Tips & Tools Weekly (Vol. 12, No. 31)
26 Aug, 2007 Note to Readers: Tips & Tools Weekly will take a break next Monday, September 3, Learning Curve (AutoCAD Tutorial): DWF, Part 4 -- The Final Chapter Solid Thinking: Share More CAD Data with SolidWorks Get the Code! Cadalyst Daily Update
|
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Resources Bluebeam Integrates PDF Technologies into Online Plan Room |
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 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. Plot Previous “This allows a single copy of the previous plot to print. For parts books, we make four copies of a lot of prints. Using this code, we do the regular three-point printing followed by the Previous Plot icon -- the quantity is a flyout. “Another good use is if you make a print, then make a correction or change and then want to print again.” NOTES FROM CADALYST TIP PATROL: Our patrollers agree that this tip is useful. A second patroller adds, “The whole plotting process is a set of known command responses that can easily be parsed to a script routine and tailored to suit any plot device, plot area, scale, and sheet size. These are the basic variables that can be set by a LISP routine or script file that can then be run via a single (or, in this case, three) click button. The problem here is that by the time you have offered all the different settings for these variables, you can end up with so many flyouts and/or buttons that it can be a bind locating the correct one for your desired output. At this point it may just be better to use the standard AutoCAD Plot dialog box, which of course offers endless flexibility on your system. “In our office we have buttons for the most popular outputs: full-size/scale hardcopy, the same but to a file, half-scale (check) plot, fit-scale (A3) print, and a partial print of your drawing at full scale on either an A3 or A4 sheet for a quick check of the final clarity of display of any part of your drawing. This limits our plot toolbar to only six buttons. This normally takes care of about 95% of our everyday plot requirements, while the remaining 5% is done via the Plot dialog box. “The Plot / Previous routine above is fine provided you remember what your last plot parameters were and merely shows that known command sequences can easily be programmed into a macro to suit any requirement. Just don't get carried away with these!” MicroStation Tip: Specifying a Logical Name for a Reference in the Pentable Answer: When specifying a logical name for a reference in the pentable, you can enter the complete logical name or you can enter an expression pattern consisting of one or more wild cards. The following identifies the wild cards that you can use for matching logical names. A wild card can be used to:
Examples are .*<name> or <name>.*. These options can be found in the MicroStation documentation under Printing Guide / Print Resymbolization and Pen Tables / Modify Pen Table dialog box. Axiom offers many MicroStation Tips on its MicroStationTips.com Web site. Send in Those Tips! 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 Caligari Launches Ambassador Program |
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Books & Training AutoCAD 2008 Courseware Revit Architecture Book |
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Week's New CAD and Related Products General Software: Sage Master Builder v13 AEC: AutoCAD P&ID 2008 AEC: ArchBlocks.com 2007 CAM: Virtual Machine v17 |
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mark Your Calendar Webinar: Introduction to the Cadastral Editor in ArcGIS Survey Analyst 9.2 For a complete list of CAD meetings, conferences, training sessions, and more, check out our calendar of events on Cadalyst.com. |
