Readme
Readme
Readme
==========================================================================
contents
========
windows-specific information
dos-specific information
r13c1 update
additional information
r13c2 update
additional information
documentation issues
========================================================================
general information - autocad release 13c0 - november, 1994
========================================================================
contents
========
general notes
windows-specific information
dos-specific information
========================================================================
general notes
=============
you can't use release 12 help files in release 13. if you keep
release 12 help files on your system, make sure your support path
lists the directory for the release 13 help file first.
it's recommended that you use the maximum precision (16) when using
dxfout on release 12 ame solids for use in release 13. if you use a
low precision with dxfout, data might be incorrect and some operations
might fail.
if you need to keep the drawing in release 12 format, either mark the
file as "read only," or load it into release 13 and use the saveasr12
command to save it to a file in release 12 format.
if you create a block and then use saveasr12, there's a chance that
some extended characters might be removed. this can result in duplicate
symbol naming. it's recommended that you check the messages displayed
in the text window before quitting autocad.
- find it succeed
- don't find it fail
note: the file without an extension isn't tried until last, so that
for example on unix, acad.ahp will be searched for before acad.
autocad writes a binary index (.hdx) file the first time it reads a
platform independent (pi) help file. normally, this file is written to
the same directory where the help source file is found. if the source
file is in a read-only directory (for example, a restricted network
drive or a cd-rom), this file can't be written to the help source file
directory.
the following sequence illustrates how pi help places the .hdx file.
you can force autocad to place the .hdx file anywhere on the acad path
by placing a dummy .hdx file in that directory.
the next time, the same logic is used to find the built index file.
the message "help index in: xxx." displays on the command line
to indicate where the file was written.
solid models are included with the release 13 base system. these models
provide full 3d descriptions of an object, suitable for rendering. one
model, steering.dwg, is included with the examples and samples option of
the autocad install/setup. additional example models have been included
on the cd-rom. because of their size, they're not installed as part of
release 13, however, you can either copy them to your hard drive or open
them directly from the cd. to provide the best display of each model,
use the hide command.
loading acadr13.lsp
-------------------
the file acad.lsp extends basic autocad. you should not modify
acadr13.lsp.
there are known memory leaks when you cancel solid and region
modeling operations by pressing ctrl+c. if you cancel a lot of
modeling operations in one autocad session, autocad might use
up all available memory and crash.
such solids result mostly from the torus command where the major
and minor radii are equal, and from the revolve command where the
region being revolved touches the axis of revolution.
boolean operations
revolved solids
if the axis of revolution touches the region being revolved,
further operations on the solid created could fail. some possible
workarounds include
- making sure that the edges that touch the axis are as simple
as possible. if an edge touching the axis is a spline curve,
replacing a small portion of that curve near the point of
contact with a line or a circular/elliptical arc will help.
tapered extrusions
the following are issues to note while using the fillet or chamfer
commands for 3d solids.
- chamfer of a single edge that has at least one adjacent tangent edge
isn't well handled in acis currently, and isn't being allowed.
section planes
the section command says that the section plane does not intersect
the solid even though the plane may be passing through an edge or
a vertex of the solid. if there's some common area shared between
the solid and the section plane, a region enclosing that area will
result. otherwise, the section command will say that there's no
intersection between the section plane and the solid.
========================================================================
windows-specific information
============================
to use a document, you need to change your setup so that you use
the electronic book from your hard disk. (if you copy the entire
document set, you will use about 90 megabytes of memory on your hard
disk.)
/collection
/books
2. copy the "book" into the /books directory. for example, to copy the
autocad command reference onto your hard disk, copy all the files
and directories from acad_bks/books/acrbook from the cd-rom.
3. copy the /ents and /figures directories from the cd-rom into your
/collection directory.
4. copy the booklist.txt file from the cd-rom into your /collection
directory. the booklist.txt file contains the complete list of
the autocad documents and their aliases in dynatext.
collection=;c:\acad_bks=autocad documents;
if you don't update your .ini file with the proper location, you'll
receive an error message telling you to install your cd-rom disk.
windows menu files aren't locked in release 13. it's recommended that
if you use a network, you reference menu files locally.
when you have the norton desktop for windows loaded, you might
encounter some difficulties with autocad's file dialog boxes. to
workaround any problems, press esc to cancel the dialog box, and then
reenter the command.
the acad.ini file assumes that autocad's truetype fonts are not
installed in windows. if you do install autocad's truetype fonts
(by using the control panel), the following items in the [mte fonts]
section should be changed as follows:
bgothl=bankgothic lt bt;400;0
bgothm=bankgothic md bt;400;0
compi=commercialpi bt;400;0
comsc=commercialscript bt;400;0
dutch=dutch801 rm bt;400;0
dutchb=dutch801 rm bt;700;0
dutchbi=dutch801 rm bt;700;1
dutcheb=dutch801 xbd bt;900;0
dutchi=dutch801 rm bt;400;1
monos=monospace821 bt;400;0
monosb=monospace821 bt;700;0
monosbi=monospace821 bt;700;1
monosi=monospace821 bt;400;1
stylu=stylus bt;400;1
swiss=swis721 bt;400;0
swissb=swis721 blk bt;;400;0
swissbi=swis721 blk bt;400;1
swissbo=swis721 bdoul bt;400;0
swissc=swis721 cn bt;400;0
swisscb=swis721 blkcn bt;400;0
swisscbi=swis721 blkcn bt;400;1
swisscbo=swis721 bdcnoul bt;400;0
swissci=swis721 cn bt;400;1
swissck=swis721 blkcn bt;400;0
swisscki=swis721 blkcn bt;400;1
swisscl=swis721 ltcn bt;400;0
swisscli=swis721 ltcn bt;400;1
swisse=swis721 ex bt;400;0
swisseb=swis721 ex bt;700;0
swissek=swis721 blkex bt;400;0
swissel=swis721 ltex bt;400;0
swissi=swis721 it bt;400;1
swissk=swis721 blk bt;400;0
swisski=swis721 blk bt;400;1
swissko=swis721 blkoul bt;400;0
swissl=swis721 lt bt;400;0
swissli=swis721 lt bt;400;1
umath=universalmath1 bt;400;0
vinet=vineta bt;400;0
<name>=<face>;<weight>;<italic>
where:
deskpro xl 566 user's can also use the 386 enhanced icon from the
windows control panel to change the 32-bit disk access setting. see
the microsoft windows user's guide for more information on changing
swap file settings.
as an example, if you've set a 128mg permanent swap file and you have
16mgs of ram, windows will use only 64mgs of that swap file with the
default settings. if you put the following line under the [386enh]
section of the system.ini file:
pageovercommit=8
clipboard issues
----------------
the clipboard features for release 13 don't gray out depending on data
in the clipboard viewer. the features affected by this are cut, copy,
copy view, paste, paste special, links, and insert object.
when tilemode is off (set to 0), pasting ole objects into autocad
from other applications, such as paintbrush, will result in the
object's belonging to the paper space viewport regardless of any
model space viewports that might be active.
autocad might not respond to ole requests from 16-bit ole 2.0
applications. for example, using insert, object, from microsoft
word for windows 6.0 and selecting autocad will result in a message
that the application can't be found. this is recognized as a known
problem with windows and not necessarily an autocad problem.
using the microsoft mouse driver 9.01 can cause known errors, such as
growstub errors. your pointer might not snap to the default button in
a dialog box; attempts to access the mouse manager in the windows
control panel cause the mouse manager to crash and the control panel
to quit. to correct the problem, exit windows and reload.
autocad sessions
----------------
only one session of autocad can be run at a time. before you begin a
new session of autocad, please wait until any previous session has
exited completely.
when you choose cancel in the select font dialog box for a font to be
used in the mtext editor, autocad uses the arial font as the default
font.
rtf text and the mtext editor
-----------------------------
rtf text isn't recognized by the mtext editor. text from other
programs with embedded formatting will lose formatting when imported
or pasted into the mtext editor.
using acadfull.mnu
------------------
========================================================================
dos-specific information
========================
if you run out of memory when mtext attempts to use the dos editor,
configure your system so that you have more memory. you can put dos
in high memory or use the shroom command before invoking autocad.
consult your dos manual for instructions on how you do this.
when you import a file for mtext, load the file into the editor and
save it using the name ac000512. (the period or fullstop [.] after
"ac000512" is required). when you're prompted whether you want to
overwrite the existing file of the same name, choose y (yes).
the temporary file name ac000512. must exist when using mtext in a
dos editor. if you attempt to rename the temporary file to a name
other than ac000512., the mtext operation will be canceled.
========================================================================
manual corrections and additions
================================
general notes
-------------
leader associativity
arrows only
the image tiles change as you pick them, and the value of
the method list updates. if you select an item from the
method list, the image tiles change to reflect that type of
tolerance setting.
the image tiles change as you pick them, and the value of
the method list updates. if you select an item from the
method list, the image tiles change to reflect that type of
tolerance setting.
in the select font file dialog box, valid file types include
.pfa, .pfb, .shx, and .ttf.
dimaltz
type: integer
saved in: drawing
initial value: 0
dimtzin
type: integer
saved in: drawing
initial value: 0
dimzin
type: integer
saved in: drawing
initial value: 0
the entry for this system variable isn't correct and should
be changed as follows:
menuname
(read-only)
type: string
saved in: application header
saveimages
type: integer
saved in: drawing
initial value: 0
if 2 or, for certain classes and solids, bodies, and regions, when
0, then no image data will be saved for these application defined
objects if the drawing is reloaded without the supporting
applications.
the keys ctrl+z don't undo typing. you can, however, still
paste back text that you've cut.
when using mtext, you can create the special characters for the
degree symbol, plus/minus tolerance symbol, and the diameter
symbol by entering the following unicode character strings:
for example, if you enter the following text into the text
editor, autocad treats the text as one long line and breaks
the line based on the width allowed for the mtext object:
[mte fonts]
txt=arial;400;0
complex=times new roman;400;0
gothice=lucida blackletter;400;0
gothicg=lucida blackletter;400;0
gothici=lucida blackletter;400;0
greekc=symbol;400;0
greeks=symbol;400;0
italic=times new roman;400;1
italicc=times new roman;400;1
italict=times new roman;700;1
monotxt=courier new;400;0
monotxt8=courier new;400;0
romanc=times new roman;600;0
romand=times new roman;500;0
romans=times new roman;400;0
romant=times new roman;700;0
scriptc=script;700;0
scripts=script;400;0
simplex=arial;400;0
c:\fonts\tt\dutch.ttf=times new roman;400;0
<name>=<face>;<weight>;<italic>
where:
"predefined attributes"
if true, specifies that a list box or popup list will display text
in a fixed pitch font. this provides for easier spacing or tab
alignment of columns. the fixed_width_font attribute is functional
on windows/nt only.
"calcomp 3300 series tablets, page 117 (dos), page 104 (windows)
add the following section after the "configuring the tablet" section
tablet swap lets you change the function of each of the four menu areas
on the template. three areas are reserved for use by autocad; the fourth
can be used for a custom menu or an independently developed application.
to make a swap, pick one of the four tablet icons located below the
lower-right corner of the screen area. you can swap at any time, even
when a command is active. picking an icon a second time swaps to the
original menu.
the first icon on the left swaps the top area of the template to a
blank menu. this blank menu area is the same as previous versions of
the autocad template and can be used for personal applications and
menu items.
the second icon swaps the left area of the template. zoom and other
display commands cancel the command in progress. vpoint and dview
commands refer to the current ucs. when you swap back, display
commands are transparent, and vpoint and dview refer to the world
coordinate.
the third icon swaps the right area of the template. this swap
changes units from imperial (english) to metric.
the fourth icon swaps the bottom area of the template. this swap
changes the osnap picks (t12-22) to running osnap by resetting
the osmode system variable. when you swap back, the last running
osnap is the default for osnap override.
when you make a swap, a number (1-4) replaces one of the four stars
at the top of the screen menu. for instance, picking s19 and s21
replaces two stars. to reset all menus areas to their original
state, pick the heading autocad above the line of stars.
command line prompts inform you of each swap if the expert system
variable is in the range of 0-3. a setting of 0 (default) gives
you full prompts, while a setting of 1-3 gives you shorter prompts.
a setting of 4 or above suppresses all prompts.
the numeric menu (tablet menu area 3) on the tablet template is set
to imperial units (e.g. inches) by default. the default should be
determined by the measurement setting in the acad.ini file or the
configured units in autocad. to enable the metric numeric menu,
swap this area by selecting the tablet swap icon (s21 on tablet).
at the command line autocad displays the message:
selecting this swap icon again will return the numeric menu back to
imperial units
==========================================================================
r13c1 update - january, 1995
==========================================================================
contents
========
what problems does it fix?
additional information
==========================================================================
what problems does it fix?
==========================
the following problems were fixed with the r13a patch and are included
in the r13c1 release:
-- mline styles are now associated with the correct layers in all
cases.
-- the bhatch dialog user, normal, inner and outer options now
return the proper values to the hpname system variable in localized
versions of autocad.
-- long path names in the open drawing dialog box do not force
the read only check box to be selected.
==========================================================================
additional information
======================
device=vshare.386.
continuing to use share is not a problem assuming that you don't care
about being able to unload ads or rx applications. if you try to
unload an application with share loaded, the unload fails cleanly with
a command line notice of the failure to unload -- autocad continues
on without a problem.
- you are unable to use ase and ade without share or vshare
- many microsoft programs require share or vshare to be loaded
- file protection in a multiuser environment is compromised
==========================================================================
r13c2 update - march 16, 1995
==========================================================================
contents
========
additional information
documentation issues
==========================================================================
what problems does it fix?
==========================
this section explains the problems that are fixed with the r13c2 update.
the fixes are organized by the following topics:
1 scientific
2 decimal
3 engineering
4 architectural (stacked)
5 fractional (stacked)
6 architectural
7 fractional
the new values are not accepted by the lunits system variable because
the units formatting controlled by lunits cannot result in an mtext stack.
-- the open command's find file, search option now handles wild
cards in the following way: if the search string does not contain path
separators, the search will try to match either the full path or just the
file name portion of the path.
-- when you start a new drawing (with the new command) after opening
a drawing as read-only, the new drawing's status is no longer sets as
read-only.
-- the mline, xline, and ray commands now display polar coordinates
(dist>ang) in the status bar when coords is set to 2.
-- the time required for autocad to create layers has been reduced,
and objects on frozen layers now display properly in paper space.
ase fixes
---------
-- the ase bit and bit varying data types work properly with the
oracle 6 driver.
-- an aerial view alert message now tells users that fast zooming
must be enabled in order to use the aerial viewer.
customization/developer fixes
-----------------------------
-- autocad now allows support paths of greater than 256 characters.
where <local1> through <localn> are the localized keywords, and <indep1>
through <indepn> are the 'language independent' keywords. there must
always be the same number of localized keywords as language independent
keywords, and the first language independent is prefixed by an underscore.
for example:
warning: this is true even if the value returned from the ads/arx
application was the original selection set. for example:
if the "adsfunc" ads function returns the same selection set it was
fed as an argument, then this selection set will be eligible for
garbage collection even though it is still assigned to the same
variable!
==========================================================================
additional information
======================
this section provides additional information on the following topics:
-- the menu file syntax has been modified for r13 autocad for
windows to provide additional functionality. these menu files are not
recognized by r13 dos autocad. if you save a drawing in windows and then
open it in a dos version, the menu may not appear as desired. use the
menu command to load the dos menu file. autocad for windows recognizes
both the old and the new syntax.
-- the object pager (opg) is a new component of release 13 c2,
which allows you to limit the amount of virtual memory that autocad uses
to store the drawing currently being edited. when you enable the object
pager, autocad keeps part of the current drawing in virtual memory and
part of it in the object pager's swap files. the object pager shuttles
the data back and forth between virtual memory and the pager files, so
that it always has what it needs in virtual memory.
if you are editing large drawings that are causing heavy disk swapping
or are causing the system to crash or otherwise act in an unstable way,
then you might benefit from enabling the object pager. this will reduce
the strain on the system's swapping mechanism and should stabilize and
perhaps speed up autocad r13.
you can set the maxobjmem variable by entering maxobjmem on the command
line. you can also set the environment variable acadmaxobjmem. note
that environment variables can be specified in the acadenv.ini file as
well as in the actual environment. see your installation guide for
information on setting environment variables.
the object pager creates two temporary swap files. these swap files use
a naming scheme of mpgr<nnnn>, where the <nnnn> varies per session. these
files are created when you begin a drawing and are destroyed when you
exit. by default, they are created in the directory pointed to by the
acadpagedir environment variable. if that variable is undefined, they are
created in the autocad temp directory. if you reboot the system without
exiting autocad, these files won't be properly deleted, so you should
delete them yourself. do not attempt to delete them from within autocad!
the object pager is separate from the other pager used by autocad. the
other pager uses different swap files (pg*) and other variables
(acadmaxmem and acadmaxpage) to control its memory usage. the one thing
both pagers have in common is that they both use acadpagedir to decide
where to place their swap files.
if you change maxobjmem, the pager will not turn on (or off) until you
exit the current drawing and enter another. once the pager is turned on
(or off), it remains in that condition for the duration of that drawing
session (until the next new or open). however, if the pager is on, then
changes to the value of maxobjmem (to raise or lower the size of the
virtual memory used) are noticed immediately.
documentation issues
--------------------
the following sections provide updates to the autocad documentation set.
============================================
updates to the windows/nt installation guide
============================================
the following sections contain information that updates the autocad
windows/nt installation guide.
installing r13 autocad for network operation now requires the installation
and use of the autocad network license management system by rainbow
technologies. the following sections will discuss the network issues as
it pertains to the individual platforms.
general
-------
running the network version of autocad for each workstation client
requires a license from the autocad license server. a license server must
be installed on the network before any requests from client autocads can
be made. when a license request is made, autocad must wait for the
license server to grant this before it can complete its startup. autocad
will display its logo screen while the license request is being processed.
if the network is very large or extremely busy, the license granting
process can take several minutes to complete.
as mentioned previously, requests to the license server can take some time
to respond on networks. this is compounded with the use of a long
department name list. each department name will be queried for a license
in turn until one is found that can grant a license. be sure to order
your list from left to right with the left being most likely to grant a
license to the least likely. if you have a list as follows:
set acadserver=server1;server2;server3;
the department name server1 will be queried first, then server2, then
server3. currently, each license server can only have one department name
assigned to it and a maximum of 10 license servers can use the same
department name. you can have more than one network hardware lock for
each license server with the limitation of one lock per parallel port for
each machine. you cannot cascade multiple autocad network locks on a
single parallel port. the license server will auto scan for these locks
on the standard parallel ports, lpt1, lpt2, lpt3. you can also override
these ports with the /p option as described in the installation guide
under security server command line options. multiple license servers are
allowed on the network but only one license server per machine. if you
plan to have more than one network hardware lock to distribute licenses
from several servers with pre-authorized licenses, be sure to have
autodesk authorize these locks for one autocad serial number. use only
that autocad on the network. this also holds true for field authorizing
multiple network locks. autocad will only run with its authorized network
lock, providing the lock has been authorized for more than the default 2
licenses.
restart nt if it requests that you do so. to verify that the sap agent
has been installed and started properly, run the services applet in the
control panel and scan the list for sap agent. it should show that it
has been started.
0: nwlnknb->...
to use the department name feature for license management under nt, for
a nt license server, specify the department name with the command line
option /dn:deptname when you start the server, as you would with any
other server. for a nt client, you need to set the environment variable
acadserver with the department names to use. this is done through the
system applet in the control panel. once it is set, you can run the
autocad client immediately without restarting nt.
lana0=ms$ne2clone,1,ms$netbeui
be sure that lana0 and ms$netbeui are on the same line. the ms$ne2clone
will define the lan adapter card you are using. in this case, it is a
novell 2000 clone card.
to set up a department name for wfw, you need to set the acadserver
environment variable before you start wfw. unfortunately, this does not
provide you with a dynamic way of selecting a different department name
without exiting wfw.
==========================================
updates to the autocad customization guide
==========================================
the following sections contain information that updates the autocad
customization guide.
part ii - chapter 16
====================
the group code tables presented here are intended to update those in the
customization guide. ellipsis (...) in the "group codes" column indicate
that the remaining codes in the original documentation are correct, and
ellipsis in the "description" column indicate that the description in the
original documentation is correct.
graphical entities
==================
nongraphical entities
=====================
the section "common group codes" does not apply to dictionary objects, it
should be moved to the section "block and symbol table group codes."
========================================
updates to the autocad developer's guide
========================================
the following sections contain information that updates the autocad
developer's guide.
part i - ads
============
sending commands to nt/win autocad
----------------------------------
you can send command strings directly to autocad from an ads (or other)
application. this is done by sending a wm_copydata message to autocad's
main frame window. this is similar to but not exactly the same as the
wm_acad method used with r12 autocad for windows.
the first thing you need to do is get the window handle of the main
frame window. this handle is passed in to ads apps in the variable
adsw_hwndacad. it can also be found using the enumwindows call. for
each window, call getwindowtext() and see if the initial text matches
"autocad -".
delete information about group code 90 (ade object lock) from the "new
group codes" table.
delete information about group code 90 (ade object lock) from the "overall
object (or entity) structure" table.
tables section
==============
add "block_record" to the list of valid table names in the second
paragraph.
add "a group 100 (acdbsymboltable subclass marker)" to the list of lines
in the table header following group 5 and before group 70.
blocks section
==============
entities section
================
note: the group code 2 in mline objects should only be used to retrieve
the current mlinestyle name. to change the mlinestyle associated
with an mline, modify the group code 340 to point to the new
mlinestyle object.
objects section
===============
common object group codes table
-------------------------------
group codes description
-------------- ---------------------------------------------------------
5 handle
102 start of persistent reactors group, always
"{acad_reactors" (persistent reactors group appears in
all dictionaries except the main dictionary)
330 soft pointer id/handle to owner dictionary
102 end of persistent reactors group, always "}"