AutoCAD Mechanical 2011 takes 2 licenses

Here is what Up and Ready says about this:

If you have Autodesk Product Design suite Premium 2012 Package license and if you still use 2011 version of AutoCAD Mechanical and Inventor, you might find that it is using 2 seats (if you have more than 1 license) or for you get license error for the second product.

One work around to the issue is to make sure the Inventor 2011 is started prior to starting AutoCAD Mechanical 2011.

If you don't want to pass on the responsibility to the user then you can create an options file with the following line to exclude AutoCAD Mechanical 2011 to all the users, forcing the users to checkout Inventor 2011 feature code.

INCLUDE 85545AMECH_PP_2011_0F USER DUMMYUSER

You can win a trip to AU 2011 and a SpacePilot PRO 3D mouse

Want to go to Autodesk University 2011 and get a SpacePilot PRO too?

Here’s your chance. Find the full details here on 3Dconnextions’s site.

Register now to enter to win:

• One full-conference pass to Autodesk University 2011 in Las Vegas, NV
  Nov 29 through Dec 1, 2011
• Airfare and hotel accommodations for 3 nights
• A SpacePilot PRO - The Ultimate Professional 3D Mouse

FlexNet errors in the Event Viewer related to a network path

A customer of our license reporting manager JTB FlexReport recently had a problem with Autodesk Network License Manager and I found the solution in TS1053532 FLEXlm errors in the Event Viewer related to a network path:

Issue

Although the Start Server at Powerup option was selected in LMTOOLS, the FLEX service did not start automatically when you rebooted the license server. However, you were able to start the service manually.

In the Windows Event Viewer, there was an error message similar to the one below.

FLEXlm service failed to start. Cannot find the network path.

Solution

This error will occur if you use UNC paths when you configure the service in LMTOOLS.

In most Windows networks, proper credentials are required to access UNC paths and these credentials are usually not available before a user logs in to the machine. Because the FLEXlmservice tries to start before a user logs in, the UNC paths will not be resolved correctly. As a result, the FLEXlm service will not be started automatically when the license server is rebooted. 

For this reason, it is strongly recommended that you use only valid, local drive letter paths when you configure the FLEXlm/FlexNet service in LMTOOLS.

It is possible to configure the service to recognize UNC paths by elevating the rights of the service, but this is not recommended.

Solution to the problem with PayPal emails in Outlook

Problem:

Problem with PayPal emails locking up (Not Responding) Outlook?

You may see a message about contacting: \\102.112.207.net\b\ss\paypalglobal\1\G.4-NS

Microsoft Outlook 2010 and probably older versions stops responding, freezes or hangs for quite a while.

Solution:

One solution is to wait.

Another is to turn off the reading pane or just show it as plain text.

A better solution is to add a new line to the host file: C:\Windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts
127.0.0.1 102.112.2o7.net

Hopefully PayPal will fix this issue with their emails soon.

How to change AutoCAD from network license to standalone

Sometimes it can be useful to convert a standalone license to a network license or the other way around. This works for AutoCAD and for verticals like AutoCAD Architecture, AutoCAD Electrical, AutoCAD Civil 3D, AutoCAD Map 3D, AutoCAD Mechanical, AutoCAD MEP, AutoCAD P&ID, AutoCAD Plant 3D and AutoCAD Structural Detailing. It can be done with a simple registry hack (start the Registry Editor with regedit.exe and take backup of the registry to be on the safe side).

For AutoCAD 2011 locate this key in the registry:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Autodesk\AutoCAD\R18.1\ACAD-9001:409\AdLM

In that directory change the type for the installation that you require:

1 – Network
2 – Standalone
3 – Multiseat Standalone

For AutoCAD 2012:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Autodesk\AutoCAD\R18.2\ACAD-A001:409\AdLM

A tip is to locate HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Autodesk\AutoCAD first and then you will find the version (R18.2 is for 2012 products) and then the vertical (ACAD-A004:409 is for AutoCAD Architecture 2012).

Via Up and Ready

Change AutoCAD from standalone to network describes how it works for AutoCAD 2008 and older versions.

Change AutoCAD network to standalone to network describes how it works for AutoCAD 2009 and AutoCAD 2010.

Nucleus simulation engine in AutoCAD 2012

What is Project Nucleus:

Project Nucleus integrates the Nucleus simulation engine from Autodesk® Maya® into AutoCAD® 2012 software. It allows designers to experiment with "form-finding" in the conceptual design phase by simulating forces directly in AutoCAD.

Project Nucleus can simulate a wide range of physical phenomena in real time, like wind, gravity, constraints, and collisions. These forces can help architects generate free-form shapes, many of which would be impossible to model by hand.

Here’s my try of simulating a cloth falling down onto a table. First showing part of the Ribbon tab Nucleus.

It’s starting.

Slowly falling down.

Depending on how quick computer you have this can take some time to simulate.

Because of the Wind noise it’s blowing off the table eventually.

As this is CPU intensive I can see how this could be great to be able to run in the cloud.

Video showing how Nucleus works.

You find it here: Project Nucleus on Autodesk Labs

Via It’s  Alive in the Lab: Project Nucleus for AutoCAD Now Available

License monitoring - JTB FlexReport 6.3.2 released

JTB FlexReport license monitoring software has been updated to version 6.3.2 with the following bug fixes:

• Fixed some problems to create chart reports on the Detailed tab.
• Fixed some issues introduced in 6.3 for the HTML reports happening in some situations resulting in duplicate servers showing.
• Fixed issue with reading certain OPT files in Group Administrator.
• Improved silent installation procedure for Process Monitor Client using JTBProcessMonitorClientConfigured.reg.
• Fixed problem with ' character in project names in Process Monitor Service.
• Improved reliability in timing of showing the Project selection dialog box for Process Monitor Client.
• Fixed Excel chart report to retain custom paths to the database.

Downloads here. See also the Upgrade tips.

Known issues: we’re investigating a problem where duplicate data is saved in very specific cases using Process Monitor. Group Administrator is also having problems in some cases that we’re working to fix.

If you use SQL Server as database it might not always work to automatically update it. If you from scratched installed JTB FlexReport 6.2 or later it should not be a problem though. To know if the database is inconsistent you can send the following information to JTB World for confirmation.

Within Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio Open up the database and create a new query like below. Just change JTBFlexReport to whatever the JTB FlexReport database is named.

SELECT * FROM [JTBFlexReport].[INFORMATION_SCHEMA].[COLUMNS]

Then save the result using File>Save Result As a CSV file and send it to JTB World.

For complete information run also this query:

SELECT * FROM [JTBFlexReport].[INFORMATION_SCHEMA].[CONSTRAINT_COLUMN_USAGE]

JTB FlexReport is a report tool for applications using the FlexNet / FLEXlm (flexlm license manager), IBM LUM (IBM License Use Management), SPLM (Intergraph SmartPlant License Manager), SLM/Sentinel LM/Sentinel RMS, LM-X, Solidworks SNL License Manager, Licman, Primavera from Oracle or 12D software licensing as well as any Windows application like Acrobat, Visio, single licensed AutoCAD or AutoCAD LT.

Contact us to get a time limited license file for free. You can try it in your environment with your real data for a few weeks with full functionality.
Full support is provided during trial period.

Previous related posts:
License Reports - JTB FlexReport 6.3.1 released
Asset tracking - JTB FlexReport 6.3 released