A major complaint has been the time delay between when a user selects a drawing and when it actually pops up in the viewer. This is because Buzzsaw launches the DWF Composer and then re-publishes the dwf each time. I had several complaints about the way the Composer works inside of Buzzsaw.

1. There is no way to set the default options for how the DWF Publisher works.
2. When a drawing is selected and the DWF is created, all tabs are included (even Model tab) - this wastes a lot of space and time because you have to navigate around to get to the layout you are really interested in.
3. I could not include layer information when I created DWFs on Buzzsaw (only if I used the DWF Publisher off-line and then copied over into the Buzzsaw folder.)
4. You can not include shx or lin files as external references on Buzzsaw.
5. Logos/image files did not always come into Buzzsaw properly.
6. I was unable to include mark-up files properly in my ECOs.
7. Mark-ups often appeared off from their correct locations when other users opened them up - they always looked fine for me.
8. When I tried to plot to pdf from Buzzsaw, it would crash occasionally.

This does not mean we have given up on Buzzsaw. Rather, the decision has been made to hold off for about three months and give Autodesk a chance to improve the way DWF Composer works inside Buzzsaw and then give it another try.

Among the tidbits I have gleaned is that the command MENULOAD/MENUUNLOAD is going the wayside, soon to be replaced by CUILOAD and CUIUNLOAD which do exactly the same thing. Gee, nice to be told.

Jimmy Bergmark talks about the fact that he was unable to access his mouse customizations using the custom cui until he manually edited his custom.cui file using Notepad. "I found that in the main cui there were no Mouse Buttons definition. I could not add any using CUI but had to create a new main cui by transfering those from acad.cui to a new cui; in this case custom.cui." Turns out there is a bug in the way the CUI handles mouse button definitions. It is on the "bug fix" list for Autodesk and should be corrected in the next service pack, and definitely in the next release.

Um, wasn't the idea of the CUI to make life easier for those of us who customize? Like one poster in the discussion group wrote:
"Is this perhaps another great benefit from the "offshoring" of programming tasks that adesk has been at the forefront of promoting???
I can almost see the cui team leader now, leaning over his dusty 286 in that grass hut with the goats chewing on his exposed ide cables strewn across the dirt floor....thinking,....how can I make this harder for those imperialist yankee cad monkeys???"

From James Maeding -
To get pulldowns to show, you do not need to merge menus (with the transfer tab...). You need to pick a workspace, then the "edit workspace" button on the right pane. Then drag and drop pulldowns into the menus section. Its all about drag and drop in the CUI editor.

Check out these links from Shaan Hurley:

Introduction to the CUI Editor

Intro to Enterprise CUI Files

Now, I know the big question is... have I figured it out? Actually, I am making some good progress in getting things straightened out and installed on the systems here at SignaSys. I have written a tutorial to help users get a good start on how to get things set up and provide you on some guidance on getting your menus in place for users. You can download it from the links section below. Feel free to email me with feedback and questions.

Lee Ambrosius has written a white paper for Autodesk that outlines the changes to how customization works in 2006. The white paper takes you only so far...hopefully, my tutorial will take you the rest of the way.

• 0 - If a drawing that you try to open has a potential problem, you are warned before the drawing is opened.
• 1 - If a drawing that you try to open has a potential problem, or if it was saved by an application other than AutoCAD or AutoCAD LT, you are warned before the drawing is opened.
• 2 - If a drawing that you try to open has a potential problem, you are notified on the command line.
• 3 - If a drawing that you try to open has a potential problem, you are notified on the command line. If the drawing has a potential problem and the drawing was saved by an application other than AutoCAD or AutoCAD LT, you are warned before the drawing is opened.

Now, the check determines if the file uses the RealDWG source code vs. the OpenDWG source code (this is the source code used by IntelliCAD software, among others). If you have been reading Ralph Grabowski's Upfrontezine, you are aware that there is a war simmering between the two source codes. Autodesk is defending their RealDWG source code and their right to protect the DWG format.

Frankly, the biggest problem I have when opening a drawing created in AutoCAD using CADopia IntelliCAD and vice versa is the fact that CADopia does not support page setups, so my plot settings get messed up. However, in a few weeks I am told that problem will be resolved. In the meantime, I think I will keep my DWGCheck system variable at 0, which is about where my level of paranoia is regarding drawings created outside of AutoCAD.

Low-cost ADT Tools

Free 3D Models for Download

Security Update from Autodesk

Free Tutorial from Moss Designs on Menu Customization for AutoCAD 2006