From a customer: Art, we are doing a hospital that has say 1500 heads per floor x 6 floors on armovers. When we go to tag the piping, the branch lines are say 1.5” the arms are 1” and the mains are 4”. Since the mains are on a different layer, they are easy to…

For the last six months I have put up with the fact that when I pick the New icon, I don't get the Start a New Drawing dialog, but instead get thrown into the 3D Land of Gray template. The only way around this for me is to pick the File pulldown then pick  New…

This one from Robert at Elite Fire who posed the question AND found the solution: Problem I have a problem with bloated scale lists when you plot which have ton of extra scales listed that look like " 1/8" = 1'-0" XREF_XREF_XREF_XREF_XREF_XREF_XREF_XREF_XREF_ They seem to really bog down the drawing when attaching XREFS or copy/pasting…

Way back since AutoCAD 2000 or something, it has been possible to select objects using a non-rectangular window. When you use MOVE, COPY or whatever, type in WP or CP (for Window Polygon or Crossing Polygon). You will be able to select using a selection 'box of almost any shape, juse pick as many points…

If you are requested to submit a 3D model that is highly detailed, there are two ways: Preferred – If you have NavisWorks, after you make the model of the sprinkler system, type NWDOUT at the command line to export a detailed NWD files -Or- Use the Make Solid Pipes command and choose the option…

Two subscription bonus packs have been uploaded to Autodesk website for AutoCAD 2009. These are available for all users who have a subscription with AutoCAD. The link is here: Subs Bonus Packs There are three videos explaining the contents of the bonus packs, which mainly cover PDF enhancements and 3D printing enhancements.

Never, never, never. That is all

HydraCAD has had a couple of pretty useful commands on the Cleanup toolbar that many are not aware of: 1. Change Item Colors: If you have a need to differentiate piping as New or Existing , you can do it with this command. Run Pretty Pipes first, then pick the color or linetype you want…

SMaRTools will, by default, place Drop tags on all of your drop-style sprinkler heads. We have had feedback that people like this, but wish the text ere not so obtrusive. The good news is that you have complete control over what those tags look like, and you can even shut them off if you don’t…

In HydraCAD V45 (AutoCAD 2007, 2008 and 2009) we switched to using AutoCAD’s version of Layer Isolate. Some users, however, don’t like the fact that this version fades and locks the layers chosen instead of turning them off. This, like most things, can be changed: 1. Pick HcadTools->Layer Control->Layer Isolate   Note the command line says:…