JTB World Blog

AutoCAD 2013 Service Pack 2

noreply@blogger.com (Jimmy Bergmark) — Thu, 16 May 2013 23:27:00 PDT

AutoCAD 2013 SP2 is now available to download here. You don’t need to install earlier SP before installing SP2. If you have AutoCAD LT 2013 the download is here.

I and other beta testers have used SP2 for some time but if you don’t want to be the first to run into any unexpected problems you might want to wait a few weeks. (remember SP1 that quickly was replaced by SP1.1) Other than that there are a lot of fixes in SP2 making it worth installing.

This Service Pack can be applied to AutoCAD 2013 installed as a standalone application as well as AutoCAD 2013 installed from the following Autodesk Design Suites.

AutoCAD Design Suite 2013
Autodesk Building Design Suite 2013
Autodesk Factory Design Suite 2013
Autodesk Infrastructure Design Suite 2013
Autodesk Plant Design Suite 2013
Autodesk Product Design Suite 2013

The following operating systems are also now officially supported for 32-bit and 64-bit AutoCAD 2013 with Service Pack 2.

Windows 8 Standard edition
Windows 8 Enterprise edition
Windows 8 Professional edition

_VERNUM (product version) details:
AutoCAD 2013 SP2: G.204.0.0 (UNICODE)
AutoCAD 2013 SP1.1: G.114.0.0 (UNICODE)
AutoCAD 2013 SP1: G.112.0.0 (UNICODE)
AutoCAD 2013: G.55.0.0 (UNICODE)

As a result of detailed information from customers who used the Customer Error Reporting Utility, a number of problems were identified and fixed. Updates have been made in the following commands and features:

3D Navigation Tools

Occasional crash related to navigation tools.

Autodesk 360

Crash with long file path in the Autodesk 360 folder.
Occasional crash when opening AutoCAD with the InfoCenter off.

Block

Occasional crash when clicking a block table grip with only one row of values available.

Command Line

Crash when switching Input Method Editor (IME) after canceling a command when DYNMODE is set to 0 and the command window is docked.

DGN Support

Fatal error when scrolling the DGN linetype in the Properties Palette.

Dimensions

Occasional crash when grip-editing annotative dimensions.

External Reference (XREF)

An OLE Object in an xref was not correctly set before the xref was detached. This crash issue has been resolved by opening the xref before erasing it.

MLEADER

Occasional crash when using MATCHPROP with multileaders.

OLE

Occasional crash when closing the application with a drawing that contains an OLE object.

OPTIONS

Occasional crash when changing or switching profiles in Options.

Plot

Occasional crash when plotting with a wipeout in the drawing.

PDF Underlay

Crash when specifying other PDF file from Saved Path field in External Reference palette.

General

Occasional crash when opening AutoCAD drawings in Windows 8.
Occasional crash due to using Intersection object snaps on lightweight polylines.
Some corrupt drawings crash when opened or saved and are not fixed automatically.
Exiting the Text Editor while previewing text style causes a crash.

The following defects have been fixed:

3D Navigation Tools

Zoom speed varies with 3Dconnexion device in perspective view.

3D Modeling

Issue with the MASSPROP command with sliced 3D solids.

Block

Issue with the display of the Block Property Table cascading menu.

CUI (Customize User Interface)

Missing checkboxes in the Customize User Interface (CUI) dialog box when NET 4.5 is installed.

DGN Support

Issues with exporting files to DGN, even after exploding contents of file.
Import of a DGN arc as an Ellipse.

Dimensions

Radial dimensions for regions can become associated to wrong arc.
Dimension text background fill cannot be reset in Properties.
Jogged radial dimensions in paper space may reflect the wrong value of an extruded cylinder in model space.

Image

MONOCHROME BITMAP attached in DWG file is not shown correctly.

INQUIRY

MASSPROP reports an incorrect mass and centroid for a solid swept along a planar spline.

MLeader

Multileader scale is not always updated when multileader style is changed.

Model Documentation - Detail View

Changing the Hatch property of a Detail view derived from a Section view sometimes causes AutoCAD to hang.

Modify

Ellipse is sometimes distorted during stretching.

MTEXT

The font doesn't match the setting in -STYLE command in Windows 8.

Plot

There is a black stripe when plotting some drawings with a clipped image.
A printer cannot be added after adding multiple driver folders in the Options dialog box.
Drawings cannot be plotted with the oversized paper size and transparency on.

Selection

Grips for attributes of blocks are not automatically made hot upon sub-selection.
Selection preview is reset to off when IntelliMouse^® zooming is ended.

Visual Lisp

DCL files whose code page matches the system but not the product are not recognized and loaded properly.

General

Saving some DWG files that contain 3D solids is slow.
A UCS other than the World UCS results in an incorrect location for the wipeout frame.
Prompts to save are not displayed when closing a hyperlink drawing that has been changed.
Performance is slow when saving the drawing created with Release 2010 and earlier.

Fixes in the previous AutoCAD 2013 Service Pack 1.1 are included.

See also more details in the posts AutoCAD 2013 SP1 & AutoCAD LT 2013 SP1 and AutoLISP and VBA Security Controls in AutoCAD 2013 SP1.

JTB FlexReport 7.4 released

noreply@blogger.com (Jimmy Bergmark) — Tue, 14 May 2013 02:11:00 PDT

Software usage and monitoring product JTB FlexReport has been updated to version 7.4.

Downloads here. See also the Upgrade tips. Customers with maintenance have access to this release at no extra cost.

Main news are:

Added feature description download button to JTB FlexReport Config>Features. Descriptions are taken from this FlexNet features code page that has been updated with Autodesk’s 2014 products.
Edit functionality for auto report settings.

But there are much more, see the revision history for more details on this release.

Contact us to get a time limited license file for free. You can try it in your environment with your real data for a few weeks with full functionality.
Full support is provided during trial period.

About JTB FlexReport: JTB FlexReport from JTB World is a report and monitoring tool for applications using the FlexNet / FLEXlm (flexlm license manager), IBM LUM (IBM License Use Management), SPLM (Intergraph SmartPlant License Manager), SLM/Sentinel LM/Sentinel RMS, LM-X, Solidworks SNL License Manager, T-Systems license manager product LICMAN, Vertex Systems, MathLM (Mathematica), Primavera from Oracle or 12D software licensing. With Process Monitor any Windows application like Acrobat, Visio, Bentley MicroStation, single licensed AutoCAD or AutoCAD LT can be reported usage of.

See also: Autodesk Network License Manager downloads and Software Vendor Audits are Increasing as well as the guide to the Network License Manager for FlexNet/FLEXlm in general and Autodesk licensing in particular as well as our freeware JTB FlexReport LT.

AutoCAD Automation Tools 4.1

noreply@blogger.com (Jimmy Bergmark) — Sun, 12 May 2013 23:44:00 PDT

AutoCAD Automation Tools 4.1 is now publicly released and makes it possible to update text found at a location by defining a rectangle with two coordinates. This is for example useful if a title block contains mtext or text objects not being part of an AutoCAD block object. The installers have also been updated to support AutoCAD 2014.

With AutoCAD Automation Tools multiple drawings can be automatically created from a typical drawing or updated based on a control file that can be created with an Excel template. Make the changes in Excel and let the program do all the work for you. This is a real time saver if you need to make adjustments on hundreds or thousands of drawings.

Existing customers can contact us for a free upgrade.

Live Update 1 for Autodesk 360 desktop companion

noreply@blogger.com (Jimmy Bergmark) — Thu, 02 May 2013 08:41:00 PDT

If you have any Autodesk 2014 product installed like for example AutoCAD 2014 this might be for you.

This update applies to Autodesk 360 desktop companion if your version is 4.0.27.1 to 4.0.32.100.

To see your version of your 360 desktop companion, right-click on the system tray icon and select preferences (the version is listed in this dialog).

Fixes in this live update include but are not limited to:

Better Inventor file and folder structure support
Customer Error Reporting Support
Performance fixes
Stability Improvements

Download found here.

What is Autodesk Sync? Many Autodesk 2013 products include a desktop software component called Autodesk Sync. It enables you to open documents from and save documents to Autodesk 360 online storage from within the product.
If you don’t want Autodesk 360 installed you can “hack” an ini file before installation of the Autodesk product where it is included or you can uninstall it after as there is no option to deselect it during installation of for example AutoCAD 2014. See details about 2014 deployments.

Autodesk Infographics

noreply@blogger.com (Jimmy Bergmark) — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 18:19:00 PDT

If you are a fan of Infographics there are a few from Autodesk. Some a bit old and some newer but still interesting to review. Click on the images for a larger version.

The first one is about Autodesk Brand & Business Transformation. Not long ago Autodesk’s new logo was launched.

Via Autodesk Labs.

And about 30 years of AutoCAD from 1982 to 2012.

30 Years of AutoCAD

The next about Building Information Modeling for Infrastructure.

The Business Case for BIM for Infrastructure

And Improving Healthcare Buildings with BIM.

Improving Healthcare Buildings with BIM

And finally about Lost Opportunities Without 3D Product Design Software.

Lost Opportunities Without 3D Product Design Software

List of all the released Autodesk 2014 products

noreply@blogger.com (Jimmy Bergmark) — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 00:49:00 PDT

Is my Autodesk 2014 product available?

You find the list of all the released Autodesk 2014 products here as well as the product keys.

Here are the first in the list:

HTools Menu for AutoCAD

noreply@blogger.com (Jimmy Bergmark) — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 06:16:00 PDT

HTools Menu for AutoCAD is a plugin for AutoCAD that adds several useful functions.

Drawing...

Save Session.
Load Last Session.
Purge Folder including Sub Folders.
Convert Folder Dwg to Dxf.
Convert Folder Dxf to Dwg.
Convert Folder Dgn to Dwg (only for 2012,2013).
Save & Close All Without confirmation.

Text...

Rotate Texts ByLayer By Angle.
Replace in Tolerence.
Strech Text By 2 Point.
Change Letter Case.
Count in Texts and wiche Layers.
Joint 2 Text in one.
Put Text Index.

Miscellaneous...

Unit LTS for Type.
Hatch PolyLines in Layer.
Dimension To PolyLine on Layer.
Scale XY-Polyline-Line-Dimension.
Correct Coordinate z=0 For 2D.
Calculate Layer Total Length.
Calculate Layer Total Area.

Object...

Replace Text in Layers Name.
Move Object-Color to Layer.
Move Object-Layer to Color.
Delete Object by Type-Layer-Color.
Delete Object by Type-Color.
Delete ALL OLE Object.

Blocks/Layouts

Explode All Blocks By Selection.
Delete All Blocks By Selection.
Zoom Extents All Layouts.
Delete Folder All Layouts.
Bind All External Reference.

More features will be added upon request.

Visit HTools Menu for AutoCAD for more info.

Autodesk DWG TrueView 2014 tips and tricks

noreply@blogger.com (Jimmy Bergmark) — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 16:03:00 PDT

Autodesk DWG TrueView 2014 is now available in English, Japanese and French. This software is built on the same viewing engine as AutoCAD 2014 but with much less functionality but enough to view, measure on and print drawings or DXF files with. DWG TrueConvert software is also included making it possible to batch convert drawings between different versions.

You find the download here.

Tip

If you don’t want to install and use the Akamai NetSession Interface download manager click on “click here” at the bottom of this dialog box and then in the next dialog box click OK and you’ll be able to download through the browser instead.

System Requirements
32 Bit
Service Pack 3 (SP3) or later of the following:
• Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional
• Microsoft® Windows® XP Home
The following operating systems:
• Microsoft Windows 7 Enterprise
• Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate
• Microsoft Windows 7 Professional
• Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium
• Microsoft Windows 8
• Microsoft Windows 8 Pro
• Microsoft Windows 8 Enterprise

64 Bit
Service Pack 2 (SP2) or later of the following:
• Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional
The following operating systems:
• Microsoft Windows 7 Enterprise
• Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate
• Microsoft Windows 7 Professional
• Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium
• Microsoft Windows 8
• Microsoft Windows 8 Pro
• Microsoft Windows 8 Enterprise

Windows Vista is not supported.

DWG TrueView 2014 requires Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 and .NET Framework 4.0 Update 1.

If necessary, install the following .NET Framework versions on your system.

* The .NET 3.5 installer includes .NET 2.0.

Setup

When I downloaded I got the file SetupDWGTrueView2014_ENU_64bit.sfx.exe (334 MB, and SetupDWGTrueView2014_ENU_32bit.sfx.exe is 252 MB) that runs the new Autodesk Self Extract and when ready the actual setup started.

Cleanup after installation

After you have installed you may delete both SetupDWGTrueView2014_ENU_32bit.sfx.exe or SetupDWGTrueView2014_ENU_64bit.sfx.exe and SetupDWGTrueView2014_ENU_64bit or SetupDWGTrueView2014_ENU_32bit folder that the files were extracted to.

DWG TrueView 2014

And here is DWG TrueView 2014 with the budweiser2013.dwg opened.

Notice the new File Tabs

and Layer sorting that are among the news that came in AutoCAD 2014.

Deploying DWG TrueView

If you want to deploy DWG TrueView silently here is how, just make sure the .NET Framework prerequisites are already installed first and you will be able to script this or deploy using SMS or SCCM.

Here is how to install it the easiest way:
Setup.exe /q /w

alternatively specifying the ini file:
Setup.exe /q /w /i setup.ini

Optionally you can look at the setup.ini to just install what you want to install alternatively edit the ini and remove what you don’t want to include or for example change the installation path by editing INSTALL_PATH=%ProgramFiles%\Autodesk or remove the desktop shortcut by editing CREATE_DESKTOP_SHORTCUT=YES.

To uninstall DWG TrueView locate the GUID for the software. Look up this key in regedit.exe and then search for TrueView:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall

Below is what I found for DWG TrueView 2014 64-bit:
{5783F2D7-D028-0409-0100-0060B0CE6BBA}

So either of these works fine, Passive display option. The installer displays a progress bar to the user that indicates that an installation is in progress but no prompts or error messages are displayed to the user.
MsiExec.exe /x {5783F2D7-D028-0409-0100-0060B0CE6BBA} /passive

Quiet display option. The installer runs an installation without displaying a user interface. No prompts, messages, or dialog boxes are displayed to the user.
Never restart option. The installer never restarts the computer after the installation.
MsiExec.exe /x {5783F2D7-D028-0409-0100-0060B0CE6BBA} /quiet /norestart

DWG TrueView 2014 does not support 3:rd party apps but both Regapp ID Cleanup Utility for AutoCAD 2013/2014 and Scale List Cleanup Utility for AutoCAD 2013/2014 from Autodesk works with DWG TrueView 2014.

Autodesk DWG TrueView 2014 Readme

This readme contains the latest information for Autodesk^® DWG TrueView 2014. For reference, save or print this document.
It is strongly recommended that you read this entire document before you install this product.

Install

Recommended: Install all Windows Updates before installing the product.

Product Help

The product Help, the Driver and Peripheral Guide, and the Readme are available in the Install directory Help folder after the installation. You can launch the Installation Help, System Requirements, or the Readme during installation or after the product is installed.

Point Cloud

You cannot view certain point cloud files in DWG TrueView if your graphics card does not support OpenGL® 3.3 or later. In addition, you cannot view these files in a Windows remote desktop session.

Platform

Installing the 32-bit version of Autodesk^® DWG TrueView 2014 on a 64-bit platform is not supported.

DWG Convert EXE's and ZIP's Fail

When you use DWG Convert to create an EXE or ZIP file, the file is not created. This usually occurs if you are using multiple languages. The names of the files generated by AutoCAD-based products use Unicode standards and can be shared internationally. However, WinZip and EXE use a technology that is currently not Unicode-compliant.
ZIP files with non-ASCII characters cannot be exchanged and unzipped between systems with different code pages. That should not prevent using accented or Asian characters that match or are included on the current code page (German characters on English or German operating systems should work. Japanese characters on Japanese operating systems - or where the code page is set to Japanese - should also work).

Opening Damaged Drawings

When opening a damaged drawing, a dialog box appears asking the user to fix the file with the Recover command. This command is not implemented in TrueView. Instead, use the Check and fix errors option as follows.
1. Click the DWG Convert button.
2. Select the damaged file.
3. Click Conversion Setups.
4. Select "Standard" and click New.
5. Name the new setup (for example, Recover).
6. In the Modify Conversion Setup dialog box, set the Conversion packaged type to Folder (set of files).
  Note: Do not select in-place (overwrite files), as this may cause conversion errors.
7. In the Action area, select Check and fix errors, and click OK.

Autodesk Design Review 2014 is still not available.

SSMPropEditor 5.0 as AutoCAD app

noreply@blogger.com (Jimmy Bergmark) — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 00:36:00 PDT

SSMPropEditor 5.0 is now available as an AutoCAD app. SSMPropEditor is the Sheet Set Manager Properties Editor for AutoCAD based products.

SSMPropEditor 5.0 can now be downloaded and installed as an app from the Autodesk Exchange Apps site. Purchase is also available through this site as well as from JTB World’s SSMPropEditor site.

Right now I noticed that it was featured on AutoCAD 2014’s welcome page.

In AutoCAD 2014 there is also a Featured Apps tab where I found it showing up.

When installed, SSMPropEditor will show up on the Plug-ins tab.

For details about the release of SSMPropEditor 5.0 see this post here.

Visit the SSMPropEditor page for all about the product and give the free trial a try.

AutoCAD 2014 learning resources

noreply@blogger.com (Jimmy Bergmark) — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 23:16:00 PDT

Have you or will you start using AutoCAD 2014? If so you may find these learning resources useful.

AutoCAD 2014 New Features & Enhancements Revealed is an interactive and free eBook with video, text, and images throughout 33 lessons. Tip via Autodesk’s Shaan Hurley’s blog. Take a look at and read the eBook here, it’s free.

Ralph Grabowski has put together “What's Inside? AutoCAD 2014”. Order your copy for $8 from http://www.upfrontezine.com/wia14

Learning AutoCAD Electrical 2014 is a Training Video consisting of 9 hours of learning by Shaun Bryant.

UnitCAD for AutoCAD

noreply@blogger.com (Jimmy Bergmark) — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 02:08:00 PDT

UnitCAD for AutoCAD is a unique 2D CAD automation solution. UnitCAD automates the creation of drawings by defining reusable unit components stored inside a database and controlled through parameters.

You define components for each CAD unit and the driving parameters which control its shape.

Read more and get a trial at UnitCAD for AutoCAD.

AutoCAD’s undocumented language and product command line switches

noreply@blogger.com (Jimmy Bergmark) — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 01:36:00 PDT

AutoCAD 2014 is available in 10 languages: English, Brazilian Portuguese, French, German, Italian, Korean, Simplified Chinese, Spanish and Traditional Chinese. Japanese is also available but not as part of the AutoCAD 2014 Language Pack. Compared to AutoCAD 2013 this means that Russian, Czech, Hungarian and Polish are missing so far but according to Vladimir Michl at CAD Studio there will be CZ, HU, PL, RU localization of most 2014 products, as usual.

AutoCAD 2013 introduced a new New Language Packs functionality, rather than installing a full version of AutoCAD for each language, you install one full product and then add subsequent languages via Language Packs, resulting in smaller download and install time and space for the secondary languages. The same installation feature works also for AutoCAD Architecture, MEP, Mechanical, AutoCAD Structural Detailing where all are installed in for example C:\Program Files\Autodesk\AutoCAD 2013 or C:\Program Files\Autodesk\AutoCAD 2014 with for example AutoCAD Architecture in the subfolder ACA. Registry wise you can find the installed products and their locale in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Autodesk\AutoCAD\R19.0\InstalledProducts

Here is what it look like for the 2014 products where I have AutoCAD 2014 and AutoCAD Architecture 2014 both installed.
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Autodesk\AutoCAD\R19.1\InstalledProducts]
@="C:\\Program Files\\Autodesk\\AutoCAD 2014\\"
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Autodesk\AutoCAD\R19.1\InstalledProducts\ACA]
"en-US"="en-US"
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Autodesk\AutoCAD\R19.1\InstalledProducts\ACAD]
"en-US"="en-US"

With the functionality introduced in the 2013 versions two new command line switches /product and /language were added for acad.exe even though undocumented.

To start AutoCAD Architecture this command line is used:
"C:\Program Files\Autodesk\AutoCAD 2013\acad.exe" /ld "C:\Program Files\Autodesk\AutoCAD 2013\AecBase.dbx" /p "" /product "ACA" /language "en-US"

The text for the switch is "ACAD" (AutoCAD), "ACA" (AutoCAD Architecture), "MEP", "ACADM" (Mechanical) or "ASD" (AutoCAD Structural Detailing). Other vertical products like AutoCAD Map 3D installs into their own folder.

Install the language package that you like to use.

On the shortcut to start the other language note that the /language switch has been changed but the installation folder is still the same.

"C:\Program Files\Autodesk\AutoCAD 2014\acad.exe" /product ACAD /language "de-DE"

Autodesk Content Service Language Pack Hotfix note! “After installing a new language of AutoCAD 2014, Autodesk Content Explorer may fail to work. Download the multi-lingual Autodesk Content Service installer below to address this issue”

But here is a problem.

Autodesk Content Service version 3.0.84.0 is what comes with AutoCAD 2013.

After installing the “hotfix” the version is 3.0.84.1

But the version of Autodesk Content Service that comes with AutoCAD 2014 is 3.1.3.0

So on a system with only AutoCAD 2014 installed the hotfix will not be possible to install.

Hat tip to AutoCAD DevBlog

Scale List Cleanup Utility for AutoCAD 2013/2014

noreply@blogger.com (Jimmy Bergmark) — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 03:18:00 PDT

Scale List Cleanup Utility has been updated so it now works for both AutoCAD 2013 and AutoCAD 2014.

When a file contains excess scales, performance may be negatively affected. Eventually, the file may become unusable. To use the file, some scales must be removed. This utility repairs affected files by removing excess scales.

Nested external references (xrefs) may produce excess scales. To correct this problem, install AutoCAD 2008 Service Pack 1 or corresponding service packs for AutoCAD-based products. The Scale List Cleanup Utility repairs files affected before the necessary service pack was installed.

You can also clean affected files unattended from the Command prompt.

This utility works even without full AutoCAD. DWG TrueView 2013 can also be used.

Notes:

1. The Scale List Cleanup Utility repairs files affected before AutoCAD 2008 Service Pack 1 or corresponding service packs for AutoCAD-based products.

2. Drawings created by AutoCAD based vertical applications may have one scale that will not be removed by this utility.

The free utility is available here among Autodesk’s Updates & Service Packs.

Regapp ID Cleanup Utility for AutoCAD 2013/2014

noreply@blogger.com (Jimmy Bergmark) — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 03:17:00 PDT

Regapp ID Cleanup Utility has been updated so it now works for both AutoCAD 2013 and AutoCAD 2014.

When you delete an object with Extended Entity Data (xdata), a regapp ID remains in the application ID (APPID) symbol table. When a file contains excess unreferenced regapp IDs, performance and file size may be negatively affected.

This utility removes excess unreferenced registered application (regapp) IDs from multiple files simultaneously.

You can also clean affected files unattended from the Command prompt.

This utility works even without full AutoCAD. DWG TrueView 2013 can also be used.

The free utility is available here among Autodesk’s Updates & Service Packs.

ObjectARX 2014 and AutoCAD 2014 .NET Training

noreply@blogger.com (Jimmy Bergmark) — Tue, 02 Apr 2013 02:58:00 PDT

Autodesk has posted the ObjectARX 2014 and AutoCAD 2014 .NET Training materials to AutoCAD developer page under Learning section.
Visit http://www.autodesk.com/developautocad for downloading the Training materials.

The following new or changed features are now exposed through the API:

Connected Desktop - Design Feed
Geolocation
Point Cloud

There are also quite a few other useful news for developers. For example for .NET these are some examples: MLeader.Scale Property that gets or sets the scale for the MLeader or RegionAreaProperties with properties to get area, centroid point, extents, moments of inertia, perimeter, principal moments, product of inertia and radii of gyration.

How to fix error: ActiveX Server returned an error: Error loading type library/DLL

noreply@blogger.com (Jimmy Bergmark) — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 15:25:00 PDT

I just got this error running some AutoLISP code in AutoCAD 2014 that I know there is no error in.

; error: ActiveX Server returned an error: Error loading type library/DLL

I tried to repair the AutoCAD installation but it did not help so I tried a reinstall instead and that solved the issue.

I think this problem happened because I also have AutoCAD 2013 installed and applied the service pack to it after AutoCAD 2014 was installed.

Autodesk 2014 products and Windows 8 Support

noreply@blogger.com (Jimmy Bergmark) — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 10:28:00 PDT

According to this update KB we can see what Autodesk says about if Autodesk products are supported on Microsoft Windows 8.

Please check the system requirements for your product to verify compatibility and specific details (for example, some products are supported on the 64-bit version of Windows 8 but not the 32-bit version).

Unless noted otherwise in the system requirements for an individual product, Autodesk 2014 products are supported on the Windows 8 operating system.

For example I found that for example Revit Architecture for Citrix 2014, Autodesk Navisworks 2014, Simulation Moldflow 2014, Autodesk Maya 2014, Autodesk Inventor 2014, Autodesk Alias 2014, 3ds Max 2014, AutoCAD Civil 3D 2014, AutoCAD Plant 3D only mentions Windows 8 64-bit. But who would really use Windows 8 32-bit anyway?

Microsoft Windows Vista: Here’s what Autodesk says: Beginning January 1, 2012, Autodesk will have formally ceased support of the Microsoft Windows Vista Operating System for all new (and upgraded versions) of its products and services released in 2012.

Microsoft Windows XP: Why are you ending support for Windows Vista when XP, an older operating system, is still supported? Through Autodesk’s research and customer engagement, there is still a large population of customers utilizing this Operating System in their work environments. We will work with our customers in the coming 12-24 months to understand their transition plans and make a support decision about Windows XP when it is appropriate to do so.

AutoCAD 2014 supports VBA 64-bit

noreply@blogger.com (Jimmy Bergmark) — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 11:10:00 PDT

Yes, VBA is still available for AutoCAD in the latest 2014 even though it was not supposed to. 64bit VBA (Visual Basic for Applications) is finally also available in 64-bit for AutoCAD. The performance problems, with previous releases of 64bit AutoCAD when using VBA, should be now be gone.

Note that 32bit VB6 controls will fail on 64bit.

The version of VBA that is available for AutoCAD 2014 is VBA 7.1.

Microsoft has introduced two new conditional compilation constants: “VBA7” and “Win64”.

#If VBA7 Then 'Use new VBA7 functionality #Else 'Use old VBA functionality #End If

The Win64 constant enables a separation between the 32 and 64 bit version of VBA and can be used to ensure that code is only executed when VBA runs in the correct mode.

For AutoCAD 2014 64-bit VBA is not supported on Windows XP Professional.

Find the VBA for AutoCAD downloads here at http://www.autodesk.com/vba-download.

For reference these resources can be helpful: Compatibility Between the 32-bit and 64-bit Versions of Office 2010 and 64-Bit Visual Basic for Applications Overview.

Previous post Learn how to migrate from VBA to .NET for AutoCAD, VBA 7 for AutoCAD 2012? and VBA Download for AutoCAD 2013.

Sometimes it can still make sense to migrate from VBA to .NET for AutoCAD and JTB World provides this service. Welcome to contact us with your needs.

AutoCAD 2014

noreply@blogger.com (Jimmy Bergmark) — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 09:56:00 PDT

AutoCAD 2014 will soon be available and you might wonder what’s new.

Command Line Enhancements

Yes, the command line does not go away soon, but rather has been improved quite a lot with AutoCorrect, AutoComplete, Adaptive Suggestions, Synonym Suggestions, Internet Search and more. Unfortunately not everything is yet included if you prefer to use the dynamic input only.

Binary Security

Remember AutoLISP and VBA Security Controls in AutoCAD 2013 SP1? Further work has been done to improve on the security to avoid DWG viruses, AutoLISP worms and the like.

File Tabs

Finally file tabs are included in the core.

Design Feed

Design Feed, accessible from the Autodesk 360 ribbon tab, displays a palette in which you can enter text messages and attach images to be shared online with colleagues, clients, and consultants through Autodesk 360. Posts appear with related drawings on the desktop, on the web, and across mobile devices.

Geolocation and Live maps

Support for Geographic locations has been significantly enhanced. It includes the same Coordinate System Library as AutoCAD Map 3D and new Autodesk Live Maps.

Reality Capture

Reality Capture enables you to take a 3D laser scan of an object, topography, a building or even an entire town and attach it to an AutoCAD drawing as point cloud data. You can then use it as a real‐world reference for your design work. This point cloud data is stored as thousands, even millions, of points in 3D space.

Point Cloud

Point cloud functionality is enhanced in AutoCAD 2014 to support inserting of Point Cloud Project (RCP) and Scan (RCS) files produced by Autodesk ReCap.

Finally there are also several minor updates like Arc Creation, FILLET and CHAMFER on Polylines and Xref Manager.

AutoCAD for Mac 2014 is not yet available.

Most of JTB World’s software just works with AutoCAD 2014 with no upgrade needed.

Autodesk Network License Manager downloads for 2014 product line

noreply@blogger.com (Jimmy Bergmark) — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 09:10:00 PDT

Autodesk IPv4 Network License Manager for Windows is found here and Autodesk IPv6 Network License Manager for Windows is found here. Supported operating systems are:
Microsoft Windows Server 2008 and 2008 R2 32-bit and 64-bit
Microsoft Windows Server 2012 32-bit and 64-bit
Windows 7 32-bit and 64-bit
Windows 8 32-bit and 64-bit

FlexNet version and version of all .exe files is 11.11.

Autodesk IPv6 Network License Manager for Windows supports mixed IPv4/IPv6 and IPv6-only environments. It does not support network license checkouts in an IPv4-only environment.

If you have multiple servers you can install on one of them and then grab lmtools.exe, lmutil.exe, lmgrd.exe, and adskflex.exe and copy to the others, just stop and start the FlexNet services in between.

Upgrade your license servers if you plan to support Autodesk’s 2014 products.

JTB FlexReport fully supports Autodesk Network License Manager and usage monitoring of all products licensed with FlexNet including version FlexNet 11.11.

For the FlexNet (FLEXlm) executables there is a newer version available FlexNet 11.11.1.

Autodesk 2014 portfolio release

noreply@blogger.com (Jimmy Bergmark) — Mon, 25 Mar 2013 23:47:00 PDT

Autodesk has announced their 2014 portfolio of tools for design, engineering and entertainment and they invite you to join for a special webcast on March 26, 2013 at 8am Pacific, 11am Eastern, 3pm UK and 4pm Europe to learn more. Via In the Fold.

Stay tuned for more news about AutoCAD 2014, AutoCAD Architecture 2014, Autodesk Building Design Suite 2014 (includes Revit) and much more…

Autodesk Official Show Reel 2013

BTW. Check out the new look on Autodesk’s website.

Autodesk focuses a lot on suites so some products are only available as part of a suite like for example Revit.

AutoCAD Design Suite Standard 2014

Building Design Suite 2014

Entertainment Creation Suite 2014

Factory Design Suite 2014

Infrastructure Design Suite 2014

Plant Design Suite 2014

Product Design Suite 2014

Press release below:

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The new Autodesk, Inc. (NASDAQ: ADSK) Design and Creation Suites offer unprecedented access to the Autodesk 2014 software portfolio spanning the desktop and cloud and allow building, product, plant, and factory design; engineering, construction and infrastructure; and entertainment creation professionals to innovate more. For the first time, the 2014 Design and Creation Suites include new reality capture software and services that more easily incorporate both laser scans and digital photographs of the physical world into the 3D design and engineering process.

“Autodesk’s commitment to making our 3D design, engineering and entertainment software portfolio accessible to customers through suites workflows that connect to value added services in the cloud is unwavering.”

The flexible, economical software access provided by Autodesk Suites means designers and engineers have a broader palette of tools to choose from — they can choose the best tool for the job at hand and better respond to changing business requirements. Suites customers on Autodesk Subscription will also have access to select Autodesk 360 cloud services that extend designers and engineers’ workflows to explore more design alternatives, collaborate more effectively and experience greater mobility. Subscription customers now can purchase additional cloud capacity as well.

“With our 2014 portfolio, organizations large and small across every industry can simply innovate more,” said Andrew Anagnost, senior vice president of Industry Strategy and Marketing at Autodesk. “Autodesk’s commitment to making our 3D design, engineering and entertainment software portfolio accessible to customers through suites workflows that connect to value added services in the cloud is unwavering.”

The 2014 family of Autodesk Design and Creation Suites includes:

Comprehensive Industry Workflows Include Reality Capture

A key addition to the 2014 portfolio of suites is Autodesk ReCap, a family of new reality capture software and cloud services that simplify the process of creating intelligent 3D data of physical objects and environments using laser scans and photos, allowing customers to bring the actual job site or physical objects into their design and engineering process.

Rather than beginning with a blank screen, designers and engineers can add, modify, validate and document their design process in context. For example, a civil engineer can bypass an existing bridge or expand the road underneath digitally and test feasibility with accurate survey data. At construction phase, builders can run digital clash detection to truly understand if existing utilities will be in the way. Urban planners can get answers to specific design questions about large areas, such as how much building roof surface is covered by shadow or vegetation.

The 2014 suites’ industry specific workflows address specific user needs and strengthen compatibility between products. For example, suites containing Autodesk Revit products and Autodesk AutoCAD software enjoy tighter interoperability so when it is time to import forms from AutoCAD into Revit products, the forms retain much greater integrity, or when it is time to output drawings in AutoCAD, users can generate 2D documentation within Revit products. Suites containing Autodesk Revit and Autodesk Inventor software will benefit from tighter interoperability that allows customers, such as building product manufacturers, to simplify and export an Inventor model into a Revit file format for the construction environment without exposing any sensitive intellectual property.

Better Together: Desktop and Cloud

Autodesk 360 extends the suites workflow advantage by connecting the desktop to secure and virtually infinite computing power in the cloud, helping subscribers rapidly design, visualize, simulate, and share their ideas anywhere, anytime.

Illustrating the power of a combining the cloud and desktop, Autodesk Infrastructure Design Suite 2014 and Autodesk Building Design Suite 2014 introduce Autodesk InfraWorks software and Autodesk InfraWorks 360 cloud services. These new tools help accelerate the adoption of Building Information Modeling (BIM) and cloud-based workflows for the planning, design, construction and management of civil infrastructure projects. Helping improve the civil infrastructure design process by engineering in 3D from the start, the software and services allow collaboration with a broad set of stakeholders on mobile and desktop platforms, and enables communication in new and visually compelling ways. Autodesk InfraWorks allows civil engineers and planners to design within the context of the real-world environment, helping to deliver projects, both large and small, by more efficiently managing even large-scale infrastructure models.

Economical Access

Finally, each suite offers an economical way for customers to access their primary design software—plus the complementary software and cloud services needed to more effectively complete design, engineering, or entertainment creation tasks. The 2014 Suites, which come in Standard, Premium or Ultimate editions, offer greater value than ever before:

Standard editions of all suites containing AutoCAD have added AutoCAD Raster Design software.
Autodesk Building Design Suite subscribers gain access to Autodesk Green Building Studio and energy analysis cloud services in the standard edition, as well as InfraWorks 2014 and the Optimization for Inventor cloud service in the Ultimate edition.
Autodesk Entertainment Creation Suite customers will benefit from new workflows like the ability to easily generate moving or idle crowds with populate, improved viewport display and shading, and the ability to create production-quality meshes with the new retopologizing options.
Autodesk Factory Design Suite includes more than 300 new factory assets.
Autodesk Infrastructure Design Suite Premium now includes Autodesk InfraWorks 2014, Autodesk Roads and Highways Module for InfraWorks, Autodesk AutoCAD Utility Design software and for the first time, a single, comprehensive version of Autodesk Revit products that combines tools for architectural design, mechanical, electrical, and plumbing (MEP) engineering and structural engineering.
Autodesk Plant Design Suite Ultimate adds Autodesk Inventor with Routed Systems, and the Plant Design Suite Premium edition now includes Autodesk 3ds Max Design software.
Autodesk Product Design Suite Premium now includes Autodesk Inventor Professional, and Autodesk Navisworks Manage has been added to the Product Design Suite Ultimate edition for clash detection. Both Product Design Suite Ultimate and Premium customers on Autodesk Subscription now have access to the Optimization for Inventor cloud service.

Availability

Availability varies by country. Suites customers on Subscription have access to select Autodesk 360 capabilities, and subscribers can purchase 100 additional cloud credits for only $100. See details and purchasing options at http://www.autodesk.com/purchaseoptions.

About Autodesk

Autodesk helps people imagine, design and create a better world. Everyone—from design professionals, engineers and architects to digital artists, students and hobbyists—uses Autodesk software to unlock their creativity and solve important challenges. For more information visit autodesk.com or follow @autodesk.

How to pin any document to the Start screen in Windows 8

noreply@blogger.com (Jimmy Bergmark) — Thu, 21 Mar 2013 22:48:00 PDT

Windows 8 comes with a completely new Start screen that replaces the start menu. After having tried some freeware that try to mimic the old start menu (that I were not that satisfied with) I have instead started to use the Start Screen and even though I don’t have a touch screen I find it quick and easy to use.

In Windows 8 you can by default pin only some things like programs (.exe) to the Start screen using Windows Explorer. But what if you want to pin a document? It can be done with a simple registry hack. Here is how I right-click on an Excel document and have the Pin to Start option.

When ready you will find the document or file as a tile on the Start screen.

Copy the text in the box below into Notepad and save it as pintostart.reg. Then double click on pintostart.reg and accept the dialog boxes.

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shell\pintostartscreen]
"MUIVerb"="@shell32.dll,-51201"
"NeverDefault"=""
"Description"="@shell32.dll,-51202"
"MultiSelectModel"="Single"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shell\pintostartscreen\command]
"DelegateExecute"="{470C0EBD-5D73-4d58-9CED-E91E22E23282}"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\AllFilesystemObjects\shell\pintostartscreen]
"MUIVerb"="@shell32.dll,-51201"
"NeverDefault"=""
"Description"="@shell32.dll,-51202"
"MultiSelectModel"="Single"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\AllFilesystemObjects\shell\pintostartscreen\command]
"DelegateExecute"="{470C0EBD-5D73-4d58-9CED-E91E22E23282}"

Another alternative is Pin to 8 that is a nice freeware with more features:

With our Pin to 8 you will able:

to pin ANY file regardless of its type;
to pin ANY folder;
to pin drive;
to pin Control Panel items, all them including some hidden like God Mode/All Tasks, Network Connections;
to pin Libraries;
to pin Shell Objects like Run command, "Show Desktop", Window Switcher;
to pin any folders or files with drag and drop. Drop them on application window.

There is also a manual way by adding a shortcut in this folder:

%appdata%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs

When expanded it may look like this except jtb would be your login name: C:\Users\jtb\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs

Only thing is that you need to also pin it. Say you create a shortcut named “Windows 8 manual test” and put it in the folder above. Now press the Windows button and start writing the name of the shortcut and it should show up in the search result.

Right-click on the shortcut and select Pin to Start at the bottom of the screen and the tile should show up on the Start Screen.

App to measure and draw floor plans

noreply@blogger.com (Jimmy Bergmark) — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 01:57:00 PDT

I have not tested this app but it looks like it’s pretty easy to use and could be useful if you want drawings of existing buildings.

MagicPlan measures the size of the room, draws the floor plan and creates a
DXF file, PDF document, JPEG images and a web site with an interactive floor plan. MagicPlan requires gyroscopes available only with iPhone 4, 4S, the new iPod Touch, the iPad 2 and the new iPad.

If you have tried it please comment below what you think about it.

SSMPropEditor 5.0 released

noreply@blogger.com (Jimmy Bergmark) — Sat, 09 Mar 2013 22:38:00 PST

SSMPropEditor is the Sheet Set Manager Properties Editor for AutoCAD based products and SSMPropEditor 5.0 is now available and comes with the addition of localization for Italian, direct export and import to and from Excel and more.

The upgrade is free for customers that purchased an earlier version.
Get the downloads here.

SSMPropEditor as AutoCAD app will be available later this month.

FlexNet 11.11.1 downloads available

noreply@blogger.com (Jimmy Bergmark) — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 16:38:00 PST

The updated FlexNet (FLEXlm) version (based on Flexera Software’s FlexNet Publisher Licensing Toolkit 11.11.1) was released in February 2013 and is now available as a public download as well as the updated License Administration Guide.

Here are the news in Version 11.11.1
• Support for server-side ASRs
• New lmadmin command line options to add, delete, or manage roles
• Support for lmadmin console installer on Windows

No words about if there are any bug fixes but if you experienced unknown problems with the license manager it can be worth trying to update.

lmgrd.exe, lmutil.exe and lmtools.exe are all 11.11.1 now.

Previous FlexNet Version 11.11 described.

JTB FlexReport license monitoring tool has been tested with and supports this new version.