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    • Tag: cad

    AutoCAD Resources: In the Autodesk Cloud

    Posted on by Gabriel Perez

    If you customize AutoCAD across your design team and you use the Autodesk Construction Cloud (ACC), read on…

    I’ll define AutoCAD resources as files that AutoCAD uses to support design content. Here are several common file types that are customized.

    • Plot Style Tables (CTB/STB)
    • Fonts (SHX)
    • Printer Files (PC3/PMP)
    • User Interface (CUIX)
    • Linetypes (LIN)
    • Tool Palettes

    Many organizations store these files in a folder on a network-shared folder and point the users’ AutoCAD settings to this folder. This is good since there is a single location (single source of truth) for these files. When a CAD Manager updates are adds a file, users will instantly have access to it. Some firms have experienced performance degradation with this method.

    Some organizations copy these resource files to the users’ computers and use synchronization software to manage changes to them. This can be good for AutoCAD performance since the files are stored on their physical computer and not across the network. Files typically do not syn until the computer has been restarted, however.

    With the Autodesk Cloud, we can have the best of both worlds. Install Autodesk Desktop Connector (ADC) v16 or later to make for the best experience. I’ll describe exactly why later in this article.

    1. Create a new ACC project and invite your users to it. I named mine CAD Resources and I created subfolders for each data type. Copy your resources to the appropriate folders in the cloud.

    2. In the Desktop Connector on each user’s computer, ensure that this project is visible.

         

    3. Also on each user’s computer, turn on this option for the resources folder. This is what ADC v16 is for. In v15, this was not an option. It is critical that the files physically reside on the user’s computers when AutoCAD is run. This setting ensures that.

    4. Lastly, configure your AutoCAD product’s settings (Options) to point to these location.

    Stay tuned for the next article where printing with the Sheet Set Manager for Web uses CTB files stored in this same CAD Resources project.

    To learn more about AutoCAD or the Autodesk Construction Cloud (ACC), feel free to  contact us and one of our representatives will reach out to you shortly.

    AutoCAD and Bluebeam

    Posted on by Rikki Kenzhebayeva

    Many users create PDF files from AutoCAD products as PDF seems to be the standard digital format.  There are three issues you may run into and some settings to consider if you use Bluebeam Revu as well as AutoCAD.
    Viewports

     

    First, you may see this message when opening PDF files using Bluebeam Revu (not the free viewer) which were created from AutoCAD using Autodesk’s DWG to PDF print driver.  These “viewports” are artifacts contained within the PDF file to which Bluebeam Revu alerts you when you open a file containing them.  ALWAYS say yes to removing these artifacts.  If you don’t, they will very likely affect the accuracy of any measurements you make in Revu.  If you skip past this message without selecting Yes, the viewports can be removed from the PDF in Revu’s measurement panel.


    Why do they exist in the first place?  It seems to be an issue with Autodesk’s DWG to PDF.pc3 file.  PDF’s created using Bluebeam’s PDF printer do not contain these anomalies.  Here is an Autodesk  discussion group thread discussing these viewports.  Interestingly, it indicates that these viewports can cause an issue when measuring using Adobe Pro, but there appears not to be a solution there, where Revu does indeed catch the existence of them.

    Searchable Text and SHX Fonts

    The second issue is searchable text.  Many AutoCAD users still use Autodesk SHX fonts.  There are several reasons to avoid using SHX fonts; not the least of which is that when a PDF is created containing them, that text will not be searchable when opened in any PDF reader software.  If you want your recipient to be able to search text, and you very likely should, do not use SHX fonts in AutoCAD.  Use a True Type font, such as Arial instead.  This is with one exception.  With Bluebeam Revu, SHX text is in fact searchable, but you must enable “Search Markups”.  More detail about this I the section below “Odd Markups”.

    If you’re a Bluebeam Revu user with the CAD version or better, and you prefer to use its PDF print driver instead of Autodesk’s, there is an option to enable SHX fonts as outlined in this article.  Better, do use a True Type font as mentioned above, but there is one more setting you must enable.  A PC3 file must be created using the Bluebeam print driver and then this option set in the printer properties in AutoCAD.  It defaults to TrueType as graphics and your text will not be searchable if it’s not changed.

    Odd Markups in Revu


    Lastly, using Bluebeam Revu (not the free viewer) to open a PDF created by AutoCAD using its DWG to PDF printer, you may see “markups” already contained in the PDF.  There will be one markup for each text object in the file, indicated by the AutoCAD SHX Text author.  That adds up to a lot of markups if it’s a file with many text objects.  This can affect the performance of the file within Revu and they will definitely be in the way when creating normal markups.  These markups are only required if you need to search SHX text; they cannot be deleted with Revu tools.  They can be Flattened in Revu prior to adding your own usual markups, or they can simply be filtered out if you don’t wish to see them.  Don’t worry, the text in the PDF will not disappear.  I do not have access to Adobe Pro to see if this is an issue there as well.

    These “markups” are created when printing from AutoCAD using the DWG to PDF driver and it is an Autodesk feature.  In AutoCAD, there is a variable named PDFSHX.  Turned on, a value of 1, enables these “markups” in the PDF file which results in searchable text.  Turning it off will result in no “markups” and non-searchable SHX text.  Here is an Autodesk document outlining this feature.  SHX text may or may not be searchable depending on the PDF reader in use.  For example, the Bluebeam Revu free viewer cannot search SHX text, but the paid version can.

    This issue does not occur with PDFs created in AutoCAD using Bluebeam’s printer driver.

    Revit Tip of the Day #2

    Posted on by SolidCAD

    Revit Files are Clogging Up My Server Storage!

    Some people find that Revit files are using up too much storage on their server or other storage. Although a few companies have ‘limitless’ cloud storage this is not the norm. Plus, is anything really ‘limitless’ on this planet?

    You might also want to refer to this post for additional info…

    Backing Up and Recovering Revit Files

    Revit files are large…fact. But surprisingly they are relatively smaller comparable to an AutoCAD project folder. The reason for this is that Revit contains more information efficiently in one file as opposed to a folder of  many files i.e. AutoCAD, Sketchup, Excel etc. Still, your storage space may be used up WAY faster now than before Revit. Below are some possible culprits and recommendations. All of these recommendations are assuming that you have a server and local backup protocol.

    1. Saving Local Revit files to server. Each person’s ‘Local’ file will eat space from the storage on the server. It’s better to have each user save the files locally on their machine. This frees up server space and acts as a backup. Saving Local Revit files to the server is made worse by many of the issues below.

    2. Standalone Revit files are making too many backups. Turn the backup number down. Search for files with *.0*.rvt or a variation of that *.*.rvt. You may find many of these are redundant backups and can be removed.

    SolidCAD
    3. Local Revit files are being ‘timestamped’ on open. This is when a Local Revit file is not overwritten on open, it makes another copy and appends the date and time to the name. If everyone is doing this, it will gobble storage space like candy. You might want to do the Overwrite option.

    SolidCAD

    4. Revit Central files need to be Compacted occasionally. Do this in the Save Options. Also, keep the Maximum backups number down.

    SolidCAD
    5. Large and messy CAD Files Imported or Linked. Sometimes a very large AutoCAD file will be brought into the Revit file. This will then get propagated to all the Local Revit files. The key here is to use AutoCAD to Purge and Audit ALL imported or Linked CAD before bringing it into Revit. Avoid bring CAD into Revit if possible. Put all Imports onto a Workset.
    6. Large, messy, overly detailed or complicated Revit Families. Be suspicious of any Revit Families over 5MB. This is compounded if you need to use it many times. If the Family is well made it may be worth the pain for future information gains.
    7. Revit file needs to be Purged. This command is dangerous if you just Purge everything. You will need to go through the list and pick out what needs to be purged. If there is a nasty Revit Family inserted into the project you will need to completely remove or replace it before Purging.
    8. People are simply saving lots of copies of stuff. Sometimes people save every single Revit file they receive and every single copy they make. On the plus side, if it’s organised, you have a way to get old information that suddenly becomes very important. Or, it could just be unnecessary clutter. You should at least save a complete project folder at key project milestones.