AutoCAD 2011 Launch - Part 3 (presentation notes cont'd)

Eddie Perlberg - design viz technical specialist

- viz helps win bids, improves communication, a smoother approval process, interoperability with adesk tools, advantages with BIM and digital prototyping

design - enhanced modeling

visualize-enhanced rendering, viewport feedback

share - leveraging design data, unified materials

--- working on interoperability - makes rendering a changing building design so much easier, prevents having to reassign every material on re-importing a changed model

-actually, it's more like a link than an import (from revit in example, will this work with AutoCAD too?)

materials are responding more 'real world'

rendering is the workhorse of 3ds max Design -

rendering with Mental Ray 1:18 to render on the CPU

rendering with quicksilver moves it to GPU and it only takes 0:18

Amar Hanspal - we've only covered 4 of 100 Autodesk products

more virtual events http://autodesk.com/seizetheopportunity

Andrew Mackles -- AutoCAD product family

understand key enhancements, challenge assumptions, receive questions

POWER

3d conceptual design, and productivity tools to accelerate projects from concept through completion

CHOICE

customize your autocad software or select an industry-specific version tailored to your business

CONNECTIVITY

data compatibility to help you share work and connect with other design professionals

explore

document

communicate

customize

Point Clouds can effectively workwith2billion points but they did test up to 40gb of point data (although they didn’t count the number of individual points during those tests)

key new components-

--- inferred constraints

-- pediting improvements

-- hatch editing improvements

-- create ore select similar objects

-- hide or isolate objects

windows 7 optimization - take advantage of UI, etc

AutoCAD LT - hatch editing and pline editing improvements

object and layer transparency as well as finally support for gradient hatches

Heidi Hewett

showing us some enhancements to everyday productivity

selectsimilar, hideobjects

selection cycling - lists overlapping object

hatch transparency on ribbon tab, but, transparency is also in the properties palette and can also do transparency by layer, transparency toggle on the status bar

- how does this plot? page setup dialog box - plot transparency checkbox, but, this will rasterize the output

- if we plot DWF with transparency on, we couldn't use object snap because it would be raster file - ouch

in auto constrain settings, there's an "=" constraint

inferred constraints

- rectangles are actually closed polylines, so it doesn't scale uniformly, so turn on inferred constraints

how many acad customers actually use constraints?  (more popular newer users, slower adoption among older users. Mfg users are using it more than AEC)

Guillermo Melantoni

surface associativity (nurbs surfaces)

starting with splines

Spline CV's (create them with control vertices) (spline knot is the old fit version), now spline freehand (suggesting use with tablet works well)

- multifunctional grips with splines - click and pick to create surfaces - AutoCAD understand the surface edge - continuity (guides, path, cross sections only, settings, continuity, bulge magnitude)

- can project into the surface, easily loft between... conceptual design of shapes really quickly

he showed of some dimensional constraint parameters in a very complex 3d block (pic) - this model is 190k (would be bigger as a solid model),

talking about introducing materials and renderings into an industry that doesn't 'know the language'

-we as designers need to understand and manipulate some things, but, not others

-natively supported, without driver install needed for 3dmouse

- point cloud

-- index point cloud - las file to index- fls, fws, xyb (why not leico? the other company worked with them?)

pcg file is created - showed stadium with 35 million points    (Mandalay bay was 1.5biln points)

insert cloud and snap to elements to create geometry (expecting API to close gap for 3d party vendors to step in and manipulate)

-can we export these files with clouds in, so that they can be used by other products? - they weren't quite sure, they're going to check with others (suggestion that the subscription advantage pack for c3d might help, debate on quality of file from contractor doing the scanning)

-- merging of features across products is becoming more and more obvious (Jeff Agla?)

Tatjana Dzambazova - Sr. product manager , creative 3d

digital concepts and emerging products

alias sketch and alias sketch for AutoCAD

-software is getting in the way of ability to explore ideas

- need to rely on too many packages to communicate and collaborate

- need basic image manipulations compositing and editing in AutoCAD

$500 for alias sketch, subs $70

mixed media workflows, color manipulation is powerful, dynamic transformation tools (vectors as well as images and fills) in a hybrid environment, embedded sketching, painting and image compositing

- instead of all of the customers taking things to Photoshop just to do cropping, add transparency and composite, the rest is overkill

vector layers, raster layers and canvas

sketching is vector, color fills are raster

shape recognition - you don’t have to sketch perfect circle, it sees

(Impression is 'in a holding pattern', for presentation only, not conceptual design

impression is still alive)

Kate Morrical - AutoCAD LT

top three beta site requests - best selling product

hide/isolate objects

transparency

gradient hatches

hatch background colors (effect of layering hatches) - can set hatch layer and forget about it

selectsimilar

spline enhancements

pline editing

join functionality

highlight xrefs

default scale list

ignore missing shx files

text in linetypes are always readable

quick dimension

layer previous

sketch

(no parametrics or 3dmodeling, customization (lsp,vba,.net) enterprise level features ?like network licenses?, express tools)

CANNOT*create* parametrics, but, CAN use them

web-based Help File (communities blogs etc) can use it without being online, no worries

only win 7 release not supported is home (home premium is supported)

recent files feature in win7

Jeff Agla - Sr. Business Manager - covering ACA2011

promote connectivity throughout features

workflow, usability, fit and finish

showing intelligent wall cleanup

constraints work on walls and use formulas (constraints on walls will also affect spaces without problem)

Renovation tools  (Manage > Renovation... magically adds 'new' 'existing' and 'demo')

can handle point clouds, but, no additional features

(revit can read an autocad drawing with a point cloud in its underlay, but, doesn't support them itself)

Adam Perry - Senior Business Manager - AutoCAD Mechanical

- they get all the AutoCAD features

fix , fit and finish (f3)

getting rid of the dialogs and give the canvas back to users - e.g. moved dim dialog into the ribbon and dims are updating live

- migration - 20,000 new mechanical users this year, they have legacy dwg data (smarter BOM tool introduced in 2010) - now balloons are imported and are associative

helps you clean up legacy drawings, easy excel list to help resolve conflicts (part numbers duplicated, etc)

Usability:

2010 gave us Part Publishing

standard content now smarter, you can drag on insert, custom content is easier now, can import standard sizes for parts from excel spreadsheets you already have

common saveas dialog

construction line *always* move to background

powerful international standards

What's your Favorite Express Tool?

Bonus tools, express tools... whatever you call them, you've got certain tasks that just wouldn't be as easy without them!

The past few years, Autodesk has rolled more of them into the AutoCAD-based products (like the layer tools now on the Layers II toolbar like LAYISO, Change Space, Layer Merge). A couple of those tools have really been improved/expanded, too.

BUT, there are still a few more tools left over on the old EXPRESSMENU.
Autodesk wants to know which ones are your favorite!

So, take this survey and share your thoughts with them. Who knows that could happen next?

Sanity Savers - Selection Tip for AutoCAD Architecture 2008

I'd spoken with a few people in the past couple of months about a problem we'd all been experiencing with making selections in ACA08.

Whenever I would select my objects then choose a command (either from a button or from the right-click menu), my selection set would be cleared.

But, when I typed the command or chose it from the 'recent commands' flyout in the right-click menu, it would act as expected.

So, in those cases, I would either try to remember to choose my command first, or input 'P' (for previous) if the selection set had been cleared.

Now, all of us had already tried the PICKFIRST, PICKADD and DBLCLKEDIT system variables, but, we had no joy.

I was cruising around the Autocad discussion groups last week when I came across another user who had someone experiencing the same thing.

And a forum user, Joe Burke posted the solution!

Reply From: Joe Burke

Date: Dec/22/07

Re: problem with selecting objects

At the command line check the value of the undocumented system variable QAFLAGS.

That's the problem, if it set to anything other than zero.

Joe Burke

Sure enough, when we all checked, we discovered that this variable had been set at '1'.

Well, since QAFLAGS is an undocumented SysVar, I did a bit of googling to see which nerds have revealed the finer details!

In this case, the ones who came through were Jimmy Bergmark, Owen Wengerd and Lee Ambrosius:

http://www.jtbworld.com/autocadtips.htm

Jimmy - heading: Undocumented

QAFLAGS acceps a value between 0 and 32767
bit 0 (1) : ^C in menu macro cancels grips (acts like keyboard ).
bit 1 (2) : no pause during text screen listings.
bit 2 (4) : no "alert" dialogs (text display instead).
bit 7 (128) : accepts "screen picks" (point lists) via (command) function.

Normally QAFLAGS should be set to 0. Because it might be set to other values it is a good idea to put (setvar "QAFLAGS" 0) in acaddoc.lsp or any other of your lisp files that you use for startup.

Also Owen:

http://www.manusoft.com/Resources/AcadExposed/Main.stm

and Lee:

http://www.hyperpics.com/system_variables/

For the customization guys, here was a tip posted in the AUGI AutoCAD Tips and Tricks forum:

http://forums.augi.com/showthread.php?t=24081

pemin (patrick emin)

2005-08-12

Set the QAFLAGS variable to 2 to prevent the pauses in the text window. This can be used to list all layers or blocks in order to copy paste the text in a text editor without generating pages breaks.

So, a big 'THANKS!' to Joe Burke for posting the answer in the AutoCAD discussion forum and to the other guys for documenting it, I hope that more people will benefit from hearing about this little-known variable.

Autodesk Launches FMDesktop 7.1 product suite

Looks like Autodesk has made a few more improvements to Facility Manager, Facility Web and Facility Link (and, I assume also, Facility Request), and released them as FMDesktop 7.1.

Announcing Launch of Autodesk FMDesktop 7.1 Products

Autodesk® Facility Manager software brings drawings and data together in a way that gives users more information than stand-alone floor plans, databases, or spreadsheets. The open architecture in Autodesk Facility Manager software makes it flexible enough to meet the needs of the many disciplines involved in facility management.

The new release of Autodesk® FMDesktop™ software launches today, October 19, with enhancements to Autodesk Facility Manager software, including:

• Performance improvements that allow users to run reports faster
• New drawing viewer improvements
• More powerful .DWF import capabilities

Facility Manager 7.1 software users can now:

• Import asset information from CAD or BIM using the .DWF import wizard
• Receive instant audit reports of new, existing, or orphaned assets
• Share facility drawings and data with others who have the free Autodesk® Design Review viewer

The Autodesk FMDesktop 7.1 products are compatible with the 2008 versions of AutoCAD® and Revit® products.

I reported in a post this spring that the 2008 product compatibility was going to be released as a Hotfix eventually, but, it was apparently rolled into the new release instead.

Of course, you'll still be able to use it with older versions of AutoCAD, verticals, etc.

One handy tip from the ReadMe file, Facility Link will work with AutoCAD Architecture (ADT or ACA) and AutoCAD MEP (ABS or AMEP), BUT, it will not work if you try to use it with the profile option "run as AutoCAD".

Where have I been? Wandering, of course.

I just wanted to give a rundown of what I've been doing and what I will be doing in the near future so the curious faithful readers (yes, both of you) can have some insight.

It all started last fall. I was working on the Salary Survey, which takes up more than enough of my time anyway, when I had the opportunity to work for one of my personal heroes in writing a little for her book. This was intimidating. This was also A LOT of work. I didn't know that writing could be so hard. Deadlines and 'voice' and explanations of new topics that hadn't been covered before. It was a lot of work, but, it was well worth it and I'm so thankful for the experience. And, no, I won't get any royalties, so feel free to purchase this wonderful AutoCAD reference, without fear of lining my pockets. ;)

1. I had an action-packed week at AU with AUGI and the FM team
2. finished up the CAD/Design Salary Survey, which was published in the January/February 2007 issue of AUGIWorld Magazine as well as preparing additional documents with more information, for download from the survey channel
3. finished my part on the autocad and autocad lt 2008 bible
4. then I had my spring quarterly Gateway AUG meeting next, for which I was presenting both segments (AutoCAD 2008 features, as well as general CAD tips and tricks for any version)
5. and started planning the following meeting for the summer quarter with Rudy and Tomislav, which was about BIM
6. sat on another industry advisory board meeting to discuss the state and needs of the local design community
7. wrote an AUGI HotNews article: TIPniques: Dashboard Customization
8. started doing a 'Technical Edit' on the 2008 version of the 'Applying AutoCAD' text. I also ended up editing and writing exam questions to match, I finished up my work in this book very recently.
9.10. prepared for and attended our company's annual Planning, Design and Educational conference with corporate, which is always two days just PACKED full of learning and new appreciation for the expertise of my coworkers, and a chance to connect with those from other facilities and hear about their triumphs and frustrations. Not only was I an attendee, but, I also handled all of the a/v needs (one cool part was that I could control the lighting in the room with a remote control... if someone started to ramble before a break, I'd turn the lights back on as a big hint to wrap it up. ;) )
11. lost a family member very close to me. :-(
12. wrote an AUGI HotNews article: TIPniques: Using Referenced Files
13. was mentioned in CADalyst magazine by my new friend, Kenneth Wong.
14.15. finally ordered and installed FMDesktop for a pilot project. it's an attempt to gain more widespread support by showing off the software. I have wanted to do some CAFM at my Facility for awhile now, obviously, and took every FMDesktop class at AU last year and learned from the BEST (not only the best, but, also the creator, Bob, whom I had met at previous AU's when he was still hawking his wares on the exhibit hall floor with the rest of the 3rd party software guys ;) ).
16. ordered and installed AutoCAD Architecture to assist in space preparation (ie, prevent me from having to polyline every single area. SpaceAutoGenerate works a little differently in AutoCAD Architecture 2008 than it did back in Autodesk Architectural Desktop 2007. I'll try to make a post outlining the new steps (it's controlled via the properties palette now, rather than a dialog). Thanks to Jimmy for pointing me in the right direction.
17. bought a house
18. started working with a 'Women in Design' initiative with a nearby college. their administration is attempting to recruit more talented young women for their design curriculum. We've just been emailing so far, but, will have our first sit-down planning session this Friday. I'm very excited about meeting more talented local ladies in various disciplines, and I'm thrilled to see the instructors taking initiative on this. I've asked for a writeup to give an outline/details/goals, etc to share here, I'll post it as soon as I receive something.
19. began planning the fall quarterly meeting of the Gateway Autodesk User Group. It will be a joint meeting with SLAMSUG the evening before the St. Louis AUGI CAD Camp. Clear your calendars and be ready to come and learn and have fun at both events!
20. moved from my role as Forums Co-Manager of the AutoCAD Community, to the duty of Community Chair.
21. wrote an AUGI HotNews article: TIPniques: AutoCAD 2008 Odds and Ends
22. had my blazer in the garage because some dingbat t-boned us
23. had my blazer in the garage again because of... what the heck is dex-cool anyway?
24. started talks with corporate about the future of BIM deliverables (who cares about architectural models? I'm only interested if we've got MEPFP's to go inside of them), and we've got some meetings coming up about it. It's nice to not be the only one paying attention to this and to hear other people finally starting to talk about it. (You might remember me mentioning two past Planning and Educational conferences where I've mentioned it in my own presentations.)

~pause~

So, yep, the Wanderer is wandering again. It seems like just yesterday, but, I know it was really a few years ago, that I posted to you that I was in the middle of, yet another, move.
We're fleeing (sort of) the bright lights of the city and the conveniences inherent therein to the cozier feel of the suburbs.
The much longer commute will stink to high heavens, without a doubt, but, our little angel will be starting school in 2008, and we want to make sure he's got closer to the best of what this region has to offer in public schools.

So, I'm busy packing up now. We've ordered most of the necessities and will be moving in a couple of week's time.

edit:
25. Oh, and as if it weren't enough to be moving houses, my office will also be moving.
So.. yeah, NOT a big deal... for the rest of the Engineering dept. Offices all under 150 sq ft.
Desks, computers, file cabinets.

Now, me, on the other hand. My office space is one thing. BUT, I also have a blueprint room, an O&M manual room and a copy room that need to fit in somewhere. ~sigh~ So... 2,340sq ft of stuff for me to move... and I don't think we'll be able to put it on the same floor that we'll be moving to. I'm already 3 floors up from my copy/blueprint rooms, and it's a pain... if I have to do that in a larger, busier building than the teeny, quiet one we're in now? Lord, help me!
So, we'll be vacating our current spaces by the end of the year. ~taking a deep breath~ eep.

We're also planning on a little jaunt across the puddle to visit family and friends in England and Ireland not long after that. My Mom's big 5-0 this year demands a decent celebration, too. ;) Next thing I know it will be time to run the Annual Salary Survey again.

Anywho, wish me luck!

Look forward to future postings from me on the Women in Design Interview Series I've been conducting. I've got a Civil Engineer in the wings and I'm not afraid to introduce her! And I hope to see you locals at upcoming meetings of GAUG.

AUGI Forums Updated for Autodesk 2008 Products

Well, there have been some updates going on over at AUGI.com discussion group, thanks to the tireless work of the Forum Manager, Mike Perry.

The AutoCAD Community Team had a little hand in our corner of the world.
That would include Kris Keller, the AutoCAD Community Chair, along with Ed Jobe and myself as the AutoCAD Community Forum Managers.

You can check out BLAUGI for a short list of the changes that have been made.

*****
There have also been some changes with the Media and Entertainment forums (aka, the Design and Visualization forums), so be sure to check those areas out, too.

A note on AutoCAD Architecture and AutoCAD MEP 2008 forums... they will be updated once the products are officially released. ;) So, don't feel left out if you don't see anything new in there quite yet, you haven't been forgotten, the ADT/ABS (erm, ACA/AMEP) team is hard at work.
*****

One thing definitely worth mentioning about the AutoCAD Community forums is the expanded coverage of Dynamic Blocks!!! We've recently added two new moderators to the team, Chris and Rico (aka, Dynamic Blockheads) who've done A LOT of work to organize all of the free AutoCAD Dynamic Blocks that the amazing augi community has been making and collecting.

You can ask your dynamic block questions here.

And you can download blocks from this forum, an extensive library well classified (search the labels for Annotation, Architectural, Civil, Electrical, Manufacturing, Mechanical (hvac), Plumbing, Structural and Miscellaneous.).

Be sure to pop up there to check them out, download some blocks and give them a try; heck, you might even want to post one or two nifty creations of your own.

As Bob is my witness, I'll never be Plining Spaces Again!

Creating Spaces for Use with Autodesk FMDesktop

Alright, Scarlett O'Hara, I'm not... but, I do feel this is one of those moments in history that should be captured for posterity. I just 'p-lined' the entire floor of a building in less than 20 minutes.

:-o

What's got me so excited is that this isn't actually polylining. Any Space Manager can tell you how mind-numbingly dull that task is.

Well, at one (of many) of my fabulous classes at AU2006, Bob Fahlin was the instructor, there was discussion of how FMDesktop 7 can read ADT (ACA!) spaces and Revit rooms. So, on top of that wonderful news, there was the revelation of the AutoGenerate Spaces command in ADT/ABS (Acad MEP)!

So, instead of tediously polylining, or quasi-tediously click-dragging spaces, you can set up and automate the creation of spaces.

True, this isn't a 100% *perfect* tool, but, since no *perfect* tools exist, I will be happy with this one!

I took a floor plan, 9,500 sqare feet, just the basics, right.

First, I turned off the casework and plumbing and text layers, just leaving pretty much walls, doors and windows. This is also where good drafting practices can come into play... you need those happy little osnaps working so you don't have gaps at your walls and doors, etc. You *can* add in a 'fudge' factor to ignore gaps, but, really, isn't it just easier to do it right the first time and not have to worry about making the fudge too big and ending up with a mess?

Anyway, I ran the command and here's what I ended up with on my first pass through...
Not too shabby for less than two seconds worth of work.

I manually selected the three spaces near the top that weren't generated for whatever reason, and then I did go back through and drop in a couple of spaces that weren't generated because their openings were... erm, open. Then I quickly plined the two reception areas and three hallways that were left and generated the spaces. That, along with fixing the staircase and elevator spaces and deleting the space on the patio, took all of 20 minutes.

I know this isn't a very big floor, it is one floor of one building on my campus of over 30 buildings, but... it was so much faster than manually polylining that I will take it, and happily.

The only drawback is that, if we adopt this program at work, I'll be cross-grading from my current production software of Autodesk MAP3d (love the cleanup tools) to AutoCAD Architecture (ADT/ACA) and I'm afraid of contaminating my MEP engineers with architecture cooties. :-/ (sorry, Jason M said that earlier today and I couldn't help snickering over it)

This is just one step in setting up an FMDesktop project, but, one of the most important ones.

News about Autodesk 2008 Products

Through the Interface - Kean Walmsley talks about 64bit application migration

WorldCAD Access - Ralph Grabowski talks about All the Details of Autocad 2008

Lynn Allen's blog - Lynn Allen talks about Layer Properties and Layer States in AutoCAD 2008

Revit Rocks - Daryl talks about Revit Building 10 being renamed Revit Architecture 2008, he also Learns AutoCAD

Revit JobCaptain - Daniel Hughes announces the 2008 family of products

CAD Panacea - RK McSwain reveals his top four AutoCAD 2008 feature picks

AutoCAD Insider - Heidi Hewett highlights some goodies in 2008 and talks more in-depth about Annotation Scaling, including animations demonstrating

Knowing What You Don't Know - Mike Massey says goodbye to ADT... and hello to AutoCAD Architecture, find more features details here.

c3D Paving the Way - Scott McEachron reveals compelling features in AutoCAD Civil 3D 2008

Civil3D.com - Jason Hickey reveals New Point Functionality and new line and curve routines in AutoCAD Civil 3D 2008

CAD Shack - Todd Shackelford tries out the new name of the game with Revit and AutoCAD MEP

CAD Insider - Roopinder Tara announces the new naming scheme for the 2008 product line

3D CAD - Caetano Prodi notes the naming format change from Inventor 12 to Inventor 2008 and highlights new features

CADD Manager - Mark Kiker talks about new AutoCAD 2008 command DGNATTACH and DGNCLIP

ObjectARX and Dummies - Fernando Malard announces AutoCAD 208

Beyond the Paper - Scott Sheppard talks about Vault 2008, great enhancements to Design Review 2008, DWF capabilities in AutoCAD 2008 and points out the AutoCAD 2008 preview site

Beth's CAD Blog - Beth Powell blogs about Multi-leaders and other new features in AutoCAD 2008

Ellen Finkelstein.com AutoCAD - Ellen Finkelstein shows A LOT of great information about AutoCAD 2008

Mistress of the Dorkness - Melanie Perry talks about the highlights of AutoCAD 2008 and gives a basic rundown of the new naming scheme for the 2008 products

Edit: Adding more as they come in...

RobiNZ CAD Blog - Robin Capper chats about the details of the 2008 product names changes

Keith Rice's Blog - Keith Rice reveals which 2008 products he's looking forward to using

The Civil Chick - Sarah Cunningham talks AutoCAD Civil3D

In the Dynamic Interface - Mark Douglas gives a run-down on the top three enhancements that will have an impact on his work

Between the Lines - Shaan Hurley speaks about AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT 2008's (and 2007's) compatibility with Windows Vista and 32/64 bit versions

Undocumented Commands in Autodesk MAP3D

MAP power-guru, James Murphy, posts reminders about nifty, undocumented commands in MAP on his blog, Mapping the World.

Also, for more Autocad Learning...

Ellen Finkelstein reminds us... You can buy AutoCAD 2007 and AutoCAD LT 2007 Bible at Amazon.com today or at your bookstore. The main new features are 3D -- and they're very exciting -- but there are lots of great 2D features, too. Buy it today! AutoCAD 2007 and AutoCAD LT 2007 Bible

Also, here's a new one that is definitely worth checking out...
AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT for Dummies, by Lee Ambrosius and David Byrnes

And, not to leave out the Architects in the house... there is an ADT Implementation Guide in the works from Paul Aubin and Matt Dillon.

Happy learning... especially to those of us lucky enough to be attending Autodesk University this fall/winter.

ADT & ABS Users have their own club

Well, sort of... AUGI has just launched it's third product community. This one is for users of architectural desktop and building systems (EDIT: later renamed AutoCAD Architecture and AutoCAD MEP). 


In the ADT and ABS Community, you can find quick links to the ADT/ABS forums, an Exchange, a Tips and Tricks page, a Gallery for folks to showcase their impressive work, Related Links, and a Wish List!

And, for those of you who didn't know, the Revit and AutoCAD communities on AUGI showcase these things as well for their products.


Props to the ADT/ABS Community team volunteers, a lot of hard work goes into putting something like this together, and as usual... when AUGI volunteers get together, great things happen!

So, hop up to the website to visit any of those communities... submit a tip or a shot in the gallery and you could earn a mention on the community pages next month!

PLT files and CAD Events

Here are some cool tips for today!

A Very Valuable Variable when using sheet sets.
You open a drawing which is attached to a sheet set and the SSM manager loads up, which can take a few seconds. Set SSMAutoOpen to '0' to suppress it until you choose to call it up again (by typing SSM).

Printing PLT files from DOS is as simple as using the DOS COPY command ....
syntax: copy /b
The plotter destination can be either an LPT port (i.e. LPT1) or a UNC path
(i.e. \\servername\plottername) using the /b switch ensures that the file is copied as a binary transfer (DOS will default to an ACSII transfer which may drop certain plt file code)

For the record, I hate PLT files. As an end-user whose contracts demand DWG only, I still get plt files on a regular basis from CADdies who just plain don't know any better (nicest way of putting it), I will throw this in here... viewing and printing PLT files.

Express tool: plt2file - typically the wrong format, so don't count on it working

The following were picked up from the Autodesk Discussion Groups:
Send plt files (hpgl/2) and Postscirpt file to plotters with Goplot http://www.output.tmfweb.nl/GoPlot.html

AutoVue can read and print to another scale a number of .plt formats such as HPGL, PCL, CC907 etc. as well as dwg dgn dxf (over 200 file formats). Why not download the working trial and give it a whirl?

Here is an example for a local LPT1 port:
copy /b name_of_plot_here.plt LPT1:
Here is an example of going to a NT server on a network:
copy /b name_of_plot_here.plt \\ServerName\DeviceName

The PLT file must be generated for a format that the device you are copying it to can accept. The PLT file is not a uniform format it is generated in the format of the driver that created it when plotting.

Look here http://vbdesign.hypermart.net/cadpages/tbox.htm at the Plot FileSpooler OCX.

PrintPLT will let you easily print PLT files to any of the printers on your system.
The updated file can be found at www.microsolresources.com/public/downloads/printplt.zip.

View Companion, Autodesk View and a few others. There are many you can find just by going to a web search engine like www.dogpile.com and search for HPGL & View.

View Companion http://www.softwarecompanions.com/viewcomp.html

Splot, shareware, http://www.czechia.com/anovy/index.htm

BITview.

Plotworks client by PLP Digital Systems will help to view and print the plotfiles.

You might want to look at RePlot (http://cadfx.com/replot)
It also does TIFF'S, dwf's and .pdf files. Let's you batch print them at virtually any scale as well....

best plt viewer is columbus - by oasys http://www.oasys-software.com/product/dm/columbus/whatsnew.shtml

If you do succeed in making a dwg or dxf (there are utilities out there) be aware that the new drawing will consist only of the objects described by the plot file. No layers, colors, etc. (unless you have a color plotfile.) There will also be a hit on scaling, though that may not really be a problem.

Also, check out some links on AUGI.com on the subject of plt files.

Oh, and of course, a disclaimer, I've never used any of these, so I'm not vouching for quality here.

Oh, just had to add in this link that I just saw someone post on AUGI... http://anydwg.com/

The AUGI board is meeting this week, so I hope that's going well. I'm sure there are plenty of more exciting changes coming up. I'd recommend keeping an eye on Shaan Hurley's Blog, I think he was the first to post on the last meeting.
Oh, and we can't forget Richard Binning.

In news a little closer to home, the St. Louis Revit Users Group will be having their first meeting (a joint meeting with GAUG) on July 12th.

Autodesk Application Engineer and Registered Architect, Brian Fitzpatrick will present on Autodesk Revit.
Alex Severino of Autodesk will be available to discuss Autodesk products.
Tomislav Zigo of Hagerman will present on Autodesk Architectural Desktop!