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Frequently Asked Questions - AutoCAD Release 14
Summary: This FAQ provides answers for the most frequently asked technical support questions about AutoCAD Release 14.
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Product(s) |
Release(s) |
Platform(s) |
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AutoCAD (R) |
R14, R14.01 |
Win95, WinNT |
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Audience: |
For Public Distribution - Global | |
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Keywords: |
AUTOCAD FAQ R14 R14.01 5129 | |
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Related documents:
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Document: US-CRM-TD105129.DOC |
Revision: B | |
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Creation date: October 9, 1997 |
Last revised: June 12, 1998 |
Expires: June 30, 1999 |
The tips, tricks, examples and suggestions outlined in Autodesk Product Support technical documents are suggested for use at your own risk. Document contents are subject to change without notice. Autodesk is not responsible or liable for damage or events that may occur as a result of following suggestions from any Autodesk Product Support technical document.
© 1997 Autodesk. Autodesk and the Autodesk logo are registered trademarks of Autodesk Inc. All other brand names, product names or trademarks belong to their respective holders.
Table of Contents
Why is the background exported with the image when exporting to Windows metafile (WMF) format?
In Release 14, the export of Windows metafiles (WMFOUT command) captures more empty space (the entire viewport) than in previous releases of AutoCAD as well as the background color of the drawing screen. To control the area of the drawing that is exported, you might find it helpful to use a paper space viewport to achieve the ideal rectangular shape for the export. To obtain an WMF export that does not include the background, try using a freeware ARX application called BWMFOUT. You can find this freeware utility at: http://leden.tref.nl/glipman
Why isn't the drawing date and time updated in Explorer when a drawing is saved?
This issue is currently under investigation, and is isolated only to the Win95B operating system environment (it does not occur under Windows NT or Win95A). As a workaround, you can set the ISAVEPERCENT system variable to 0 in AutoCAD R14. This forces AutoCAD to write the entire contents of the drawing during each save. This can slow the save process, but the file date will be listed correctly.
How do I export drawings to a larger sized output than to an A sized page with the PSOUT command?
In Release 14, you must disable file dialog boxes prior to issuing the PSOUT command in order to export the drawing to larger paper sizes. To do so, enter FILEDIA 0 on the command line. After using PSOUT, be sure to set FILEDIA back to 1 (the default value).
Note: If you have already used the PSOUT command with file dialogs enabled during the current drawing session, you will need to close and re-open the drawing first, and then follow the preceding instructions.
Why aren't the DRAWORDER settings in attached xrefs honored?
This is a limitation noted in the R14 readme document. You might consider re-ordering the contents of the attached drawing by manually copying the object you want to appear on top so that it is at the end of the database, then remove the original object. Another suggestion mentioned in the readme involves uses the WBLOCK command to save out the contents of the xref file, and XATTACH to attach this new drawing in place of the original xref. See the readme file for more detailed information.
Why are R14 drawings larger than R12 drawings, even after using the PURGE command?
By default in Release 14, saves are incremental, and are thus faster. If you need to free up disk space, you can set the ISAVEPERCENT system variable to 0 to prevent the partial save feature. Saving the drawing the second time should then result in a reduced file size.
Instead of seeing the Plot dialog box and ASE dialog boxes, command prompts appear on the command line. Why?
The AutoCAD system variable CMDDIA controls the display of dialog boxes for the PLOT command and the external database (ASE) commands. Set CMDDIA to 1 on the command line to enable these dialog boxes.
Why do the prompts appear on the command line instead of the Open or Export dialog boxes?
The AutoCAD system variable FILEDIA controls the display of file listing dialog boxes. Set FILEDIA to 1 to enable these dialog boxes. If FILEDIA is set to 0, you can still request a file dialog box to appear by entering a tilde ~ in response to the first prompt of the command you selected. Also be aware that if a file command is called from a script or AutoLISP/ADSRX/ObjectARX program, a command prompt appears instead of a dialog box.
Why are my drawing files, layers, and blocks no longer in alphabetical order in the list shown in dialog boxes?
The system variable MAXSORT determines how many file names, layer names, blocks, linetypes, and so on, are sorted alphabetically in AutoCAD dialog boxes. This setting can be applied in the General tab of the Preferences dialog box for the setting "Maximum number sorted symbols".
Increase the value for MAXSORT. The default setting for MAXSORT is 200, which means up to 200 entries will be sorted in alphabetical order in list boxes. If the number of items in a list exceed 200, no sorting will be done. Keep in mind that a high setting for MAXSORT will use more memory, and as a result, sorting a large list of items will take more time. If you find that your list of drawings is becoming long, you might want to organize your drawings into different subdirectories instead of increasing the value for MAXSORT. For long lists of blocks and layers, periodically re-evaluate the need for all of them in order to maintain the number of items to a reasonable size.
Why are there smiley faces in the buttons on toolbars instead of icons?
Button icons in the Toolbar or Toolboxes are replaced with smiley faces when AutoCAD cannot locate the path to the bitmaps for these buttons. This can occur when the menu template file (MNU) is manually edited after the toolbars have been customized. The changes in line spacing in the template file caused by manual edits can cause the menu resource and compiler files to "lose track" of the button definitions.
In this case, open the menu source (MNS) file and menu template (MNU) file in a text editor, and copy and paste the customized toolbar sections from the MNS file to the MNU file. Then rename or delete the MNS, MNC, and MNR files. Use the MENULOAD command to reload the menu file using the template (MNU) menu file. The three compiled menus (MNS, MNC, and MNR) are recreated. As a result, the problem should be corrected.
This problem can also occur if the bitmaps are not in the support path. Make sure the support path in the Preferences dialog box includes the directory for the bitmap files. For example, if you moved a button from a custom toolbar to a toolbar that is part of AutoCAD's standard menu, you may need to edit the button file so that the bitmap file is saved somewhere in the support path. Follow these steps:
1. After moving or copying the icon to a different menus toolbar, and while the Toolbars dialog box is still open, edit the icon by right-clicking it again.
2. In the Button Properties dialog, choose the Edit button.
3. In the Button Editor dialog box, choose the Saveas button. Specify a directory found in the AutoCAD support path.
4. Close the Button Editor, then choose Apply in the Button Properties dialog. Close the windows and restart AutoCAD.
Why do drawings that I open in AutoCAD Release 14 have tiny dots, which when closely examined, turn out to be very short polyline segments?
Previous releases of AutoCAD allowed the creation of a polyline object that had only one vertex or no vertexes defined at all. Certain older add-on applications would create these type of corrupt polylines for tracking data (there are a variety of improved methods for data tracking in Release 14). Also, in some earlier versions of AutoCAD, corrupt polylines could be created in some situations when breaking ellipses. Such an object has no geometric meaning, and would cause import and export problems between CAD applications.
AutoCAD Release 14 identifies and corrects this corruption problem in drawings by adding vertices to any polylines that have fewer than 2 vertices. If a polyline only has one vertex, a second vertex is added at the same location as the first. If a polyline has zero vertices, AutoCAD adds a vertex at the origin point of the drawing (0,0,0). It is generally safe to delete these objects from your drawing when you discover them. If you are unsure about deleting them, move them to a separate layer that can be turned off so that you can remove them from view.
Why are network paths removed from the support search path?
AutoCAD R14 will remove any invalid path from its Support File Search Path. This is designed behavior to insure that performance is not degraded when AutoCAD searches through all support paths that are listed. A path that becomes invalid during an AutoCAD session, such as when a network connection is lost, is still displayed in Preferences. This is because the path remains in the Windows registry even though AutoCAD cannot access it. Any invalid path is removed when you exit and restart AutoCAD. If you work in an environment where paths regularly become invalid, there are two methods you can use to quickly restore the Support File Search Path.
Method 1
Use the /s command line start-up switch to add the paths to the shortcut icon used to start AutoCAD. For example:
"C:\Program Files\AutoCAD R14\acad.exe" /s "C:\Program Files\AutoCAD R14\support";"C:\Program Files\AutoCAD R14\fonts";"C:\Program Files\AutoCAD R14\help";"C:\Program Files\AutoCAD R14\bonus\cadtools";M:\temp;\\myserver\searchpath
In this case, suppose either drive M or the Universal Naming Convention (UNC) path to a mapped drive to a server that is frequently unavailable. If the server is down and you start AutoCAD, \\myserver\searchpath is not added to the Support File Search Path. Restarting AutoCAD when the server is up restores the Support File Search Path automatically.
Method 2
Export a Profile with the required settings for the Support File Search Path (this creates an .ARG file). When you notice that some support paths have been removed in Preferences, start AutoCAD when the paths become available again, and then import the saved profile to restore the Support File Search Path.
How do I open and work on more than one drawing at a time?
You can open multiple instances of AutoCAD on a workstation within the limits of system memory resources. Open a second AutoCAD session, and then open another drawing file in the new session.
How can I determine the surface normals of meshes created with the 3DFACE and RULESURF commands?
Normals are determined by the direction in which a face is drawn in AutoCAD based on a right-handed coordinate system. For example, if you draw the face counterclockwise, the normals point outward. If you draw the face clockwise, the normals point inward. When rendering the drawing, you can disregard faces with normals pointing away from your viewpoint by checking the "Discard Back Faces" option in the Rendering Preferences dialog box. The AutoLISP routine re3dface.lsp can be used to revert the direction order for a 3D face. You can download re3dface.lsp from the Autodesk Web site.
Do the Bonus Textmask and Wipeout tools work in paper space?
You can use these tools to mask paper space objects from paper space, however, they cannot mask model space entities viewed from paper space viewports. These tools rely on being "on top of" other entities to do the masking, therefore they will not work in this situation (even though it looks right on screen) because AutoCAD always plots model space entities first.
How do I erase a Textmask boundary?
Start the WIPEOUT command and use the Frames option to turn frames on. You should now see the frames around the masked text. Then set the PICKSTYLE variable to 0 so that you will be able to select just the boundary frames and not the text. Erase the frames you no longer want. Afterwards, be sure to set PICKSTYLE back to the previous setting, and turn frames back off using the WIPEOUT command.
How do I make a spiral, a spring, or a screw thread?
First, use an AutoLISP routine such as spiral.lsp to create the spiral path you need. Then use the EXTRUDE command with a reference object, using the spiral as the path.
You can also accomplish this with Mechanical Desktop® (MDT) or AutoSurf® by using the augmented lines approach. Create a sweep surface using augmented lines as the path. In MDT, use the SURFCUT command to create the solid.
You can download spiral.lsp from the Autodesk Web site.
How do I set my default drawing directory?
A default drawing directory is specified as a working directory in the "Start in" option in a Windows shortcut icon. Create a shortcut icon for AutoCAD if one does not already exist. Do this by running Explorer and navigating to the directory where the AutoCAD executable file, acad.exe, resides. Highlight the "ACAD" application and drag it onto the desktop. Press the right mouse button to view the menu for the shortcut icon you just created, then select Properties. Click the Shortcut tab at the top of the dialog box. Enter the desired directory in the "Start in" text field, then choose OK.
Whenever you start AutoCAD using this shortcut icon, the directory you set will be the default directory when you use the OPEN command and for other commands that allow you to select files. Note that you can create any number of shortcut icons with each one having a different default directory.
How do I open a drawing file that was created with the automatic save feature (drawing that has an .SV$ file extension)?
AutoCAD will only open drawing files that have the file extension .dwg. Rename the drawing using Explorer or do this at a DOS prompt. If using Explorer, you will need to be sure the option "Hide file extensions for known file types" is not enabled. This option is found under the View pull-down menu under Options.
Once the file has been copied or renamed, use the OPEN command in AutoCAD to open the drawing.
How do you unlock a drawing in Release 14?
AutoCAD Release 14 relies on the operating system to determine if an R14 drawing is being used. A "file in use" message indicates that the drawing you are trying to open is in use by someone else. If the file you are trying to open is referenced by another drawing, you can control the way xrefs are handled in this situation by setting Preferences>Performance>External Reference file Demand Load.
How do I delete empty layers?
Layers in AutoCAD drawings can only be deleted when all objects that reside or reference the layers are removed. If a layer appears to be empty but PURGE will not remove it from the drawing, it may be that this layer is frozen in a paper space viewport, or it might be referenced by an object in a block definition.
Why does the error "Fatal Error: Unhandled Access Violation" occur when I stretch objects (polylines in particular) when the UCS is not in plan view?
This was a known problem with the Stretch command and lightweight polylines in the initial release of R14. As a permanent solution, obtain and install the R14.01 update. As a temporary workaround for R14.00, switch to plan view or an isometric view before stretching the objects. Alternately, you can convert the polylines that need to be stretched to the older (heavy) format by using the CONVERTPOLY command.
What is the solution to the "Hatch spacing too dense" error?
Initially, AutoCAD will not create a hatch pattern that consists of over 10,000 segments. This segment limit is controlled by the MAXHATCH setting, which is stored in the registry. You can change this limit to any value between 100 and 10,000,000 by using the SETENV AutoLISP function. For example, to increase the value to 30000, enter the following on the command line:
(setenv "MaxHatch" "30000")
The appropriate value for your drawing files is something you may need to experiment with, as it will depend on the type and density of hatch pattern being applied.
Note: A similar setting, MAXARRAY, applies to arrays in a drawing. See the AutoCAD R14 Readme, "Command and System Variable Limitations" for more information about MAXARRAY and MAXHATCH.
Why does the error "Cannot Find Heidi3.dll" occur when AutoCAD R14 is started?
The error message could either be "Cannot Find Heidi3.dll" or "The dynamic Link Library Heidi3.dll could not be found". These errors most often occur immediately after - AutoCAD Release 14 is re-installed because when AutoCAD was uninstalled, the computer was not immediately rebooted as suggested. In this situation, the file Heidi3.dll is only marked for deletion; it has not yet been removed by the operating system. If AutoCAD is immediately re-installed, the installation program will see that the Heidi3.dll file still exists and will not attempt to overwrite it. After the re-installation is completed and the computer is restarted, the Heidi3.dll file will be deleted. Upon subsequent startup, the file will not be found when starting AutoCAD, therefore, an error will occur.
For this reason, Product Support strongly recommends restarting the computer after uninstalling AutoCAD (both when using the AutoCAD uninstall icon and the Add/Remove option from the Control Panel). When either of the Heidi3.dll errors occur, use Windows Explorer to copy the Heidi3.dll file from the AutoCAD R14 CD-ROM to the Windows\System directory (in Windows NT, it is WINNT\SYSTEM32). On the CD-ROM, Heidi3.dll is located in the ACAD folder.
Can I set up the Intellimouse wheel to pan around the drawing area?
It is not currently possible to set up the wheel to scroll in AutoCAD R14 (although it is possible in AutoCAD LT97). In AutoCAD R14, when the wheel setting is set to "default" in the Control Panel, the wheel button will function as button 3 (as defined in the AUX section of the menu file) when it is pressed.
How can I make use of the middle button in my three button mouse?
A pointer driver must be installed that supports three buttons. You can check this by selecting Control Panel from the Windows Settings menu, then the Mouse icon. Confirm that the middle button is not assigned to any function so that AutoCAD can use it.
The middle button definition is defined in the AutoCAD menu file, in the ***AUX1 section. For example:
***AUX1
; <-- right button
$p0=* <-- middle button
If the middle button is still not working, check the Compatibility tab in the AutoCAD Preferences dialog box to make sure that "Priority accelerator keys" is set to Windows standards.
How do I assign keyboard characters or function keys to AutoCAD commands?
Edit the ACCELERATORS section of the AutoCAD menu file. See technical document TD104068 (4068), Mapping Accelerator Keys in AutoCAD Release 14 for an example that shows how to do this.
How can I make the selection process faster especially when xref data is included?
To see performance improvements with external references, make sure the following has been done:
• Save the drawings you are referencing in Release 14 drawing format, with spatial and layer indexes turned ON. You can access these index settings from the Options button in the Save dialog box (or set INDEXCTL to 3).
• Enable Xref demand loading in the host (parent) drawing by selecting the Performance tab of the Preferences dialog, (or set XLOADCTL to 1 or 2). When demand loading Xref files, AutoCAD keeps the xref files open to allow quick access to the data when more Xref information is needed. If XLOADCTL is set to 2, AutoCAD will also create copies of the referenced files (and leave them open) so that other users can have read-write access the original Xref files. The XLOADPATH variable allows you to specify the file location of the copied files.
• Performance improvements are dependent on the amount of Xref information that is displayed in your host drawing. If a substantial portion of the external references are clipped, or much of the Xref geometry is on frozen layers, the performance improvements can be great.
• Also keep in mind that performance improvements are mostly seen on subsequent openings of the host drawing. The first time you attach an Xref, all thawed layers in the Xref file are read. After you clip the Xref and save the drawing, any information that is not within the clipping boundary is not read in, so performance will improve during subsequent openings of the file.
• Use of the DRAWORDER feature can also help with object selection. For example, use the DRAWORDER command to move xrefs and blocks to the back of the drawing order if you need to speed up object selection for other objects in the drawing.
Also see technical document TD105008 (5008), Object Selection Performance and TrueType Fonts for more information about improving performance.
How do I set line thickness for plotted or printed output?
There are several methods for applying thickness to AutoCAD objects. The most common approach for obtaining printed or plotted lineweights is to use the color used for objects on the screen, or to be more exact, the color number assigned to these objects when applying line thickness settings. From the PLOT dialog box, select the Pen Assignments option. For each color number in AutoCAD, locate the Width box under the Modify Values title on the right side of the Pen Assignments dialog box. The formula for selecting the correct pen width is the number of dots wide for the line to be drawn divided by the resolution of the device or <dots wide>/<device resolution>. AutoCAD will accept this formula in place of a raw value. For example, you can enter 1/300 and the correct decimal inch value will be calculated and entered into the Pen Width column.
Some typical values are 1/300 for the HP LaserJet III printer series, 1/360 for the Canon BubbleJet printer series, 1/600 for the HP LaserJet IV printer series, and 1/720 for the new Epson Color BubbleJet printers. Because 1/600 and 1/720 are such small values, hatch patterns such as DOT may print but will not be clearly visible to the human eye. It is best to enter 2/600 or 3/600 as the pen width in this case.
How can I print a list of layers?
There are two methods you can use to export the list of AutoCAD layers to a text file so that it can be printed from a text editor program.
Method 1
Copy the list from the AutoCAD text window and paste it into a text editor. Use the non-dialog box version of the layer command, -LAYER, to list all layers to the AutoCAD text window:
Command: -layer
?/Make/Set/New/ON/OFF/Color/Ltype/Freeze/Thaw/LOck/Unlock: ?
Layer name(s) to list <*>: *
Then select the layer listing in the text window with the mouse (or with the shift-arrow keys). Copy the highlighted text to the clipboard (CTRL-C, or choose Copy from the Edit menu in the Text Window). Open a text editor, such as WordPad or Notepad, and paste the listing into the editor. You can then print from the text editor.
Method 2
You can use the AutoCAD Log File feature to capture anything you see in the command prompt and text window to a file, including the LAYER list. In Preferences, set the log file name and path to a desired name and location. The default setting is C:\Program Files\AutoCAD R14\acad.log. Enter LOGFILEON on the command line to turn on log file creation. Use the non-dialog box version of the layer command, -LAYER, to list all layers to the AutoCAD text window (as above). Enter LOGFILEOFF on the command line to stop the writing to the log file. Open the log file in a text editor to print the layer listing.
What do I need to do for plotting Bonus Textmask and Wipeout areas properly?
If the Textmask or Wipeout is masking objects correctly but the border is plotted, make sure to turn Frames off in the Wipeout command. If masking is not working when plotting, it is likely that the printer or plotter driver in use is not raster-capable. If you see that the driver is denoted by "NR" in Preferences, it is not capable of handling raster objects. Instead of using the ADI driver, try using a system printer driver in AutoCAD.
If you had difficulty understanding this document, or if this document did not resolve your problem, we would like to know. Please outline your problem on the document itself, and fax it to Autodesk Product Support: +1 (415) 507-5300 ATT: Document Control. We will consider your comments in our next revision of the document. Thank you.
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