Beyond the Paper

Meet Autodesk Product Development Engineers

There are 3 exciting developer day conferences on this year's calendar.

All are casual yet intimate, allowing you the opportunity to hear and discuss software development strategies with the actual engineering teams that develop the products.

And, you’ll meet with them where they work.

• Manufacturing DevCamp 2008 in Portland, OR - June 11th - 13th, 2008
• AEC DevCamp 2008 in Wakefield, MA - June 16th - 18th, 2008
• Geospatial DevCamp 2008 in San Rafael, CA - June 25th - 27th, 2008

Spend personal time with Autodesk engineers. Hosted by Autodesk business and engineering management, you’ll be able to network with other people just like you – people who are customizing, extending, and integrating Autodesk products and technologies.

Training classes for every level take you closer to Autodesk insiders. Each conference features more than 20 training classes on Autodesk industry-specific customization and application development technologies (API’s).

Plus you’ll get to hear from the most senior Autodesk executives within their respective divisions. So whether you’re a novice, advanced developer, or business owner, these conferences can help you work more efficiently and effectively with Autodesk software applications.

DevCamps are open to anyone interested in making their business more competitive by leveraging the ability to custom-fit, extend, and integrate Autodesk products and technologies including:
• Members of the Autodesk Developer Network
• Customers/End-users developing in-house productivity tools for their staff and their customers
• VAR’s and ISV’s looking to better meet their customer needs through custom tailored application development

For more information or to register visit: www.autodesk.com/devcamp2008

Import DWFx Markup into Revit 2009?

Users noticed that you can export out DWFx from Revit 2009 but there does not seem to be an option to bring in back in as a DWFx markup set. The option is simply missing from the import file type menu.

No, you are not missing a step somewhere nor is there a method to do it at this point.

The Revit team has acknowledged the shortfall and will correct it in the next available update.

--Volker

Markup Arc Tool?

A markup arc tool seems to be pretty common in the marketplace, yet we do not offer one at this point for Autodesk Design Review. I believe that we did offer one during the days of Volo View though.

We have had some requests for an arc tool, yet they were not on the same scale as requests for digital signatures or the ability to lock markups.

Why would you think that we should reintroduce a markup arc tool?

Please submit your feedback by replying to this blog or send an email to volker.joseph@autodesk.com.

Thank you.

--Volker

3D DWF Writer - Windows File Protection Error During Install

This problem affects users who attempt to install a localized version of the 3D Autodesk DWF Writer 3.5/2008 and 4.0/2009 on an English operating system, only.

Again, this issue only affects users of the 3D DWF Writer, not the 2D Writer. Reason behind the problem appears to be the fact that the opengl32.dll in the system folder needs to be updated, which triggers the error dialog.

Accepting the dialog and choosing "yes" will complete the installation successfully.

My understanding is that we are trying to resolve the issue in a future release.

--Volker

Stop the Pop Up Windows!

Using Autodesk Design Review 2009, you notice that a Markup Properties window opens up and obscures the viewing area once you have created a text markup and click to finish.

Can this be turned off? Absolutely!

You can prevent the properties window (or any other windows) from popping up automatically, by adding a registry key:

1. Open the Windows Registry Editor (regedit.exe)
2. Navigate to "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Autodesk\Design Review\Preferences\User Interface" (or "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\AppDataLow\Software\Autodesk\Design Review\Preferences\User Interface" if you are on Vista)
3. Go to menu Edit > New > DWORD value.
4. Name it  "Disable Auto Open Palettes".
5. Double click on it and set the value to be 1.

Note: If you need the properties window to come back, you can delete this key or click Window > Properties > Markup in Autodesk Design Review 2009.

The key can, at this point, not be set selectively and it is "all or nothing". You need to manually hide/show the palettes that you require, once the registry key is set.

Another way to change the behavior without modifying the registry settings (and to change the behavior of all palettes), is to undock the palettes that auto-display.

For example, if your users are applying markups to 2D sheets, suggest they undock the grouped Properties palettes and the Markups palette and place them either on the desktop on another monitor or below the main Design Review window.

To undock a palette, click the palette title bar and drag the palette to the desired location.

The caveat, for embedded mode users, is that undocked palette placement isn't 'sticky' like it is for stand-alone ADR users. In embedded mode, your users would need to create a custom workspace that had the offending palettes moved away... and they'd have to activate that workspace each time a DWF file is opened in the embedded viewer.

--Volker

Help us choose the best sessions for AU2008

We're doing something new this year—we would like you to help us select the best 500-plus sessions.
We have uploaded all of the sessions (that were submitted by the deadline) to AU 2008 Session site and we need your input. Topics are organized under 19 tracks, which are either an industry or a product.  If you are considering attending AU, please take a few minutes to vote for sessions that you absolutely want to see.

Over the next few weeks, we will review all those submissions and whittle them down to the number we can actually physically accommodate in the Venetian Conference Center in Las Vegas.
Registration for AU will start on August 15th, and one week earlier for AU members.  Class schedules will be available for review by August 1st.

Thank you in advance for helping us select the most interesting classes. The deadline for voting is Saturday, May 3, 2008

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=Yy_2fqK2TzVXoIf7d0TuRulw_3d_3d

--Volker

New DWF Community Site

We are happy to announce the launch of the new DWF Community site.  The new community site will provide for a lot more user participation and interaction, ultimately enabling us to get “closer” to you, our end users.

Go and check it out @ http://dwfcommunity.autodesk.com/

-Volker

Triangle Callout Limitation

Many users would like to change the default size of the triangle tag within Autodesk Design Review 2009; in most cases they are looking to increase the font size. Which would result in an incorrect display like this:

At this point, the font height has to be set to 12 pt or smaller, in order for a 2 digit number to show correctly in the default sized symbol - correctly looking like this:

To confirm - the default default size of the triangle is not adjustable at this point - not manually or through the API. The only known workaround is to modify the triangle by dragging out the handles, once the callout has been created.

We are looking into improving this feature in a future release.

--Volker