Beyond the Paper

Project Freewheel: Automatic Thumbnail Viewing via DWF Bookmarklet

Suppose you are browsing the web, looking for CAD parts, and you encounter a web page that contains several links to DWF files. To see each DWF file, you need to click on each link. If only there was a way to transform all of these links into thumbnails in one operation.

The change has come, [DWF's] under my thumb[nail].
"Under My Thumb," The Rolling Stones, 1966.

Software Engineer and Evangelist, Brian Pene, has come up with a solution - the DWF Bookmarklet.

For more information and steps to take advantage of this solution, see:

http://dwf.blogs.com/articles/bookmarklet.htm

Thanks Brian!

P.S. The functionality has since been renamed to Render-This-Link. Autodesk Legal did not want us using DWF as a verb. For the latest information on Project Freewheel, see Scott Sheppard's It's Alive in the Lab blog.

Updated DWF FAQ Version 6.05

I updated the blog-based DWF Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) document. I included answers to some recent questions -- many of which again had to do with Project Freewheel. Project Freewheel really is a hit with our customers.

The organization of the document section has also been expanded to help you find the question you are looking for.

Organization of this Document

1. FORMAT RELATED QUESTIONS
   1. DWF Usage
   2. DWF Security
   3. DWF Precision
2. USER INTERFACE CUSTOMER QUESTIONS
   1. DWF Publishing
      1. General
      2. Autodesk DWF Writer
      3. AutoCAD
      4. Autodesk Inventor
      5. Autodesk Revit
   2. DWF Viewing
      1. Freewheel Viewer
      2. DWF Viewer
      3. Design Review
      4. AutoCAD 2007 (DWF as an underlay)
   3. AutoCAD Drawing (DWG) Viewing
   4. DWF Markup
   5. DWF Measurement
   6. DWF Takeoff
   7. DWF Printing
      1. Freewheel Viewer
      2. DWF Viewer and Design Review
3. REPROGRAPHICS INDUSTRY (BLUEPRINTER) QUESTIONS
   1. Sending DWF Files to a Shop
   2. Processing DWF Files at a Shop
4. APPLICATION PROGRAM INTERFACE (API) SOFTWARE DEVELOPER QUESTIONS
   1. DWF Embedding
      1. Freewheel Viewer
      2. DWF Viewer and Design Review
   2. DWF Programming
      1. General
      2. Visual Basic
      3. C++

A link to the blog FAQ is always available in the left navigation section of the blog:

You may have to clear your browser cache to obtain the latest blog FAQ HTML page. (I had to.)

Autodesk DWF Viewer 7.0 File Locking Issue

They won't let me out. They won't let me out. I'm locked up.
They won't let me out no, they wont let me out. I got locked up.
"Locked Up," Akon.

An Autodesk discussion group member from Northeast Utilities presented the following problem.

Problem Statement
I have been using the Autodesk DWF Viewer and Autodesk Design Review for a number of years now to redline markup our drawings on our network. This allows hundreds of users to view our drawings that are marked up by one of our departments. Yesterday I ran in to a major problem with the new version of Autodesk DWF Viewer 7.0 that I thought I should bring to someone's attention. This problem has never existed in previous versions of the viewer (as far as I know).

Whenever someone opens up a DWF file with version 7.0 of the viewer, no one running Autodesk DWF Composer R2 or Autodesk Design Review 2007 can open up the same file in anything other than (Read Only) mode. This happens whether the file is on a Microsoft AD network, or with simple peer-to-peer networks, or simply on a single computer with no network involved. It does the same thing on Windows XP SP2 or Windows 2000 workstations. It happens every time without fail and the minute I went back to Autodesk DWF Viewer version 6.5, the problem went away.

This problem is critical to us because we have hundreds of viewers scattered across many campuses, and we can’t simply have everyone shut off their viewers just so one person can add a markup! Because Autodesk Design Review will only allow one instance of a "writable" file, we wanted everyone to use the viewer unless they needed to add a markup. For now, we’ll stick with Autodesk DWF Viewer version 6.5!!

P.S. I noticed while troubleshooting this problem that Autodesk Design Review 2007 does NOT show (Read Only) in the title bar like its Autodesk DWF Composer R2 predecessor, even when the file is set that way. It lets you think you can save the file as you add markup items, until it spits out an error message when you try save it.

Status
Thank you for your detailed problem report. It is rare to receive one that is so complete. It mentions the operating system versions, product versions, the fact that the problem happens on more than one computer, and the fact that the problem occurs with all files. We have reproduced the problem internally. I am posting this article to the blog to make our customers aware. For now, please continue to use Autodesk DWF Viewer 6.5 while we ponder how to address this issue. Thank you for bringing this to our attention.

TeamDWF Site Now Available

http://www.teamdwf.com/

Check it out!

To CER, with Love

As I peruse the list of DWF-related defects corrected in AutoCAD 2007 SP1, I see items like:

Description	Area
Xref and Options dialogs no longer appear after running script that plot to file	PLOT
CER: AcPlotSetValidator crash	PLOT
Project based callouts negatively impact file open, close, and plotting performance across the wide area network	SSM
Schedule table graphic (image) does not get plotted	PLOT
Transparent bitonal images lose transparency when plotting to the LaserJet 2600N	PLOT
CER: Crash while creating AutoCAD OCE 9400 HDI driver	PLOT
CER: DWF print crash when plotting DWG using custom paper sizes with attached .PMP file	PLOT
CER: Crash when publishing 3D DWF file	3D DWF
Archive feature of Sheet Set Manager crashes after "gathering information" screen	SSM
CER: Crash in acplotgui.arx	PLOT
CER: Crash in acpublish.arx	PUBLISH
Japanese: lineweight of block reference is wrong	PLOT
CER: Crash in acPltStamp.arx	PLOT
AutoCAD crash when select the DWF created using Revit Structure 2 or 3 External Reference	DWFIN
FIELDEVAL settings reset after publishing	PUBLISH
Plot Style Table Editor deletes special characters (German umlauts) in named plot styles	UNICODE
Memory leak using plotting API to plot to DWF	DWF
. . .	. . .

Many of these items are the direct result of Customer Error Reports (CERs). Thank you very much for your efforts. I am torn. On the one hand, I am tempted to say "Keep 'em coming." On the other hand, I hope not.

Publishing DWF to Print to Scale

If you wish to print DWF files at a desired scale, there are some factors to consider when creating them.

Senior Architect and DWF Technical Evangelist, Brian Mathews recently shared some tips:

1. The first thing to note is that sheets in a DWF file that are created from paper space layouts are more powerful. It is more difficult to get a DWF file to print to scale if it has been created from model space. Sometimes you plot your AutoCAD drawing from model space to your printer using “Fit to Page” after selecting a “What to Plot” value of “Window” and selecting the corner “registration marks” you’ve added to the drawing. This can work if you’ve been very careful about defining your AutoCAD paper size and print margins exactly for your printer. While many people who have used AutoCAD a long time work this way, it exposes you to problems if you use different printers with different characteristics.

2. Another potential problem is that your print settings are device dependent. Generally you should never use “Fit to Page” if you want drawings to print to a particular scale. “Fit to Page” means that the drawing should be grown/shrunk to fit the printable region of the particular printer device at hand (and different printers differ in their printable region sizes). That means you’re just “lucky” if the fit-to-page scale happens to come out to be what you want. The DWF “virtual printer” likely has slightly different margins than the physical printer you are using. For example, when you “fit to page” on your physical printer, it might be fitting the image to a 41.5 inch printable region of your 44 inch page, but when using the DWF virtual printer you might be fitting to a 42 inch region of a 44 inch page. Hence the print scales are different and you get a different result. This isn’t a DWF issue per se since any other printer that has different print margins would do the same thing. Almost every manufacturer’s print margins differ by some amount, which is why Fit to Page isn’t good if you care about scale.

3. The solution is that if you care about print scale, then you need to specify the print scale you want. AutoCAD’s print dialog allows you to specify the desired print scale. Some users complain that drawings “clip” when specifying a print scale. If so, that generally is a good thing, since it shows you’ve made a mathematical mistake in your setup that needs to be fixed. If you use Fit To Page then you often aren’t getting the scale you think you are getting, especially if you change devices.

4. To avoid clipping, when you define your title blocks you should make them small enough that they will fit inside the printable region of any printer someone might print to (not just your printer). You should then add 50% to that margin size if you want people to be able to print half-size prints (since when you scale a drawing by 50%, the vectors are half size but the printer’s margins remain the same size meaning you are more exposed to clipping).

5. The PUBLISH command is more powerful than the PLOT command. The DWF Publish command is smarter when working with layouts, since the DWF Publish code knows how to directly pull the desired paper definition from the layout without having to change driver specific settings. It is less error prone, lets you see how things will print before you print, and makes getting the right DWF simple with the Publish command. Thus it is always at least the same or better to use PUBLISH instead of PLOT.

The ability to go beyond paper is based on the ability to get to paper first. Taking heed of Brian Mathews' tips help in this regard.

AutoCAD 2007 Service Pack 1 Now Available

In a continuing effort to provide high quality products, Autodesk has released a Service Pack for AutoCAD 2007. It is available for download:

• AutoCAD 2007 Service Pack 1
• AutoCAD LT 2007 Service Pack 1
• AutoCAD 2007 Service Pack 1 for Autodesk AutoCAD Revit Series 9.x

Updates have been made in the following DWF-related feature areas.

• 3D DWF
• Plot and Publish

Other DWF-related changes included in this service pack include:

• DWF files produced with Revit Structure 2 or 3 can now be attached to AutoCAD drawings.
• Raster images now plot correctly if they are part of the block inserted in the table cell.
• Bitonal transparent raster images no longer loose transparency when plotted.
• FIELDEVAL setting now maintained after publishing drawings.
• Special non-ASCII characters are now correctly interpreted in the Plot Styles (STB and CTB files).

We on the DWF team are always happy to see improvements made to "DWF Creator" [also known as AutoCAD :-)].

Area 51? No - Autodesk Area.

The Media and Entertainment (M&E) Division of Autodesk has launched a new site called Area. The Area is a 3D resource made by M&E professionals for M&E professionals. The site is intended for artists and developers, from beginners to the advanced, to create, collaborate, and communicate.

The Area includes several blogs from members of the Autodesk team and from peers:

http://area.autodesk.com/blogs/

It is always a pleasure to welcome more Autodesk employees and peers to the blogosphere.

How to detect a measurement or print disabled DWF file

Autodesk Inventor R11 DWF Extension provides the ability to publish measurement and/or print disabled DWF files.

This is made possible by encrypting the data inside the DWF stream. An application that obeys the security intentions, e.g. Autodesk DWF Viewer or Autodesk Design Review, can decrypt the data. The technology behind this is a security toolkit, used internally, that Autodesk does not currently share with the public. If Autodesk were to share the security toolkit, someone could develop an application that would bypass the security controls and thwart the publisher's intentions.

The Autodesk DWF Toolkit is publicly available at no charge. Autodesk Programmer, James Lu, noted that DWF Toolkit programmers can determine if they have an encrypted DWF via two ways:

1. Online:
   Programmers can examine the MIME type.
   
   Example:
   DWFString zMime = pRes->mime();
   if (zMime == DWFCore::DWFMIME::kzMIMEType_W3D_S)

2. Offline:
   Programmers can find the following sections in the manifest.xml.
   
   Example:
   <dwf:Resource role="Rights Document" mime="text/xml"
   <dwf:Resource role="3d streaming graphics" mime="application/x-w3d-s"
   
   There is “-s” after x-w3d.

Autodesk is working to maintain the security of design data for its customers.

AutoCAD: set Shaded viewport option to "As displayed" to retain layer information

American school children are familiar with the nursery rhyme that their parents would recite as they grabbed and wiggled each of their toes:

This little piggy went to market. This little piggy stayed home. This little piggy had roast beef. This little piggy had none. This little piggy cried wee wee wee all the way home.

This little DWG has six layers:

This little DWF has one:

Why? This was a recent topic of discussion in the DWF newsgroup. The sample DWF file was supplied by longtime DWF programmer Jos Groot Lipman. As an aside, when it comes to the DWF Toolkit, Jos is most knowledgeable non-Autodesk employee on the planet. Jos has been working with DWF for a long time. He regularly participates in the newsgroups. Jos contributes to what peer to peer newsgroups can accomplish.

So why does this DWF have only one layer yet the corresponding DWG has six? Software Quality Assurance Engineer, John Schmier, who has also worked with DWF since its inception, provided the answer:

I was able to publish the DWF file with a full list of layers by setting the Shaded viewport option, Shade plot, to "As displayed." (Jos had it set to Hidden.) For some reason, AutoCAD places all objects on the same layer when this value is set to Hidden.

John made this change by selecting the model space tab, issuing a Page Setup command, and changing the Shade Mode value found on the right side of the dialog box.

After republishing, this little DWF has six layers:

This has been logged as an AutoCAD issue; however there's no reason to cry all the way home about it. It may be corrected in a future release. For now, just don't set the Shade plot option to Hidden when publishing DWF.