In a continuing effort to improve customer experience and product quality we are working on a Service Pack update for AutoCAD 2008. The AutoCAD 2008 Service Pack 1 has been in beta testing with customers registered in the Autodesk MyFeedback Community http://myfeedback.autodesk.com. Today we expect to post the last beta number 4 and then hopefully release it to all customers shortly thereafter. This Service Pack is developed to address customer issues report to us as well as in the Customer Error Reporting CER feature in AutoCAD which reports crash details which the user has the option to send in (please send them in every single time as we do read each one) .
Here is an overview of the AutoCAD 2008 Service Pack 1 subject to change as it is still a pre-release undergoing beta testing by customers.
The Service Pack is for:
- AutoCAD 2008 32-bit and 64-bit
- AutoCAD LT 2008 32-bit
- The AutoCAD 2008 installed with AutoCAD in Revit Architecture Suite 2008 32-bit and 64-bit
- The AutoCAD 2008 installed with AutoCAD in AutoCAD Revit Structure Suite 2008 32-bit and 64-bit
This service pack can be used with the following operating systems:
- Microsoft® Windows® 2000 (SP4)
- Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition (SP2)
- Microsoft Windows XP Professional (SP2)
- Microsoft Windows Vista™ Enterprise
- Microsoft Windows Vista Business
- Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate
- Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium
- Microsoft Windows Vista Home Basic
- Microsoft Windows XP Professional x64 Edition
- Microsoft Windows Vista Business 64-bit
- Microsoft Windows Vista Enterprise 64-bit
- Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate 64-bit
- Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit
- Microsoft Windows Vista Home Basic 64-bit
Primary Issues Resolved by the Service Pack
Problems Reported with the Customer Error Reporting Utility
As a result of detailed information from customers who used the Customer Error Reporting Utility, a number of problems were identified and fixed in the following areas:
- .NET API
- 2D Display
- 3D Display
- 3D Navigation
- Annotation Scaling
- Attributes
- Blocks
- Copy and Paste
- Customer Involvement Program
- Dashboard
- Design Center
- Dimensions
- DWF Creation
- eTransmit
- External References
- File Navigation
- Hatches
- Hide
- Images
- InfoCenter
- Layers
- Layouts
- Lights
- Materials
- Multileaders
- Multiline Text
- Object Editing
- Object Linking and Embedding (OLE)
- Open, Save, and Close
- Options
- OSNAP
- Plot
- Properties Palette
- Publish
- Random Crashes
- Recover
- Render
- Selection
- Sheet Set Manager
- Standards
- Tables
- Text
- Tool Palettes
- Tooltips
- Trim
- Undo and Redo
- Viewports
- Visual Lisp
General Updates
Other changes include the following:
.NET API
- ObjectID.Open no longer causes a crash
- Removing a handler from Database.ObjectAppended then firing the event now generates an error message
64-Bit
- vl-arx-import now functions for namespaces separate from VLX
- i-Drop is operating correctly
Annotation Scaling
- When dragging and dropping a named view from the style sheet manager to the host drawing, the annotation scaling features work properly
- Custom scales which exist in the nested xrefs are no longer duplicated in the host drawing
- Blocks in the Tool Palettes created from the DesignCenter annotative drawings are now annotative
Attributes
- Multiline attributes no longer shift positions every time drawings are saved and opened
- The Value field for an attribute definition may now be modified in the Property Palette
Blocks
- The Y-scale factor of inserted blocks is now scaled accurately
Dashboards
- The dashboard panel configuration is now maintained throughout different workspaces and user sessions
Data Extraction
- All dynamic block properties are now correctly extracted
Dimensions
- Radial extension arcs may now be disabled, restoring the ability to dimension small radii
- The In-Place dimension text editor size is now correct
- Round-off dimension values now appear correctly
- Dimension breaks no longer cause AutoCAD to hang
Display
- Linetypes now always display properly after zooming operations
DWG
- Copy/paste now works in the drawings saved as 2000 and then resaved in AutoCAD 2004, AutoCAD 2005, or AutoCAD 2006
E-Transmit
- AutoCAD 2000 and Release 14 file formats are preserved while using ETRANSMIT with the "Keep existing drawing file formats" setting enabled
Fields
- Drawing name field now always plots correctly
Hatch
- The BHATCH command boundary detection mechanism has been improved
Image
- Image frames are no longer plotted or displayed when IMAGEFRAME is set to 0
Layouts
- The ampersand character ("&") may now be entered on the Layout tab
Multileader
- The location of attributes in multileader block is no longer off-center
- Multileader text no longer unexpectedly rotates
- Multileader attributes are no longer off-center in a rotated UCS
MText
- MText tabs are now saved correctly to the older DWG formats
- Certain Japanese characters are displayed correctly
- Portuguese (Iberian and Brazilian) dictionaries now have accented capital letters
Open/Save
- If multiple drawings are opened in Explorer, only a single instance of AutoCAD containing those drawings will launch
OSnap
- Object snaps now work correctly in blocks
PDF Export
- Raster images now plot correctly to PDF
Performance Tuner
- If there are no new drivers, the "New Driver" bubble does not appear
Plot
- Plotting performance of rotated MrSID images is improved
Tables
- Data linked cell formatting is now correct
- Excel formatting is kept when the paste special (PASTESPEC) command is used
Tool Palette
- Icons are no longer truncated
Visual Styles
- Erroneous lines and display artifacts no longer show up after multiple zooming operations
XREF
- Drawings with long reference paths are referenced properly
I will post when the Service Pack is released to everyone.
