Between the Lines

DWF vs PDF

Link to results of some testing for the formats with AutoCAD design data.Click Here Cheers, -Shaan Read more →

"Intel eyes 64-bit chips for desktops" What Is that - Intel Changes to the AMD 64 bit architecture???

There is a very interesting article and many more on the web in the last few days solidifying many of the things I have been hearing recently. The AMD 64-bit architecture with a 64-bit chip supporting native 32-bit applications seems to have turned Intel another direction to do the same instead of the current Itanium which only emulates a 32-bit environment thus making the 32-bit applications run slower. Intel will be showing its codename Yamhill chips in about a month.... Read more →

New Autodesk Revit 6 Release Review by AECbytes

There is a good review of the newly released Autodesk Revit 6. In the article there is a big project screen shot image of a project in Australia in AECbytes. http://www.aecbytes.com/review/Revit_6.htm Cheers, -Shaan Read more →

Helpful AutoCAD Solutions for Corrupted Drawings

Corrupted drawings unfortunately occur for a wide variety of reasons such as a bad network or hardware, operating system issues, media degradation like files on old disks, unexpected data or defect, a 3rd party application, or a non Autodesk product saving a DWG file. Here are a couple solutions to assist in recovering the files. Recover damaged drawing files http://support.autodesk.com/getDoc.asp?id=TS67106 Difference between AUDIT and RECOVER commands http://support.autodesk.com/getDoc.asp?id=TS54343 Recovering a damaged drawing if the RECOVER command is not successful http://support.autodesk.com/getDoc.asp?id=TS19369 Using... Read more →

Print on Demand User Guides from Autodesk Now Available

For those that want the printed user guides, you can now purchase all of your printed user guide product manuals at the Autodesk eStore. I agree that sometimes I need a paper-based manual but do use the online Help the majority of the time. No more killing trees for those that were not going to read the paper versions is what started as a trend with many software companies a few years back. In fact I heard personally the complaints... Read more →

Well, I Have My Amazon Jungle Excursion All Planned

I have decided after my planned business trip to São Paulo Brazil at the beginning of March that I will be taking a week off and going up the Amazon starting at Manaus Brazil. Some people think I am nuts but this is one of those things I have always wanted to do. I have to give great credit to my wife for allowing me to go and being so supportive although she did mention something about life insurance. This... Read more →

São Paulo Brazil, world's second-biggest city, celebrates its 450th birthday!

Yes, the second largest city in the world celebrates it's 450th birthday. Speaking of São Paulo Brazil, any of my blog visitors from there? I will be there in about a month (March 2004) for business. While there, I hopefully will take a couple days for sightseeing and away from phones and computers. Looking at possibly three Brazilian locations so far besides São Paulo. The locations of interest are: In the Amazon Jungle doing some fishing about 65-80 km from... Read more →

Autodesk Design Awards 2003

Professionals and students submitted their designs for the Autodesk Design Awards in the Fall of 2003. Winners were announced in December at Autodesk University in Las Vegas, Nevada. Have a look at the winners as there are some really impressive designs: Click Here Cheers, -Shaan Read more →

The Great 64-bit CAD Precision Misconception

I just read the January 2004 Cadalyst magazine and spotted an article error or confusion point. The error or confusion is an easy one to fall into in fact I too was thinking the same misconception awhile back until I researched the 64-bit processors from AMD and Intel in greater depth for my floating point (accuracy/prescision) posts in this blog titled 64 bit Computers & AutoCAD, More on 64-bit Processors and AutoCAD and also, More from the AutoCAD Accuracy Universe... Read more →

Wow! Some Really Nice Architectural Desktop "ADT" Examples

Autodeskers Chris Yanchar and Julian Gonzalez of the Autodesk Architectural Desktop "ADT" team showed me some really nice examples of the power of their product. Of course I have to mention ADT is built on AutoCAD as a platform for the architectural specific industry. You can find many awesome examples posted by ADT users in the discussion groups: Autodesk Architectural Desktop Customer Gallery Other discussion groups both web based and news reader and hopefully soon by RSS syndicated feeds. http://discussion.autodesk.com... Read more →

Free Plot Utilities for AutoCAD

Print contents of STB or CTB file Click Here This tool provides a way to export a CTB or STB plot style tables to a comma-delimited text file. You can then import the comma-delimited text file into a spreadsheet program (for example, Microsoft Excel) and print the file or compare it with others. You can also print the text file directly. CTB to PCP Converter Click Here This tool provides a way to export a PCP file from a CTB... Read more →

AutoCAD 2004 Migration Utilities - For Free and also Very Helpful

Are you aware there is a free download of Migration related utilities for AutoCAD 2004? Link: http://www.autodesk.com/migrationtools The list of Migration Tools and descriptions: Autodesk Batch Drawing Converter 2004 Autodesk® Batch Drawing Converter 2004 converts any AutoCAD or AutoCAD-based drawing file to AutoCAD Release 14, AutoCAD 2000, AutoCAD 2000i, AutoCAD 2002, and AutoCAD 2004 file formats. Autodesk Batch Drawing Converter allows conversion of pen widths to lineweights and the addition of page setups. Note: Autodesk Batch Drawing Converter 2004 is... Read more →

Some Great AutoCAD Tips!

Saving Real Estate with Auto-hide feature for Palettes - Part 1 http://www.hyperpics.com/tipsandtricks/cad/autohide_palettes.htm Saving Real Estate with Clean Screen - Part 2 http://www.hyperpics.com/tipsandtricks/cad/cleanscreen.htm PEDITACCEPT and how it affects the PEDIT command http://www.hyperpics.com/tipsandtricks/cad/peditaccept.htm Cycling through the Layout Tabs in the drawing http://www.hyperpics.com/tipsandtricks/cad/cycle_through_tabs.htm 3 ways to Accept changes and Exit the new Mtext Editor http://www.hyperpics.com/tipsandtricks/cad/3_ways_to_exit_mtexted.htm Using the QNEW command (Quick New Drawing) http://www.hyperpics.com/tipsandtricks/cad/qnew.htm Starting the session of AutoCAD with Template pre-loaded http://www.hyperpics.com/tipsandtricks/cad/template_at_startup.htm Tips Provided By: Lee Ambrosius HyperPics, http://www.hyperpics.com Do you have some... Read more →

Two Linetypes and/or Colors For a Dimension Using a CTB Plot Style in AutoCAD

I get this question at least a dozen times a year. The question is if you can have two linetypes or colors for a dimension. The most common reason is the person wants a solid baseline and a dashed or dotted extension lines. This has been possible since AutoCAD 2000 and the addition of plot styles. Sample DWF file showing two different linetypes and colors for the dimension. You will need the free Autodesk View Express to view the DWF... Read more →

DWF Writer 2 Is Being Posted Any Day Now

The Free DWF Writer 2 which I mentioned the beta awhile back will be on the Autodesk web site very soon. When it is available I will post in here. It is a really nice Windows System printer driver to print to the DWF format from almost any Windows application. Cheers, -Shaan Update: You can download the DWFWriter 2 from http://www.autodesk.com/dwfwriter Read more →

Very Cool Photo Gallery Software

I was reading Robert Scoble's (of Microsoft) Scobleizer Weblog and was blown away by the free travelogue-authoring tool tool developed by Microsoft Research. The tool World-Wide Media eXchange "WWMX" allows you to geographically stamp your photos allowing for a map showing on a map the location the photos were taken. I will try creating a sample gallery soon myself. what a way to show where you have been. From the Scobleizer Weblog "Cool Photo Travelog Authoring Tool I was just... Read more →

Do You Have What it Takes to be a Top Beta Site?

We really need some more of the really motivated and feedback driven beta sites. I am always looking for AutoCAD beta sites that are willing to be very active and provide constructive feedback on ideas and features. We have thousands of beta sites but only small percentages are active and provide the feedback. We really need the feedback in order to make the right decisions and also become aware of issues and address them. Becoming a beta site does have... Read more →

'Between The Lines AutoCAD Wish List'

In addition to the AutoCAD Wish List on AUGI.com I added my 'Between The Lines AutoCAD Wish List' & $100 Feature Survey. I will be reviewing these and also discussing the suggestions directly with the design and development groups periodically. I will also periodically take the top items and hold a voting to rank the top items. 'Between The Lines AutoCAD Wish List' With the following survey you get to pretend you are the head of AutoCAD development. You get... Read more →

Online Autodesk® DWF™ Writer Video Tutorial by CAD-1.com

CAD-1.com has posted an online streaming video tutorial on the Autodesk® DWF™ Writer (http://www.autodesk.com/dwfwriter). They show how to use it and discuss uses for it to print from any windows application to the DWF format. http://www.cad-1.com/tips&tricks_janfebvid-04.htm Cheers, -Shaan Read more →

Delete Layer Filters Fast with AutoCAD 2004

Prior to AutoCAD 2004, if you pasted a block or inserted into a drawing the layer filters from the block would also come along. In some cases the drawings would get quite a few layer filters. Customers pointed out this problem and we changed the behavior in AutoCAD 2004. No longer do layer filters come in with blocks whether pasted or inserted. Also you can easily now select or delete all filters in the drawing. No more need for a... Read more →

Shawn Caldwell Posts His Autodesk University Photos

Looks like Shawn Caldwell had a blast attending Autodesk University this year. See his online photos. Click Here Shaan's AU 2003 Photo Gallery Click Here Cheers, -Shaan Read more →

The Solar System on a 10,000" X 10,000" DWF

I actually just for fun created a high DPI multiple page DWF of the Solar System on a 10,000 inch by 10,000 in page size. It was only 34KB in size. I set the plot style to make all lines with 0.0" lineweight for more crisp Read more →

Load ARX Files Automatically

Did you know... If you create a text file named acad.rx in your Autocad directory, you can list your ARX files in this file and then when AutoCAD loads it will automatically load the listed ARX files? Cheers, -Shaan Read more →

DWF Precision Article by Brian Mathews of the DWF Team

DWF precision One of the advantages (to some customers at least, maybe not you) is the security offered by DWF because it has the same restrictions as physical paper. Many users don't want people stealing their model data. Let me explain: When you take a measurement in AutoCAD from a DWG file you have a 64-bit double-precision floating point value that gives you extreme levels of precision and accuracy. You also have lots of model intelligence. For example an ADT... Read more →

More from the AutoCAD Accuracy Universe and the Floating Point

AutoCAD's 64-bit precision has been discussed and documented for years and hailed as the most technically precise system for many years since the eighties. This was long before people realized that some would actually need even more precision in the floating point calculation provided by the then math coprocessors and then in the 32-bit platform. There was an example demonstrated by Jon Walker the founder of Autodesk with a AutoCAD drawing showing a to scale of the universe. In this... Read more →