Ask the Expert
Ask the Expert
Robert is the Design Technology Manager for Sparling, the largest specialty electrical engineering and technology consulting firm in the United States, headquartered in Seattle Washington. He provides strategic direction, technical oversight, and high-level support for Sparling’s enterprise design and production technology systems. He is instrumental in positioning Sparling as an industry and client leader in leveraging technology in virtual building and design.
Robert has been writing code for customizing AutoCAD since the release of AutoCAD v2.5. For most of those years he worked at an MEP firm. He developed a series of applications for use with AutoCAD similar to AutoCAD MEP years before Autodesk released that product. These in-house applications gave that firm a distinct competitive advantage over other firms in that market.
Robert is one of the more popular speakers at Autodesk University. He has been speaking at that event every year since 2002. He has spoken on topics such as AutoLISP/Visual LISP, VBA, the CUI, and customizing AutoCAD from the perspective of CAD Management.
He has also taught ATP classes for Autodesk User Group International (AUGI). Robert has been a speaker at AUGI's CAD Camps. He has had many articles published in AUGI's magazine, AUGIWorld. Robert served on AUGI's Board of Directors for three years.
Valuable LISP Files : * Verify VP AnnoScale * Edit Enterprise CUI
Dear Mr Robert please kindly ask you to tell us,wath is the difference between Acad + Acadiso thank you in advance Best regards Selim
Files that start with "ACAD" only are used in the support of Imperial units. So the hatch patterns in Acad.pat will only display correctly scaled in drawings based on the Imperial templates. Files that begin with "ACADISO" are used for drawings based on metric units. Therefore, the linetypes defined in AcadIso.lin are only scaled correctly in drawings based on metric templates.
Hi Robert I need some info on how to do instrumentation loop drawings with Autocad Electrical. An over view on how to plan a project befor I start. Can I first creat terminal strips and then import terminals from them and if i use Excel what kind of terminology do I use when using diferent columns in Excel or must each list be in a separate spreadsheet?
Johan, I am sorry but I have never used the AutoCAD Electrical product. I would think that these are questions that ought to be answered by the help files or tutorials. I am soory I could not be of more help.
how creat layer?how to ues that layer?
There are several ways to create a layer. Perhaps the easiest is to use the Layer Manager (Command: Layer). There is New Layer near the top of the dialog box. Select that button and type in the desired name of the layer in the center part of the dialog. Assign whatever properties you desired for the new layer by clicking on the layer's property and providing the desired information. When you are happy with the new layer's properties to may make that layer the current layer using the button near the top of the dialog box. Or you may select an existing object and change its Layer property to your new layer.
is there a way to define attributes in a block that are driven by information in an excel spreadsheet?
You may want to look at the samples in the Samples\Database Connectivity folder. DbConnect is a rather complicated subject, but there is a lot of power there. You can use the out-of-the-box features to create labels that are connected to a database (even Excel) or dive into the API to create such connections. However, I've not attempted to make such database connections to attributes. If you are using a product based on AutoCAD, such as ACA or MEP, you may want to consider storing all the data in AutoCAD and using the proprty set data/tags/schedules features to drive all this from within AutoCAD rather than using Excel to replicate the data. Of course, Map takes database connectivity to a other level entirely. An excellent, although dated, reference for AutoCAD's Database Connectivity is Scott McFarlane's AutoCAD Database Connectivity, ISBN 0-7668-1640-0.
how do you create a brick rowlock coursing at window sills? is there a feature that allows this to automatically happen when inserting a window?
I'm not an architect, so I don't even know what is a "brick rowlock coursing". Are you using AutoCAD Architectural? There is a lot of power to affect the display of windows and walls in that product, since there are really walls and windows. In the base product, there won't be such control.
intuous4 tablet with autocad 10 light , how to install?
You will need to refer hardware-specific questions to the manufacturer. There is Autodesk-related software according to the Watcom website, but you need to be registered user to download the software
Robert, My download verision of AutoCAD has a limited amount of border templates. Is there anywere I can go to download all sheet sizes of Arch.templates?
Many firms create their own templates since templates are crucial to support company standards. You will be better served in the long run to create your own templates. The downloaded version of AutoCAD is the same as the version on normal install media, so there are no other templates provided by the install process. You may ask this in the forums at www.augi.com and perhaps someone there will have what you are looking for.
Is there any way to make a linetype that creates a gap at the start and endpoints of a line? We always draw structural beams on plans at 1/8” scale and have to offset each end by 4” to graphically indicate an offset, which is very tedious and inefficient, especially when dealing with complex building geometries & changes.
Unhappily, this has been a long-standing wish. However, have you considered creating a dynamic block that creates the effect you desire?
Is there any way to turn off the "Type a keyword or Phrase” box at the top right of AutoCAD – permanently? I never use it and it takes up room for the drawing title when displaying the full title name.
Yes, that is called the InfoCenter. In AutoCAD 2010 it can be turned off with a simple registry edit. The following code will disable the feature. Add it to Acad.lsp and every time AutoCAD starts up it will be forced off, in case it got turned back on. (vl-load-com) (vl-registry-write (strcat "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\\" (vlax-product-key) "\\InfoCenter") "InfoCenterOn" 0)
Thanks Robert - I'm unfamiliar with editing registries. When I paste the code you describe into the acad.lsp file, I get the following error in the AutoCAD command string: ; error: no function definition: VLAX-PRODUCT-KEY Is there something I might be missing?
I'm sorry, that is my fault. Add the following line to the start of Acad.lsp: (vl-load-com)
Hi Bob,is it possible to change an Archicad file into an AutoCAD file?
Not with AutoCAD. ArchiCAD can export to a DWG.
I can't afford to pay for training so I'm learning on my own. I want to create a title block. Do you have a step by step procedure for creating a title block?
I can give you some brief instructions. Please see the attached guide.
Hi Bob, what are you hours and do you cover questions for ALL of Autodesk products?
I live on the west coast of the US. And, no, I'm *not* a know-it-all, so I cannot answer questions for all Autodesk products. ;^)
Bob, I am trying to get an old ACAD.LSP to run in the new 2009LT environment. According to the knowledge base, simply inserting ^R into each command line is supposed to allow each command to be executed, however, in my case it hasn't worked. a standard command line in the old file looks like this: (DEFUN C:ZW () (COMMAND "ZOOM" "W") do you have suggestions as to how I might rectify this problem? Thanks, Gregor
AutoCAD LT does not support customization languages such as Visual LISP.
Hi Bob, I am attempting to insert a drawing (as a block) of metric units into a drawing of imperial units. If I simply scale the entire drawing, the block/nested blocks cannot be edited within the drawing (refedit) as I receive the message ** Cannot REFEDIT a non-uniformly scaled block **. Why is the block non-uniformly scaled when I used a simple scale factor to start? Is there a simple or correct method to convert the drawing units? Thanks Brian
The way the Autodesk would have us do it would be to assign the correct unts to both drawings, and then the insert process automatically calculates the appropriate scale factor. This works very well at our firm, but I kno some firms have resisted implementing the insert units feature. If you are not using InsUnits then make sure to check the "Use Unifrm Scale" box when specifying the scale of the insert in the Insert dialog. For inserts that are already placed and don't permit RefEdit, select the insert and use the Properties palette to assign the same scale factor to X, Y, and Z. Even if the vlaueslook that same, they might not be.
Bob, If I use 2 tiles viewports in model space. Can I setup one of them to show depths. I mean can I show one of them to show only everything with elevations from 10 to 5000? Thanks Michael.
Yes. That is the purpose of clipping planes. However, AutoCAD's clipping planes are showing their age. You can zoom and pan without messing up the clipping planes but a 3DOrbit will move the planes in parallel with the camera and target. The command 3DClip is a visual way to set up and turn on the clipping planes. For some weird reason, after you close the diaglog box, it dumps you into the 3DOrbit command which will mess up your places. Simply cancel the orbit.
I'm trying to sendcommand from VBA with c:ace_add_dwg_to_project, but once the drawing is added it doesn't apply the project defaults and the file name is lower cased. i.e. C-1 looks like c-1 in the project manager although the file name is C-1.dwg. Any suggestions for these concerns?
That looks like a Visual LISP function name. So I think the issue is going to be in the source code for that function and not necessarily with AutoCAD.
Mr. Bell, could you please give me a synopsis on the pros and cons of Quick Leader vs. Multi Leader? Thank You!
QLeaders are based on older AutoCAD objects that have had a lot of bugs worked out over the years. That being said, there are certainly limitations in the QLeader approach of "merging" two separate objects to be aware of each other. Move a QLeader's text when the leader has a landing to see how it breaks down. MLeaders were built from the ground up to one object with a visible leader and content (be it a block or text or nothing). So it is far more reliable for editing. However, it is a new object and certainly has a few quirks that need to be worked out. For example, many of us would like to extend the tail into the text block when the text has a large gap at the tail. There are also layer/xref fading issues that are only cosmetic. All said, I prefer MLeaders.
In the future will i see automatic drawings from drawings,meaning if i do a 3d drawing a 2d drawing will be derived from it or if i do a 2d drawing and a 3d drawing is derived from it.
I cannot comment on the future direction of AutoCAD's features. However, this capability already exists in certain products to varying extents. For example, in the machine design world, Inventor is an application that does this. In architectural and MEP design we have both AutoCAD ACA/MEP or Revit, both of which also do this integrated display of plan and model.
Hi Robert, Do you have any great resources for setting up tool palettes in a networked office?
Benefits:
