Many of you have been setting a Viewport scale in Paper Space using the Zoom XP option. While valid, there is a much easier way.
1. Click on the Viewport to highlight it, then right-click and pick Properties.
2. Find the Misc section in the palette that shows up
3. Find the Standard scale item in the list and select the scale you want!
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Much betterer…
Sorry for the lack of posting, I was on vacation last week.
We are making good progress on Vista compatibility with our software, and I think you guys will really like what we have done, once we do it. That’s all I am saying about that right now.
AutoCAD has announced that AutoCAD 2008 will be fully Vista compatible. they have also announced that they expect to have a Service Pack for AutoCAD 2007 sometime in April to make 2007 compatible (as I suspected – pat self on back). I think you will not see anything done to make 2006 or earlier work with Vista.
Since 2008 won’t be out until late March/Early April and the lock driver is still a problem, we are still on track for our earlier estimate of May for full compatibility with Vista.
Well, things ain’t great as far as Vista is concerned:
AutoCAD 2007 will not install (message says Vista not supported)
AutoCAD 2006 will install but not run
AutoCAD2005 will install with errors and not run
So the answer is No Vista until who knows when. Certainly not with AutoCAD 2006 or earlier. Maybe there will be a service pack for 2007, but we have not seen anything.
Dell has started selling computers with only Vista installed. However, you can get XP on the follwing lines:
Small Business:
Desktops: The Optiplex and
Precision
Laptops: Latitude and Precision
Flexible heads are still relatively new and few people know how to use them in a drawing, so here goes:
Please note that we only have the brand name Flexhead in our database at this point.
1. Put some symbol representing a sprinkler head in the location where the sprinkler head is actually going to go. You can explode one of our heads or make your own. Put it in some benign layer like DMNS, TEXT or your own.
2. Connect these fake heads back to the branch line using a line or pline in the same benign layer.
3. Define a ‘real’ head as an On a Sprig and choose the proper Flexhead type from the Material pulldown
4. Insert these real heads at the point where the branch lines meet your fake lines going to your fake heads
5. Shrink the real heads down so they cannot be seen – we usually use 1/20th (.05)
When you calculate the job you will have to add the Flexheads in as a fitting. If you do not see these as an option, you will have to download the flexheads from the Update site under Data / HydraCALC. You will need to give them a short name in HydraCALC / Utilities / Alter Pipe and Fittings.
HydraLIST will work just fine as is
Quick Firefox Tip of The Day –
If you are on a website and want to open another browser window when you click on a link rather than having your current window switch to that content, click on the link using the middle mouse button. That will open the linked page in a new tab
A customer just called and said he wanted to copy some of the layout tabs from another drawing into his new drawing. I didn’t know how to do this so I asked Alan here what to do. Here is how you do this:
1. Start a New drawing using our template
2. Use the AutoCAD INSERT command and insert the Architect drawing into your new one
3. Right Click on any tab (Model or Layout) and pick From template…
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4. Pick the Files of Type drop down list at the bottom of the ensuing dialog and pick Drawing (*.dwg)
5. Select the drawing you want to pull Layouts from
6. You will get a list of available Layouts from that drawing. Pick the one you want or use the usual Windows selection keys like Ctrl and Shift to select more than one
Sorry for the lack of posting, between the holidays and trying to get a new HydraCAD update out the door, things have been a _bit_ busy.
So – Input Types. Why use them. A bunch of reasons. What do the mean – here you go:
When you right-click on the Input Type column you will see a list of choices. Simply put they mean Line, Main or Riser Nipple along with a designation specifying a Straight feed pipe or a Grid pipe. Others such as AOver, Drop, UG and Riser are self explanatory.
Does it take a long time to put these in? No. Remember that, like most data fields, if you hit enter on a fresh line, the value entered will copy down. Cut and Paste can also be used to speed things up.
1. Using the Input Types gets you the Graphical Pressure Display (GPD) after you calculate your job. A special feature of the GPD – K-Factor Analysis was discussed in an earlier post
2. The use of Input Types is REQUIRED if you plan to do a Velocity Pressure Calc.
3. It makes it easier to change things that are already entered. Say you have riser nipples and grid lines that are both 1.610 diameter. How do you change just the riser nipples to 2.067? Label them as RN-G (or RN-S depending on your situation) and use the Find tool and pick the Replace tab.
Type in 1.610 (or click on that diameter in the data input before selecting the Find tool). Type in 2.067 in the Replace field and pick the Options button.
Now select RN-G and pick Replace All. Voila!
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4. Input types make it very easy to do a Node Diagram. I will discuss this topic in the near future
So – use Input Types! Feel free to ignore the Num Hds field.
This is the first in a series of articles on how CAD Managers can more easily manage their users machines. Further articles will include discussion of the CUI menu files and how to customize them so that you can easily maintain menus for an an entire company.
Ever sit down at a user station to fix a problem and your eyes fall out because you can’t stand the way they have their screen arranged? Imagine if you could sit at any AutoCAD station and have the AutoCAD desktop look exactly like you are used to. Wouldn’t that make it easier for you to diagnose user problems?
Workspaces! That’s how you do it, at least in AutoCAD 2006 and 2007.
It’s easy:
1. Arrange the toolbars, colors, command line, palettes just the way you want them
2. Pick the Tools pulldown then pick Workspaces
3. Pick Save Current As and enter in whatever name you want to give it
That’s it! The user can now customize to his or her content. When you sit down, just pick Workspaces and select the Workspace you’ve created and you are in business.
I was creating a new toolbar button yesterday and tried to alter an existing button image (known variously as icon or bitmap). When I did this in the CUI, I got a cloud picture and had to resort to a backup plan. The same happens if you create a custom toolbar and want to use our button images on your new buttons.
I think this is a bug in AutoCAD 2007 because it works in all earlier versions. My way around it is as follows:
Open up AutoCAD 2006 or earlier
and edit the bitmap there and do a Save As to some file name into the folder you
distribute your menus. Then you can Open it in your toolbar. Those versions of
AutoCAD are more flexible and seem to have no trouble finding the
bitmaps
If this is all Greek to you, I suggest you visit our website and download the AutoCAD produced tutorials on customizing your menus. The web page is here
Did you know that V50 HydraCALC has a tool to help you figure out what K-factor is best for your job?
The tool is found in the Graphical Pressure Display (GPD), which can be used on any job that has the Input Type field filled out. Jobs that come over from HydraCALC-Sizer and HydraCAD have already have this field filled out for you.
Calc your job, then pick the GPD. Move your cursor to the E.H. Press field and click on it.
This will bring up the Review and Alter K-Factors screen. Notice the list of K-Factors on the left and the End Head Pressures on the right. This list of Ks comes from the choices found in the right-click menu of the K-Factor field on the Input Screen. You will see a list of all the Ks and what the end head pressure would be if you used them. Some of these will be in red. The red indicates that if you use that K-factor, the end head pressure will be below the minimum and have to be boosted up.
If you select a K-factor you will be asked if you want to convert all the Ks already in the calculation to that new one. Say yes and it will be done for you.
The H-Factor 