Tips & Tools Weekly (Vol. 12, No. 30)
19 Aug, 2007Take the Poll: Why Do You Visit Cadalyst.com? Get the Code! Cadalyst Labs Review: Autodesk Impression Cadalyst Daily Update
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. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Resources Autodesk Updates Project Freewheel Thursday Night Live! for 3D Community | |
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . This Week's Software Tips Send us your tip, code or shortcut for your favorite CAD software. If we publish your tip, we'll send you a "Cadalyst: CAD the Way You Want It" T-shirt, and each month Cadalyst editors will randomly select one published tip and send a $100 gift card to its author. Please submit only code and other tips that are your original work (or provide the original source so we can include proper credit) and tell us which software version you use. By submitting code, you grant Cadalyst the right to print and distribute your code in print, digitally and by other means. Cadalyst and individual authors retain all rights to the code; published code is not to be used for commercial purposes. Reference Information NOTES FROM CADALYST TIP PATROL: One patroller who reviewed Tom's tip states this is a great tip and adds, "You can also create additional layouts for other needs. There are times when you need special printouts. I've had to use a separate layout where the title block had to be referenced a second time, bound into a block, and exploded in the layout, and I made some minor changes for printing purposes. Maybe, in a future upgrade, Autodesk might find a way to create a Dynamic External Reference that performs like a Dynamic Block." Another patroller also agrees that the tip is helpful, but with these conditions:
Firms that routinely exchange project data must decide if such information can be shared, specifically in regard to legal issues. On/Off vs. Thaw/Freeze "If you use the layer-freeze option on an entity of an xref, the layer that the xref is assigned to is frozen; thus the entire xref disappears. But, when you use the layer-off feature, only the entity that is selected on that particular xref is affected." Follow-Up: Keep Files Clean Reader Anatoly Ostretsov wrote in to say, "I'm not a code writer, but a code user. Thank you for a great job keeping us CAD users informed about new and forgotten old options. In your August 6 issue you posted Michael Cipolla's AutoLISP to help keep your drawings tidy. "This is good code, but by running it you don't get rid of named layer filters. I found that named layer filters cause AutoCAD files to grow -- sometimes becoming huge. I saw a 10 MB+ file that became less than 1 MB after filters were deleted. Some users aren't aware that filters exist, but it's easy to get them in your drawing by copying just one simple entity from someone else's drawing, such as a consultant's. "For the past few years, I have used a custom button with the following command:
"It would be nice if somebody could combine two steps (purge and delete filters) in just one step (one button). Unfortunately, I don't know how to do this. May be somebody is willing to share his/her time and knowledge." Follow-Up: Keep Files Clean -- Audit MicroStation Tip: Turn Off the Global Freeze for Merging One possible solution is that you need to turn off the Global Freeze toggles in the reference Level Manager:
Now the merge will work. Axiom offers many MicroStation Tips on its MicroStationTips.com Web site. Tips & Tools Weekly software tips for AutoCAD are reviewed by Cadalyst staff and the Tip Patrol before publication. Use all tips at your own discretion, please, and watch later editions of this newsletter for updates and corrections. We're sorry, but editors and Tip Patrol members cannot provide assistance with technical problems; please refer to Cadalyst's Hot Tip Harry-Help discussion forum. Sincere thanks to our volunteer Tip Patrol members: Brian Benton, Don Boyer, Mitchell Hirschklau, R.K. McSwain, Kevin Sawyer, Ivanhoe Tejeda, and Billy Wooten. | |
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Opportunities & Honors Magic Wheels Named Autodesk Inventor of the Month | |
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Books & Training AutoCAD Civil 3D Book | |
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Week's New CAD and Related Products General Software: InnoCielo Publisher and Publisher Framework General Software: AcceliCAD 2008 v2 General Software: CAD|STATION v5.3 General Software: DesignCAD 3D Max v18 MCAD: FreeDimension v1.2 CAE: Studio v5.5 CAE: NEiFusion v1.2 | |
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mark Your Calendar ASME International Design Engineering Technical Conferences 2007 ANSYS U.S. Regional Conference: Michigan For a complete list of CAD meetings, conferences, training sessions, and more, check out our calendar of events on Cadalyst.com. |