178673997416040802008-04-16T10:57:00.009+02:002008-04-16T22:11:02.852+02:00

Is AutoCAD 2009 a "major" or "minor" version?There are discussions whether AutoCAD 2000i, 2005 or 2009 are really full new versions or just smaller updates, whether the odd versions are better or worse than the even ones (a popular urban legend).I have used the AutoCAD commands database on the CADforum web site to compare the number of new commands introduced in the individual AutoCAD versions.

AutoCADderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15129132847149199163noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11013726.post-49253118835722883732008-04-04T16:37:00.002+02:002008-04-04T16:48:45.641+02:00

The AutoCAD product line manager at Autodesk - Eric Stover - said in the Techworld interview that:the new DWG format is due in 2009 with the planned release of AutoCAD 2010So we can expect a DWG format change in a year or so (in AutoCAD 2010). This complies with Autodesk plans to change the DWG file format every 3 releases (= every 3 years).The interview itself is about the problems some AutoCAD

AutoCADderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15129132847149199163noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11013726.post-72761905135567268082008-04-03T12:55:00.003+02:002008-04-03T13:11:58.420+02:00

The DATAEXTRACTION command is maybe the most underestimated command (wizard) in AutoCAD. It can do miracles if you want to analyze, schedule and export data from your drawing.This CAD Forum tip mentions using the Data Extraction wizard for exoprting drawing text but the possibilities of this command are much broader. It is like the ATTEXT and EATTEXT commands on steroids. You can schedule not

AutoCADderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15129132847149199163noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11013726.post-54397070016733704462008-03-26T09:37:00.003+01:002008-06-03T17:31:35.333+02:00

It is March again. So there must be a new AutoCAD version again... It is amazing how well Autodesk keeps the promised yearly release cycle - with all the delays we can see e.g. at Microsoft. The subscription-paying customers are probably worth keeping the promise. And with the 2009 versions, it seems that these customers under subscription will get more for their money (the Impression software,

AutoCADderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15129132847149199163noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11013726.post-12390275159591229912008-02-21T11:29:00.002+01:002008-02-21T11:43:49.735+01:00

It seems that in the new 2009-version products Autodesk will get rid of some limitations which were restraining users with the hope of selling higher products.E.g. the free DWG viewer Autodesk DWG TrueView 2009 now adds the measure tool allowing to measure distances and areas in DWG drawings. This capability was previously limited to the DWF viewer (Design Review) only - so you had to convert

AutoCADderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15129132847149199163noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11013726.post-67362165154400534672008-02-17T13:18:00.006+01:002008-02-17T14:48:29.213+01:00

Autodesk has announced the new version of its flagship product - AutoCAD 2009. It is clear that Autodesk's main focus is on the development of its 3D applications like Inventor, Revit or Civil 3D. AutoCAD 2009 seems to be one of the minor upgrades although the visible changes are major.AutoCAD 2009 is the version where the long and well known pull-down menus are no longer the primary user

AutoCADderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15129132847149199163noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11013726.post-61834456850183681822008-01-30T22:02:00.000+01:002008-01-30T22:07:40.550+01:00

Shaan Hurley's Between the Lines blog writes about the AutoCAD command and system variable map. It is interesting that the number of commands has not changed since AutoCAD R12 - of course many new commands were introduced but some old ones are now obsolete.Read the post and discussion at:For AutoCAD Geeks - Command and System Variables Map and Trivia

AutoCADderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15129132847149199163noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11013726.post-77555635822694397812008-01-16T11:15:00.002+01:002011-06-12T15:33:11.262+02:00

Not only architects and surveyors need to create digital terrain models (DTM). The CAD users I take care of had many times a list of 3D points or contours and they needed to make a 3D model (a surface) from these. Of course there are special tools like Civil 3D or AutoCAD Architecture which can do this or special add-on applications, but sometimes you just need a quick and dirty way to get a 3D

AutoCADderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15129132847149199163noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11013726.post-27421351688709573522008-01-13T16:05:00.000+01:002008-01-13T16:15:32.786+01:00

The Autodesk Lab project - "Project Draw" - has matured to a quite usable tool now. It is a complete diagramming (CADD) application running completely in your internet browser. Think of Actrix (former Autodesk diagramming software) or Vision running inside a web page.So you don't need to install any software, not even an ActiveX object, to draw and edit diagrams, using symbol libraries, smart

AutoCADderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15129132847149199163noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11013726.post-39333421058669704772008-01-13T15:56:00.000+01:002008-01-13T16:04:57.313+01:00

I have seen a short demo of AutoCAD 2009. All the new functions in version 2009 are probably still secret but there is one detail I will like for sure - as a user of the Bubble utility for AutoCAD.Similar to Bubble, if you hoover your cursor above an entity, a small bubble (tooltip) is displayed with the relevant data about this entity. So you can see at a glance what type of entity it is, what

AutoCADderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15129132847149199163noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11013726.post-47676864659867639792007-12-18T21:49:00.000+01:002007-12-18T21:58:55.788+01:00

Did you know that there is a benchmark program hidden in your AutoCAD? If you want to compare the performance of different graphics cards, computers or different performance settings, you can simply load and execute the GSTEST.ARX benchmark stored in your AutoCAD directory.It is present not only in AutoCAD 2008 - I have succeeded to track it back to the AutoCAD version 2004 (maybe it was also in

AutoCADderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15129132847149199163noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11013726.post-42144439733236922562007-12-18T21:43:00.000+01:002007-12-18T21:49:05.359+01:00

In February (AutoCAD speaks Microstationish) I have complained about the limited support of the DGN file format in AutoCAD 2008 (V8 only). Autodesk has probably heared that also from other users. Both DGN V8 and the older DGN V7 Microstation formats will be probably supported in the new AutoCAD 2009.It is good that the file format compatibility problems are being solved by CAD software vendors.

AutoCADderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15129132847149199163noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11013726.post-38607062826898970212007-12-06T18:49:00.000+01:002007-12-06T19:05:37.759+01:00

Autodesk has published a "white paper" about using its current applications in Windows Vista.Almost all current versions of Autodesk software are compatible with Windows Vista and almost all run in Vista at the same performance level as in Windows XP.The white paper mentions two exceptions - but in the opposite way you would expect after reading all those skeptical articles about Vista.Autodesk

AutoCADderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15129132847149199163noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11013726.post-74986771214841859902007-11-27T09:29:00.000+01:002007-11-27T09:45:05.655+01:00

If you use AutoCAD 2008, you are probably suffering the same problem - attached xrefs bring in their annotation scale lists and the scale list in the main drawing grows ad infinitum. There can be thousands of nested scales named "XREF_XREF_XREF....".Such scale lists confuse users (see the SCALELISTEDIT command) and can substantially slow down Open and Xref operations on such infected DWG files.

AutoCADderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15129132847149199163noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11013726.post-38187786784027249342007-11-27T09:09:00.000+01:002007-11-27T09:28:32.630+01:00

Not only AutoCAD 2008 or 2009, but still more CAD applications are released in the native 64-bit versions. This brings - first of all - much bigger directly addressable memory (RAM). So you can process much larger datasets without being slowed down by OS memory limits.As you probably know, applications running in the 32-bit Windows versions can address only 2GB (3GB in special modes) of mmory.

AutoCADderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15129132847149199163noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11013726.post-38582757834532932612007-11-08T18:57:00.000+01:002007-11-08T19:08:33.748+01:00

Interesting - the DUMPMEMALLOC command can set CPU affinity for AutoCAD 2008. I have only a dualcore system to try it on but it seems to really work. The Task manager graph goes from parallel performance load to the left core (#0) load only.Read on CAD Forum - I recommend subscribing to their RSS feed.

AutoCADderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15129132847149199163noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11013726.post-12411070477701703662007-11-01T12:04:00.000+01:002007-11-01T12:28:04.913+01:00

Searching for the german translation of an AutoCAD command I have found a very nice online resource of AutoCAD command names. This dictionary seems to contain all AutoCAD commands including Express Tools, in English, German, Italian, French and other languages.The command list is hidden on the CAD Forum web, in its Tips section - AutoCAD commands. The command lookup resembles the CommandComplete

AutoCADderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15129132847149199163noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11013726.post-57136183078045636272007-10-29T20:36:00.000+01:002007-10-29T21:02:46.197+01:00

Recently we have received a couple of drawings with improperly displayed hatches. The hatches were scattered to small lines. Some computers displayed the drawings properly, some were scattered, some were missing the hatches completely.After a long investigation we have found two independent sources of the problem.The first one was the MaxHatch limit - on some computers it was set too low so the

AutoCADderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15129132847149199163noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11013726.post-79995978010208914732007-10-12T22:03:00.000+02:002007-10-12T22:16:03.479+02:00

My AutoCAD users wanted to have an automatically updated list of Xrefs (xref names) in the main drawing. After some research I have found two methods for doing this:The RTEXT tool from Express Tools - in RTEXT use a predefined Diesel expression for xref list, e.g. $(xrefs,3) or $(xrefs,27,Xref name: )Automatic text fields - in the main drawing insert a textfield (e.g. with FIELD), select the

AutoCADderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15129132847149199163noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11013726.post-15700468316489515782007-10-09T20:50:00.000+02:002007-10-09T21:15:23.324+02:00

In many drawings, AutoCAD users need to enter texts with special characters like mathematic symbols, letters from greek alphabet, cyrillic, punctuation characters, indices, or just accented characters from other languages.With the Unicode support in Windows and AutoCAD it is quite easy to enter such characters - either using Windows language support for that particular language (and a local

AutoCADderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15129132847149199163noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11013726.post-54525491199006716242007-09-18T11:25:00.000+02:002007-09-18T11:38:45.319+02:00

The current issue of Ralph Grabowski's upFront.eZine informs about the Autodesk's Grand Unification Plan aiming to go into deeper unification of the user interfaces and file formats in Autodesk software applications.So maybe the new versions (2009?) of AutoCAD, Inventor or 3ds max will share a similar user interface (which may or may be not good) and it probably will be easier to share their data

AutoCADderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15129132847149199163noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11013726.post-79951060505219778042007-08-30T09:57:00.000+02:002007-08-30T10:07:04.172+02:00

Autodesk has released SP1 for AutoCAD 2008 and LT 2008 (and AutoCAD from Revit Suites). As usual, it fixes the main problems found after the initial release and includes hotfixes which have been released up to now.For me, it fixes only two painpoints (I was not affected by any other problem fixed in SP1) - linetypes after zoom and multiple AutoCAD sessions after double-clicking DWG files. The

AutoCADderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15129132847149199163noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11013726.post-91828281880931423232007-08-25T22:01:00.000+02:002007-08-25T22:24:07.040+02:00

I usually don't use AutoCAD menus for the most frequent commands. Instead I type the command names or their aliases on commandline.The TAB autocomplete key is a great timesaver for this. But sometimes you cannot remember how the command or variable name starts - and TAB won't help you in such case.Now Autodesk Labs has released a small new utility - CommandComplete. It displays a small popup

AutoCADderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15129132847149199163noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11013726.post-40204133735341377682007-08-09T21:37:00.001+02:002011-06-12T15:31:29.371+02:00

The BUDWEISER DWG compatibility benchmark by CAD Studio is a well-known test drawing I already wrote about.Now there is a new "2008" version of this test proving that all the AutoCAD clones based on the ODA DWG libraries and claiming "DWG-compatibility" are still not able to read the AutoCAD DWG format correctly. I have personally very bad experience with DWG files written from Microstation,

AutoCADderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15129132847149199163noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11013726.post-78420221488648519972007-08-03T09:26:00.000+02:002007-08-03T09:48:02.089+02:00

The people in Autodesk Labs are working hard. Yesterday they have released a new version of the web-based DWF viewer - Freewheel (see also my older posts 1 and 2). Now you can not only view your 2D and 3D DWF files anywhere on the Internet, but you can also redline and share the markup sessions with your customers and collegues.Another (even better) enhancement to the Freewheel service is the

AutoCADderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15129132847149199163noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11013726.post-72793417037887635762007-07-24T08:00:00.000+02:002007-07-24T08:11:25.568+02:00

Shaan Hurley writes about the beta release of Service Pack 1 for AutoCAD 2008 and AutoCAD LT 2008. The fixes included in this Service Pack are coming mostly from the Customer Error Reports (CER) generated in AutoCAD. That's why it is important to really send these reports when you encounter a problem in your AutoCAD.Service Pack 1 fixes problems in the following areas:.NET API 2D Display 3D

AutoCADderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15129132847149199163noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11013726.post-47965408901117687602007-07-10T20:20:00.000+02:002007-07-12T22:39:09.816+02:00

You may have noticed that - the DWG drawings saved from AutoCAD 2008 are a bit larger than the same drawings saved from AutoCAD 2007 (the format is the same).One of the reasons is probably the longer list of variables (new system variables in A2008) which are saved in the drawing. Another reason which in my opinion influences the file size much more is the larger thumbnail preview image saved in

AutoCADderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15129132847149199163noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11013726.post-38271110679464776752007-06-19T21:42:00.000+02:002007-06-19T22:00:29.226+02:00

I am not an expert in 3ds max and I have to admit I cannot make a convincing visualization or animation. But - like most of us - I like the nice photorealistic pictures coming from 3D AutoCAD scenes, from 3ds max, VIZ, Inventor or Revit. To make these pictures even nicer and more convincing, there are lots of add-on effect plugins available for 3ds max and VIZ. You can find a list e.g. on

AutoCADderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15129132847149199163noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11013726.post-79728699449975501842007-06-08T22:46:00.000+02:002007-06-08T23:03:48.304+02:00

Autodesk Design Review is in the first place a viewing and markup tool for DWF, DWFx and DWG files. But with the DGN plugin, you can simply use it to view also DGN v8 files. We have recently received a bunch of DGN files for a project - this tool allows us to measure basic dimensions before we further process or convert such files.When using Design Review for DGN files, don't forget to open the

AutoCADderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15129132847149199163noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11013726.post-82887143601506083332007-05-31T11:01:00.000+02:002007-05-31T11:22:41.174+02:00

AutoCAD is able to export KML/KMZ models to Google Earth already for some time (since version 2007 and its GE Extension). The recently released new version of the Google Earth Extension for AutoCAD 2008 adds very interesting functions to the previous plain PublishKML command.One of the new functions allows to work with the "4th dimension" - you can add timespan attributes to your published models

AutoCADderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15129132847149199163noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11013726.post-52617052760990743832007-05-22T15:50:00.000+02:002007-05-22T21:32:58.322+02:00

Studying the DXF Reference can reveal some interesting features built in AutoCAD which are not available in the common user interface (in the standard menu/dialog UI).Did you e.g. know that you can set raster images to display only in aligned plan views? If you have a raster image representing a underlay scale, reference, logo, etc. - maybe it makes no sense to have it displayed in 3D views,

AutoCADderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15129132847149199163noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11013726.post-42674680352451229062007-05-20T12:48:00.000+02:002007-05-20T12:57:17.113+02:00

Many users transferring customizations from older AutoCAD LT versions have problems with the changed file names in AutoCAD LT 2007 and LT 2008. Please note that your hatch patterns, linetypes, command aliases are no longer in the ACLT.PAT, ACLT.LIN, ACLT.PGP files (or the ISO-equivalents) but rather in the ACADLT.PAT, ACADLT.LIN, ACADLT.PGP files (or the ISO-equivalents). So the base name for the

AutoCADderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15129132847149199163noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11013726.post-9151953233546294292007-05-13T20:15:00.000+02:002007-05-13T20:40:31.448+02:00

Many people believe that Windows Vista makes more RAM available for your CAD programs. But if you compare the most common versions of Windows XP and Windows Vista, nothing has changed in terms of memory limits. The 32-bit version of Windows XP and Vista 32-bit share the same application memory limit of 2GB (or 3GB in special modes).If you need more memory - what you always need when working with

AutoCADderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15129132847149199163noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11013726.post-33569396405189962742007-05-01T21:50:00.000+02:002007-05-01T23:36:53.251+02:00

As I predicted a couple of months ago, Autodesk has indeed released a LT version of Inventor. What I have not presumed is the price - expected low price fell below any limit - Inventor LT is free (at least for now - about 999$ when released).Inventor LT is based on the same kernel as full Inventor. As with AutoCAD LT, this LT version lacks some of the more advanced functions of the full-blown

AutoCADderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15129132847149199163noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11013726.post-68796169764227688152007-04-23T21:10:00.000+02:002007-04-23T21:33:22.268+02:00

I have received a trial copy of AutoCAD Raster Design 2008 to test it on AutoCAD 2008. I have used an old version of Raster Design some years ago but I have not followed the newer versions then.This raster processing add-on for AutoCAD allows to work with raster files in the AutoCAD environment, practically in the same way as you work with vector entities. Plus it supports all possible

AutoCADderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15129132847149199163noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11013726.post-36149010065166910022007-04-17T16:35:00.000+02:002007-04-17T16:43:19.385+02:00

The beloved 3DSOUT command comes back to us AutoCADders. The export of .3ds files was lost in AutoCAD 2007 (with the new render - 3DSOUT was part of the old render engine). But probably many users have complained about this as 3DS was a commonly used simple format for exchanging 3D data.Now Autodesk returns the 3DSOUT back in the form of a downloadable utility for the 32-bit and 64-bit AutoCAD

AutoCADderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15129132847149199163noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11013726.post-50426274632770998782007-04-04T11:04:00.000+02:002007-04-04T11:10:45.613+02:00

Back from legal stuff to some practical tips...There is a nice dynamic block Net_ID in the tip Label printed drawings automatically with user name and computer name on CAD Forum. Indeed, I have also several times searched for the author of an anonymous printout on our network plotter. About to add this block to our company's template drawings.

AutoCADderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15129132847149199163noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11013726.post-75840199699488845682007-04-04T10:49:00.000+02:002007-04-04T10:56:53.365+02:00

AECnews inform about the settlement in the Autodesk's trademark infringement lawsuit against ODA. The result is as expected - ODA has infringed Autodesk's rights by faking the TrustedDWG sign in its DWG libraries. An earlier court decision has already prohibited the Open Design Alliance to distribute these libraries.See also my older posts Autodesk sues ODA and Autodesk vs. ODA - it is about

AutoCADderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15129132847149199163noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11013726.post-32613831396499030742007-04-03T11:08:00.000+02:002007-04-04T10:57:42.044+02:00

Autodesk has recently updated all of its free DWF tools.On the publishing side - for AutoCAD 2008 there is a new DWFx driver allowing to publish DWFx files directly from AutoCAD Plot (ePlot DWFx). XPS-style .dwfx files do not need any viewer to display on Windows Vista computers. I would expect Autodesk includes this in a shipping boxes - but probably the have missed the shipping deadline or the

AutoCADderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15129132847149199163noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11013726.post-17138622286373267432007-03-20T23:33:00.000+01:002007-03-20T23:42:57.484+01:00

The Autodesk corporate web site (both the US www.autodesk.com and local www.autodesk.de) has a new black look. I hope that it doesn't mean dark future for Autodesk.It confirms (to some extent) my November speculation about the design changes towards black. Well, the AutoCAD box is not black but the Inventor box is and Revit boxes are now black as well. It seems that Autodesk now distinguishes the

AutoCADderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15129132847149199163noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11013726.post-76559774195161894422007-03-19T22:53:00.000+01:002007-03-19T22:57:32.959+01:00

Autodesk is hiding Easter Eggs in AutoCADs again. After two skipped versions, AutoCAD 2008 now again contains an Easter Egg (a hidden entertaining function) but it has been found programmatically only. It is still not known how to launch it through the user interface.Read more on the Between the Lines blog.

AutoCADderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15129132847149199163noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11013726.post-29236578604142450942007-03-05T20:37:00.000+01:002007-03-05T21:05:17.676+01:00

Not that AutoCAD will replace FrameMaker or that it will become the typesetting tool for your local newspaper, but - the new function set of the MText editor is quite impressive in AutoCAD 2008.Especially the column formatting seems to be powerful enough to typeset any column text, including freeflowing newspaper-like columns, with hard column breaks, gutter settings and individual text-alignment

AutoCADderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15129132847149199163noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11013726.post-22429085228952111482007-02-28T20:45:00.001+01:002011-06-12T15:31:49.397+02:00

As Beth Powell and Robin Capper blog today, there is a useful new feature in AutoCAD 2008 - "Automatic DWF Publish". When you switch in on, AutoCAD creates an automatic DWF-version copy of any DWG drawing you save. You can enable this option in Options > Plot and Publish.I use an add-on utility with similar functionality - AutoDWF (free from CAD Studio). AutoDWF also allows to upload the

AutoCADderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15129132847149199163noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11013726.post-53414594252834047132007-02-25T14:33:00.000+01:002007-02-25T14:44:44.511+01:00

How compatible is AutoCAD 2008 with the older versions?OK, the DWG files are compatible - that's important. AutoCAD 2008 still uses the DWG2007 format. It looks like the DWG file format is upgraded every 3rd AutoCAD release so we are safe for one more AutoCAD release (AutoCAD 2009 ?).As for add-on applications it is more complicated. Generally, AutoCAD 2008 should run the 2007-versions of add-on

AutoCADderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15129132847149199163noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11013726.post-45821159811180443352007-02-19T19:57:00.000+01:002007-02-19T20:09:04.765+01:00

AutoCAD 2008 (and all other AutoCAD-based applications) can watch your layers and notify you on any unwanted layer additions.Often you drag in unwanted layers when inserting foreign blocks or attaching xrefs to your main drawing. AutoCAD 2008 can watch such pulled in layers and notify you automatically. AutoCAD creates a list of reconciled layers and if new layers are added without your knowledge

AutoCADderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15129132847149199163noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11013726.post-86155938931073692422007-02-19T19:30:00.000+01:002007-02-20T14:00:02.985+01:00

No and yes - it depends.Autodesk recommends 2.2 GHz Pentium 4 or Athlon CPU, 512MB RAM, 750MB disk space, 1024 x 768 graphics (OpenGL/DirectX) on Windows Vista, Windows XP sp2 or Windows 2000 sp4. This is not much more than the requirements for AutoCAD 2007. So if you are running AutoCAD 2007 you will probably run AutoCAD 2008 with the same speed on the same PC.What is new is the 64-bit version

AutoCADderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15129132847149199163noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11013726.post-12432999167958190502007-02-14T08:31:00.000+01:002007-02-14T08:49:25.974+01:00

DGN-to-DWG and DWG-to-DGN converters were always popular CAD utilities, especially in countries where Microstation was widely used. Exchanging data was always painful process as both applications has used different file formats - DGN (Microstation) and DWG (AutoCAD).Then Microstation learned AutoCADdish and allowed to read/write DWG files - well writing DWGs was always less than perfect but

AutoCADderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15129132847149199163noreply@blogger.com