If you want to use a new type of hanger, or are a fab shop that gets a job from a contractor that uses a hanger type that you do not have, it is easy to add that new hanger type to your own machine. A hanger is an assembly, and an assembly is just…
Recently our previous blog service (Typepad) ended their business – so, we have a new home. It will take a bit to get images back and displaying properly, but we are working on it! Final pageview count of original Typepad blog: 387,232
A customer called today asking how to enter a 1″ black plastic underground pipe for the calc. This particular situation sounded unique enough that I did not tell him to add that pipe type to our database, as I would have if he expected to see this pipe type used repeatedly. I told him to…
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This entry combines one little-known command (Smart Array) with a little-known feature of a more common command (AutoLine). Inserting Heads using Smart Array Let's say you have a large room with a suspended ceiling like this, and you want to space heads throughout that room, but do not want to calculate how many rows and…
A customer emailed today that his Command Line was docked to the right side of the screen and he could not move it. Furthermore, it took up half the screen. The Command Line can be controlled in the menu (CUI) file. Type in CUI and locate the Command Line as seen below. Be sure to…
The AutoCAD variable LAYOUTREGENCTL controls REGEN between, er, Layouts. There are three settings, 0, 1 and 2. AutoCAD help explains these options the best: Why even have a 0 (zero) option? Well, if your RAM is extremely limited, this keeps you from getting fatal errors due to the memory being overloaded. The best setting is…
This post was prompted by a call from a long time customer (Hi, Debbie!). I found the following on another blog and it sounded interesting enough to repeat here: From Ellen Finkelstein's AutoCAD blog (a very excellent one, by the way) "I want to make sure that you know about 3 really handy commands that…
From a customer: "I started using the Viewbase command, which I learned from the H-Factor blog. I love it, it makes pump details very easy to do. My only question would be about certain block/details. A lot of the time I use Revit models from manufacturers, such as Reliable. I will download a 3D valve…
I ran into this one about two years ago and swore that I wrote a blog entry. Apparently not. I ran into it again today via a customer in the Bahamas (nice place, huh?). This virus is not dangerous or vicious, but it is really annoying. It causes an error upon loading HydraCAD due to…
SHIFT can do some SHIFTy things (sorry, I had to ). I found this on Cad Addict's website: SHIFT while drawing a line will lock the perpendicular inference. It is like a temporary activation of the ORTHO mode. If you press SHIFT, a tooltip with similar to the macro Icon of digital cameras appear to…
Once you 'go to 3D' in HydraCAD, you get a wireframe model. This is actually a Visual Style named '2D Wireframe'. If you would like to make a more professional looking presentation, you could apply a different Visual Style. To open up the Visual Style palette, type in VISUALSTYLES or pick the Visual Style button…
Version 51.11, and by extension, V52.01 added a new function named Bundle PDFs to the brand new Collaborate toolbar. This command will be renamed Create Submittal Pack in the next update (V51.12/V52.02), so keep an eye out for the new name. This command will scan the drawing an pull out PDFs for many of the…
What is the status bar? It is that thing at the bottom of your drafting window that looks like this: Now, in my opinion, the icons are pretty, but I would rather have the words, so I don't have to think too much when I am changing settings. So, right click on any one of…
The H-Factor 