Sick all week at AU

Well my AU this year was a wasted week. Tuesday night I acquired what can be called "Montezuma's Revenge - Las Vegas style". I was laid up in my hotel room from Wednesday morning for the remainder of my stay until Sunday night when I left. The stomach bacterial battle of my life. And my poor wife flew in Friday to have a fun weekend but I was in no mood. Furthermore, she got what I had when we got back home on Monday and has been fighting the beast virus all week with me.

So needless to say my week in Vegas was a complete waste besides giving the lame healthcare providers in the city my $50 co-pays for 2 emergency urgent care visits and helping to keep Walgreens pharmacy on the south strip in business.

So for those of you who I meant to meet during the week, sorry, maybe next time when AU is NOT in Vegas. Maybe one year it can be held on the east coast again.

At least I got a wizard's hat at the subscription booth Tuesday night. That was my highlight.

Single Drawing Compatibility Mode in 2008

Earlier this week one of my co-workers had a problem after they had crashed out of Civil 3D. When he reopened AutoCAD, he could only open one drawing at a time. Well this was familar, but where to go change the setting back was not. In older AutoCAD versions prior to 2007, there was an area in OPTIONS to toggle Single Drawing Compatibilty Mode off and on. Well, in 2008 this does not exist in OPTIONS. You can toggle this mode by typing SDI at the Command line and change it to either 0 or 1. Setting to 0 enables you to have multiple drawings open (default).

So if for some reason if you have a fatal error in C3D (which BTW is becoming less frequent of an occurance with SP2 applied) and you find that you can only open 1 drawing at a time, then check the SDI setting.

Annotative Scales - "XREF XREF XREF etc..."

Have you seen this problem in 2008 with the annotative scales list?
Click pic to see a larger view...





Good grief... As we bring our 2007 AutoCAD drawings into the 2008 world and xref them into new drawings, the annotative scales list becomes outrageously HUGE! The list becomes so large over time that the dialog box for the "SCALELISTEDIT" command will not even open.

But there is a solution. You can use the command "-SCALELISTEDIT" to (R)eset the list to the original preset list. Don't forget the "-" dash before the command; this will temporarily disable the dialog box and forces command line prompting. Doing this removes the unwanted "Xref" scales and restores the original scales list. Thanks to Almas at Autodesk for the support tip.

I've actually added a line to the S::STARTUP section of my ACAD.lsp file to automatically delete (reset) the scales for me. Here's the LISP string



(command "-scalelistedit" "r" "y" "e")



Happy annotating!

C3D 2008 Workaround - Contour labels will not update

In 2008, when you edit a surface that has contour labels applied, the labels do not update automatically. This issue has been submitted to Autodesk and is a known issue. To update the labels, you have to move or grip-edit-move each individual label line. Rebuilding the surface or regenerating the drawing does not help.

I have developed a very simple LISP routine which will move the label lines for you all at once. The routine assumes that Contour Label Lines are being drawn on layer "C-TOPO-TEXT".

Also be aware that by using this routine, anything else on layer "C-TOPO-TEXT" will be MOVED @ X=0.001 , Y=0.001.

You may revise my program to fit your needs.

Download here: UL.lsp - update labels (contours)

Civil 3D 2008 Bug List

Thanks to James Wedding and his colleagues at Civil3D.com for creating a running list of Civil 3D 2008 bugs and issues. The list can be found at http://www.civil3d.com/index.php/2007/06/whats-bugging-you-about-2008/. This list will help us determine if a problem that we find while using C3D '08 in our everyday work life has been identified by others as well.

Off-topic - Personality Type and Blogging

The description listed below is pretty much me when it comes to blogging. I tested as an ISTP recently in an online Jung - Myers-Brigg personality type test. I took a similar test for work about 17 years ago and tested as an ISTJ but I must have changed a little over the years. The 2 types have similar traits so I guess I haven't changed much except for a few extra pounds around the mid-section. See opinions about how blogging ties in with personality types HERE.

Here's my profile:
You are an ISTP! (that's me)
As an ISTP, you are Intraverted, Sensing, Thinking, Perceiving. This makes your primary focus on Introverted Thinking with Extraverted Sensing

This is defined as a SP personality, which is part of Carl Jung's Artisans (Sensation Seeking) type, and more specifically the Crafters or Mechanics.
Because of your desire for action and independance, you will change the format of blogging or design frequently to keep it interesting and different. Your loyalty may have you reading the same blogs over a long period of time (Civil3D.com, Angel's Civil 3D Thoughts are 2 that come to mind). Even though you could be easily bored with blogging (and Windows XP, that's why I bought Vista), you might find that because you like following a project through, this is a good way for you to use your alone time to sort the facts you pick up through the day. (exactly me!)

Take the test for yourself, then see how you might relate to blogging HERE.

...and concerning Windows Vista

Plain and simple, Windows Vista is a DOG!!! It could be the worst performing operating system Microsoft has produced...period. It takes a ultra capable Core 2 Duo processing unit and makes it a door stop. You will need a minimum of 2 GB of RAM just to run the base OS effectively. That's before trying to run any applications. 1 GB just doesn't cut it anymore. I have a Pentium 1, 166 Mhz laptop that boots Windows 98 in half the time. Ridiculous.

And as for Civil 3D running on Vista...well I am a glutton for punishment but I actually had it working until I applied Service Pack 3. Now I get a Fatal Error when trying to open the program. I read in Heidi Hewitt's blog that Autodesk is working on a patch for AutoCAD 2007 and Windows Vista. But even with a patch, stay with Windows XP / Pro. You'll be glad you did.

AutoCAD Bloggers Love 2008

My head is spinning from all of the blog entries concerning AutoCAD 2008 and Civil 3D 2008. By the time it's released in April, I will have forgotten all of the tips and tricks I'm currently reading about. I'm still trying to figure out the capabilities of 2007 products....LOL! Keep the tips coming though ...I'll just have to re-research in the Spring. Thanks!

Grading with Corridors example

Screen capture of recent project where corridors were used to develop large drainage ditch around site. Ditch is 2.5 meters deep and has a 2.5 meter bottom width.

Sanitary Sewer Plan Profile Example

Some of my recent work on sanitary sewer systems. Notice "no-plot" crossing pipes in plan view shown in purple. The linework is already in the topo file, so no need to show twice. Also shown is a 45 degree bend with cleanout extension. Pretty neat but time-consuming to figure out and create.