CADit

Season’s Greetings… and thank you for reading, please continue…

Firstly let me thank you for reading this post, I have neglected this weblog for some time, posting a few software related articles over the last few months. As you may be aware, I relocated to Sydney, Australia last year, and since then have been fairly busy (understatement).

Thank you for your continual support and whilst my blog posts may have been a little thin on the ground, I appreciate the ongoing communications. Hopefully some of the help and advice has been useful. I would also like to say thanks to those of you that have shared their ideas for the benefit of others.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

CadVids.com – Free Online CAD Video Tutorials

In his own words, Jason Soles, the man behind the new CadVids web site says "My vision is to have a youtube style community for CAD users to put up and share video based tutorials. It is all free of course. I started it because I found myself spending as much time searching for information as learning it"

• Upload, Share Videos
• Make Friends
• Send Messages
• Grow Your Networks by Inviting more Friends
• Rate and Comment Videos
• Make and Customize Your Channel

The site is very intuitive, easy to navigate, it is new so the content is still growing, hence the beta in the title, but do take a look, I like it, well done Jason.

Inserting multiple XREFs in AutoCAD 2010 – fixed in Update 1

Problem solved…
I originally posted this issue as a question… and then found the answer myself! Typical, doesn’t it just always happen that way!

The problem was with AutoCAD 2010 and the selection of multiple drawings for insertion as xref’s…

This was not possible before the release of Update 1 for AutoCAD 2010.

Autodesk posted a work-around for this issue back in July (before the update)…

http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/ps/dl/item?siteID=123112&id=13505808&linkID=9240617

Anyway, the “workaround” now, is to install Update 1 for AutoCAD 2010…
and then to remember to read all of the “Defects Fixed” section of the Readme files provided with all future updates!

AutoCAD Map 3D 2010 – Update 1 Released

The first update (service pack) is now available for AutoCAD Map 3D 2010, for details and to download…

http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/ps/dl/item?siteID=123112&id=13879008&linkID=9240858&CMP=OTC-RSSSUP01

Hotfix 2 - Autodesk Design Review 2010

Released in July, this second hotfix addresses the problem where the program unexpectedly closes…

http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/ps/dl/item?siteID=123112&id=13484419&linkID=9338138

Hotfix - Autodesk Design Review 2010

Released back in June, this hotfix addresses a problem where the default print settings to PDF creators can result in very large print spooling sizes, low quality output, or printing errors…

http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/ps/dl/item?siteID=123112&id=13420117&linkID=9338138

MTEXT editor - off the ribbon – Quick Tip

MTEXTTOOLBAR – System Variable

Controls the display of the Text Formatting toolbar.

Type: Integer
Saved in: User-settings
Initial value: 2

0 - The Text Formatting toolbar is never displayed.
1 - The Text Formatting toolbar is displayed upon selection of an MTEXT object.
2 - The Text Formatting toolbar does not display when the ribbon is on.

If you have the Ribbon closed (surely not!), the Text Formatting toolbar will be displayed by default.

AutoCAD Plant 3D released

Autodesk have officially released AutoCAD Plant 3D… in the US…

So we will have to wait a little longer in the APAC region.

I have been testing the Beta’s and have to say that I am impressed, although I have been out of the piping/process industry for a few years now, it is where I have spent most of my career (in numbers of years), and have been involved with a number of piping and plant design applications and have developed a couple of Piping and P&ID apps for AutoCAD.

Some blurb from the web site…

Design, model, and document process plants with AutoCAD® Plant 3D plant design software. Built on the familiar AutoCAD® software platform, AutoCAD Plant 3D brings modern 3D design to plant designers and engineers.

Features like spec-driven design and standard parts catalogs help to streamline the placement of piping, equipment, and support structures. Integrated AutoCAD® P&ID software functionality and quicker generation of isometric and orthographic drawings support productivity, accuracy, and coordination.

For further details see official site…

http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/index?id=12261005&siteID=123112

AutoCAD 2010 Update 1 is available

The first update (service pack) is now available for AutoCAD 2010, for details and to download…

http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/ps/dl/item?siteID=123112&id=13760520&linkID=9240618&CMP=OTC-RSSSUP01

AutoCAD Civil 3D - MapExport to SHP creates an empty file

Autodesk have released a fix to resolve an issue with AutoCAD Civil 3D 2010 & AutoCAD Civil 2010.

The problem occurs when you attempt to export data to an ESRI Shape file using the MAPEXPORT command.

I recall this being a problem with the 2009 versions also.

When you use the MAPEXPORT command to export to an ESRI Shape file (*.shp), the resulting SHP file is empty.

The Export dialog box used when exporting to a SHP file is missing the section (highlighted below) that allows you to select the Object Type (Point, Line, Polygon, or Text).

To resolve this problem, download the updated MapExport.ini file and copy it to the relevant folder on your hard drive.

Follow the link below for further details and to download the updated .ini file…

http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/ps/dl/item?siteID=123112&id=13251791&linkID=9240697&CMP=OTC-RSSSUP01