Autodesk has released the next update for Civil 3D 2021. Find the release notes here. Here are some highlights:
Civil 3D 2021.1 introduced several new features including a new compass when creating a pipe run. This is excellent news, but depending on your modeling requirements, it can cause an issue if you leave in a new setting.
In the examples below, the parts list has no bends, and they are not needed for this design. The pipe runs as required to be drawn like a polyline. While working with a customer, I ran into this issue, but I could not find the solution, and surprisingly, neither could Autodesk. Thanks to my esteemed colleague, Colin Gaudet for discovering what turns out to be a very simple solution.
This is the behavior from 2021.0 and it is the expected behavior.
This is the behavior after installing 2021.1. The compass indicates that there are no bends and it will not allow any angle to be drawn, only a straight line.
The SettingThere is a new setting to allow pipe runs to be “snapped” to known bend angles. Turn off the new setting to return to the expected behavior when there are no bends. The compass remains, but it now allows any angle to be drawn.
Autodesk has released the first update for AutoCAD 2021. Find official documentation here. Here are some highlights:
Many users create PDF files from AutoCAD products as PDF seems to be the standard digital format. There are three issues you may run into and some settings to consider if you use Bluebeam Revu as well as AutoCAD.
Viewports
First, you may see this message when opening PDF files using Bluebeam Revu (not the free viewer) which were created from AutoCAD using Autodesk’s DWG to PDF print driver. These “viewports” are artifacts contained within the PDF file to which Bluebeam Revu alerts you when you open a file containing them. ALWAYS say yes to removing these artifacts. If you don’t, they will very likely affect the accuracy of any measurements you make in Revu. If you skip past this message without selecting Yes, the viewports can be removed from the PDF in Revu’s measurement panel.
Why do they exist in the first place? It seems to be an issue with Autodesk’s DWG to PDF.pc3 file. PDF’s created using Bluebeam’s PDF printer do not contain these anomalies. Here is an Autodesk discussion group thread discussing these viewports. Interestingly, it indicates that these viewports can cause an issue when measuring using Adobe Pro, but there appears not to be a solution there, where Revu does indeed catch the existence of them.
Searchable Text and SHX Fonts
The second issue is searchable text. Many AutoCAD users still use Autodesk SHX fonts. There are several reasons to avoid using SHX fonts; not the least of which is that when a PDF is created containing them, that text will not be searchable when opened in any PDF reader software. If you want your recipient to be able to search text, and you very likely should, do not use SHX fonts in AutoCAD. Use a True Type font, such as Arial instead. This is with one exception. With Bluebeam Revu, SHX text is in fact searchable, but you must enable “Search Markups”. More detail about this I the section below “Odd Markups”.
If you’re a Bluebeam Revu user with the CAD version or better, and you prefer to use its PDF print driver instead of Autodesk’s, there is an option to enable SHX fonts as outlined in this article. Better, do use a True Type font as mentioned above, but there is one more setting you must enable. A PC3 file must be created using the Bluebeam print driver and then this option set in the printer properties in AutoCAD. It defaults to TrueType as graphics and your text will not be searchable if it’s not changed.
Lastly, using Bluebeam Revu (not the free viewer) to open a PDF created by AutoCAD using its DWG to PDF printer, you may see “markups” already contained in the PDF. There will be one markup for each text object in the file, indicated by the AutoCAD SHX Text author. That adds up to a lot of markups if it’s a file with many text objects. This can affect the performance of the file within Revu and they will definitely be in the way when creating normal markups. These markups are only required if you need to search SHX text; they cannot be deleted with Revu tools. They can be Flattened in Revu prior to adding your own usual markups, or they can simply be filtered out if you don’t wish to see them. Don’t worry, the text in the PDF will not disappear. I do not have access to Adobe Pro to see if this is an issue there as well.
These “markups” are created when printing from AutoCAD using the DWG to PDF driver and it is an Autodesk feature. In AutoCAD, there is a variable named PDFSHX. Turned on, a value of 1, enables these “markups” in the PDF file which results in searchable text. Turning it off will result in no “markups” and non-searchable SHX text. Here is an Autodesk document outlining this feature. SHX text may or may not be searchable depending on the PDF reader in use. For example, the Bluebeam Revu free viewer cannot search SHX text, but the paid version can.
This issue does not occur with PDFs created in AutoCAD using Bluebeam’s printer driver.
It’s that time of year again folks; Autodesk has released their flagship product in AutoCAD 2021. Here is an excellent article explaining the new changes. Below are the features that are close to this BLOG writer’s heart.
There is no format change this year. Excellent!
Trim and Extend have new default behavior resulting in fewer clicks.
Revision clouds are now their own object. Including a new Arc Length property.
The Break At Point command can now be repeated resulting in fewer clicks.
Drawing version history comparison for files stored in cloud services such as OneDrive and DropBox.
The block palette now contains a Library for blocks stored in cloud services or other folders.
A brand new AutoLISP development interface which uses Visual Studio Code with a LISP extension. Auto-complete functions and parentheses.
Tabling, legend creation and QTO workflows leave a lot to be desired in Civil 3D, forcing to use many different subpar tools, or worse, performing the work manually. With Data Wizard you can scan any number of drawings for AutoCAD and Civil 3D objects to generate legends, tables, QTOs, and more, all to company standards, and all automatically. When drawings change, refresh tables to automatically incorporate updates. Save out templates for quick recreation of custom tables and legends.
For more click here
Have you ever turned on background BING imagery inside AutoCAD products only to find they don’t appear? There could be a few reasons for this:
These two are the pre-requisites for using images from BING, but there is one more which has many of my customers stumped. Have you ever seen this message? You almost certainly have.
If you choose Yes, then you will see your images. If you choose No, you won’t. If you check that little button on the bottom left, you’ll never see this message again. Good, right? Well, if you chose Yes, then yes. If you chose No, well…you’ll never receive this message again and you’ll never see images!
There is a saviour, however. There are other message like this in AutoCAD. Toggles that prevent that box from appearing in the future. These are called “Hidden Messages” and they can be turned back on by opening AutoCAD’s Options dialog box [OPTIONS]. Then opening the hidden message settings in the System tab.
I hope you can use this to avoid any unnecessary frustration in your day.
AutoCAD has a command contained within the Express Tool named FLATTEN. It is designed to remove any non-zero elevations from selected objects within a drawing. It does an excellent job with this, but there is some behavior that may not be obvious to all users. This command works very well with many objects such as TEXT, LINES, and some BLOCKS. However, unexpected behavior results when flattening Dynamic and Annotative blocks, even blocks with embedded non-zero-elevation linework.
Annotative Blocks: For example, an annotative block with a name of Arrow, is inserted 3 times. Regardless of the attached annotative scales, the result after the FLATTEN command will be 3 blocks with 3 different names; Arrow-flat-1, Arrow-flat-2, and Arrow-flat-3. Further, they will no longer be annotative.
Dynamic Blocks: After the FLATTEN command, each dynamic block will no longer be dynamic and will become an “unnamed block” with a name similar to “*U63”.
Blocks: A typical block will FLATTEN adequately. A block which contains elements which have non-zero elevations, will also flatten adequately. Understand that the FLATTEN command will make changes to block definitions in this example to set all elevations to 0.
So what can be done? Here are two options.
Imagine a world where you could get high resolution background image maps to display and PRINT in AutoCAD.
Esri and Autodesk are working closer than ever and this alliance benefits all CAD and GIS users. Esri provides a free ArcGIS for AutoCAD plugin. This plugin allows vanilla AutoCAD users to access Esri maps. As mentioned, the beauty of these maps is that they also print/plot in AutoCAD.
I was surprised at the level of detail!
Download ArcGIS for AutoCAD plugin for free at: https://www.esri.com/en-us/arcgis/products/arcgis-for-autocad
Contact SolidCAD for more information about our newly created three-day training course for any INFRA, GIS/FME training.
Many of us use keyboard shorts and aliases to keep our eyes on the drawing area and keep our thoughts on our design. Searching for commands on the ribbon, especially if it’s buried in the pull-down portion, is probably not our favorite things to do. The right-click contextual shortcut menus are one of the key tools for keeping ribbon searching at bay.
Shortcut menus are great. They are fully customizable, and even out of the box they have some useful commands. What makes them even better are that each one of these can be selected with just a keystroke.
Let’s look at the two core shortcut menus: “Default Menu”, which pops up if no objects are selected, and “Edit Menu”, which pops up if at least one object is selected.
So, pan command can be run with a simple right click followed by pressing A. In the above list, Isolate and Pan are nice. The rest have decent keyboard shortcut or alias options already, but things get much more interesting with the edit shortcut menu. The Edit shortcut menu hotkeys are listed below (except for those already listed above):
Basic editing commands like copy, rotate and move are made significantly made easier with the shortcut menu hotkeys. Draw order hotkeys are solid, as are Group hotkeys (if you use the group feature). Add Selected is amazing (draws a new object of the same type and as if match properties were applied afterwards), as are Select Similar and Properties Palette.
Best of all, whether you decide to throw more commands into the shortcut menu or not, you can manually add or edit the hotkey for each item. Let’s look at the Undo item in the “Default” shortcut menu in the CUI:
Note how there is an “&” character in the name of the item in the shortcut menu. That designates the letter that follows (U) as the keyboard hotkey for that item.
What this allows, essentially, is to open a second set of keyboard shortcuts that are accessed with the right mouse button.
I know there are still many drafters who prefer to use the right mouse button to repeat the last command rather than access the shortcut menu. There is nothing wrong with that. If you are a shortcut menu user, however, it gives you all sorts of hotkeys through the right mouse button so that you can keep your eyes on the drawing area and your mind on design. Consider giving shortcut menu hotkeys a try if you don’t use them already.
