Showing posts with label AutoCAD 2009. Show all posts
Showing posts with label AutoCAD 2009. Show all posts

Friday, May 09, 2008

AutoCAD support for more image formats: JPEG2000, MrSid, ...

AutoCADer blog has an excellent tips on how to install the free Raster Design Object Enabler to be able to enable IMAGE and IMAGEATTACH commands to handle JPEG 2000, ECW, MrSID and more.

Here are the file format list before and after installation of Raster Design 2009 OE:

Without Raster Design OE installed and now this With Raster Design OE installed

Image Format Image Insertable into DWG
DEM - USGS Digital Elevation Model (*.dem) No
DOQ Native Format DOQ (*.doq,*.nws,*.nes,*.ses,*.sws) Yes
DTED - Digital Derrain Elevation Data (*.dt0,*.dt1,*.dt2) No
Embedded Bitonal No
ECW Compressed Image Format (*.ecw) Yes
ESRI GRID A - Arc/Info ASCII(*.asc,*.txt) No
ESRI GRID B - Arc/Info Binary(*.adf) No
JPEG2000 (*.jp2,*.j2k) Yes
Landsat FAST-L7A (*.fst) No
NITF (*.ntf) No
QuickBird TIFF (*.tif,*.tiff) No
MrSID (*.sid) Yes

Notice that the setup should be run as Administrator if you have Windows Vista.

The Setup lists DWG TrueView 2009 and NavisWorks Manage 2009 but I have not tried if it really works. They are not listed on the Autodesk website:

Applies to:
AutoCAD® 2009
AutoCAD® Architecture 2009
AutoCAD® Civil 3D® 2009
AutoCAD® Electrical 2009
AutoCAD® Land Desktop 2009
AutoCAD® Map 3D 2009
AutoCAD® Mechanical 2009
AutoCAD® MEP 2009

Wednesday, May 07, 2008

AutoCAD crashes while saving, closing or plotting a drawing

This issue can occur when the Drawing Tabs Utility is loaded that I've written about recently. Obviously the good comes with some bad.

Knowledge Base document: AutoCAD crashes while saving, closing or plotting a drawing

Monday, May 05, 2008

Drawing Tabs application for AutoCAD 2009

AutoCAD 2009 comes with Quick View Drawings so not sure this free tool will keep being available in next version or not. But it does work for 2007-2009.

Even though the Readme says other things (only for 2007) I've been able to use Drawing Tabs in AutoCAD 2008, AutoCAD 2009, ACA 2008, ACA 2009, other verticals as well as on Windows Vista. It's a great little piece of freeware but there is still no 64-bit support.

And in AutoCAD 2009 with the right click menu showed.

http://autodesk.blogs.com/between_the_lines/2006/10/trick_or_treat_.html

Download Autodesk Bonus Tool Drawing Tabs ReadMe PDF

Download Autodesk Bonus Tool Drawing Tabs ARX file

Friday, May 02, 2008

AutoCAD 2007, WDS and Deduplication - What is the truth?

See the new comment by Bob Gilbert in this previous post for latest news.

Riverbed recently completed a set of tests of AutoCAD 2007 and AutoCAD 2004 with four vendors' WDS appliances: Riverbed, Cisco WAAS, Silver Peak and Blue Coat....

• All products that use de-duplication are affected by the new file format
• Customers can still see significant time savings by using WDS appliances, even with the new file format
• Vendors who use de-duplication and claim to be unaffected by this are not providing complete or accurate information
...

http://blocksandfiles.com/article/5013

AutoCAD going invisible?

Here is what it look like for me using AutoCAD 2009 and Windows Vista.
Can you see the windows title text?

Can you see the InfoCenter Search text in below?

When maximized I can see it or if the background is darker.

AutoCAD 2008 was much better as you can see.

      

How will AutoCAD 2010 look like? Invisible? Hope not.

Here is a comment I got by email: "It doesn't change even you do change the window settings! Every new version of AutoCad gets worse!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Find commands in Office 2007 and AutoCAD 2009

You know what you look for in Word, Excel or PowerPoint but cannot find it in the Ribbon. Now with the free Search Commands this is so much easier.

Do you know for example where you can find the command to Insert Form Field?

image

It is found on the Insert tab and under Quick Parts. Took me a while to find the first time.

Or click on the Search Commands tab and enter "field" and there you have it as well as other related commands.

Hoover with the mouse over any of the results and you find more information including where it is found.

BTW. Similar functionality is included already out-of-the-box in AutoCAD 2009.

And here are the matches using Search menu.

 

The Microsoft Office Lab Website and Blog. This is another blog to keep a watch on as more useful tools will be released.

Monday, April 28, 2008

Foreign DWG File

Here is a new dialog box in AutoCAD 2009 that shows up if you open a DWG file that was saved by an application that was not developed or licensed by Autodesk.

Foreign DWG File

Something new is if you check the box to make sure you don't get a message like this again you can at any time restore it through Options>System>Hidden Message Settings.

Hidden Message Settings

At the bottom of the Hidden Message Settings dialog box you can also see a full preview of what the message look like.

For more information on TrustedDWG: http://www.autodesk.com/trusteddwg

Thursday, April 24, 2008

Why was not this simple thing fixed or added to AutoCAD 2009?

Don't underestimate the work needed to implement something new for a large company like Autodesk.

Now that AutoCAD 2009 is on your desktop or installed you might wonder why didn't Autodesk fix this or that or add this simple thing that would save my day. Take a look at the newsgroups and you'll see proof of that.

I looked at the list of people behind AutoCAD 2008 that is showing in the hidden easter egg and found the following:

118 Software Development
59 Test Development
7 Integration and Build
18 User Assistance
16 Product Design
15 Product Management & Marketing
9 Project Management
38 World Wide Localization
3 Beta Team
11 Interns
7 Special Helpers
9 Senior Management

The AutoCAD 2009 team is probably in the same size.

So here is one small wish I have listed on my AutoCAD 2009 page:
"Saveall command should respect the Options setting to save in another version."

How much work can it be?

It might look like this in no specific list order:

  • One developer to spend five minutes implementing the change.
  • Activate the Beta Team so some guinea pigs can give it a try outside the walls of Autodesk.
  • One program manager to write the specification.
  • One localization expert to review the specification for localizability issues.
  • One usability expert to review the specification for accessibility and usability issues.
  • At least one dev, tester and PM to brainstorm security vulnerabilities.
  • One PM to add the security model to the specification.
  • One tester to write the test plan.
  • One test lead to update the test schedule.
  • One tester to write the test cases and add them to the nightly automation.
  • Three or four testers to participate in an ad hoc bug bash.
  • One technical writer to write the documentation.
  • One technical reviewer to proofread the documentation.
  • One copy editor to proofread the documentation.
  • One documentation manager to integrate the new documentation into the existing body of text, update tables of contents, indexes, etc.
  • Eleven translators to translate the documentation and error messages into all the languages supported by AutoCAD.The managers for the translators probably live in in other countries like China and Europe, which are both severely time-shifted from the HQ, so dealing with them can be a fairly complex logistical problem.
  • A team of senior managers to coordinate all these people, write the cheques, and justify the costs to their Vice President.
  • Still wondering? Hopefully not that much now.

    I was thinking about the post Is Eeyore Designing Your Software? when I wrote this.

    Wednesday, April 23, 2008

    AutoCAD 2009 redundancy ToolTips and Quick Properties

    Talk about redundant information seeing both rollover ToolTips and Quick Properties at the same time with the same information.

    It could be useful it if was possible to set transparency of these two.

    Monday, April 21, 2008

    Ribbon image sizes in AutoCAD 2009

    Image handling in AutoCAD needs more work to be done as well as documentation. If you want to do customization you will find that there is a lot of trial and error. Unfortunately with the new Ribbon there are a lot of problems.

    In CUI there are three sizes available, Standard, Medium and Large. It is not obvious what the difference is.

    If Standard is used and no label is showed there is a frame around the icon as seen below on the one without a label. If Medium or Large is used and there is a Large image specified it will be used.

    Another thing is that the image size is not respected. Notice that the images above are larger than the correct 32x32 size below.

     

    What if you want to use other image formats than BMP. The "select image file dialog box" is limited to BMP file formats but if you enter * as file name and press enter or *.png you will find that you actually can select and use PNG, GIF, JPG if you want. One good thing with and reason to use PNG is the support for transparency.

    Share your tips in the comments.

    Friday, April 18, 2008

    Rearrange the Ribbon tab order in AutoCAD 2009

    This cannot be done with the Office 2007 Ribbon. It's easy. Just drag and drop the tab and you are done. Make sure your workspace is saved automatically if you want the location to persist. The other way is to use CUI (right click and select Customize).

    Drag and drop of the Annotate tab

    Thursday, April 17, 2008

    Silver Peak still significant performance gains with DWG 2007

    Head over to the blog post "Riverbed and DWG 2007 file format workaround" and read the comment by Silver Peak on the DWG file format changes and WAN accelerators issue.

    "Riverbed is affected by the AutoCAD file format/ISP setting issue more so than rival Silver Peak, and Silver Peak would like the world to know. To be clear, Riverbed will still accelerate AutoCAD DWG files over the WAN, even on a full save, but the data reduction is less than what Silver Peak is able to accomplish." - Infoworld

    I'm still wondering how it is with AutoCAD 2009 and verticals like AutoCAD Civil 3D 2009 and there were no word on verticals in the article.

    Wednesday, April 16, 2008

    Autodesk subscription customers and previous releases

    I have previously written about Autodesk support for prior versions and wanted to add this information as well.

    Usually updates to terms and conditions might slip through but this one is useful and another incentive to be on subscription.

    The TsAndCs_WW.pdf has all the fine prints. There is also a list of eligible products.

    Effective April 7, 2008, Subscription customers may now use previous versions up to three releases back from the 2009 product release up to the total number of licenses of the product currently under Subscription.

    As part of the new enhancement to the current policy, a Subscription customer is no longer required to have owned the previous version in order to use it.

    The updated terms and conditions clarify the extended policy and how you may use previous versions. (Section 2.4)

    Access the Eligible Previous Version list in Subscription Center. Once logged in click on the Subscription Administration link on the left hand navigation.
    What do you need to know?

    The new terms and conditions (Adobe® PDF format, requires Adobe® Reader®) apply immediately if you have an existing Subscription contract.

    The new terms and conditions apply if you renew your contract, or purchase additional products on  subscription, or add new products or services to an existing contract.

    No action is required for the new terms and conditions to take effect. Please refer to Section 8.9 of your existing Subscription terms and conditions if you want to see the options you have when Autodesk revises the terms and conditions.
    The terms and conditions, which are referenced in all order confirmations, are available on Subscription Center, or you can also download the terms and conditions as a Microsoft® Word document. (Download ZIP file)
    If you still have questions about the new terms and conditions or would like to notify us that you do not accept them, contact your Authorized Autodesk Reseller or the Autodesk Business Center.
    Thank you for choosing Subscription for your Autodesk products.
    Sincerely,
    The Autodesk Subscription Team

    Friday, April 11, 2008

    Package license file introduced with AutoCAD 2009

    One of the new features in Autodesk 2009 products is prior version support.

    This knowledge base document describes the details:

    Package license files for prior version licensing

    Issue
    You received a package license file for prior version network licensing and you want to know more about the new license file format.
    Solution

    The package license file contains a set number of licenses for four different versions of your software. For example, an AutoCAD 2009 package license file will contain a set number of licenses that can be used for AutoCAD 2009, 2008, 2007 or 2006. Note: Running an instance of any one of these versions will consume one license in the package. Running more than one version, even on the same machine, will consume more than one license in the package.

    If you have a 2-license package for AutoCAD 2009, the following scenarios can be expected:

    • Two machines running AutoCAD 2009 will consume two licenses. No licenses will be available for other users.
    • The same machine running AutoCAD 2008 and AutoCAD 2009 will consume two licenses. No licenses will be available for other users.
    • The same machine running three instances of AutoCAD 2007 will consume one license. One license will be available for other users.

    Important notes regarding package license files:

    • Package license files come with the current version and three previous versions of the same product only. It is not possible to configure the products included in the package in any way.
    • Package license files may be combined as usual with license files for different products. See the following solution for details on combining license files: Combining Autodesk® license files.
    • Do not combine package license files with non-package license files for product versions contained in the package. Doing so will disable the older license INCREMENT for the product and only the package license count will be available. For example, do not combine an AutoCAD 2009 package license file with a regular license file for AutoCAD 2008, 2007 or 2006. 
    • Both the PACKAGE and INCREMENT sections of this license file are required for licensing to work correctly. When you combine license files, be sure to include both of these sections along with any PLIST INCREMENTs.
    • License borrowing, options files and license cascading work the same for package license files as they do for regular license files. When you configure an options file, use the feature codes of the individual product versions contained within the package. For example, if you want to reserve 5 licenses of AutoCAD in an options file, you will need four separate RESERVE statements, one for the feature code that corresponds to each version.

    The following is an example of a package license file for AutoCAD 2009:

    SERVER servername 123456789012
    USE_SERVER
    VENDOR adskflex port=2080
    PACKAGE 64300ACD_F adskflex 1.000 COMPONENTS="57600ACD_2009_0F \
        54600ACD_2008_0F 51200ACD_2007_0F 48800ACD_2006_0F" \
        OPTIONS=SUITE SUPERSEDE ISSUED=09-Apr-2008 SIGN="012E 89A4 \
        36DD 8159 57BA 4F7E 90B7 8D70 F7BB 894D F530 73BD 9F61 CFB5 \
        B219 1F86 83A0 A9B1 6996 6866 B63A D7F2 88B7 0DDB AFB4 C576 \
        90BE 792B 7YT4 2AE1" SIGN2="1150 74B2 6D6C D194 9IT2 0B6E F745 \
        BE18 48A1 D48B B049 0A4A F4B0 7F13 45DE 04E3 BDEA EA5B EE04 \
        806B 4001 C1BB 4826 423A 971D 4349 12AA 6178 724F 4257"
    INCREMENT 64300ACD_F adskflex 1.000 permanent 1 \
        VENDOR_STRING=nfr:permanent BORROW=4320 SUPERSEDE DUP_GROUP=UH \
        SUITE_DUP_GROUP=UHV ISSUED=09-Apr-2008 SN=321-12345678 \
        SIGN="016F 83DD FBDE 7D7E 7E53 AD0F 0750 2B2C 04EB A746 B2BB \
        41C0 5986 C1F1 7603 1128 F51B 920C 3CA7 B8FF 6B39 D4C7 6C44 \
        F86B E5C2 683C 0FB2 7904 4393 D8A8" SIGN2="0236 3870 7AC9 B755 \
        123A F111 AFEF HS%$ 4554 3EE6 547E 8DE4 E7D3 26D8 96EA 0398 \
        A696 1A87 2DCE 04B0 E49C 910C B707 459D JD6A 92C3 0120 BCAA \
        961F AC90"
    INCREMENT PLIST adskflex 1.000 permanent 1 \
        VENDOR_STRING=A07:51600ACDLAND_2007_0F:52200CIV3D_2007_0F;B07:51900AMECH_PP_2007_0F:51300INVBUN_11_0F:52900INVPRORS_11_0F:53000INVPROSIM_11_0F:51400INVPRO_11_0F;C07:51200ACD_2007_0F:52500REVITS_9_0F:54100REVITS_9_1F:53700REVSU_3_0F:54200REVSU_4_0F;D07:52600REVIT_9_0F:52500REVITS_9_0F;E07:57600ACD_2009_0P:59300INVBUN_2009_0P;F07:51800BLDSYS_2007_0F:53100REVSYP_1_0F:54500REVSYP_2_0F;G07:53400REVITST_3_0F:53700REVSU_3_0F;H07:54300REVIT_9_1F:54100REVITS_9_1F;I07:54400REVITST_4_0F:54200REVSU_4_0F;A08:55500ACDLAND_2008_0F:55400CIV3D_2008_0F;B08:54900AMECH_PP_2008_0F:55000INVBUN_2008_0F:55100INVPRORS_2008_0F:55200INVPROSIM_2008_0F:55300INVPRO_2008_0F;C08:54600ACD_2008_0F:54700REVITS_2008_0F:54800REVSU_2008_0F;D08:57100REVIT_2008_0F:54700REVITS_2008_0F;F08:55600BLDSYS_2008_0F:55700REVSYP_2008_0F;G08:57200REVITST_2008_0F:54800REVSU_2008_0F;A09:59800ACDLAND_2009_0F:59700CIV3D_2009_0F;B09:59200AMECH_PP_2009_0F:59300INVBUN_2009_0F:59400INVPRORS_2009_0F:61700INVMFG_2009_0F:59500INVPROSIM_2009_0F:59600INVPRO_2009_0F;D09:62100REVIT_2009_0F:60900REVITS_2009_0F;C09:57600ACD_2009_0F:60900REVITS_2009_0F:61000REVSU_2009_0F;F09:59900BLDSYS_2009_0F:60000REVSYP_2009_0F;G09:62200REVITST_2009_0F:61000REVSU_2009_0F;J09:67800RVTMPJ_2009_0F:60000REVSYP_2009_0F \
        SUPERSEDE ISSUED=09-Apr-2008 SIGN="1DA3 DE47 4E42 2C8C 6342 \
        E829 9E8D 1C22 3095 5717 63F3 152F 30D6 C903 7726 1B03 7F59 \
        C85D D60D D920 20C7 0E04 88BE BAB6 A55A 0182 EBB9 9B44 12C5 \
        E5AE" SIGN2="10B8 3138 5505 2D5B 3963 D17B 4950 1CF3 EBB9 5782 \
        4085 3A4A D888 9A5E 5371 173D A556 074D 5FBD A93A 5203 1127 \
        13CD 3DE4 6EED ED54 6F33 D840 C4C2 8426"

    Knowledge Base document: Package license files for prior version licensing

    JTB FlexReport works with these license files and can also report company wide usage on combined usage of multiple versions of one product.

    Solve problem with AutoCAD 2009 Help Search

    If you find that your Search tab in AutoCAD 2009 Help is broken it can be fixed by running a repair of AutoCAD. One reason why this can happen is if you install AutoCAD 2009 and after that AutoCAD 2008.

    Broken help

    This is what it should look like.

    AutoCAD 2009 Help

    If you know a quicker way to repair this make a comment on how.

    Thursday, April 10, 2008

    AutoCAD 2009 on Citrix? Citrix & Autodesk alliance

    Do you want to run AutoCAD 2009 on Citrix? AutoCAD 2009 itself is not possible but AutoCAD Map 3D 2009 is Citrix Ready and is of course based on AutoCAD 2009.

    Citrix XenApp (new name for Presentation Server) is used for server virtualization that makes this possible.

    Citrix & Autodesk website

    -Are other AutoCAD 2009 platform–based applications available that are Citrix Ready?
    No. AutoCAD Map 3D 2009 is the only AutoCAD 2009–based application that has been designated Citrix Ready.

    -Why is AutoCAD Map 3D the only AutoCAD 2009 platform–based application that is Citrix Ready?
    In response to requests from customers, AutoCAD Map 3D was selected for the Citrix Ready certification program in 2008. Other Autodesk products may be added to the program at a later date as we evaluate customer satisfaction with AutoCAD Map 3D.

    -How does AutoCAD Map 3D performance in a Citrix environment compare to AutoCAD Map 3D installed in a stand-alone environment?
    Graphics performance may be affected because most servers are not configured with high-end graphics systems.

    -Does JTB FlexReport work with the Citrix Ready AutoCAD Map 3D licensing?
    Yes you are able to monitor your license usage with JTB FlexReport.

    I really hope other products will be Citrix Ready soon as well. I have long time seen a valid need for that. At an EPC company where I worked before we used Citrix extensively and often had engineers on site or traveling and many times I found that it had been really useful for them if we had been able to install AutoCAD and other verticals including our customizations and other 3:rd party applications on the Citrix server.

    Visit www.autodesk.com/citrix for details.

    Monday, April 07, 2008

    Acrobat PDFMaker 8.0 toolbar in AutoCAD 2009 and CUI bugs

    If you want the Acrobat PDFMaker 8.0 toolbar in AutoCAD 2008 or AutoCAD 2009 here is how you can do it. It requires that you have Adobe Acrobat 8.0.

    With some work I achieved this result and unfortunately it was not because CUI was so stable and easy to use. But it is also AutoCAD Ribbon version 1 so hopefully this works better after some hotfixes, service packs or at least in AutoCAD 2010.

    Ribbon

    As a starter use the APPLOAD command. Click on Startup Suit Contents and add "C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 8.0\PDFMaker\AutoCAD\2007\PDFMAcad.arx".

    It should then look like this on the command line:
    Command: appload
    PDFMAcad.arx was added to the Startup Suite.

    This created some menu files and images in this folder on my PC:
    C:\Users\<user>\appdata\roaming\adobe\acrobat\8.0\ACAD-7001-409

    In AutoCAD 2009 it will look this this with the Acrobat PDFMaker 8.0 toolbar loaded.

    Acrobat PDFMaker 8.0

    Now I want to move the toolbar to the Ribbon.

    Run the CUI command. Select pdfmacad.cui.

    Right-click on the toolbar Acrobat PDFMaker 8.0.

    image

    Right-click on Ribbons Tabs and add a new tab named "PDF".

    image

    Drag and drop the ribbon panel that was created into the PDF tab.

    image 

    Click on Apply.

    Select All Customization Files and click on the current workspace and you find that you see the right pane change.

    image 

    Select pdfmacad.cui again. Here you should be able to click on Customize Workspace on the right pane but I got an error. Instead expand Ribbons Tab on the left side so you see "PDF". Drag and drop that one to the right side on the Ribbons Tab there.

    image

    image 

    Looking in CUI two panels are listed. One is unnamed that obviously just creates an empty panel and cannot be deleted. Another bug.

    image

    The workaround was to click on it and set the Show property to No.

    image

    Now I want to make the icons side by side and add some text below.

    image

    I try to drag the command on Row 2 to Row 1 but nothing happens. Another bug as I can drag the command from Row 1 down to Row 2.

    After deleting Row 1 and showing the text it look like this.

    image

    But I don't want a separate Tab. I would like to move it to the Output tab.

    I tried different methods like transferring the panels between the cui files but even though it looked right in CUI the result was just an empty panel on the Ribbon tab. Buggy again.

    I even tried another approach.but was not able to get it to work because of several bugs in CUI.

    Right click on the toolbar and select Customize.

    Customize

    In Customize User Interface (CUI) expand "Customizations in All CUI Files" and the right part of CUI by clicking on the black arrow at the bottom.

    Click on the command "Convert to Adobe PDF" so you see the Button Image.

    image

    Click on Edit and in the next dialog box click on Save As and place the image where you can find it later. Do the same with the command "Convert to Adobe PDF and Send for Review". Notice that if you in the button image editor click on Save As the first time you end up in you Documents folder. If you cancel it and click again you end up in the Icons folder. Bug again.

    One location could be something like this if you have Windows Vista:
    C:\Users\<UserName>\AppData\Roaming\Autodesk\AutoCAD 2009\R17.2\enu\Support\Icons

    Click OK to make sure things are saved and that the next step will work. If not you will get the menu file corrupted in the following steps due to some bug.

    Start CUI again by right clicking on the toolbar like before and expand the panes.

    Now right click on "Acrobat PDFMaker 8.0" as seen below and select "Copy To Ribbon Panels".

    CUI Copy To Ribbon Panels

    Now the Ribbon Panel "Acrobat PDFMaker 8.0" is available.

    Acrobat PDFMaker 8.0

    Right click on it and select Copy.

    Navigate now to the Ribbon Tabs and locate Output -2D and select it. Right click and select Paste.

    Output - 2D

    Bummer. It didn't work either. To achieve the best result you should create the Ribbon Panel manually.

    Saturday, April 05, 2008

    doPDF another free PDF printer

    This freeware has worked pretty good in my small tests and does not require GhostScript, works on Vista and also 64-bit systems.

    If you plot from AutoCAD and use TrueType fonts they will be converted to text if you make that change in in the plotter properties.

    You need to change the Properties of the plotter (Plotter Configuration
    Editor)>Device and Document Settings>Graphics>TrueType Text to "as text". Save this to a PC3 that you use.

    Plotter Configuration Editor