July 13, 2019

AUGI Salary Survey, 2019

Help make the survey results more accurate by taking the survey and adding your information: 2019 AUGI Salary Survey.

July 11, 2019

ACA: Schedule Tag Background Mask

I suppose I must have known about this at some time in the past, but having never made use of it, it slipped my mind. The other day, I needed to make some Schedule Tags to replace some attributed Block References. The Attribute Definitions in the Block References had background masking turned on, so that they could be placed on top of other linework and the mask would assure that the contents of the attribute remained readable.

I made use of the graphics from the Block Reference and ran it through the DefineTag command to create the Schedule Tag Multi-View Block reference. I was hoping that the background mask on the Attribute Definition would be respected in the Schedule Tag, but it was not. An internet search turned up this Autodesk Knowledge Network Article, allowing me to re-learn what I had probably forgotten. You create an AEC Polygon Style to use for the background mask; on the Other tab, check the Use Background Mask toggle.

If you do not want the border of the AEC Polygon to plot, go to the Display Properties tab and create a Style Override for the Model Display Representation. In the override, turn off the visibility of the Exterior Edge component. (Do the same for the Model Screened Display Representation if you use that in views that include the Schedule Tags.)

Place an AEC Polygon instance using the Style you just created as part of the graphics you select for the DefineTag command. Be sure to select the AEC Polygon first, and then the other graphics, so that the other graphics are not masked by the AEC Polygon.

In the image below, the Door Tags have had a masking AEC Polygon placed behind the other graphics, and that AEC Polygon is masking out the color fill of the Space and the swing of the Door that is behind the Tag.

July 03, 2019

ACA: Open Dialog Does Not Show - But FILEDIA Is Set to 1

I had a report that the AutoCAD® Architecture Open dialog was not showing up when the OPEN commmand was being used. First thing I checked was the value of the FILEDIA System Variable, but it was set to 1, and there were no prompts on the Command Line when running the OPEN command.

I found the solution for this case in an Autodesk Knowledge Network article, Dialog windows do not display and the program appears to freeze, which offers several suggestions for resolving the issue. Having already done the first one (FILEDIA), I tried the second one - holding SHIFT+WINDOWS KEY and then pressing the LEFT or RIGHT ARROW KEY. That keystroke combination moves the current window from one screen to the next, and it did bring the Open dialog back onto one of the two active monitors.

The user's computer is a laptop, which was docked and closed, but perhaps the dialog was hiding out on the laptop monitor? Wherever it was, the issue was resolved, and I was glad to not have to resort to the last suggestion, editing the Windows Registry.