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Greetings!
Is Autodesk at War with its Customers?
Autodesk customers are becoming increasingly
disenchanted with Autodesk behavior. The latest
torpedo launched by Autodesk is against users of it's
AutoCAD LT product.
Autodesk is actively prosecuting third-party developers
who create add-ons for LT. At a recent ADN
conference, developers were told that creating an add-
on for LT would be considered a violation of their
contract with Autodesk and could result in them being
booted as a developer.
LT is not supposed to be customizable, but a few noble
developers have created products to support LT and
even allow LT to use LISP. The idea is if customers
want to be able to customize their product, they should
upgrade to AutoCAD.
On an up note, ADT users can breathe a collective sigh
of relief. Autodesk now says that ADT will be allowed
to grow and develop as a product. They took a look at
the numbers...ADT users outnumber Revit users by
almost 100 to 1. I guess Autodesk doesn't want to piss
off everybody.
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Open Design Alliance Posts Survey |
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Do you know how may APIs AutoCAD has?
AutoLisp. Visual Lisp. Scripts. DCL. Diesel. ADS. ARX.
DBX. VBA. And probably more that I can't even
remember.
The Open Design Alliance is asking for your guidance.
And it won't take long. Just a dozen or so questions...
and your answers will help provide clarity to the
importance and use of the various AutoCAD APIs.
The Open Design Alliance is not affiliated with
Autodesk. They are an independent organization that
promotes the open exchange of drawing formats; such
as converting from Pro/E to AutoCAD. However,
Autodesk has recently announced that they are shifting
their API to .NET. Additionally, future features may not
be supported by LISP, making it difficult for the in the
trenches type of hacker.
To check out the survey... »
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Convert your old LAY files |
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If you saved your layer states in a LAY file, you may be
disappointed that AutoCAD2004 uses LAS files to store
your layer states.
However, the Express Tools that come free with
AutoCAD2004 include LMAN. This allows you to import
your LAY files. You can then use your Layer Manager
to save them as LAS files.
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Pocket PC "Must-Have Daily-Use App Shootout!" |
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Come experience the mobile friendliness of the Northern
California Mobile Computing SIG - also known as the
San Francisco Pocket PC SIG.
We welcome mobile professionals and device
enthusiasts, or those considering new mobile
technology. We usually meet on the third Wednesday
of the month to discuss and share the latest hardware
and software technology in portable and wireless
devices, such as Pocket PC's, tablets, Smartphones,
GPS, etc...
Find out More... »
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Corrections and Apologies |
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Bruce Gemp writes:
However, this time I would like to point out some errors
in your recent
newsletter. The second sentence "Bruce reports that
the IGESIN and IGESOUT
commands automatically turn off the CMDDIA variable
and forget to switch it
back on when they are though." This is an incorrect
statement. As per my
last email (see attached) please note that I stated
that "We were having a
problem here with IGESIN & IGESOUT Dialog Box not
appearing. It appears
that a lisp routine that was being used turn the
CMDDIA variable off and
neglected to turn it back on again." The IGESIN &
IGESOUT commands were
not changing the CMDDIA variable rather it was an lisp
routine that was the
culprit.
Further in the article it is stated that "The CMDDIA
variable turns off any
command dialogs; i.e. you type layer and it brings up
the layer dialog.
Well, it won't if CMDDIA is turned off".
This statement is incorrect as there are setvars there
are certain variables
that handle different functions that control different
dialogue boxes.
The CMDDIA variable controls whether dialog boxes are
turned on for PLOT and
external database commands. (Note: IGESIN &
IGESOUT are external database
commands.) This variable does not affect the layer
dialogue box. I have
been unable as of this email to find the setvar that
affects the layer
dialogue box.
The FILEDIA variable suppresses display of the file
dialog boxes. For
example, if FILEDIA is set to 1, SAVEAS displays the
Save Drawing As
dialogue box. If FILEDIA is set to 0, SAVEAS is
displayed as prompts on the
command line.
Whereas the OSNAP controls ones OSNAP settings the
SNAPMODE variable turns
the Snap mode on and off. Then there is AUTOSNAP
setvar which controls the
display of the AutoSnap Marker and turns the AutoSnap
magnet on or off.
In order to evoke the IGESIN & IGESOUT dialogue boxes
one has to use the
CMDDIA setvar as the FILEDIA setvar will not affect the
IGESIN & IGESOUT
dialogue boxes.
My apologies if I misstated Bruce's concern and my
thanks to Bruce for the clarification.
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Free Lisp Routine for Softdesk/LDD |
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Contributed by Skyler D. Mills, Rhode Island -
A lisp routine to change individual attributes in Softdesk
point blocks.
Softdesk used a block for surveying points, consisting
of an AutoCAD point, and three attributes: elevation,
description and point number. This routine is used to
individually control the obliquing angle and color of
attributes.
Softdesk was acquired by Autodesk and can now be
found hidden in the Details module of ADT. Details can
only be run in Single Document Interface Mode (only
one drawing open at a time).
I hear from users all the time who still have not moved
from Softdesk. There are some wonderful tools in
there. If you haven't checked out Details in your
version of ADT, spend your lunch hour playing with it -
you will be pleasantly surprised. I bet you find at least
one tool you love.
Download this lisp routine... »
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12th ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON ISO 9000 |
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February 23-25, 2004
3-Day Conference
Hilton in the Walt Disney World Resort, Lake Buena
Vista, FL
The most comprehensive conference that combines ISO
9000:2000, ISO/TS 16949, AS9100, ISO 14001, TL
9000, OHSAS 18001, IWA 1, ISO 13485, Continual
Improvement, Customer Satisfaction, Web-Based
Applications, Value Stream Mapping, Quality
Characteristics, Value-Added Auditing, Balanced
Scorecard and Six Sigma.
For this 3-day Conference, the regular registration fee
is $995. However, if you register by January 16, 2004,
you will receive a $50 discount and a Palm Zire or an HP
PhotoSmart 120 Digital Camera as your early-
registration gift. Special discount for groups
and for Government employees. One-day registration is
also available.
For more information... »
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Using Notepad to Determine Drawing Version |
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To determine the version of AutoCAD that created a
particular DWG or
DXF file, open the file as a text editor (save DXF files in
ASCII
text format first). The first six bytes of a DWG file
identify its
version. In a DXF file, the AutoCAD version number is
specified in
the header section. The DXF system variable is
$ACADVER. Here are
the version identifiers for the various releases. Note
that more
than one release uses the same identifier when the
drawing format
remains fully compatible.
- AC1018: AutoCAD 2004
- AC1015: AutoCAD 2002, 2000i, 2000
- AC1014: AutoCAD Release 14 (Release 14 sample
- drawings use AC1013)
- AC1012: AutoCAD Release 13
- AC1009: AutoCAD Releases 12, 11
- AC1006: AutoCAD Release 10
- AC1004: AutoCAD Release 9
- AC1002: AutoCAD Release 2.6
- AC1.50: AutoCAD Release 2.05
Do not modify the file in Notepad or you may corrupt
the drawing file!
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