AutoCAD 2010 VBA and VSTA future

This is a follow up to the previous post No VBA installed with AutoCAD 2010. Here’s some more information about the future of VBA and VSTA for AutoCAD based products.

http://www.autodesk.com/vba-download will in a few weeks time have a FAQ about the future of VBA and VSTA. If you have any questions you want to be answered or addressed please add a comment below and I will forward it to Autodesk for consideration.

This discussion group post has a reply from Eric Stover at Autodesk.

We will continue to support VBA now and into the foreseeable future in the AutoCAD product line. We are putting together a transition plan to .NET and VSTA and expect to support VBA until our research shows most customers have migrated their code (which could take years.)

We are offering VBA for download on our website - which will appear once the product officially ships. You can download the product and install and deploy it within your organization. Your VBA code should work just as before.

Information on the longer term transition to VSTA is coming soon. Autodesk is working on a .NET developers guide (no release date yet).

The COM interface will remain and work even without VBA installed. This is important to know if you program in AutoLISP and Visual LISP.

One cool thing with VSTA is that both Visual Basic and Visual C# can be used as well as having a more modern IDE that is similar to Visual Studio.

When you migrate VBA code to run for AutoCAD 2010 remember you might need to change the reference to point to to the AutoCAD 2010 type library acax18enu.tlb or the like. One error message you can get if you forget to do this is "Type Mismatch".

Code like this one below needs to use 18 as well.
Set Acad = GetObject(, "AutoCAD.Application.18")

AutoCAD 2010 Parametric Reciprocator in 3D

One of the most welcome and big news in AutoCAD 2010 is the parametric functionality. In AutoCAD 2010 it is mainly to be used in 2D but to some extent it can at least drive 3D geometry as can be seen in this sample I created by only adding a few constraints.

Below is an animated GIF file showing how the reciprocator works when dragging the magenta handle around.

A reciprocator is also called ellipsograph because it the handle is describing an ellipse. Notice how the linear motion of the two green guides convert the motion to a circular or ellipse motion or the other way around the ellipse rotary motion is converted to a reciprocating motion in two axis.

You will find that you cannot add constraints to vertical objects like Walls in AutoCAD Architecture 2010. Hopefully it will be possible in a future version or you need to use Revit 2010.

The biggest green timber frame building in the UK

The new Loch Lomond and Trossach’s National Park Headquarters is the largest green timber frame building in the UK. In addition some of the members are the biggest green timbers ever used in a timber frame construction measuring in at a massive 600mm x 650mm x 6.5m solid green Douglas fir.

Carpenter Oak and Woodland Co. Ltd has more info and pictures.

AutoCAD Architecture is used to engineer the 3D structure.

AutoCAD 2010 fairy tale

by Randall S. Newton on the new AutoCAD 2010. Enjoy the reading.

When Aish arrived at Autodesk, he was given the freedom to wander around the company and look at the various technologies and products available, to find the right technology to build Autodesk’s answer to Generative Components. He looked at Alias, Maya, Max, Mudbox, Inventor, NavisWorks, Revit ... and chose to base his new research project on AutoCAD. “There’s some interesting things going on with the old girl,” Aish told me.

Download and read the whole PDF here:
King Carl, Prince Amal, and the Fat Lady: Dark Nights of Intrigue at Castle Autodesk

Visual Studio Toolbox Not Updating With New Controls Solution

DevComponents Blog have the solution to Visual Studio Toolbox Not Updating With New Controls Solution.

“What you need to do is delete temp/cached files for VS.NET 2008 toolbox so toolbox gets refreshed.”

SmartPurger now works with AutoCAD 2010 and Windows 7

SmartPurger 2.8 has been released. It is working with AutoCAD 2010 based applications as well as it installs easier on both Windows Vista and Windows 7. SmartPurger can not only purge multiple drawings, SmartPurger can close dialog boxes that might stop the script processing and can also run custom script or AutoLISP files as well.

No VBA installed with AutoCAD 2010

When you have installed AutoCAD 2010 you will probably notice that VBA (Visual Basic for Applications) is not included on the DVD. Or you might try to run VBAIDE or load a DVB file.

Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications software (VBA) is no longer installed with AutoCAD. For more information and free download visit:
http://www.autodesk.com/vba-download

This dialog box will show if VBA is not installed.

Soon time for VSTA (Visual Studio Tools for Applications) and this seems like Autodesk’s way to try migrate away users from VBA. Microsoft has stopped supporting VBA for some time now & it's not ported to 64-bit. Learning VBA is not the future.

AutoCAD 2010 soon on your desk

Today AutoCAD 2010 was launched at Autodesk (no pun intended).

Even though I couldn’t make it to the public launch of AutoCAD 2010 at Autodesk Gallery @ One Market, San Francisco, CA (thanks for the invitation), I’ve had the opportunity to try the Beta for AutoCAD 2010 (aka Gator) for some time.

AutoCAD 2010 has a good potential to be a popular release with new features like free-form design tools and constraint-based parametric drawing tools combined with improved performance and much more.

I recently installed Windows 7 Beta build 7000 and can confirm that AutoCAD 2010 works just fine. For obvious reasons Windows 7 is not among AutoCAD 2010’s supported operating systems as Windows 7 will be released after AutoCAD 2010.

Here is the press release about AutoCAD 2010, AutoCAD LT 2010 and AutoCAD 2010 Family of Products like AutoCAD Architecture 2010, AutoCAD Civil 2010, AutoCAD Electrical 2010, AutoCAD Map 3D 2010, AutoCAD Mechanical 2010, AutoCAD MEP 2010 and AutoCAD P&ID 2010. The free Autodesk Design Review 2010 will also soon be available to download as well as included on the DVDs.

More about AutoCAD 2010 will come on the blog and on JTB World’s AutoCAD 2010 page.

Autodesk University presentations for free via TenLinks Daily

Via TenLinks Daily newsletter “more users of Autodesk software will have full access to the rich content presented at Autodesk University”. High class training for free.

See press release.

Revit Architecture, AutoCAD Architecture, 3ds Max Design, Navisworks Review included in new suite

Revit Architecture Visualization Suite 2009 is the new package that includes all of these products.

Online building codes and standards

MADCAD is a web-based subscription service providing online access to an HTML format, fully searchable collection of building codes and standards from major content providers.

MADCAD's online content includes over 7,000 codes and standards from ASHRAE, ASTM, CSI, IAPMO, ICC and NFPA.

Other new features include:
- Local code information including adopted model codes and state amendments.
- Hyperlinked cross-references within books for fast navigation.
- The ability to create custom book groups for quick access.
- Building product manufacturers classified under CSI’s MasterFormat.

MADCAD have a beta of eLibrary v.3.0 available now according to this press release.

Mysteries of Autodesk's Caves - dynamic blocks programming

Andrey Lazebny has written in a lively joke manner this story that has been translated, edited and published by Nikolay N. Poleshchuk.

It is possible to create a dynamic block in AutoCAD having multiple visibility parameters using AutoLISP and Visual LISP. Learn how to add new visibility parameters to a dynamic block already having visibility parameter, rearrange custom properties, access and use ACAD_EVALUATION_GRAPH and BLOCKVISIBILITYPARAMETER dictionaries, BLOCKGRIPLOCATIONCOMPONENT and more.

On programming access to dynamic blocks from AutoLISP has the story as well as the source code.

Below you can see a block with 10 visibility parameters.

Swedish royal hotel with interesting facades

First Hotels plans to build a 25000 m2 hotel with 600 rooms and conference center close to Arlanda Airport outside of Stockholm, Sweden.

“The building will have three sides. The equilateral triangular footprint creates a building with no ends, only three faces perceived as free standing two-dimensional surfaces.”

“A small variation in the horizontal window band of each of the 600 rooms creates an abstract pattern, that seen from a distance turns into crystal clear portraits of Crown Princess Victoria, Princess Madeleine and Prince Carl-Philip of Sweden.”

Here is more on the project on Bjarke Ingels Group – BIG.

AutoCAD potential security vulnerability hotfix

In AutoCAD 2004-AutoCAD 2009-based products, there is a potential security vulnerability in the shared liveupdate16.dll file. This includes everything from AutoCAD LT 2004 to AutoCAD Revit Architecture Suite 2009.

You better push this out to all users in your company.

Knowledge Base document: Live Update Hotfix