Civil 3D – 2010 Part Builder returns

Well, I stepped in it this time.

In an attempt to help all those that have been struggling with Part Builder, I pulled out my parts from the 2009 backups, and loaded it up.  I needed the part for a design, and thought now was a good time to dig in and take care of what I agreed to.

…Thanks BTW for all the patience you have offered.

I whipped the Part List up and threw the new part size to it.  Not sizes, just size.  The list did not come through. 

Now many of you are saying “that is what we are screaming about”.  Well, the list of ailments is broad and wide.  I unfortunately could not get this configuration to fail in 2009.  It however does fail in 2010.

After hours of reading and plugging, I got it working.  I did some huge research and customization and I may have 30% of our woes worked around, and I think it will work on both versions.  While working, it is not yet seamless.  I will need to back through it all to be sure, and that will take a bit of time.

Also, those of you that are on other structure types, I did not forget you either.  I will port this over to those as soon as I can.

Look forward to some results and modifications soon.  Go ahead and post issues you have with the configurations here, and we can address then as we go.  If you are having trouble with the tutorials specifically, then keep posting concerns as comments to those tutorial pages.

Civil 3D – Quick Grades with Feature Lines

7/22/2009

I just added a post for using Feature Lines as a grade calculator in a pinch.  It’s on Civil3D.com.

You can read the article here.

Simple prototype beat into submission

7/15/2009

I thought I would tell of a recent weekend, and give everyone something to laugh about.  It’s funny once the sting wears off.

About a month ago I was requested to produce a prototype Invar level strip bracket.  I figured “simple job, it’ll be fun”. Well…sometimes things just go wrong. Sometimes everything goes wrong.

The Invar strip is a special barcode that gets scanned by a laser, and a computer calculates horizontal range and vertical difference, without the human eye judgment factor.  The company was applying the barcode tape to a very thin price of aluminum, to reduce cost and weight.  The bracket’s job was to provide precise vertical reverence to locations at both bottom and sides, in relation to the actual strip label.

What was required

I mocked up different concepts, and after creating numerous designs that created mounting away from the digital strip, the company decided on a  different approach.  While different individuals wanted differing uses, the common goal was no frills, simple light, and fast.  We got everything except the fast part.

Then they notified me they wanted it the morning of the third day!

AutoCAD – launch device for Trojan

It’s about time.  The windows OS, MS Office apps, Image files; the virus list goes on and on.  The only place I felt safe was in Autodesk products.

Well apparently that’s out too!

‘Without a net’ reported AutoCAD has it’s own brand of Trojan.  This seems to revolve around China, and AutoCAD is being used as a delivery device through ObjectARX.  The AdWare virus infected machines popup ads while viewing popular Chinese search engines. It is not being reported as a destructive virus, but it is still a problem.  I can see problems on the horizon with this. 

….If I throw my laptop out the window because AutoCAD loaded a bunch of ad-C#$% that I have to wade through….Would that be considered a destructive virus?

Some Anti-Virus programs don’t check ObjectARX loads, this avenue tends to go under the radar until it is too late.   Many suggestions were given on how to protect yourselves.  I won’t restate them all, but will suggest you read and understand the section on your AutoCAD load lisps.

Read the Without a Net article here. 

Read the Webroot virus post here

One other item rarely mentioned is a Sonic Wall router.  It is expensive, but keeps us pretty clean of incoming tripe.  Google search results bring up all kinds of things; inadvertently visiting some odd site can result with your router getting searched for an opening.  Sonic Wall helps reduce our problems with outside attacks.

Autodesk – DWG Launcher wigged out fix

7/8/2009

This has been a pain in numerous people’s sides for a long time.  One day you love it and the next day you hate it. 

The DWG Launcher

This gizmo is the thing that loads the drawings from remote requests, based on the registered DWG extension. AcLauncher.exe

Since Autodesk is trying to spread it’s trademarked use of DWG to numerous platforms, it needs some flexible way to allow users to open the DWG easily through explorer and other applications. 

How this works

When the OS sees a DWG file request sent, it uses the DWG registered app to open it with. In this case it is the DWG Launcher. The application uses registry entries to figure out which version of what application to use.  It is fairly simple, except there is nothing evident about it, and it gets fouled up. 

The registry settings governing this work something like a flow chart:

1. Windows initiates default dwg app ->DWG Launcher
2. Launcher reads shell DWG default Application –> AutoCAD
3. Launcher goes to AutoCAD and reads launch instruction –> AutoCAD r18 exe path
4. Launcher executes launch statement with requested dwg file

Most users will never have a problem with this since they only use 1 type of DWG application.  Actually, most users of differing DWG apps never have a problem. 

Inventor – 2010 The install that just won’t give in

7/1/2009

About a WEEK ago I decided to reinstall everything.  I push the limit with space and implementing new things, so my OS gets flaky sometimes.  It’s the cost of doing business.  Last time I got nailed with a virus.  Now we have a sonic wall and keeps me pretty clean. 

This time it was Autodesk Licensing.  I blue screened, and everything seemed to operate fine afterward, but the licensing component started freaking out, and eventually would not let me into Autodesk products.  That’s kind of a problem.

I’ve got a bright idea, ‘lets reinstall Vista’.  Any engineering OS older than 6 months is gravy.  We’re due for the pain and misery.  I kept thinking, “we have this down to a science, no problem.  I‘ll come in at 4 am, and by 8 we’ll be functional”.  How many of you are laughing now?  At 8, I was not laughing.  I’m still not laughing. 

Autodesk 5, John 0

This week I have installed Vista + updates twice, Civil 3D 2009/2010 twice, Inventor 2009 once, Inventor 2010 5 times, Vault server twice, AV and authoring software suites twice as well. 

As of last night, Inventor 2010 would not work (properly).  The long and short is that the install would blue screen right about when it would shift over to the Language Pack, every time.  It’s hard to say exactly because no one can sit there and stare at the 1.5 hour install.  All I know is the items in the en-us folder were missing, and she wouldn’t run.  More on that later.

I’ll go through some of the key things that did and did not work.  Maybe you IT guys and Managers can pick out something useful.

Design Review – 2010 Hot Fix 1

7/1/2009

Volker, Thank You! 

For all those that may not have experienced the PDF output from DR 2010, I’d like to say “It sucks”, but that wouldn’t be polite.  True, but not polite.

Instead I’ll just say “Thank You Volker! and DR people”.  Autodesk released a Hot Fix June 19th, 2009.  I must say that Volker’s team is very dedicated to fixing problems, and reviewed a few of my issues with me.

I have tried to adopt the Autodesk DWF idea.  A couple of years back at AU, a British Autodesk fellow introduced me to Buzzsaw. (I apologize as I cannot remember his name).  I saw the publishing possibilities in both and decided to push forward, but Buzzsaw is just not cost effective down here in the trenches, so I had to stop working the angles on it.  I have however stayed fixed on DWF. 

I use it as a point of reference for a final product.  Once the job is completed, I use DR to review, markup new revisions, or to distribute.  It serves as a central publishing point as well, whether hard copy, direct email, or PDF.

Since most of my clients use PDF, and are still not on the DWF band wagon, PDF is what I most often publish.  However, since 2010, I have been pulling my hair out, and even considered going to PDF for my publishing platform.

Thank God for the fix.  Now if I can just get something to help AutoCAD get the lead out of it’s direct PDF output.

You can read Volker’s article and community comments here.

You can download the Hotfix and (very important) the instructions here.