AutoCAD 2017.1.1 Update

I just launched Autodesk Desktop App and noticed that last month (Nov 17, 2016) there was an update for subscription (maintenance and students) users only.

It’s not available on AutoCAD 2017 Downloads but on the other hand on the Autodesk Account.

According to the readme:

This AutoCAD 2017.1.1 and AutoCAD LT 2017.1.1 Update contains all of the updates previously released for AutoCAD 2017 and AutoCAD LT 2017.

Problems Reported with the Customer Error Reporting Utility:

Graphics

• Occasional crashes when creating a 3D polyline after an Undo.
• Occasional crashes when switching to the Top View in some AutoCAD Architecture drawings.
• Occasional crashes when selecting some objects after using Wblock on certain drawings.

General

• Occasional crashes when closing some xrefs after you edit the referenced drawings in place.

General Update Content:

Display

• All lines were displayed as continuous in Excel when they were pasted from AutoCAD 2017 with hardware acceleration enabled.
• The linetype might be missed on the Ribbon when switching to the light theme.

General

• Pressing a Function key during an active command would freeze AutoCAD after updating to the Windows 10 anniversary edition.
• Publishing might degrade performance when opening some projects in the Sheet Set Manager.
• Importing certain DGN files might fail.
• The bubble notification needed to be closed twice when switching to a 3D Visual Style.
• Customized Edit menu settings might be removed after installing 2017.1 Update.

AutoCAD 2017.1 Update

JTB FlexReport 10.3 released

JTB FlexReport updates JTB FlexReport Core and JTB Process Monitor. See the revision history for details and download the installers.

With JTB FlexReport you can create many different reports of software and license usage so you are in a better position to have enough licenses at all times or split costs on departments or any group of users or computers.

Contact us to get a time limited license file for free.

JTB Sheet Set Creator 2.0 released

JTB Sheet Set Creator 2.0 is here.

JTB Sheet Set Creator is an app for Autodesk AutoCAD that creates new Sheet Sets and Sheets based on an Excel template for usage in Sheet Set Manager(SSM).

• Sheet Set Properties can be populated.
• Sheet Set Custom Properties can be defined, created and populated.
• Sheet Properties can be populated.
• Sheet Custom Properties can be defined, created and populated.
• Sheets (drawings) can be defined, created and have their properties populated.

Here’s what’s new in version 2.0:

• Add creation of subset
• Add progression bar
• New license activation method
• Each sheet can be create from a specific template drawing
• Add Label Block View, Model View Locations and Callout Blocks
• Add feature to create multiple sheets in one drawing
• Add option to replace empty sheet property to another text value

Free trial is available for JTB Sheet Set Creator.

AutoCAD 2017 for Mac and AutoCAD LT 2017 for Mac here

AutoCAD 2017 for Mac and AutoCAD LT 2017 for Mac are here. User Interface updates, tool sets into two tabs and customizable, File tabs, importing PDFs and running multiple AutoCAD sessions side-by-side, Full Screen Mode and more.

Introducing AutoCAD 2017 for Mac and AutoCAD LT 2017 for Mac has all details.

More about AutoCAD for Mac

RVT Columns for Explorer

RVT Columns for Windows Explorer is now available.

With it you can see the Revit version and Revit build in Windows Explorer / File Explorer columns.

Even in file dialog boxes within Revit. Now you can know the Revit version and Revit build before even opening the file.

Sort files in Explorer based on any of the columns available like the Revit version.

InfoTip (ToolTip) with version and build can also be seen when hovering over a file.

Supported extensions and file types are RTE, RVT, RFA and RFT.

Free trial of RVT Columns for Windows Explorer is available.

OsnapzBG and OsnapzBG Plus for AutoCAD news

OsnapzBG freeware or OsnapzBG Plus apps for AutoCAD have been updated.

With OsnapzBG loaded any change of OSNAPZ will also change the background and other specified colors depending on if OSNAPZ is set to 0 or 1.

OsnapzGB 1.3

• Fixed a bug that could cause Autodesk® AutoCAD® Civil 3D® 2014 to crash on start-up.

OsnapzBG Plus 1.1

• Bugs fixed that could cause some colors to be forced to black and some colors not being set.

How to use DWG Columns in Directory Opus

Directory Opus is a great replacement for Explorer with a lot of nice features. Single or dual pane file display and folder trees, Tabbed interface let you keep multiple folders open and switch quickly between them, Color-code your files, assign status icons, star ratings, tags and descriptions, Batch renaming including easy-to-use keyboard macros, FTP and much more.

Now our DWG Columns for Explorer works with Directory Opus 12 (or newer) as well as the Windows Explorer.

Right click on this link DWG_Columns.vbs.txt and save it as DWG_Columns.vbs without the .txt extension in the folder %appdata%\GPSoftware\Directory Opus\Script AddIns. The file can also be dragged and dropped into the Scripts dialog box that is access from Settings>Preferences>Toolbars>Scripts.

After that the columns can be showed by right click on the column headers via Columns>Script>DWG Columns

And as can be seen below DWG version and DWG title has been showed. Other drawing file properties or metadata from the Summary and Details tab can be showed too.

This works with DWG and DXF files edited with applications like AutoCAD, Dassault Systemes DraftSight, Caddie, progeCAD, Bricsys BricsCAD, IMSI TurboCAD, GRAPHISOFT ArchiCAD, GstarCAD, nanoCAD, MicroStation, ZWCAD+ and others.

Interested to try or buy DWG Columns for Explorer?

DWG Columns for Explorer 2.3 released

JTB Word's DWG Columns for Explorer has been updated to version 2.3. If you already have version 2.2 installed and it’s working fine there is no need to upgrade as this version only have improved the installation process to be more stable. There are now also 3 versions of DWG Columns. One fully functional version that can be purchased, one trial and one freeware.

If you want to see the DWG and DXF properties and metadata in Explorer columns please give the trial a try. No need to have AutoCAD or other CAD programs installed for this to work. After the trial has expired you can still use it to show the DWG version information as long as you like.

How to get the center of a viewport with AutoLISP

The free viewportcenter.lsp has been updated with more functionalities.

This app shows the coordinates for the center of the current viewport on command line.

If command is run within a viewport in model space it can be run transparently for example like this using 'vpc
   Command: LINE
   Specify first point: 'vpc

If command is in paper space it will ask to select viewport and the point will be available as last used point and can be used with @ like this:
   Command: LINE
   Specify first point: @

How to disable Skype birthday notifications on Android and hidden Skype commands

Here’s how to disable Skype birthday notifications when using Skype on Android. You probably been as annoyed as me that there is no setting for this on the Skype for Android app and that the has a birthday checkbox setting isn’t synchronized from the desktop version of Skype.

Start a chat with any of your contacts. and type the following row:
/nobday
and press enter or send.

This message won't be sent to the one in the chat and the change will affect notifications for all contacts.

If it works you may see a message like below:
System: Birthday notifications disabled

There are other available commands that can be found at http://www.skype.com/go/help.chathelp

If you want to restore or enable the birthday notifications use this command:
/setupkey Lib/Conversation/EnableBirthday 1

The message showing will be:
setupkey: [Lib/Conversation/EnableBirthday] now '1'

I’ve not tested above but it should work for other platforms like iPhone, Windows phone, BlackBerry, Amazon Fire Phone and iPod touch, iPad, Kindle Fire HD, Windows, Xbox One, Apple Watch, Android Wear, Skype for TV, Max and Linux.

As a bonus tip. If you want to make text bold, italic or strikethrough

* surrounding text (*text here*) makes it bold.
_ surrounding text (_text here_) makes it italic.
~ surrounding text (~text here~) makes it strikethrough.

If you start a message with "@@ " (two ats with a space), every formatting function in your message will be ignored except emoticons.

If you start a message with "!! " (two exclamations with a space), every formatting function in your message will be ignored and font will be switched to monospaced.

UPDATE: Some more commands are described on the TechLila Blog.

JTB Layer Palette 1.2.1 for BricsCAD

JTB Layer Palette 1.2.1 for BricsCAD is now available and at half the previous price.

JTB Layer Palette is a palette app for BricsCAD. You can manage layers in BricsCAD without leaving the drawing screen. Customizable view, multiple layers tasking, this will make managing layers much more easier.

More about JTB Layer Palette here. For more of JTB World’s software that you might find useful visit our software list. We also offer custom programming services and can help you with both small and large projects.

Subscribe to our JTB Layer Palette newsletter or any of our other Newsletters.

AutoCAD 2017.1 Update

AutoCAD 2017.1 Update is a subscription-only update for AutoCAD 2017 and AutoCAD LT 2017 and available either from your Autodesk Account or by using the Autodesk Desktop App.

Note that even security enhancements and bug fixes are only available for subscription customers. (UPDATE: the update is available for download for non-renters as well, see Steve Johnson’s post When is a subscription-only update not a subscription-only update?) (UPDATE: the update will be available for students. See Shaan Hurley’s post AutoCAD 2017.1 Feature Update for Students)

Import PDF Feature Enhancement - PDFSHXTEXT is a command that you can use after you import a PDF file that contains SHX geometry. It converts any selected PDF geometry into multiline text objects that use a matching SHX font. Several popular SHX fonts are supported. However, Asian Big Font SHX geometry is currently not supported. Commands: PDFSHXTEXT , -PDFSHXTEXT , TXT2MTXT

PDF Text Recognition Settings windows:

High Resolution Monitor Support(High Pixels per Inch) is a New Feature - In the AutoCAD 2017.1 Update, common user interface elements, such as the Layer Manager, Command Line window, Property Palette, File Navigation dialog box, pick box cursor, grips, View Cube, and UCS icon, are correctly adjusted to the Windows setting for the display scale.
For the best results, use Windows 10 due to operation system limitations.
Use a compatible video card for the best results.
Some dialog boxes in vertical products are not optimized.

Object Selection Feature Enhancement - Objects that are moved off screen during selection remain in the selection set. All linetype gaps can be selected and available for object snapping when High Quality Geometry is turned on. System variables: SELECTIONOFFSCREEN, LTGAPSELECTION

Linetype gap behavior is enhanced to support complex and DGN linetypes. In addition, this feature works with all objects, such as polylines with width and splines. Now you can select complex and DGN linetypes or snap to them by picking on the gaps between the geometry.

Security Feature Enhancement - Internal software security continues to be enhanced, closing potential exploits.

3D Graphics Performance Feature Enhancement - The performance and reliability of 3DORBIT is improved for rendered visual styles, especially for models with a large number of small blocks containing edges and facets. Command: VISUALSTYLES

Highlight New Features

And here is a couple examples of what it can look like.

As a result of the detailed information that Autodesk received from customers who used the Customer Error Reporting Utility, they were able to identify and fix the problems listed below:

Blocks

• Fixed occasional crashes when inserting some blocks a second time.

Graphics

• Fixed occasional crashes when zooming out of a drawing following the 3D Orbit command.

Purge

• Fixed occasional crashes when purging DXF drawing files.

Web and Cloud

• Fixed occasional crashes when modifying the Online Options settings and signing in to Autodesk A360 from InfoCenter.

General

• Fixed occasional crashes when launching AutoCAD in Windows 10.
• Fixed occasional crashes when inputting the system time in long string format, and then using the DIM command.
• Fixed occasional crashes when switching layouts.
• Fixed occasional crashes when performing a 3D rotate in drawings containing a point cloud.
• Fixed occasional crashes when plotting to PDF using AccoreConsole.exe.
• Fixed occasional crashes when performing an Undo after detaching a reference using the External References palette.
• Fixed occasional crashes when PNG images were specified in a CUI resource file.

The following defects have been fixed:

Display

• Fixed. Xrefs on a frozen viewport layer would still be plotted.
• Fixed. AutoCAD in Citrix might not default to the primary display adapter.

Open and Save

• Fixed. Opening a drawing file using an Excel hyperlink was repositioning the AutoCAD application window.

PDF Import

• Fixed. Importing a PDF Underlay that was attached with relative path could fail.

Xref

• Fixed. The Xref status incorrectly displays the "Needs reloading" message when the dataset is opened from a UNC path to a shared folder.

General

• Fixed. When opening drawings created with AutoCAD Architecture, AutoCAD might crash if the drawing was saved again.
• Fixed. Plotting with certain visual styles might produce incorrect results.
• Fixed. Migrating custom settings might fail.

The following are known feature limitations in the AutoCAD 2017.1 Update:

​Vertical Products

• Some AutoCAD vertical product dialog boxes may not be optimized for viewing at scales greater than 100% on high resolution monitors.

TXT2MTXT enhancements are quite many:

• You can select Mtext objects in addition to text objects.
• A Settings option on the Command line displays the Text to MText Settings dialog.
  
• Character codes translate correctly between Text and Mtext (for example the degree symbol appeared as %%d when converted to Mtext).
• The “Select objects” prompt adheres to standard error checking and messaging. For example, objects on locked layers are filtered from the selection set, and so on.
• Justification (Top left, Top center, Top right) is inferred for the Mtext object being created based on the positioning of the text objects in the drawing instead of always using Top left justification. When no justification can be logically inferred, it defaults to top-left.
• Numbered and lettered list formatting is inferred when the word-wrap text box is checked. If a line starts with one or two characters followed by a period and up to 10 spaces, list formatting will be applied automatically.
• An option was added to the Settings dialog box to not combine selection into a single mtext objects (converts text object to mtext without combining).
• The top-down sorting order is relative to the current UCS and sorting is left-to-right when text objects are collinear. When multiple text objects are collinear, they are treated as if on the same line with a space between them.
• A new Settings option enables you to force uniform line spacing or maintain existing line spacing.

AcAutoLoader.crx is updated with this update meaning that AutoCAD 2017 App Autoloader Hotfix is included.

See also Autodesk’s blog post AutoCAD 2017 Fall Update and the AutoCAD 2017.1 Update/Enhancement Preview Guide.

JTB DST Tool is a new Sheet Set Manager app from JTB World

JTB DST Tool can merge, purge and convert Sheet Set DST files for AutoCAD, BricsCAD and any other CAD software using Sheet Set DST files. For example AutoCAD's Sheet Set Manager (SSM) or AutoCAD Architecture's Project Navigator (PN) Sheet Set View.

• Merge one or more sheet sets.
• The purging is useful for IT or CAD Managers to correct performance problems with SSM Sheet Sets that started to perform badly. Sometimes the DST file can grow unreasonable large and the purging can help.
• Convert to XML for more advanced editing and convert back to DST again.

If you work with the Sheet Set Manager and want to edit Sheet Sets see our SSMPropEditor app or if you want to create Sheet Sets and their properties in an automated manner take a look at our JTB Sheet Set Creator.

Batch Publish for AutoCAD 2.1 released

JTB World’s Batch Publish for AutoCAD 2.1 has been released. This version comes with a bug fix to support paths containing unicode characters like é.

This AutoCAD app simplifies the process of publishing (plotting) sets of drawings to DWF and/or PDF.

This app can be used with AutoCAD (and verticals) to simplify the process of publishing sets of drawings to DWF and/or PDF. It runs as a command within AutoCAD - as opposed to a separate executable - and uses a separate executable to monitor AutoCAD's health and restart it, as needed. The status of the batch publishing operation is stored to disk, allowing it to pick up from where it left off and also for any failed documents to be retried without starting from scratch. A setting is available to only publish drawings that have been modified since they were last published, making it easier to publish sets of documents on a regular basis.

Give it a try for free: Batch Publish for AutoCAD

DwgInfoTip 1.5 released

With DwgInfoTip you can see the DWG version and DWG properties as an Infotip (tooltip) in Windows Explorer / File Explorer or even from file dialog boxes within AutoCAD or any other CAD software using DWG files.

The freeware version only shows the DWG version and title.

See also the complementary application DWG Columns for Explorer to show the information in columns in Explorer.

How to get back the AutoCAD Security - Unsigned Executable File dialog box

If SECURELOAD system variable (introduced first in AutoCAD 2014) is activated (set to 1) you may see a dialog box like below. If you are not sure the executable file can be trusted do not load it.

Dialog box text as below:

[Window Title]
Security - Unsigned Executable File

[Main Instruction]
The publisher of this executable file could not be verified and the file is not located in a trusted folder. What do you want to do?

[Content]
Name:                JTBWPaletteAutoHideSpeed.lsp
Publisher:           Unknown Publisher
Location:            C:\Users\jtb\AppData\Roaming\Autodesk\ApplicationPlugins\JTBW-PaletteAutoHideSpeed.bundle\Contents
Issuer:                 None
Date:                   08/26/2016  17:06

Make sure that this executable file comes from a trusted source and is located in a trusted folder.

[Always Load] [Load Once] [Do Not Load]

[Footer]
How do I decide what files to load?

But what if you have selected Always Load and later change your mind what can you do?

There is no way in OPTIONS to do this like you can with other dialog boxes using “Hidden Message Settings”. “Security Options” does not help either.

The trusted files are saved in Windows Registry so there’s a way to solve this. As always when editing the Registry be careful and backup if needed.

USERTAPS below HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Autodesk\AutoCAD\R21.0\ACAD-0001:409\AutodeskApps holds apps that have been manually approved. R21.0\ACAD-0001:409 (this is for AutoCAD 2017) is depending on AutoCAD version and if it’s a vertical like AutoCAD Architecture or so.

If USERTAPS is deleted AutoCAD will show the dialog box “Security - Unsigned Executable File” again for all unsigned files.

Using Visual LISP you can delete USERTAPS like this:

(vl-registry-delete
  (strcat "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\\"
          (vlax-product-key)
          "\\AutodeskApps"
  )
  "USERTAPS"
)

JTB FlexReport 10.2 released

JTB FlexReport 10.2 has been released. JTB FlexReport helps to monitoring network license usage and software usage in general. With its charts and list reports you will see actual usage of often expensive licenses and be able to cut on license costs.

Here are the downloads.

Here’s the revision history describing what’s new and fixed in this release.

This update is for all customer with current maintenance agreement. If yours has expired you’re welcome to renew it.

Contact us to get a time limited license file for free. You can try it in your environment monitoring your own real license usage for a few weeks with full functionality. Support is free so if you run into any problems or have any questions we’re here to help you.

HVACPAC app now with AutoCAD 2017 support

HVACPAC AutoCAD app for HVAC and Piping work is now available with AutoCAD 2017 support.

HVACPAC includes all In-line duct fittings and equipment, air terminals and HVAC associated pipe work.

Free trial is available for HVACPAC.

SmartPurger 3.8 AutoCAD batch processing and cleanup

SmartPurger 3.8 is now released.

SmartPurger is a batch and script utility for processing multiple AutoCAD drawings with full control. Execute LSP or SCR files on multiple drawings. SmartPurger handles crashes so the AutoCAD batch processing continues to the end and leaves bad drawings to be corrected manually. Many purge and cleanup settings available.

SmartPurger can make use of AutoCAD Core Console that was introduced in AutoCAD 2013 making the scripting process faster then ever as the Core Console takes less than a second to open per drawing.

-With this version it’s possible to only delete certain “garbage” files without having to also run AutoCAD to purge and process custom scripts. See the “Only delete files, don’t process any DWG files” checkbox on Delete tab in Settings.
-Quick access to deleted files log file through new button on Delete tab.
-Minor bug fixes related to usage with AutoCAD 2017

I received below screenshots and statement from Clinton Hill at Innophos. This functionality was added based on his wishes.

“You provided an excellent product in “SmartPurger”. This application suits us perfectly.”

These are the steps to take to only delete specified files with extensions like .BAK, .BK?, .SV$, .$$$, .AC$, .DMP, .ERR, .XLG, .DWL, .DWK or PLOT.LOG.

First click on Add Folders Only and select one or many folders. Sub folders will also be processed.

Next click on Settings and on the Delete tab check the “Only delete files, don’t process any DWG files” checkbox as well as what type of files you want to delete.

Now go back and click on the Run button.

When ready go back to Settings and click on Open log file to see what files were deleted.

Download the updated version or a free trial here. The upgrade is free if you already have purchased a license.

JTB Layouts2PDF 1.0 AutoCAD app released

JTB Layouts2PDF for AutoCAD helps you print selected layouts with selected plot style to one pdf file. Your current Page Setup on each layout will be used. Free trial available.

Here’s the app in action:

JTB Spot Elevation 1.2 AutoCAD app released

JTB Spot Elevation is an app to insert surveying Spot Elevation blocks and manage them on an Edit Properties spreadsheet.

Run SPINSERT command to insert Spot Elevation block. You can enter elevation value at command prompt or via a dialog window.

If your drawing have these spot elevation already drawn by lines and texts, you can run SPCONVERT command to convert these lines and texts to standard Spot Elevation blocks.

Run SPEDPROPS command to open a design spreadsheet window for editing many Spot Elevations all at once. On this spreadsheet, you can renumber Spot Elevations in increasing order, adjust their elevations by a specified distance, change their colors, scales, unit settings, and many more. This is a powerful command to manage Spot Elevation properties.

The free Trial version usage is limited to drawing file size of less than 700 objects only.

JTB Spot Elevation is available as an AutoCAD app on the Plug-ins or Add-ins tab.

More about and download for JTB Spot Elevation here.

AutoLISP error: no function definition: VLAX-ENAME->VLA-OBJECT

Have you got this error in AutoCAD running some command or app that is AutoLISP based?

First thing to ensure is that Visual LISP is loaded so run (vl-load-com).

Below shows a result that is expected and all is working. Note that the drawing needs to have at least one object in it.
Command: (vl-load-com)
Command: (vlax-ename->vla-object(entlast))
#<VLA-OBJECT IAcadLine 0000005ce02af728>

If you get below result then something is broken in AutoCAD.
Command: (vlax-ename->vla-object(entlast))
; error: no function definition: VLAX-ENAME->VLA-OBJECT

I have not got this problem myself but a repair or reinstallation of AutoCAD has helped a couple of customers, one with AutoCAD 2016 and another with AutoCAD 2017. Suspected cause of this could be having run some registry cleaner or anti-virus that deleted vital registry settings that AutoCAD needs. One had run Malwarebytes the day earlier.

There might be an easier remedy but until this is found you know what to do to solve this problem. If you haven’t install any recent service pack or hotfix (that comes with an installer) this might also be a solution.

Update, solution found in this article.

JTB Batch Change 1.4 for AutoCAD released

JTB Batch Change 1.4 is now released.

Updates in version 1.4:

• Add ObjectDBX Disabled Mode to process drawings with proxy objects if Save Error happens in Normal Mode.
• Fix bug in Import sheet - Find Value formula.
• Add Xref Layer object.

In version 1.3 this was fixed and added:

• Fix bug in Owner Name (the owner block's name) of Attribute Reference.
• Add Width Factor and ObliqueAngle properties to Text, Attribute and Attribute Reference objects.

JTB Batch Change allows you to automate and batch process AutoCAD through Excel. Some examples of usage are:

With Batch Rename Objects you can rename layers in hundreds of drawing by substituting text "Concrete" with "CONC", or add a prefix of "AC " to each layer's name

With Batch Find and Replace you can find and replace text on multiple drawings.

You can import and update all blocks from a standard drawing to hundreds of other drawings.

You can replace all inserted blocks "DOOR-BD3" in layer "Archs" with block "DOOR-AC1", and move them to layer "ARCH-FURN"

You can change all texts whose styles are not prefixed with "ELEC" to "ELEC Standard" style, then change all block's attributes whose tag is "DATE" to current date.

You can convert all your inserted blocks from dynamic to static, or to anonymous blocks.

You can flatten all your drawing objects by setting all Z coordinates to 0.

Batch change drawing properties

Additionally, you can perform Batch Audit and Purge as well as much more.

When done with a batch processing you can see what has been processed in the log.

This is a great tool in the hands of AutoCAD users or CAD managers that want to save time doing manual work doing updates on many drawings.

JTB Batch Change is available as a trial.

AutoCAD Architecture 2017 SP1

You might have noticed that verticals like AutoCAD Architecture 2017 are getting service packs. Either download via Autodesk Desktop App or from here: AutoCAD Architecture 2017 Service Pack 1.

Unlike the previous service packs, this service pack DOES NOT include AutoCAD 2017 Service Pack 1. Autodesk recommends that you install AutoCAD 2017 Service Pack 1 before installing AutoCAD Architecture 2017 Service Pack 1. Refer to the AutoCAD 2017 Service Pack 1 readme for more information. Installing AutoCAD Architecture 2017 Service Pack 1 without installing AutoCAD 2017 Service Pack 1 can cause unexpected issues. Some Architecture defect fixes require AutoCAD Service pack 1 to be installed.

Here’s from the readme:

Problems Reported with the Customer Error Reporting Utility

As a result of the detailed information that we received from customers who used the Customer Error Reporting Utility, we were able to identify and fix a number of problems. Updates were made to the following commands and features:

Project Navigator

• There were occasional crashes when opening a drawing which has camera view from Sheets tab in Project Navigator.

General Service Pack Updates

The following defects have been fixed:

AutoCAD Integration

• Application hangs when switching between Model Space and Layout in some drawings.

Section

• Application hangs when a drawing is saved in Front view after creating a Section line.
• Section line is seen as continuous linetype in Front view.

Project Navigator

• New sheets created in Project Navigator do not appear until project is refreshed.

Display Representation

• In some drawings the display is corrected.
• In the "Display Properties" dialog box, transparency settings are not saved.

Migration

• "Migrate from previous Release" option will suppress "Manage content Library" dialog in the Styles Browser.

Mass Element

• Trimming or Splitting of mass elements does not work in non-default UCS.

Schedule Tables

• Schedule table has incorrect results when converted or exported to an excel table.

See also

• Autodesk AutoCAD Map 3D 2017 Service Pack 1
• AutoCAD Mechanical 2017 Service Pack 1
• Autodesk® AutoCAD® Plant 3D 2017 Service Pack 1
• AutoCAD MEP 2017 Service Pack 1
• Autodesk® AutoCAD® P&ID 2017 Service Pack 1

AutoCAD 2017 App Autoloader Hotfix

AutoCAD 2017 SP1 introduced an issue that caused many AutoCAD apps to not work, among them many of JTB World’s apps both on Autodesk App Store and on our website. As it will take a while for Autodesk to publish this hotfix I was allowed to make it available.

Download: AutoCAD 2017 Exchange App Autoloader Hotfix.zip from JTB World.

UPDATE: Autodesk has made the download available at their Autodesk Knowledge Network. Autodesk® AutoCAD® 2017 Exchange App Autoloader Hotfix

You can verify that this is a valid file from Autodesk by right-clicking on it and select properties and look at the Digital Signatures tab.

From the Autodesk® AutoCAD® 2017 Exchange App Autoloader Hotfix readme:

This Hotfix addresses a problem with Exchange Apps that target the AutoCAD 2017-based products.

Description of Problem

Exchange Apps may not display on the Add In tab after installing the AutoCAD 2017 Service Pack 1 if settings are reset. Commands for Exchange Apps may no longer work. Newly installed Exchange Apps might not load.

Affected Products

The following products are affected after installing the Service Pack 1 for AutoCAD-based products:

• AutoCAD 2017
• AutoCAD Map 3D 2017
• AutoCAD Civil 3D 2017
• AutoCAD Mechanical 2017
• AutoCAD Electrical 2017
• AutoCAD Architecture 2017
• AutoCAD MEP 2017
• AutoCAD P&ID 2017
• AutoCAD Plant 3D 2017
• AutoCAD Utility Design 2017

Installation Instructions

To install this Hotfix

You must have administrative privileges on your Microsoft^® Windows^® operating system to complete the installation process. For your security, it is strongly recommended that after you install this Hotfix, you restore your previous security setting rather than running under Administrative privileges.

This installation process requires you to modify an installed product, which may cause Windows security warnings to appear. For all Windows security warnings that appear during installation, click Continue.

We recommend that you update your Autodesk applications with the latest service packs or updates.

1. Close all software applications.
2. Navigate to the folder where your Autodesk product is installed.

C:\Program Files\Autodesk\AutoCAD 2017

1. Right-click AcAutoLoader.crx and go to properties. On the Details tab check the file version. If the version is 21.0.52.0 this hotfix should be applied. If the version is 21.0.104.1 this hotfix has been applied.
2. Right-click AcAutoLoader.crx and rename it as AcAutoLoader.bak. (Please note there is also an AcAutoLoader.arx file that you should not edit.)
3. Download the Hotfix to a location on your local computer.
4. Copy the downloaded file (AcAutoLoader.crx) from step 5 (from the 32-bit or 64-bit sub-folder depending on whether you have 32-bit or 64-bit software) to your product installation folder i.e. to the folder specified in step 2.
5. Repeat step 3 to ensure the hotfix has been applied.

To remove this Hotfix

1. Close all software applications.
2. Navigate to the folder where your Autodesk product is installed,

C:\Program Files\Autodesk\AutoCAD 2017

1. Delete AcAutoLoader.crx (the file you downloaded and installed).
2. Rename AcAutoLoader.bak to AcAutoLoader.crx

AutoCAD 2017 Service Pack 1 and a word of warning

Warning! This service pack breaks the loading of certain AutoCAD apps that are using the plug-in auto loader mechanism (among others used by apps in the Autodesk App Store). If you notice that some commands are not available, typically from the Add-ins Ribbon tab you can uninstall SP1 if already installed to restore functionality and then wait for a fix from Autodesk.

UPDATE 1: The problem with apps not loaded is only happening in vanilla AutoCAD and not in verticals like AutoCAD Architecture. A workaround is to remove the SeriesMax entry from the PackageContents.xml. For example: xmlSeriesMax="R21.0". Or to change it to xmlSeriesMax="R21.1".

UPDATE 2: See AutoCAD 2017 App Autoloader Hotfix

This Service Pack 1 can be applied to Autodesk AutoCAD 2017 installed as a standalone application, AutoCAD-based Vertical products, and the Autodesk Design Suites listed in the readme.

Download it at this point available via Autodesk Desktop App and soon on the download page. Update: Direct link to SP1.

According to the readme:

AutoCAD service packs are now separate and independent of the service packs for AutoCAD-based vertical products. From now on, you will need to install the AutoCAD service pack in addition to any applicable service pack for your vertical products.
This change enables Autodesk to release service packs in a more timely fashion.

Problems Reported with the Customer Error Reporting Utility

As a result of the detailed information that we received from customers who used the Customer Error Reporting Utility, we were able to identify and fix the problems listed below:

Blocks

• There were occasional crashes when inserting some blocks a second time.

Graphics

• There were occasional crashes when zooming out of a drawing following the 3D orbit command.

Purge

• There were occasional crashes when purging DXF drawing files.

Web and Cloud

• There were occasional crashes when modifying the Online Options settings and signing in to Autodesk A360 from InfoCenter.

General

• There were occasional crashes when launching AutoCAD in Windows 10.
• There were occasional crashes when inputting the system time in long string format, and then using the DIM command.
• There were occasional crashes when switching layouts.
• There were occasional crashes when performing a 3D rotate in drawings containing a point cloud.
• There were occasional crashes when plotting to PDF using AccoreConsole.exe.
• There were occasional crashes when performing an Undo after detaching a reference using the External References palette.
• There were occasional crashes when PNG images were specified in a CUI resource file.

General Service Pack Updates

The following defects have been fixed:

Display

• Xrefs on a frozen viewport layer would still be plotted.
• AutoCAD in Citrix might not default to the primary display adapter.

Open and Save

• Opening a drawing file using an Excel hyperlink was repositioning the AutoCAD application window.

PDF Import

• Importing a PDF Underlay that was attached with relative path could fail.

Xref

• The Xref status incorrectly displays the "Needs reloading" message when the dataset is opened from a UNC path to a shared folder.

General

• When opening drawings created with AutoCAD Architecture, AutoCAD might crash if the drawing was saved again.
• Plotting with certain visual styles might produce incorrect results.
• Migrating custom settings might fail.

One of the important issues addressed in AutoCAD 2017 SP1 is debugging the .NET in using Visual studio 2015. Till now, developers were asked to use workaround as explained in blog http://adndevblog.typepad.com/autocad/2016/05/debugging-autocad-2017-using-visual-studio-2015.html . But with AutoCAD 2017 SP1, there is no need to use the workarounds to debug the .NET project. Also, now you can edit and continue debugging your .NET project.

OsnapzBG Plus introduced

OsnapzBG Plus is based on our freeware OsnapzBG but adds ability to set any of the drawing window colors like those in the 3D parallel projection, 3D perspective projection or the command line context and interface elements and have these changed depending on the value of the AutoCAD system variable Osnapz.

When the AutoCAD variable OSNAPZ is changed many have found it useful to have a more visual change to indicate its state. In verticals like AutoCAD Architecture you have a small button that indicates the state of the “Z lock” but some might want to even have different drawing window colors change just like the Block Editor changes the background color. With OsnapzBG Plus loaded any change of OSNAPZ will also change drawing window colors depending on if OSNAPZ is set to 0 or 1.

Usage of OsnapzBG Plus where drawing windows colors are changed when OSNAPZ is changed.

Both OsnapzBG Plus and OsnapzBG now supports AutoCAD 2017.

JTB Layer Palette for BricsCAD

JTB Layer Palette for BricsCAD is now available.

JTB Layer Palette is a palette app for BricsCAD. Now you can manage layers in BricsCAD without leaving the drawing screen. Customizable view, multiple layers tasking, this will make managing layers much more easier.

More about JTB Layer Palette here. For more of JTB World’s software that you might find useful visit our software list. We also offer custom programming services and can help you with both small and large projects.

Subscribe to our JTB Layer Palette newsletter or any of our other Newsletters.

JTB Align Plus for GstarCAD

JTB Align Plus is now available for GstarCAD.

JTB Align Plus makes it easy to copy and align your text, block or selection of objects at picked point of selected line or curve. Curve can be Arc, Circle, Polyline, Leader or 3D Polyline, in current space as well as nested inside Blocks or Xrefs.

More about JTB Align Plus here. For more of JTB World’s software that you might find useful visit our software list. We also offer custom programming services and can help you with both small and large projects.

JTB Align Plus for BricsCAD

JTB Align Plus is now available for BricsCAD.

JTB Align Plus makes it easy to copy and align your text, block or selection of objects at picked point of selected line or curve. Curve can be Arc, Circle, Polyline, Leader or 3D Polyline, in current space as well as nested inside Blocks or Xrefs.

More about JTB Align Plus here. For more of JTB World’s software that you might find useful visit our software list. We also offer custom programming services and can help you with both small and large projects.

JTB Text Bubble Plus for GstarCAD

JTB Text Bubble Plus is now available for GstarCAD.

With JTB Text Bubble Plus you can insert text bubbles to lines, curves, or draw leaders with it, or quickly make a schedule from text bubbles and/or other blocks. Incrementing of numbers or letters is done automatically.

More about JTB Text Bubble Plus here. For more of JTB World’s software that you might find useful visit our software list. We also offer custom programming services and can help you with both small and large projects.