The H-Factor

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 from there.

Here is what is going on: The New icon actually starts the QNEW (Quick New) AutoCAD command. When you start a drawing this way, you get some default template as your starting point. This happens because somewhere down the line you checked (or unchecked) a checkbox in some dialog box.

How to fix it? Well, I finally gave in and searched AutoCAD help for QNEW and found the answer – there is a setting in OPTIONS for this, as seen in the picture below. I went ahead and made AutoCAD now start with my own HydraCAD template:

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 from another drawing.

From what I've read this looks like
an Autocad issue, but I cant seem to get my arms around the fix for it.

I've tried the scalelistedit
command, but it usually doesn't work. It comes up with "Unhandled exception
has occurred in a component in your application. Index was outside the bounds of the
array."

A new Hydratec DWG does not have
these problems, untill you attach XREFs or paste from a "infected ?"
file.

Solution:

The cure to my problems was to
utilize the (-scalelistedit) command (note the dash in front of the command)
select the reset option, and then the default scale list option.

This cures several problems from
slow loading xref files, slow copy/pasting, and the goofy scale lists when plotting.

Turns out my mechanical contractor
was sending me bad files, and once you paste from a bad file to a good file,
you carry over all of the problems.

Autodesk has some info on this, and
appears to be a problem with 2008.

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 as needed to define the area and press Enter when done. This is especially handy when you have a building on a 45 degree angle.

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 to insert it into the original drawing. Then send the combined 3D model/Solid Pipes drawing to the architect/engineer

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 and Apply it to various parts of the drawing. The pretty pipes, the sprinkler heads, hangers, pipe sizes, etc will all change to the color applied.

2. Select Plot Layers: This command is used to turn layers on and off for plotting. It is fully aware of which HydraCAD layers are meant to be turned off and which are meant to be turned on for a final plot. You can choose from Center-to-Center lengths or Cut lengths. You can even choose your own layer file based on one you have saved using the HcadTool->Layer Control->Save On/Off Status

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 want them.

Pick Ceiling Height from the Ceiling toolbar or Drops/Sprigs from the Sprinklers, Calculation or Listing toolbars. Pick Annotation Options. From here, you can choose to suppress the Drop tag entirely, or simply drop the ‘Drop’ prefix and/or ‘CC’ Suffix. I prefer to turn both of these off for drops, and the ‘CC’ off for Sprigs, if I have them

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: Select objects on the layer(s) to be isolated or [Settings]:
2. Type in ‘S’ and press Enter
3. You now have two options. Enter ‘O’ for Off or ‘L’ for Lock and Fade