IMAGINiT Technologies Support Blog

DWF Writer (64-bit) doesn't bring up the Save As dialog under the users login

So you login as a user and print to DWF Writer and it doesn't come up with the SaveAs dialog to allow you to save the DWF file, however, logged in as an administrator works or using it on a 32-bit system works.  It only seems to be the 64-bit version that has a problem. 

It is clear that since it works under administrator but not under user, that it is a permissions issue, but what can we change to get it to work?

I've seen this problem in the discussion groups without a fix and I did a bunch of testing on my system to see if I could find a bit of a workaround.

I found something that worked on my system.  I gave it to my client and haven't heard back, so it must have helped.

To resolve this problem:

1. Login as the administrator again
2. Go to Start>Devices and Printers (Printers and Faxes on XP if I remember correctly)
3. Right click on the "Autodesk DWF Writer for 2D" and select "Printer Properties"
4. Select the Security tab
5. Select the "Everyone" group under "Group or user names"
6. Check the "Allow" boxes for "Manage this Printer" and "Manage Documents"
7. Click Apply/Ok
8. Log off and login as the limited user. 

 

 

Once I made these changes and logged back in under the limited local user (Microsoft Default), it worked fine for me.

You may not need to enable both, but I did in my testing and it worked fine.

 

Note:  You may need to set the Port to the DWF Writer too.

 

 

Revit LT vrs Revit

Here is the skinny on Revit LT and what it cannot do that seems to be a major deal breaker:

• You cannot workshare so no central files and no collaboration so no copy monitor, coordination review or interference checking.
• No analyzing
• It cannot edit or create an in place family. But you can create and modify/edit families in Revit LT.
• You cannot copy an object from one Revit project to another using the copy and paste command.
• You cannot render in the software but you can render in the cloud.
• No massing in Revit LT
• There is limited structural and no MEP tools. You can load in families like panels or lights but you cannot wire and calculate volts or hvac stuff.

Here is the check list of what Revit does vrs Revit LT file:///C:/program%20files/autodesk/revit%20lt%202014/help/en-us/wbh/index.html

ACA/AMEP: Adding a panel to a ribbon

If you would really like an AutoCAD panel or tab on your AutoCAD Architecture or AutoCAD MEP ribbon follow these steps:

• Decide where you want to add this new panel on your ribbon.
• Backup your cuix file before making any changes.
• Verify that your workspace is saving changes or nothing you do here will be added to your interface.
• Add the ribbon panel through the Customize User Interface.

Note: This can be done in a previous version. Just make sure you go to the correct Autodesk software and versions folders.

Backup your CUIX:

Before working with your cuix files navigate to where your cuix files are located through Windows Explorer and save a copy of your ACA.cuix or your MEP.cuix.

Through Windows Explorer navigate to the C:\Users\your user profile folder\AppData\Roaming\Autodesk\ACA 2014\enu\Support folder. 

Select your cuix and make a copy of it and then rename it. For example; ACA.ORG.CUIX

Set your workspace settings to save changes:

Open your software and access your workspace settings by either typing WSSETTINGS at the command line or click on the gear icon in the lower right corner of your interface. 

Within your software type CUI at the command line. Your Customize User Interface dialog box will open.

At the top of the dialog box click on the Transfer tab. You will see two panels. The one on the left is your current CUIX and you do not want to do anything but add/copy items to it. The panel on the right is where you will open the acad.cuix by clicking on the folder icon to get the Open dialog box that should already be pointing to where your cuix files are located.

If your Open dialog box is not pointing to the support folder were your CUIX files are located you will have to navigate there by going to the C:\Users\your user profile folder\AppData\Roaming\Autodesk\ACA 2014\enu\Support. 

Click on the ACAD.CUIX then click the Open button.

You will now be back in the Customize User Interface on the Transfer tab. You will now see in the panel on the right the acad.cuix.

Still working in the right panel, click on the plus symbol to expand Ribbon then expand Panels to find the panel you would like to copy over to the current cuix. 

In the left panel expand Ribbons and you will want to expand to the Ribbon tab that you want to add the panel to.

Select on the item; you can right click and select copy then under the left side you can right click on the Ribbon tab and right click and select paste or drag and drop.

 

AutoCAD: Why is My Printing so Slow

There is an Option in AutoCAD that can cause your Printing and Plotting to slow way down. This is background Printing and Plotting. When this option is turned on it slows down Printing and Plotting in a major way. This option is great when you are Plotting a lot of Pages. I use this option when I use the Publish command and you can have standard Plotting use the old method and background Plotting be used only when Publishing. This option came out as a way to start Plotting and still be able to work.

 

How to Turn on Background Printing and Publishing on/off

1.) launch the Options Dialogue Box (Right click in the command line and select Options from the menu)

2.) Go to the Plot and Publish Tab

3.) About 1/2 the way down on the left hand side you will find Background Processing Options

4.) Below this header is a check foe Plotting and one for Publishing. If these are turned on then the Printing and plotting will take place in the background.

 

Notes:

- This Option became available in the 2008 versions of AutoCAD.

 - Turn on just the Publishing and then it will Plot normally when you Plot/Print and will Plot in the background when you Publish.

For more information about Autodesk products please visit.

www.imaginit.com

BIM Simplify in Inventor 2014

In Inventor 2014 the new BIM Simplify offers functionality similar to Inventor Simplification (available on Autodesk Labs until next year for Inventor 2013) AND adds the ability to prepare Inventor files for use in Revit as Revit Family .rfa files.

It allows you to simplify your models by creating a simplified part and then removing intellectual property.

At the Assembly Level

Start the simplification on the Simplify tab.  If you're in a part skip to the BIM tab(see At the Part Level):

Select Include Components to choose which parts will be used.

Select Define Envelopes to specify which parts will be replaced by an envelope.
Select Create Simplified Part and you can choose the Derive style in the Create Simplified Part dialog box:

• A single solid body with seams between planar faces merged.
• A single solid body with seams between planar faces maintained.
• Maintain each solid as a separate body.

At the Part Level

Once you Create a Simplified Part or if starting with a part file, further simplification is available under the BIM toolbar. 

Check Revit Features verifies if the features will fail or not if the file will be export to a Revit .rfa.  Extrude, Revolve, Sweep are supported.

Recognize Revit Features will bring up this Ribbon where you can remove additional intellectual property:

The Simplify section will give you a simpler model.

Removes fillets, chamfers or faces.

Fills holes or voids by adding surfaces to close them.
Replaces the component(s) with a cylindrical/box envelope.

The Recognize Revit Features section will allow you recognize Extrude, Revolve or Sweep features manually or use Auto Recognize.

When the part is ready, select Finish Recognize Revit Features.

 

 

This part can now be saved and used as a simplified version in an assembly or exported to a neutral file format.

To export to a Revit .rfa file, go back to the BIM ribbon and choose BIM Exchange, then Export Building Components.

For more information on BIM Simplify in Inventor 2014:

Bim Simplify in Inventor 2014

Design Academy 2014 and Education Master Suite 2014 are no longer supported on XP

While some of the programs are supported on Windows XP the installer will not allow you to install it.  This is a change from the last release.  If you can, I'd recommend Windows 7 over Windows 8. 

Autodesk Design Academy 2014

Operating System Microsoft®
Windows® 8 (32 or 64 bit) Home Premium, Professional, or Ultimate edition
Microsoft Windows 7 (32 or 64 bit) Home Premium, Professional, or Ultimate edition

http://images.autodesk.com/adsk/files/ada_system_requirements_2014_enu.pdf

 

Autodesk Education Master Suite 2014

Operating System Microsoft®
Windows® 8 (32 or 64 bit) Home Premium, Professional, or Ultimate edition
Microsoft Windows 7 (32 or 64 bit) Home Premium, Professional, or Ultimate edition

http://images.autodesk.com/adsk/files/mastersuite_system_requirements_2014_enu.pdf

 

To find other Suites' system requirements go to:

http://www.autodesk.com/suites/building-design-suite/system-requirements

If you scroll to the bottom you'll see links to the system requirementsfor the 2013 and 2012 suites too!

 

Related articles

Autodesk 360 desktop companion Update 2 fixes some stability issues.

Where is Inventor Publisher 2014?

If you've been looking for Inventor Publisher 2014 you won't find it, it's branded as Inventor Publisher 2013 R1 or 2013.1.

Inventor Publisher 2013.1 is compatible with Inventor 2014 files in addtion to various other CAD formats (Fusion DWG, Autodesk® 123D™, SolidWorks®, Google SketchUp, CATIA®, UG NX®, ProENGINEER®, DWG®, DWF®, STEP, IGES, FBX, OBJ, and SAT software, as well as 2D blocks from AutoCAD® software files.)

To get your software, log in to the Autodesk Subscription and go to your Downloads.

Choose the 2013.1 version, Win 32 or 64 depending on your operating system.

Inventor Publisher 2013 R1 Read Me.

There are no updates for Inventor Publisher 2013.1 yet but keep an eye out for them here:

Inventor Publisher Updates

AutoCAD: Starting AutoCAD with no Default Drawing

I Have seen questions about this all over the web and have found no answer other than code. There is a variable that will control this. This will start AutoCAD with no Drawing open or use a Custom Dialog if specified. The name of the Variable is Startup and here is how this works.

 Using Startup variable

1.) Type Startup and the command prompt and select the <Enter> key

2.) Type 2 and select the <Enter> key.

 

Now when you start AutoCAD there should be no Drawing loaded unless customization has been added.

What are the settings?

 0 = Displays the Select Template dialog box, or uses a default drawing template file set in the Options dialog box, on the Files tab

1 = Starts without opening a drawing template file, and displays the Startup or the Create New Drawing dialog box

2 = Starts without opening a drawing template file, or if available in the application, a custom dialog box is displayed

 

Note:

- If the FILEDIA system variable is set to 0, file dialog boxes are not displayed.

 

Help file definition

Controls what displays when the application is started, or when a new drawing is opened.

 Type:     Integer

Saved in:              Registry

Initial value:        0

Controls whether the Create New Drawing dialog box is displayed when a new drawing is started with NEW or QNEW. Also controls whether the Startup dialog box is displayed when the application is started.

 

For more information about Autodesk products please visit

www.imaginit.com

Autodesk 360 desktop companion Update 2 fixes some stability issues.

This one may have been posted a while back however, I've been hearing of some stability issues with the Autodesk 360 so I thought we may want to remind everyone it's out there and to update it.

Click to obtain the Update 2 (service pack):  http://usa.autodesk.com/getdoc/id=DL21520422

This update applies to Autodesk 360 desktop companion if your version is 4.0.27.1 to 4.0.32.100.

Note: If you have version 4.5.4.700 or above, you should not run this update. Users with 4.5.4.700 and higher will be automatically prompted to upgrade via an Autodesk 360 Desktop Companion system tray notification.

To see which version of Autodesk 360 desktop companion is currently installed, sign in to Autodesk 360. In the notification area (system tray), right-click the Autodesk 360 icon and choose Preferences.

Fixes in this live update include but are not limited to:
•Stability Improvements

Please close all applications before installing and restart after installing. Be sure to install the correct update (32-bit or 64-bit) for your operating system.

 

If you don't want to install the Autodesk 360, Jeff Arbogast has posted a blog on how to install your Autodesk programs without installing the Autodesk 360.  You can view his blog here:

http://blogs.rand.com/support/2013/07/autocad-2014-nothing-shows-in-the-properties-palette.html

 

Update 2 for Inventor 2013 SP2 is available

Here are the fixes included in Update 2 for Inventor 2013 SP2:

• Bolted connection is not able to machine more than two parts at the same time
• Color/material library migrates incorrectly with non-English Inventor versions
• If you turn on hidden line for a particular part in the drawing view of an assembly, Inventor shows hidden interference edges of whole assembly instead of that particular part
• Stability enhancements

The update also includes the fixes that were in Update 1 for Inventor 2013 SP2

Update 2 for Inventor 2013

• Download the DL22124073.zip.
• Run either the 32-bit or 64-bit.msp file depending on the operating system you're on.

Here is the Read Me for install reference.