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I have added the DWG format version details from the past 20 years on my unofficial AutoCAD History page.
AutoCAD 2005 can read all DWG files back from AutoCAD version 2.5 up to the AutoCAD 2005 format which is a span of 20+ years. AutoCAD 2005 can save back to AutoCAD 2000 DWG format or export to the AutoCAD R12 DXF.
There is also the free Autodesk Batch Drawing Converter so you can batch convert DWG files to AutoCAD R14 DWG using original Autodesk DWG tools.
Cheers,
-Shaan
Nicolas Menu (http://www.wild-lights.com/) has created some AutoCAD 2005 exercises in Français (French). You will need the free Autodesk DWF Viewer to view the exercises as well as know Français.
http://www.wild-lights.com/CAD/dwf/Exercices.dwf
If you are like me and communicate with people around the world as most do these days, then here is a great free utility for you from Microsoft.
Microsoft Time Zone runs in the system tray and allows you to view the date and time in various locations around the world. You can also quickly and easily add your own personal locations to customize Microsoft Time Zone the way you want. It is based on .NET Framework 1.1 Service Pack 1.
Cheers,
-Shaan
The below document link for download is from a class at the 2003 Autodesk University. The document was originally written for AutoCAD 2004 and the Tool Palette Extension but is applicable to AutoCAD 2005 as well.
Make the Most of Tool Palettes in AutoCAD® 2004 and Beyond
By: Heidi Hewett
Use tools and techniques to quickly add existing block and hatch content to AutoCAD® tool palettes. In addition, you will explore the most recent tool palette functionality, as well as a few other surprises that are only available through the AutoCAD 2004 extension or AutoCAD 2005. To manage these powerful tool palettes, you will practice techniques for easily sharing and accessing multiple tool palettes.
I was asked in an email from a blog reader "with the free DWF Writer printer driver, why do I still post PDF documents".
The answer is quite simple. While DWF is awesome and lightweight, it was designed specifically for CAD vector data. PDF is great at text documents, but it is absolutely bloated and inaccurate with CAD vector data. So when I post word documents I use PDF and when posting CAD vector design documents use DWF.
It is the longtime proven statement and rule of thumb to use the best tool for the intended purpose or output. There is no one size fits all format and perhaps that will change in the future. but right now DWF for CAD and PDF for text documents. The one downside to using PDF text documents online is the delays while the Adobe Acrobat reader takes all of your system resources and memory and almost locks your system up while trying to open the PDF document. It would be nicer to have a text document format able to be embedded in the web page like Flash and Macromedia with the Flash Paper can do that, but not CAD vector data.
The Graphical User Interface (GUI) is geared differently between Adobe Acrobat and the free Autodesk DWF Viewer. While Acrobat is set for serial document reading top to bottom scrolling the Autodesk DWF viewer is view based and allows panning zooming and 3D rotation when viewing 3D DWF files. So you have one geared towards small paper documents and one geared and designed for CAD layouts and data. Each are specific to what they were designed for one for text and one for CAD.
Choosing an electronic format for your CAD data just because the secretary has a viewer installed for PDF is not a solid foundation or the best reason IMHO. Your dentist would hopefully not choose to use his home drill to work on your teeth, as he would choose a dental drill specific to what he is doing and working on.
Cheers,
-Shaan
Unlike some software application developers, Autodesk has made an enormous effort and commitment to get the error reports for review and investigation to determine the cause and what can be done to resolve the error. Windows Error Reports (WER) are great and have assisted Microsoft in fixing many of the most common issues in their applications and operating system such as Windows XP. The problem is when another application developer relies on the generic error reporting that are sent to Microsoft instead of the developer of the application that experienced the error. The generic report from the non Microsoft software company states "We are sorry for the inconvenience, Please tell Microsoft about this problem". The most likely result is that Microsoft will not be fixing that other applications error.
Examples of Autodesk Customer Error Reports
Successful Customer Error Report Submission Result
The AutoCAD Customer Error Report includes the following:
Operating System name and version
Product name and version
Graphics configuration driver name and version
Applications that were loaded when the error occurred
Active command when the error occurred
Autodesk uses the data contained in the error report only to troubleshoot the problem. The error report is transmitted over a secure connection and is not used for marketing activities.
For a complete description of Autodesk's privacy policy.
Please send these reports in, as they will help in determining any problems you may be encountering. I have called people that included their contact details in the reports to let them know that their issue had been addressed in a Service Pack (see past article from November 2003 "Your Customer Error Reports Are Very Important").
Just remember we cannot fix what we are not aware of so anytime you see the Customer Error Report dialog, please send them in. Even in beta testing for AutoCAD, we have resolved most errors that caused an exit. By the time we hit the later betas, the customers testing the beta remarked at how difficult it was to get it to error out. It is usually a very small number of issues that are ultimately responsible for the majority of errors. When the issues can be identified or a pattern discovered they can be addressed and always include your contact details so we can if needed follow up for sample data or further details.
The Customer Error Report may be disconcerting in this age of widespread privacy violations, but there are no hidden motives here. Autodesk goes to great lengths to protect the customer’s privacy. The main purpose and main result of sending in Customer Error Reports is software with fewer errors or conflicts, and that benefits both of us. The benefit is for you as a user of the software encountering fewer errors and for Autodesk as the developer of the software as we want the most dependable product possible. so please when you see one of these Customer Error Dialogs fill them out with as much detail as possible and contact information and then submit it.
Cheers,
Shaan
I spent the labor day holiday in the Nevada desert near Baker and Great Basin National Park. I even got a chance to fly around in a small plane while there. I packed for hot weather, but it was snowing in the area the day I had arrived. I posted some photos to my Daily Grind photo blog including a photo of the famous highway 50 sneaker tree.
Other items over the holiday was a Beta Programs and MyFeedback unplanned server migration back to Windows 2000 Server due to the way Windows 2003 Server IIS6 handles large file downloads and consumes all of the servers memory. I really liked Windows 2003 Server except for the issue when you have hundreds downloading large files from the server via http and it loads the server memory buffers causing all sorts of problems. Hopefully Microsoft can address this soon and I can migrate back the servers.
Not Again...
Florida and the Caribbean are being hit by a third hurricane in the past few weeks. Hurricane Ivan is classified currently as a category 5 hurricane with 160MPH winds.
National Weather Service information on hurricane IVAN
Click Here
Hurricane Ivan tracking:
Help the Florida residents by donating to the Red Cross.
I wish I could go down and help as I really like Florida and hate to see it with such extensive damage.
Shaan
RobiNZ Blog: MindManager For AEC ~ Combining CAD DWF's and Mind Mapping
MindManager For AEC ~ Combining CAD DWF's and Mind Mapping
I’m always dealing with both CAD files and related projects. Combining Project Information and CAD data for review and presentation was a challenge but it’s just become a whole lot easier. A combination of MindManager and Design Web Format (DWF) allows my Project Plans and CAD data to be easily united. Free viewers for both file formats make sharing this information very simple.
On July 21st 2005 I wrote about a spooky house in the town I live in and its billing on the web as "the most haunted house in the world". Link to Orginal Post
Well it has now burned down as of Tuesday morning under suspicious conditions. I have received so many emails about this blog posting from local residents, teenagers, and many others. I even had a local firefighter who was at the fire scene email me after he had read my blog about the house.
The last eerie thing is I was there Sunday and got my photo taken in the doorway.
Perhaps this is the very last photo ever taken of the suspected haunted house. When I was there Sunday I pulled up and a car full of teenagers took off. The place has been a real magnet due to some believing the place was really haunted. I am not sure what I think about the place and if it really is haunted, but just the look of the place can give you the creeps.
I guess this is the final photo and story of the house at Haystack Landing.
Story from the local paper:
Argus-Courier
Haystack Landing house destroyed by fire
An early morning fire Tuesday gutted a well-known south Petaluma home, leaving nothing behind but a cement pad, fire officials said.
The historic Haystack Landing house, billed by some as "the world's most haunted location," burned to the ground shortly after 1:40 a.m. Tuesday.
Jerry Corda, chief of the San Antonio Fire Company, said engines from several departments responded to the early morning call but when firefighters arrived, "it was pretty much fully involved" and the home couldn't be saved.
"It must have burned pretty fast," said Corda, who lives near the property and saw the sky over a neighboring hill fill with an orange glow.
The house, built in the middle of a marshy area a few miles south of the city, dates to the 1800s and was once part of a port for ships traveling the Petaluma River. It was considered an important gateway to Petaluma.
"There’s a lot of history behind that building," Corda said. Firefighters prevented the flames from spreading further, he said. Corey Youn
-Shaan
