in this issue
SFAUG Meeting on October 5
At the Tuesday, October 5th SFAUG meeting they will
be
talking about some less known treasures in AutoCAD:
Express Tools, CAD Manager Tools, and Migration
Assistance. If you are not familiar with those or don't
think you need them, think twice. Or better off, just
come out to the meeting and see for yourself. They will
have a number of Autodesk employees presenting CAD
Manager Tools and Migration Assistance.
Meeting time and location:
Tuesday, October 5th, 6-8pm
American Institute of Architects, AIA SF
130 Sutter Street, Suite 600
San Francisco
Learn more about SFAUG
Quick Links...
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Greetings!
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From AutoCAD to PhotoShop Revisited
Lillian Crist, my good friend in San Francisco, responds
to last week's article on importing AutoCAD to
PhotoShop.
Just wanted to comment that I find the EPS format to
be the best plot file which can be opened in Photoshop.
The "manufacturer" is Adobe, and the "model" is
PostScript Level 2. An EPS file maintains the scale and
sheet size of the DWG, but of course the decision
about how many pixels per inch remains significant
when opening the file.
If the goal is to create an illustration from an AutoCAD
drawing, there is a significant advantage in using
Illustrator, where a DWG file may be opened directly,
maintained in vector format, and resolution (pixels per
inch) is no issue for basic gradient coloring and drop
shadows. These can even be defined by XML rather
than pixels in Illustrator. However, the disadvantage is
that all closed shapes (borders of colored areas) should
be prepared in AutoCAD as closed polylines, so that
Illustrator can distinguish the shapes. This is time
consuming, but worth it if having a resolution-free file is
important (use the Boundary command to speed up
closed polyline creation). Another small quirk: Save the
DWG while the Model tab is active, so that Illustrator
will bring in the DWG layers correctly, and you might
want to create a border to match the sheet size.
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Changing the displayed AutoCAD title bar text
How can I change the text displayed in the AutoCAD
title bar using VBA?
The text displayed in the AutoCAD title bar can be
changed by using the Win32
API functions, GetActiveWindow and SetWindowText.
Download the VBA code in the link below for an example
of how to change your AutoCAD titlebar. In the code
the title is changed to:"This is my version of AutoCAD".
You can modify the code easily by simply changing the
text value for the titletxt variable.
Download the VBA code »
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Plotting Multiple Layouts in AutoCAD 2005
You can plot more than one sheet in AutoCAD without
using the Sheet Set Manager. Simply press down on
the SHIFT key and select the layouts you want to
plot. Then, right click and select Publish Selected
Layouts.
In the lower left side of the dialog, enable Plotter
named in Page Setup. Otherwise, you will plot to a
DWF.
You can change the Page Setup on the fly for each of
the selected sheets. Simply highlight the page setup in
the Page Setup column, right click and select Change
Page Setup.
If you plan to plot the same sheet set more than one
time, you may want save your settings. AutoCAD will
prompt to ask you this after you press the Publish
button.
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Early Bird Savings on AU - Closes October 8th
Don't forget to take advantage of the Early Bird
Savings for this year's Autodesk University and save
$300. For registration with four nights accommodations,
the Early Bird cost is $1295, but after October 8th the
cost goes to $1595. The Early Bird cost for registration
without accommodations is $1095.
If you have never been to AU, you definitely should
go. There are classes offered you simply can't take
anywhere else. Your productivity once you get back to
work is guaranteed to improve. You will work smarter
not harder and have more fun with your software.
Click here to register NOW! »
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