IMAGINiT Technologies Support Blog

What is the Civil 3D Point? Connection Point that is.

AutoCAD Civil 3D 2013
What in the World is this thing in Civil 3D called a Connection Point?
A Connection Point in Civil 3D is a way for you to connect to objects from other programs. An example would be to connect Pipes to Objects from other programs. This would also allow you to create a Point of connection for users in other programs such as AutoCAD MEP and AutoCAD Plant 3D.

Create a ACP

1.) Ribbon, Insert Tab-\Connection Point-\Insert
2.) In the Drawing window select the object you would like to add the ACP to.
3.) Select the location on th object you would like the ACP to be placed (ie Center of Pipe,End of a     Line, Quadrant of a circle, Etc).
4.) Select you 2 directions. These will control the connection. So if you were to select the start of a Pipe and then the end the ACP will follow the direction of the Pipe.
5.) Specify if you would like to create Engineering data. This will populate properties that can have data assigned to them later.We now have an ACP created.

Connecting to ACP's

1.) In the Pipe Network settings under Pipe Network defaults make sure that Use 3D location during Pipe Network Layout is set to yes.
        1.) On the Toolspace select the settings tab
        2.) Right click on the Pipe Network header
        3.) select Edit Feature settings
        4.) On the Edit Feature settings dialog expand  the Pipe Network defaults header
        5.) Next to Use 3D Location During Pipe Network layout make sure this is set to YES
        6.) Select OK
3D location during Pipe Network    Layout is now set to yes.

2.) When starting to create Geometry that is going to connect to the ACP. Hover over the ACP and click. This will make the new Geometry connect to the ACP.
3.) Draw as you normally would. The new object is now connected to the ACP.

Notes:
You can connect to Autodesk Connection Points that are attached as an external reference.
You do not need Object Enablers to use Autodesk Connection Points (also known as ACP's).

ACPTOOLTIPS - This is a variable that will allow you to turn on and off Tool Tips for ACP's.
   
Turn on ACP Tool Tips
    1.) Type ACPTOOTIP at the command line and select <Enter> on the keyboard.
    2.) Type O and select <Enter> on the keyboard.
   
Turn off ACP Tool Tips
    1.) Type ACPTOOTIP at the command line and select <Enter> on the keyboard.
    2.) Type F and select <Enter> on the keyboard.

The command line name of the Autodesk Connection Point command is AUTODESKCONNECTIONPOINT

for more information about Autodesk software please visit www.imginit.com

New Inventor 2013 Welcome Screen

Like many other Autodesk products Inventor 2013 has a new Welcome Screen.

Work section:

You can now reconfigure after install the default Measurement type for your templates and set it to Inches or Millimeters.  Select the 'Configure Default Template' button and you'll see these options:

If you change the type, the original templates will be copied to the Old Templates folder as backup.  This folder is located in your main templates folder as backup.  You can also switch the measurement type in Application Options using the same button:

The New dialog box now has a preview of the file type and brief description of the file.

NOTE: 

If you decide you need to Open a file instead, you have to close this dialog box and choose Open on the Welcome screen. 

 Learn Section:

 Access to What's New, Interactive tutorials and the Essential skills videos.  These are also available on the Get Started ribbon tab.

 Extend Section:

Links to Autodesk Exchange to download apps for Inventor and Autodesk 360 optimization for Inventor.

Revit: Point File Coordinates

Scenario: 

You have brought in a point cloud, origin to origin, and it is very far away from Revit's default origin...how can we bring it in center to center, but maintain the coordinates?

Solution:

We are going to use the shared coordinates at a point tool to tell Revit what the real world coordinates are.

The following video will go through this process. 

Long delay when saving in Inventor Publisher 2012 with SP2 installed

Recently an Autodesk Inventor Publisher 2012 user noticed that saving a new project file was taking far longer than it used to. An initial save for a moderately complex model that was inserted from Inventor 2012 saved a .ipb file after 23 minutes that was 182 MB.

After the first save, the next save was faster, but still over 15 minutes. Another test produced the same results with a sample model from Inventor.

During testing, another computer saved the same model from Inventor in 4 minutes 40 seconds for the initial save and 2:07 for subsequent saves.

When comparing the two machines, it became apparent that the fast machine did not have Service Pack 2 installed for Inventor Publisher 2012, but the slow machine did.

After installing SP2 on the fast machine, the same Inventor model took longer than 23 minutes to save. After uninstalling SP2, the save time was back down to around four minutes. The slow machine responded the same after uninstalling the SP2.

If you have noticed a lengthy save time after having saved much faster in the past, see the screen capture below to confirm if you have SP2 installed and if you do have it, try uninstalling it.

This issue has been forwarded to Autodesk to review and if a confirmed solution is available, I'll update this article with the details. 

 

ACAD/ACA/AMEP: Layouts, Page Setups and using them over and over again

The reasoning for creating multiple layouts within your drawing is to reduce the amount of errors or mistakes that can come from multiple drawing files created from just one project.  It takes a just a little work to set up your page setups and layouts but once you have them you can use them over and over in multiple new or existing projects/drawings.

The most frustrating issue for a lot of users is when they first open their software they are missing the model and layout tab.  If you go down to your lower right corner of the interface, you will right click on the layout icon and click on “Display Layout and Model Tabs”.

 

You will want to first start out by making some page setups so when you make a new layout tab you can quickly choose from different page setups.

Open your Page Setup Manager you can access this by a few different ways;

• Click on the layout or work tab to make it
  active.  Then right click on it and click
  on “Page Setup Manager…”. 
• Go to your Application Menu in the upper left
  corner or the “A” and the go down to hover over print then click on Page Setup.
• At the command line type PAGESETUP

In the Page Setup Manager click on the “New” button you will then need to give this setup a name then click the OK button.  Typically this is setup by sheet size or job preferences.  In order to always set this up when you make a layout put a check box next to “Display when creating a new layout”.

 

You will now see the plot dialog box.  Here is where you will give this page setup your specifics according to the name you gave it.  Once you are finished you will then click the OK button to return to the Page Setup Manager Dialog box.  From the Page Setup dialog box you can create as many page setups that you need. Once you are finished making your Page Setups click the Close button.

Now you will go to your layout/work tab and right click on it to set the page setup, you can also at this time rename the layout. 

Here are a few things that you will want to setup in your layout(s):

1. Boarders
2. View Ports
3. View Port scale
4. Annotation visibility

NOTE:  This is a great time to set your annotation visibility.  Even if your company doesn’t use this feature of the software it is always best to have the Annotation Visibility turned on in the event that annotative text was used in the project or any files xrefed in.  If this setting is off you will not see any text that is annotative.  You can turn this on by typing at the command line ANNOALLVISIBLE and set it to 1.  (1 is on 0 (zero) is off)

In order to create new layouts with the same setup you will right click on your layout tab and select “Move or Copy…” put a check mark in the create a copy and click OK.

 

You will now make your new layout tab active by click on it then right click and rename it then change the page setup through the Page Setup Manager.

Now with each tab you create you will have the correct settings. 

For future use you can save this file as a template file (.dwt) so that you can utilize these settings in other drawing files.

HOW TO GET YOUR PAGE
SETUP AND LAYOUT SETTINGS INTO A NEW OR EXISTING DRAWING FILE?

You can add your page setups from a template or another drawing file as well as layout settings by right clicking on the layout tab and click on “From Template”.

You can then navigate in the “Select Template From File” dialog box to the drawing file or template that has your page setups. 

Once you have selected your file and click the Open button you will then see an “Insert Layout(s)” dialog box showing all your layouts.  Select which layout(s) you want to bring into your new project.  You can use your shift key to select multiple layouts. Click the OK button and you will now see the layouts.

 

REVIT: Making a Local file the new Central File

There will most likely come a time when you need to promote a local file to a central file.  The information below will walk you through that process.

This Step is CRITICAL: 

Through windows explorer, Create a folder named ARCHIVE_DATE and move the original
Central file and its back up folder into the newly created archive folder

• Determine which user has the most up to date local file.
• From the Open dialog box, place a check in the boxes for Detach from Central and Audit (you will see a warning like below)
• 
  
• Select the Yes button from the Audit Warning dialog box and then click the Open button
• You will see the following Detach Model from Central dialog box, select Detach and preserve worksets
• 
  
• Go to the application menu  and click on Save as, Project and name it the same as the original Central file name and in the original location.
• If you select options you will notice that Make this a Central Model after save and Compact are greyed out and pre-checked.
• After the file is properly saved, go to the Manage tab on the ribbon, click on the Purge Unused tool, and from the dialog box delete all or specify the items you want to delete then select OK
• Review and fix warnings, which can be found on the Manage tab.
  • If the icon is grayed out, you have no warnings
    in your project
  • If the Warnings icon is not grayed out, you have items that
    may need to be fixed in the model.
• 
      
  
   
• To fix the Warnings, select the Warning icon.
• In the Warnings dialog box, expand the warnings
  to review and resolve.
• 
  
• Check to make sure that items are on the correct worksets
  • I find the easiest way to do this is to go to a 3d view with everything visible and then turn off all but one workset.  For example, if I have the furniture workset on, and I see interior partitions, I know they need to be moved to the appropriate workset. Depending on how large your model is you may want to duplicate the 3d view and limit what you see with section boxes.
• Make sure worksets that do not need to be visible by default are set properly in the worksets dialog box.
• Delete unnecessary views
• Verify that cad files are linked rather than inserted into the model (preferably
  current view only)
• On the Manage tab, Additional Settings, select Linestyles and if there are cad
  linestyles in there, delete if possible.
• Synchronize and modify settings
  • Check everything that can be checked including compact.
• After the save is complete (everything should be checked in and relinquished), close the project

This Step is CRITICAL: 

Before having users create new local files make sure they delete or archive/rename their old
local files and their back up folder (we don’t want to risk pulling bad data from the old back up folder into our newly cleaned project!)

• Create new local files

Drawing thumbnail changes in AutoCAD 2013

Recently a customer noticed changes with the appearance of an AutoCAD drawing icon as viewed in the Windows desktop explorer. His drawing lines were not very distinct with a black background and he preferred that the thumbnail had a white background as shown on the right in the image below.

 

 

AutoCAD 2013 introduces a new file format that includes changes to the thumbnail preview file format, as well as new controls for graphics caching.

Thumbnail previews in the new AutoCAD 2013 DWG file format are now stored as PNG images, providing higher-quality thumbnail previews in a smaller file size. Image resolution is still controlled by the THUMBSIZE system variable.

However, the maximum valid value has increased from 2 to 8. If you do not wish to include thumbnail previews in the drawing you can still use the RASTERPREVIEW system variable to disable them. The UPDDATETHUMBSNOW and UPDATETHUMBNAIL system variables are no longer needed and have been removed from AutoCAD 2013.

The system variable that stores the thumbnail preview in the Windows registry is THUMBSAVE. This system variable replaces RASTERPREVIEW. The available values for THUMBSAVE are:

0  No preview image is saved in the drawing
 
1  A preview image is created and saved in the drawing

 

The values for adjusting thumbnails are also accessible from Options on the Open and Save tab as shown below.

 

 

The background color, though, is taken from the drawing view when a drawing is saved. For the background to be saved as white in the thumbnail, the drawing needs to be on a white background when it is saved. The background color is selected on the Display tab in Options. This is the same as in previous versions.

 

ACAD/ACA/AMEP: Making a new ribbon tab or adding an old command to the ribbon

For those of you who have given into the ribbon and are trying your best to learn where all the commands are, I commend you.  But there are just some commands that were on the toolbars that are not on the ribbon or just cannot be found.  I have written up an outline on how you will go about making a new ribbon tab or adding an old command to the ribbon.  These instructions work for ACAD, ACAD Architecture, and ACAD MEP 2011, 2012, and 2013.

You will do all the work inside the Customize User Interface (CUI) editor.  Type CUI at the command line
Expand Ribbon, you will see Tabs and Panels. Here is where you need to decide if you want to just add your command to an existing tab/panel or if you would like to create a new tab/panel.

For this example I am going to create a new tab and a new panel for the OSNAP commands.  You however can use these steps to add any custom commands you have created or any of the out of box commands.

Expand Tabs > you will see a list of all the tabs available in your software. To make a new Tabs, right click on Tabs and select New Tab.

You will see the new tab and you will be able to instantly start typing your tabs name.  But if you accidentally clicked somewhere else and deselect it, you can simply select on the new tab > right click and rename it.

Now create a new Panel to go under your new tab. This is similar steps that you did to create a new tab.

Expand Panels >right click on Panels and select on New Panel

You will see the new panel and you will be able to instantly start typing your panel name.  But if you accidentally clicked somewhere else and deselect it, you can simply select on the new panel> right click and rename it.  You will notice that with the new panel you created you will see under it Panel Dialog Box Launcher, Row 1 and <SLIDEOUT>.  To break it down for you quickly, Row 1 is similar to a toolbar and always horizontal. You can keep adding additional rows and you will see the icons/commands that you add to the rows in the preview panel in the CUI dialog box. The slideout is the black arrow that you see at the bottom of the panel that fly out when you click on it.

Now you need to add all the SNAP commands to the Panel by searching for them in the Command list. You can use your shift key to select as many commands as you want, then right click > copy then go to your panel and right click on Row 1 and paste.

You will see when you select on your panel name that in the panel preview pane what your panel will look like.  If you want to get rid of a command just right click on it and select Remove.

Now You need to copy your panel will all your snap commands to your new tab by right clicking on that the panel and select on copy.   Find your tab, select on it and right click to paste.

Click the Apply button. You will now want to verify that it has been added to your workspace so stay in the CUI editor.

Scroll up to workspaces and select on your current and default workspace then click on Customize Workspace button.

From the Customizations in All Files pane, expand Ribbons and then expand Tabs and put a check mark next to the new tab you created. Under the workspace Contents you can expand Ribbon Tabs and drag your tabs in the order you would like them to be. Click on the Done button on the Workspace Contents pane and then click apply and OK.

 Now back to your interface you will see your new tab and what you have placed on the panel.  Personally I think it could be broken up into a couple of rows but this is completely up to you.

Malware for AutoCAD!

Yes, AutoCAD can get a virus or other Malware and there's a new one out.  Autodesk has posted in their blog about it and created a solution as well. 

Blog:
http://upandready.typepad.com/up_and_ready/2012/06/acadmedrea-malware-alert.html

Solution:
http://usa.autodesk.com/getdoc/id=TS19860569

 

Here's the text of the technical solution.

ACAD/Medre.A Malware FAQ

What is the nature of the malware?

ACAD/Medre.A is an AutoLISP program disguised as an acad.fas file. When a user opens a DWG from a folder containing this file, the malware sends a copy of the DWG via an email (using SMTP protocol). For additional information on an AutoLISP based malware, visit: AutoCAD and Viruses.

ACAD/Medre.A is also known as: ALisp/Blemfox.A (Microsoft), Trojan.Acad.Bursted.W (BitDefender), ALS.Bursted.B (Symantec).

Which Autodesk products may be affected?

The malware targets AutoCAD releases 2000 and newer, and other products based on AutoCAD. AutoCAD LT, AutoCAD for Mac and other Autodesk products are not affected.

How can I know if my system is infected?

The malware is easily detectable by major antivirus solutions with up-to-date virus definitions. We recommend users perform a full virus scan to see if their system is infected by this malware.

There are alternative methods of detecting possible infections by this malware:

• acad.fas or cad.fas files on your system may indicate the presence of this malware.  You can search for these files in Windows Explorer.  Since these files could be hidden, you may need to show hidden files using the following Microsoft solution: Show Hidden Files.
• Search for the acad.fas from the AutoCAD command line by typing (findfile "acad.fas"), including parenthesis.

If the search finds a match, compare an MD5 or SHA-1 cryptographic hash of the discovered acad.file with - md5: 7b563740f41e495a68b70cbb22980b20; SHA1: 3ea33bedadc9bfc92c570b316b78b6fd9787f09.  If MD5 or SHA-1 hash values match, your system is infected.   For more information on how to compute an MD5 or SHA-1, see: How to compute the MD5 or SHA-1 cryptographic hash values for a file.

How can I remediate the infection?

This malware can be remediated through leading commercial antivirus solutions. Autodesk has confirmed that Microsoft, Trend Micro, McAfee, Symantec, Avira, and Kaspersky antivirus solutions can clean this malware. We have also verified that ESET’s ACAD/Medre.A stand-alone cleaner can clean this malware.  We will update this FAQ as we test additional antivirus solutions.

What best practices can I follow to reduce my chances of being infected?

We recommend users protect their systems through use of an antivirus solution with up-to-date virus definitions. In addition, the following best practices can reduce the chance of an infection:

• Do not open archive files (i.e. zip) from unknown users.
• Do not run an unknown AutoLISP file without inspecting it first.
• The following Autodesk knowledge base article also provides additional best practices:
  AutoCAD and Viruses

Note: there are other links in the original technical solution that may also be helpful.  see http://usa.autodesk.com/getdoc/id=TS19860569

 

 

In AutoCAD Mechanical, Layers or styles will not update through the Mechanical Layer toolbar

Recently a case was resolved where a selected object's layer or the properties of the layer were not updating correctly in AutoCAD Mechanical 2013 when the changes where made using the Mechanical Layer toolbar.

Those same changes could be done from the Properties dialog or from the Ribbon panel, just not from the toolbar. Here is a typical example of the problem:

 

1. Draw a line on the current layer in a drawing with multiple layers.
2. Select the line and try to change the layer of the line using the pull down from the Mechanical Layer toolbar. 

This is where it messes up and doesn't change the layer of the line. For some reason, the Layer Properties Manager dialog box appears and the command line hits "enter" which activates the previously entered command.

 

We found that the solution was to unload the ALIAS CONCEPT partial customization file using the CUILOAD command. Under certain circumstances, having the ALIAS CONCEPT partial customization file loaded in AutoCAD Mechanical 2012 and 2013 has been shown to interfere with power dimensioning and the Mechanical Layer toolbar functioning correctly.

 

Click to enlarge.

The ALIAS CONCEPT partial customization file is loaded to provide the tools in the "Sketchbook Designer" ribbon tab when AutoCAD Mechanical is installed with the Autodesk Product Design Suite and Autodesk Sketchbook Designer is also selected to install.

If you need some of the features of Sketchbook Designer, reload the partial customization file that is named "aliasconcept.cuix". You can locate it in the Support folder here:

For Windows XP:

C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Appication Data\Roaming\Autodesk\Autocad Mechanical 2013 - English\r19.0\Enu\Support\

 

For WIndows 7:

C:\Users\<username>\Appdata\Roaming\Autodesk\Autocad Mechanical 2013 - English\r19.0\Enu\Support\

 

For reference, here is a link to the benefits and features of Autodesk SketchBook Designer 2013.