HyperPics: Beyond the UI

White Paper Explaining the Main Benefits of DWF

Autodesk has released a great new white paper detailing the many benefits and reasons why DWF is the best file format for publishing designs. It was very interesting and makes many great points. It also compares DWF to PDF as far as advantages go. One of the biggest things that I see with DWF yet is that there is no ability to attach a digital signature yet. Once I think DWF has this ability we will see more people migrate to use DWF files. It would also be nice to have the ability to Xref, but not bind a DWF file into a drawing.

The "DWF: The best file format for Published Design information" article can be read at the link on the Cadalyst site.

Sincerely,
  Lee

Background Mask Tools for AutoCAD 2005 (Beta 2 Release)

Beta 2 of the Background Mask tools has been uploaded. If you are a user of the first Beta you will want to take a little bit of time to look at the command line as some things have changed. The main notice will be objects or Dimension Style first and then options.The command lines have been cleaned up to show the option Remove only for the commands DIMMASK and -DIMMASK. A new command called MASKHELP has also been introduced which will launch your default browser and go to the internet to access an online page.

Click here to download the Background Mask Tool.
Click here to access the on-line help for the Background Mask Tools.

I am going to complete some additional testing and will post the final version next week. If you have comments on the program just let me know.

Sincerely,
  Lee

Have you noticed anything different in AutoCAD 2005 with Object Enablers

If you haven't noticed it might be a good thing. There is no need to download and install a separate Object Enabler for drawings created with ADT. The ADT or Architectural Desktop OE has been built into the AutoCAD 2005 install. This makes it easier to manage the AutoCAD 2005 installs now because of no need to go back and install the ADT OE which is the most common one required. However, there are still some OEs that you need to install separately. Hopefully, the release cycle will be shortened in the future for these products to make sure that all OEs ship with AutoCAD.

Other Object Enablers that you may need to install:
Raster Design 2005
Land Desktop 2005
Building Systems 2005

I would guess that there will be one for Mechanical Desktop when the 2005 version starts shipping late spring/early summer.

Sincerely,
  Lee

Need Tips on AutoCAD, Autodesk has posted some new tips for AutoCAD 2005

Whether you are a beginner to AutoCAD or are moving to a new release, it is always nice to get some good tips. Tips can help you get up and running faster with new features and may help to avoid a pitfall in a new feature as well. So Autodesk has published many new tips and tricks for AutoCAD 2005. You can also find some tips that were published for AutoCAD 2002 and 2004 that still work for AutoCAD 2005.

Click the link here to access the AutoCAD Tips and Tricks on the Autodesk website.

Other Tips and Tricks links on the Autodesk site:
AutoCAD LT
Mechanical Desktop & Inventor
Architectural Desktop
Land Desktop
Revit

Sincerely,
  Lee

Interesting response to the Background Mask Tools

What turned out to be a weekend project originally turned out to be something more. It seems that there are quite a few people that are using the new Background Mask feature with AutoCAD 2005 or they are sure interested in start. There has been a larger demand for a set of tools that I had thought in this area. Now for those that have tried the tools and found them to help with using the Background Mask feature I am working on what will be the next Beta release. Like I had mentioned earlier I didn't plan on the amount of people looking for such a tool so I figure I should make some changes so it looks more like a standard AutoCAD command.

Beta 2 will have the following changes:

-DimStyleMask
  * The prompts will be flipped asking for a Dimension Style first and then a color. It made no sense to ask for a color if you don't have a valid Dimension Name.
  * The color prompt will retain the last used color or selection. Pressing the Enter key will accept the previous value. This may change to the current Fill Color for the Dimension Style, but I am not sure yet.

-DimMask & DimMask
  * The prompts will be flipped asking for a Selection first and then a color. It made no sense to ask for a color if you don't have a valid Dimension Name. The commands will also support PickFirst which they do today, but it seems a little awkward.
  * The color prompt will retain the last used color or selection. Pressing the Enter key will accept the previous value.

-MtextMask & MtextMask
  * The prompts will be flipped asking for a Selection first and then a color. It made no sense to ask for a color if you don't have a valid Dimension Name. The commands will also support PickFirst which they do today, but it seems a little awkward.
  * The color prompt will retain the last used color or selection. Pressing the Enter key will accept the previous value.
  * Support will be added for Border Offset/Background Scale Factor. A prompt will be available for you to specify Offset or Color versus the current Color prompt. If you select Color then you will get the choices that are in the command today.

I am hoping that Beta2 will be ready by ends week.

If you have any comments on the commands please feel free to share by adding comments here or e-mail them to me.

Sincerely,
  Lee

Background Mask Tools for AutoCAD 2005 (Beta Release)

After a couple weeks of playing around and some help from others I have developed a Beta version of the Background Mask Tools that can be used with AutoCAD 2005. I have only tested these tools with AutoCAD 2005 and none of the verticals. So if you are willing to give them a try with a vertical just let me know how they work. Anyways, what I am posting is a Beta release of the Background Mask tools that I have created.

These tools have been tested thoroughly, but there could be unknown issues with the tools. By downloading and running the tools you have agreed to no expressed warranty and the tools being provided AS-IS.

Click here to download the Mask Extender Tools

The commands that are contained in the file are as follows:
-DIMMASK - Allows you to apply and remove Background Masking for Dimensions from the command line

DIMMASK - Allows you to apply and remove Background Masking for Dimensions from the command line. Standard colors are selected though the Color dialog box.

-DIMSTYLEMASK - Allows you to apply and remove Background Masking for a Dimension Style from the command line

-MTEXTMASK - Allows you to apply and remove Background Masking for Mtext from the command line

MTEXTMASK - Allows you to apply and remove Background Masking for Mtext from the command line. Standard colors are selected though the Color dialog box.

Any feedback is welcome. This is the first version of these tools. The MtextMask commands will be expanded to include the option for Border Offset. Hope you enjoy the tools, but please remember to always test any add-ons and other third-party software in your drafting environment before rolling it out to many users at once.

Sincerely,
  Lee

Autodesk Releases the Updated Migration Tools for AutoCAD 2005

Autodesk has just release the updated version of the Migration Tools for AutoCAD 2005 and based products. Below is a list of the utilities that are part of the Migration Tools.

Menu and Toolbar Porter
Import your menus, toolbar items, and keyboard shortcuts (accelerators) from previous versions of AutoCAD into AutoCAD 2005.

Autodesk Batch Drawing Converter
Convert any AutoCAD or AutoCAD-based drawing file to AutoCAD Release 14, AutoCAD 2000, AutoCAD 2000i, AutoCAD 2002, AutoCAD 2004, and AutoCAD 2005 file formats.

Autodesk Customization Conversion Tools
Convert your customized menus, files, command aliases, and layer states, and script with greater ease.

Click the link to go to the Migration Tools page.

Sincerely,
  Lee

Ellen Finkelstein's AutoCAD 2005 Preview

Ellen Finkelstein, the author of the AutoCAD 2004 Bible and many other AutoCAD books and non-AutoCAD books has recently added some AutoCAD 2005 content to here website. I am sure she has been busy working on her new AutoCAD 2005 book. You can visit Ellen's website at EllenFinkelstein.com. I am sure her new book will prove to be a very valuable resource to anyone that uses AutoCAD. I have read her AutoCAD 2004 Bible from cover to cover. It covers just about all concepts in AutoCAD with just the right amount of detail and great examples. The new AutoCAD 2005 Bible should be out sometime around July 2004.

Sincerely,
  Lee

Discreet releases File Link Extension for 3ds max

Improve the design visualization workflow between 3ds max® and AutoCAD® and Autodesk® Architectural Desktop software with the File Link Extension. File Link enables 3ds max subscription customers to import .DWG geometry files, assign materials and modifiers and then reload the edited .DWG files into AutoCAD or Architectural Desktop, while preserving all edit history.

Find out more by clicking the link here.

Sincerely,
  Lee Ambrosius

Update: Background Masking in AutoCAD 2005

I have done some additional research on the Background Masking in AutoCAD 2005. With a little help from the great staff at Autodesk they have helped to give me some information that explains the 1004 Xdata value for Dimension Objects and Styles. This data is the affect of serializing the AcCmColor into a Binary Chunck, which holds all the color information.

So what's next... I am going to see if I can build a function in ObjectARX that will return this information back into a list and also take the information and convert it back into a Binary Chunk to reattach to the Xdata structure. This would allow creating a tool that would allow you to assign Color to the Background for Dimensions without needing to use the Object Properties Palette.

Sincerely,
  Lee Ambrosius