AutoCAD® Architecture 2010 - UI Changes, Part 1 - The Application Menu

The Application Menu (accessed from the big red A in the upper left corner) has been revised, to coordinate with the overall user interface (UI) changes. The image below shows the 2009 Application Menu.(As always, select any reduced-size image to see the full-size version; use the back arrow in your browser to return here.)

The 2010 version drops the pull-down menu list, since those are not part of the new UI. (You can download CUIX and related files, along with instructions for restoring the pulldown menus and toolbars in this Autodesk Knowledge Base techinical solution, if you must. I would recommend giving the new UI a try before doing so. UPDATE: The referenced Knowledge Base Article has been removed from the Autodesk website. You can find a copy of the ZIP file that had been available in this thread in the AutoCAD Architecture Customization Discussion Group.) The Application Menu in 2010 provides one-stop shopping for commands that affect the file as a whole, as can be seen in the image below.
The search bar at the top of the right side of the Application Menu just might become your new best friend, at least until you become familiar with the Ribbon interface and learn where the commands you want are located.Selecting one of the items in the search list executes the referenced command, although it does not switch to the referenced Ribbon tab if that tab was not already current. This works great for finding commands in the "static" (always displayed) Ribbon tabs (Home, Insert, Annotate, Render, View and Manage, in the out-of-the-box ACD-A 2010 setup). Unfortunately, unless you already have one of the contexual tabs active, such as the Wall tab when a Wall object is selected, the search will not return "hits" for the commands available on the contextual tabs.

You can still access a list of recently opened documents or projects (see first 2010 image above; use the "pins" at the right of each item to keep it on the list) or a list of currently open documents (see image below), by choosing one of the icons at the top of the left column, circled in red below.The recent actions option available in 2009 appears to have been dropped.

The "whole document" commands listed at the left side allow you to open, save, plot, publish and close drawings. Each item executes a command outright, and those with an arrow at the right have multiple related options that can be accessed selecting the arrow or simply hovering over the item. I will leave you to explore those options on your own, but will point out one that may be of particular interest, given that the Open Drawing Menu (accessed from the left pointing arrow in a circle icon on the far left side of the Drawing Window Status Bar since the 2004 release) has been deleted, just like the pulldown menus. I use that often to open the Drawing Setup dialog; the out-of-the-box Ribbon (as of the final Beta, anyway) does not have a way to directly execute the "Drawing Setup" command. You can use the Application Menu > Drawing Utilities > Units option to quickly open the Drawing Setup dialog (AecDwgUnitsSetup command)to the Units tab, and then, if necessary, switch to any of the other tabs to make the settings you need.Typing "aecdwgsetup" (opens to last active tab), "AecDwgUnitsSetup", "units" or, if you are using the out-of-the-box acad.pgp file or a custom variant thereof, "un" will also work. You can also open the Drawing Setup dialog directly to the Layering tab from the Ribbon at Home > Layers (flyout at the bottom of the panel) > Select Layer Standard, which runs the AecDwgLayerSetup command and opens the Drawing Setup dialog to the Layering tab. Direct access to the Scale and Display tabs appears to be limited to typed commands, AecDwgScaleSetup and AecDwgDisplaySetup, respectively.

More AutoCAD® Architecture 2010 Features

Spaces:

Draw order for Spaces is set automatically to "Back" so that any pre-existing objects or linework will be visible. This is a nice feature, especially if you are in a Display Configuration/View Direction that has a solid hatch turned on. One small problem is if you want to actually select an associative Space (or any Space that has Walls or other linework at the boundaries), as the graphics are "Back" and the solid hatch does not seem to provide a easy way to select the Space. You can switch to a Display Configuration, such as Low Detail, that does not display a solid hatch or remember that you can cycle through overlapping objects by pressing SHIFT + SPACEBAR.

There is a new Space separator tool to make dividing Spaces that are not separated by Walls, using AutoCAD linework, easier. While you could do this manually before, the AecSpaceSeparator command makes this easier, and the tool allows you to assign a Layer Key to the separator linework. The out-of-the-box tool has the WALL layer key assigned, but you could just as easily make a copy of the tool and have the separator linework (a LWPOLYLINE object) placed on any layer for which you have a Layer Key, such as a non-plotting layer.


Structural Members:

There is a new automatic property source for Structural Members, "Length along Baseline", that projects the "net" member parts onto the baseline and then calculates the length. A "true" length can be determined from this property, which takes into account the effects of trim planes, offsets and interference conditions on the actual length of the Structural Member.

Project Navigator:

The PDF format has been added to the list of formats to which you can now print directly from within Project Navigator, which also includes the DWF and DWFx formats. I have not tried this myself, but the claim is made that the plotting utility has also been enhanced to allow creating PDFs with more accurate line weights.

AEC Dimensions:

A new arrow-shaped grip allows you to flip the position of the dimension text to the opposite side of the dimension line, giving you more control over the placement of the text. This is most useful for nearly vertical dimension strings that are rotated beyond 90 degrees, so that you can put the text on the side you want. There is one grip per AEC Dimension object, and the grip affects all chains and all dimensions.


IFC Enhancements:

I have not had the need to work with IFC yet, so I will pass on the enhancements that are part of 2010 and leave it to those who use IFC to comment on these additions.

• Space Boundary: Relevant information on the space boundary is attached for proper energy analysis in AutoCAD MEP.
• Export and Import via the Command Line: You now have the option to turn off the dialog boxes and do IFC export and import operations from the Command Line.
• Added IFC Physical Quantities: IfcQuantityCount, IfcQuantityLength, IfcQuantityTime, IfcQuantityVolume and IfcQuantityWeight.

Stairs:

Done primarily for the German market, enhancements to Stairs include an "accurate graphic representation" of the stair cut meeting German standards, Stair and ramp tags supporting the German standard and a distinction between ramps and stairs. I was unaware that my Imperial Stairs had an inaccurate graphic representation. I did not install the German beta and I am not familiar with German market standards, so I can not offer much comment on these new features. I was not able to find any stair or ramp tags in either the Imperial or Metric content included with the English-language beta. Ramps in the beta I tested remained stair styles, with the treads and risers reduced to 0 width and stringers of various configurations pretending to be ramps and sometimes curbs. There is a new ramp arrow display toggle, that apparently shows ramps in accordance with the German standard; this is available, and the toggle is located on the Other tab of Display Representations intended for plan views. This will only display when the Display of both Tread and Riser are unchecked in the Flight Dimensions area on the Components tab of the Stair Style, so that may be the way AutoCAD Architecture distinguishes ramp Stairs from stair Stairs.

AutoCAD® Architecture 2010 - Editing Wall Cleanup In Place

Notice of the lifting of the NDA for the AutoCAD^® Architecture 2010 Beta was finally received on Tuesday. The big change in 2010 is that the interface is going all Ribbon, all the time. The Visualization Workspace in 2009 made use of the Ribbon, but the others kept the previous pulldown menus and toolbars. In 2010, the entire interface has gone over to the Ribbon side. When selecting an AEC Object, a contextual Ribbon tab with commands related to the object will appear.

You can now also create multiple versions of the Quick Access toolbar as components of the CUI file, then assign one to each Workspace you define (rather than defining the Quick Access toolbar right in the Workspace, as was done in 2009). That would allow you to have the same Quick Access toolbar in multiple Workspaces and only need to edit it once to make changes to all.

If you are also a user of Inventor, or have friends or colleagues who are, you can now export Inventor part files and assemblies to AutoCAD Architecture as Multi-View Blocks.

Walls have been enhanced by adding fillet and chamfer to the list of commands available when editing wall endcaps in place. The one major, non-Ribbon feature added in this release is the ability to edit Wall cleanup in place, on a component-by-component basis, as shown in the following example.

Two stud Walls, with similar components, but different stud widths, where one face of stud aligns, will still not clean up automatically if there is no perpendicular Wall at the place where the two Walls meet.
In previous releases, one workaround for this was to simulate cleanup by creating open ended Wall Endcaps and offsetting one of them so that the linework was continuous, but the Wall graphlines did not meet.

In AutoCAD Architecture 2010, the new cleanup edit-in-place feature can be used to get the cleanup you want, without the need to create offset Wall Endcaps, and then fuss with the location of the graphline endpoints (and hope no one else messes with the results). This new feature is similar to the Wall Endcap edit-in-place feature that was greatly improved in the 2009 release.

1. Select the Wall with the wider stud. Notice that the contextual Wall Ribbon tab appears and becomes active. In the Cleanup panel, select the Cleanup Edit in Place icon.The Wall Ribbon tab is replaced by the Edit in Place: Wall Cleanup contextual Ribbon tab. A number of commands related to editing cleanups in place can be found in this tab, but the edits needed for this task can be done using grip edit options.


2. The first component of the Wall will initially be selected. While this component will need to be modified eventually, edit the stud component first, to avoid warning messages about having the GWB component, with its higher priority number, overlapping the stud component.The cyan circle grips represent vertices; the cyan rectangle grips allow you to operate on the edge on which it lies. As with other edit-in-place operations, you can use the Ctrl key to cycle through options once a grip has been selected. Notice that a vertex has been conveniently placed at the location where the adjacent Wall’s stud component ends, anticipating the edit to the stud component in the Wall being edited.


3. Hover over the left edge grip and notice the options that the tool tip gives for editing that edge.Offset is the initial action, and is the one needed. Select the grip, and move the cursor "up" (away from the Wall end and the narrower Wall). Key in an offset value equal to the thickness of the GWB component, in this case 5/8". (I had polar tracking turned on, and 90 degrees was one of the angles. If you do not usually have polar or ortho turned on, you may want to check to be certain the offset distance is as desired, or explicitly key it in as @0,5/8). The editing of the stud component is now complete.
4. Select the left GWB component. Hover over the right vertex grip and notice the options the tool tip gives for editing the vertex.Vertices have only two options, Move and Remove. Select the right vertex grip and move it “up” 5/8” by snapping to the endpoint of the offset stud component.
5. Now select the edge grip. Press Ctrl twice to cycle to Add Vertex. Snap to the right endpoint of the offset stud edge.
6. Select the edge grip on the angled edge. Press Ctrl twice to cycle to Add Vertex. Snap to the right endpoint of the narrower stud. The GWB component is now complete.
7. Select the Finish icon in the Edits panel of the of the Edit in Place: Wall Cleanup tab to save the changes made. The GWB component on the side where the stud width changes now wraps the offset stud and cleans up with that of the narrower Wall.The cleanup alert triangles are now gone.

The dashed gray lines indicate that there is a cleanup override. These only show when the Graph Display Representation is active (when the Wall Justification Display is toggled on) and are on a non-plotting layer in the out-of-the-box display settings. There is also an additional cyan rectangular grip when the Graph Display Representation is active, which allows you to delete the cleanup override. NOTE: This grip will be coincidental with the end grip for the wall to which the overrides are attached, and therefore will not be selectable. Select the other wall, or select the dashed gray lines to choose the other wall and have access to the rectangular Remove Component Overrides grip. Do not use a crossing window on gray lines, as that will select both walls.

The image below has two pairs of walls, both with the offset on the wider stud as described above and the Wall Justification Display toggled on. In the pair to the left, the narrower stud wall is selected, and the rectangular Remove Component Overrides grip can be seen at the top end of the wider stud wall. In the pair to the right, the wider stud wall is selected, and the rectangular Remove Component Overrides grip is hidden by the Wall End grip. (You can tell there are at least two active grips there because no tool tip displays when hovering over the Wall End grip.)
The screen captures above were made with an earlier version of the Beta. The Ribbon icon for the Add Selected command on the Wall ribbon, partial visible in the screen capture above, has been changed in the final Beta. Since this is not the focus of this article, I did not see the need to create a new screen capture. I walked through the above steps in the final Beta and did not notice any other variation from the images shown. As always, you can click on any reduced image to see the full-size version; use the Back function of your browser to return to the main article.

Repathing Default Location of Content Browser Library

In this thread in the AutoCAD Architecture Discussion Group, Tony Michniewicz of Autodesk reveals a method for setting a different default folder where Content Browser will look for your library file (CBL):

Create a plain text file called ContentBrowser.ini and save it to the root folder of your AutoCAD Architecture installation, which is the folder where the acad.exe and AecCB.exe files are located. (The default location for Windows XP is C:\Program Files\AutoCAD Architecture 2008; your location may vary.)

Place the following text in the file:

[Files]
Library=C:\ContentBrowserLibraryFolder\ContentBrowserLibrary.cbl

You will want to substitute your path and CBL file name for C:\ContentBrowserLibraryFolder\ContentBrowserLibrary.cbl in the example above. Do not forget to include a carriage return (hit the "Enter" key, for those of you too young to have used a typewriter) after the last line.

Ordinarily, this should not be necessary, but I can think of at least two situations where this would be handy. One I experienced myself, when testing out an early version of a deployment for 2008, in which the Content Browser Library file location was set to a network folder that was read-only to me. This has been corrected, but at the time, I had to manually point Content Browser to a library file on my computer each time I opened it, in order to be able to open/create catalogs other than those set in the network file. I wish I had known that I could have redirected the default location this easily.

I could also see a situation where, in order to cut down on the number of catalogs that have to be waded through to find the one of interest, separate CBL files might be used. The ability to assign types to catalogs and sort/filter them by type would be my first choice if I were using a later version, since that is much easier to manage than editing (or swapping out) the ContentBrowser.ini file.

Unable to Execute Tool - Class Not Registered

If you get an error message when trying to use a Tool palette tool, stating that the tool can not be executed due to the class not being registered, the fix is relatively simple. A repair installation generally clears up the issue and restores your tool palettes. It is a good idea to back up any customized files (CUI, modified out-of-the-box style files, etc), just in case the repair installation overwrites any of those with the out-of-the-box version. Of course, you do that on a regular basis anyway (right?), as well as regularly export your profile(s) in the Options dialog, so that you have current, or nearly current files to restore in the event of corruption or other disaster.

In some cases, it may be possible to avoid a repair installation. Matt Stachoni provides the things to check and the steps to take for this "less drastic" option in this thread in the Autodesk AutoCAD Architecture Discussion Group.

One common way for this situation to occur is to uninstall one version while leaving another version installed.

2010 Product Launch Press Materials

If you are curious about what the 2010 release holds for AutoCAD Architecture (and other Autodesk products), you may want to download one or more of the press materials ZIP files or take a look at the video archives of the virtual press conferences here.

Searching for Files with a Specific External Reference

If you have ever wanted to know all of the files that include a particular external reference, but had to resort to opening every possible file and manually check it, you will want to read Lynn Allen's post on using DesignCenter to search files for external references.

AU Online Abandons Single Sign-in

Less than four months after launching the "single sign-in" for all Autodesk Websites, the recent relaunch of the AU Online site has resulted in that part of the Autodesk web presence abandoning the single sign-in.

I used the feedback link on the AU Online site to question why the single sign-in had been abandoned. After the first reply indicated that the single sign-in was still valid for AU Online, I provided a more detailed description of what that meant (one sign-in for all sites/once signed in at one, moving to any other does not require signing in again), I was told that the single sign-in was removed due to a large amount of attendee feedback against it.

While I suppose I should applaud Autodesk for listening to the users, I have to question who would be against this? I would emphasize that there is a difference between being against the way it was implemented and being against the concept in general.

Yes, I was annoyed by the way it was implemented and by the spotty initial performance, complicated by rolling out a new format for the web-based Discussion Groups at the same time. Yes, I miss my old five-character password, now bloated to eight characters with at least one upper case letter and one numeral, because each additional character geometrically increases the probability that I will mistype the password. But with the single sign-in system, at least I could sign in once and visit the Discussion Groups, AU Online and the Subscription site. Now, I still have the eight-character password AND I have to sign in separately at AU Online.

So the question remains - who would want to sign in multiple times? Disconnecting the AU Online site from the single sign-in did not resolve any of the initial problems I had with the implementation - were there any other, ongoing issues? If anyone had a problem with the whole concept, what prevented them from simply signing out when leaving one site, then sign back in on the next?

I have to think that the real issue here was one of either not having time or not wanting to expend the effort to integrate the new AU Online site with the single sign-in, rather than responding to meaningful user feedback.

Non-Project Door Tag Using Room Number with Prefix and/or Suffix

If you are not using the Drawing Management feature (Project Browser and Project Navigator), you can still have room-number-based door numbers, and even allow for an optional prefix and/or suffix. You may have to do a little bit of setup, and create a custom Schedule Tag (or edit a copy of one of the out-of-the-box Schedule Tags), but it is really not all that hard, and the only thing that the Drawing Management feature brings (other than pre-made content) is the ability to have the room number prefixed by the Level property, which is an automatic project property. I will assume that you have dealt with that issue and have a way to assign your desired room number to each Space in a property in an object-based Property Set that is attached to each Space.

Making that room number property available to a Door is as simple as adding a Location property to an object-based Property Set that "Applies To" Doors. Location properties are best placed in object-based Property Sets. You can add one to a style-based Property Set, but unless the object already has another Location property in an object-based Property Set attached to it, the "Location grip" will not be generated and the Location property will not work. The Location grip, as seen below, is a four-pointed-star-shaped grip, that can be moved independently of the Door to which it is attached, and which will retrieve the specified property value from the first Space it finds below itself.

You can call for a Location property to return the value of any property that is in a Property Set that "Applies To" to a Space or AEC Polygon. (If you are using 2006 or earlier, Location properties also work with Area objects.) The Property Set of the referenced property must be attached to the Space or AEC Polygon in order for the Location property to return a meaningful value.

A prefix or suffix can be added by providing a manual property of the desired type. You can then display this value in a separate attribute in a Schedule Tag, as the out-of-the-box project-based Door Schedule Tag does, or by using a formula property to concatenate the prefix, room number and suffix into a single property. I have posted a sample file demonstrating how this could be done to this thread in the Autodesk Architecture Discussion Group. The DoorObjects2 Property Set in that file Applies To Door and Door/Window Assembly objects, and has the properties seen below. (Click on any image to see a larger version; use your web browser's Back button to return here.) SpaceNumber is a Location property that retrieves the SpaceObjects2:Number property that holds the room number. DoorNumberPrefix and DoorNumberSuffix are two manual properties that allow the user to add a prefix and/or a suffix to the room number value to create the final door number. The default value for each is an empty string. DoorNumber is the property that generates that final door number; it is a formula property whose formula is shown below. The formula checks the value entered into the DoorNumberPrefix property and, if it is an empty string, sets the variable doornumber1 to an empty string. If the user has entered a prefix value, doornumber1 is set to that prefix value with a period added as a delimiter, to visually separate the prefix from the room number. That part is not necessary, but some sort of delimiter may be desired if the nature of the prefixes and room numbers that you might be using could make it hard to tell if there is a prefix or not.

The formula then does a similar thing with the DoorNumberSuffix property, setting the variable doornumber2 to an empty string if a suffix was not added or to the concatenation of a period followed by the DoorNumberSuffix value, if a value was entered. Finally, the RESULT of the formula property is the concatenation of the doornumber1 value, the room number (from the SpaceNumber property) and the doornumber3 value. If no prefix or suffix is specified, then the room number is the final result, as seen at the Door in Conf 1007 in the sample plan below. The other Doors have a prefix, a suffix or both added to the room number, with the period delimeter separating any non-empty prefix or suffix from the room number.

If you want to see this in action, download and unZIP the sample file attached to my reply in the above-linked Discussion Group thread and try it out for yourself. The file was created in AutoCAD Architecture 2008, so you would need 2007 or later to be able to open the file.

Creating Annotative Tags in AutoCAD® Archtitecture

Annotative content, first added in the 2008 release, is a great feature, particulary for things like Schedule Tags – no more messing around with multiple view blocks and adding Display Representations/Display Representation Sets/Display Configurations to get a single tag to display at multiple scales. But, as you may have discovered, it can make creating a new tag, or even modifying an old one, and getting things the right size something of a challenge. Part of the confusion stems from the fact that AutoCAD and AutoCAD Architecture treat annotative content differently. AutoCAD will insert an annotative block using the current drawing scale’s scale factor to determine the final size; AutoCAD Architecture will use annotation scaling (as it did before AutoCAD added the annotative feature), a combination of the current drawing scale’s scale factor and the annotation plot size (specified on the Scale tab of the Drawing Setup dialog). Here is a method I use to make certain I get the Schedule Tag size I want, and it works whether I am drawing the graphics from scratch, inserting an existing Schedule Tag Multi-View Block and exploding it or directly inserting an existing view block and exploding it. It also works whether I use the Define Schedule Tag (AecDefineTag) or choose to build the Multi-View Block for my Schedule Tag manually.

Step 1: Set the Drawing Scale to 1’-0” = 1’=0” (or 1:1, for metric users) and the Annotation Plot Size to 1. In 2008, you can do both on the Scale tab of the Drawing Setup dialog. In 2009, you will need to set the Scale in the popup list on the Drawing Window Status Bar (or on the Application Status Bar, if you have the Drawing Window Status Bar turned off), since the Scale list on the Scale tab is only used to associate a Display Configuration with a scale, not to set the Drawing Scale.
Step 2: Create the graphics for your view block(s), keeping in mind that one unit in the block will plot at the Annotation Plot Size in effect at plot time. So if you want the property datum displayed in a particular attribute to plot at the Annotation Plot Size, make the attribute definition or text placeholder (if you are using the Define Schedule Tag wizard) one unit high. You can scale attribute definitions/text place holders up or down from one unit to get larger or smaller text in the tag, if desired. Draw any other graphics to suit. If you plan to start with the graphics from an existing Multi-View Block, you can insert an instance of it now, and it will be scaled in accordance with one unit plotting at the Annotation Plot Size, since the effective scale factor in 1 (Drawing Scale of 1 x Annotation Plot Size of 1). If you prefer to insert the view block of the tag directly, that too will insert at the proper size (Drawing Scale Factor of 1). Make the desired changes to the exploded content, or draw the desired graphics from scratch.

Step 3, Option A: Fire up the Define Schedule Tag wizard, select your graphics, convert any placeholder labels that are meant to display properties to have a Type of Property and assign the desired Property Set and Property to each. TIP: I like to to follow the out-of-the-box naming convention of using the Multi-View Block name with “_P” appended to it for the view block. The wizard will assign the same name to both the Multi-View Block for the Schedule Tag and the view block definition. I find it easier to use the view block name in the dialog, and then rename the Multi-View Block Definition in the Style Manager after it is created. Once you have everything set the way you want in the dialogselect the OK button, specify an insertion point for the Multi-View Block/view block, save the file and make a Tag tool by dragging the Multi-View Block to an editable tool palette. (For shared content, save the file as a source file in a location accessible to all, or copy the new Multi-View Block Definition to such a file, and then make the Tag tool from that file.) Set a Layer Key and make certain all of the other Properties of the Tag tool are as you desire, and you should be good to go. Reset the Annotation Plot Size back to your office standard, and set an appropriate Drawing Scale, and try out your new tag. It should come in at the expected size, and react to changes in Drawing Scale or Annotation Plot Size as expected.

Step 3, Option B: To use this option, you need to have attribute definitions with properly formatted attribute tags for each Property you want the Schedule Tag to show. Create an AutoCAD block definition for each view block you are going to assign to your tag. Fire up the Style Manager, create a new Multi-View Block Definition and add the view block(s) to the appropriate Display Representation(s) and then indicate the view directions for which each is to be visible. Exit Style Manager and save the file, or use Style Manager to copy the Multi-View Block Definition to a central source file and apply the changes. Create a Tag tool on an editable tool palette, set a Layer Key and make certain all of the other Properties of the Tag tool are as you desire, reset your Annnotation Plot Size and Drawing Scale and give it a try.

For a “simple” one-view-block Schedule Tag (as at least 90% of your tags will be, now that annotative content eliminates the need for multiple view blocks for multiple scales), Option A in Step 3 would be the way to go. Option B, on the other hand, may be useful if, for example, you have a space tag that needs to show different things for different drawing types – perhaps it shows the room name and area for schematic plans, room name and number for contract document floor plans and room name, number and ceiling height in reflected ceiling plans. Depending upon your workflow, it may be easier to have one tag that can do all of that than to have three separate tags. Of course, you could start out with Option A to get the first view block and the Multi-View Block set up, then add additional view blocks and adjust the Display Representations each block uses in the Multi-View Block as required.