Beyond the Paper

Autodesk Design Review 2008: 2D Navigation Wheel

When you think "wheel," do you think this?

In a previous blog article, I provided an overview of new features in Autodesk Design Review 2008. This posting follow up on that and provides additional information for the 2D Navigation Wheel.

The user interface for Autodesk Design Review has been updated to make a set of "wheels" available to the user:

Use	Wheel Name	Appearance	Usage
2D	2D Navigation		view 2d sheets
3D	View Object		view assemblies or individual parts
	Tour Building		conduct a virtual walk-through
	Full Navigation		examine 3D objects or conduct virtual walk-throughs of architectural models

These wheels are divided into sections referred to as wedges. Clicking in a wedge activates functionality identified for that wedge. The 2D Navigation Wheel is a tracking menu that contains Pan and Zoom wedges, providing the same functionality that is provided by the Pan and Zoom tools found on the toolbar. The 2D Navigation Wheel saves you time and clicks by combining these two tools on a single interface.

1. When a 2D sheet is viewed in Autodesk Design Review, the 2D Navigation Wheel can be activated.
   

2. Using the menu item . the 2D Navigation Wheel appears. It features transparency so you can still see the design data underneath it.
   

3. The 2D Navigation Wheel follows your cursor. This way it is always nearby. Clicking and holding the left mouse down in the Pan wedge allows you to pan the drawing by moving left or right.
   

4. You can then click and hold in the Zoom wedge to zoom by moving up or down.
   

Try it - you'll like it!

Having one file that can house all of your project data, for all of your project members, that can be shared across the entire life cycle of your project, is a real advantage offered by DWF. Being able to easily navigate this data helps DWF go beyond the paper.

In the Machine: Autodesk Design Review 2008 Includes Access to GlobalSpec

Technical Marketing Manager, Garin Gardiner, has a DWF-related post on the In the Machine blog:

Autodesk Design Review 2008 Includes Access to GlobalSpec

Check it out.

Update: Batch Publishing DWF files with AutoCAD 2007/2008

Freewheel Software Developer, John Schmier, has released an update to his batch DWF publish capability for AutoCAD. He corrected two defects:

1. In some cases, Model Space layouts were published when they were not intended to be published.
2. Canceling BatchDWF resulted in a tangled set of messages from the application and could cause AutoCAD to hang.

If you follow the instructions and simply substitute 2008 for 2007, Batch DWF works for AutoCAD 2008. John will need to do a future to make Batch DWF handle uninitialized layouts for AutoCAD 2008 like it does for AutoCAD 2007, but other than that, it basically works. Check it out. Thanks John!

Docupoint Announces Master Reseller Program for Discovery -- the Search Application for AutoCAD

Docupoint Marketing Manager, Brad Bishop, reports that Docupoint announced a Master Reseller Program for their flagship product, Discovery 2007, an integrated search application for AutoCAD drawings. Discovery combines the functionality of a full text search engine, web server, and automatic DWF generator … into a server application. Discovery integrates core Autodesk technologies including RealDWG for DWG file reading, the DWF Toolkit for DWF file generation, and the Autodesk DWF Viewer or Autodesk Design Review applications for viewing, printing and collaboration.

Docupoint’s customers have one thing in common: they have substantial quantities of AutoCAD drawing files and significant numbers of users, especially non-AutoCAD users that need on-line access to the drawing files to perform their daily tasks. The Autodesk DWF file publishing format and the Design Review and DWF Viewer applications are utilized by Discovery, as they are ideally suited for drawing viewing and collaboration while protecting the original DWG file from unauthorized changes. Docupoint customers specifically include LARGE AutoCAD installations, including Belgian Railways, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Chevron, Citgo Petroleum, Great River Energy, Kraft Foods, Transport Canada, Turner Broadcasting and the US Army.

Discovery is unique in that the pre-indexing and DWF generation process is fully automatic, eliminating time consuming and error prone manual processing. Discovery allows full-text search capabilities, inside all AutoCAD drawings, located on the customers’ entire network, virtually instantaneously. Discovery 2007 adds unique integration with the Autodesk DWF Viewer and Autodesk Design Review applications to provide “SmartZoom”™ to open the DWF file and automatically zoom to the search text occurrences, including abbreviations and synonyms, within the drawing. SmartZoom makes it fast to browse inside each drawing that has the text being searched, jumping from each location of the specified text to the next location, and the next, and the next, etc.

“Like AutoCAD, Docupoint Discovery is well suited for large internationally located customers. Our new Master Reseller Program is designed to attract exclusive Distributors for each Country,” said Brad Bishop, Marketing Manager. “Docupoint encourages local-language versions to be tailored by each respective Distributor for each Country.” In addition, each Distributor that signs up to re-sell Discovery can use Docupoint’s COOP marketing funds to offset the costs of internationalizing Discovery and to market the product via such web-friendly advertising tools as Google’s AdWords.

The Docupoint Discovery 2007 server application runs on Microsoft Windows XP (client or server) or 2003 Server. Client computers require Internet Explorer 6.0 (or higher) and a choice of the Autodesk DWF Viewer for routine viewing and printing or Autodesk Design Review for collaboration and mark-up. More information on Docupoint Discovery 2007, including a fully functional downloadable demo, can be obtained from Docupoint's web site at www.docupoint.com.

FMDesktop Introduction Flash

How many of you recall the movie called Kentucky Fried Movie? Probably not many of you. I am showing my age. This movie lampoons many things - one of which is Bruce Lee Kung Fu movies. I know many of you are saying, "Bruce Lee, who is that?" Once again I am showing my age. Well anyway there is a classic scene in the movie where the Bruce Lee like character says "This is not a charade. Now once more - with feeling."

I got a Flash demo from Product Designer, Bob Fahlin, who works on FMDesktop. The opening line is "Facilities Management is not a one time event." Based on the intonation of the speaker, I couldn't help but recall "This is not a charade." It's true. Facilities Management is not a charade. Events like office moves, floor maintenance, and remodeling occur regularly. Management activities happen again and again. Now once more - with DWF.

View FMDesktop Introduction Flash Demo

Check it out.

Kean Walmsley: Autodesk Component Technologies

I saw a reference to this on JTB World. Kean Walmsley of Through the Interface fame has a great webcast on Autodesk Component Technologies. If you are a programmer or someone who just wants to know the difference between the Autodesk DWF Toolkit, the Autodesk Design Review API, Project Freewheel, and other DWG versus DWF programming alternatives, then this audio/video presentation is for you:

Autodesk Component Technologies

It only takes a few minutes. Check it out.

AutoCAD Insider: DWF Underlays in AutoCAD 2008

Some customers believe that the AutoCAD Heidi graphics system was named after Heidi Hewett. It was originally an acronym for HOOPS Extensible Immediate Drawing Interface. Although the graphics system was not originally named in her honor, it could have been, because when it comes to AutoCAD, Heidi knows her stuff. Heidi has a posting on her AutoCAD Insider blog:

DWF Underlays in AutoCAD 2008

Check it out.

Autodesk Design Review 2008: Installing Batch Print

In a previous blog article on Autodesk Design Review 2007, I wrote about the Batch Print capability. Batch Print for Autodesk Design Review 2007 was available on the Autodesk Design Review 2007 CD. For Autodesk Design Review 2008, Batch Print is available as an optional download from the Autodesk web site.

1. As originally installed, the Autodesk Design Review 2008 File menu has an entry for downloading and installing the Batch Print capability.
   

2. Invoking this menu item brings up a dialog.
   

3. Selecting Download from the dialog navigates you to the Autodesk web site.
   

4. By selecting the batchprint_designreview2008.exe link, Internet Explorer provides you with the option to Save or Run the installer.
   
   It is typical for a user to save the installer to the local hard drive and then run it from there.

5. The installer has only one step - Update.
   

6. After selecting update, the installer completes.
   

7. The next time Autodesk Design Review is invoked, the menu item for downloading and installing Batch Print has been replaced by the ability to use the Batch Print Wizard.
   
   By the way, if you have Autodesk Design Review open when you download and install the Batch Print Wizard, the menu item will not be updated. You need to close Autodesk Design Review and reopen it to see the updated menu item. We have a low priority defect logged for this issue.

The steps for using the Batch Print Wizard for Autodesk Design Review 2008 are the same for Autodesk Design Review 2007. See Autodesk Design Review 2007 Batch Printing.

In a previous blog article on Autodesk Design Review 2007, I noted how Autodesk Design Review supports the HP Instant Print capability. For HP devices that support this capability, when printing DWF files, you can allow the device driver to select the page size and orient the image to the paper to minimize paper usage. Autodesk Design Review 2008 continues to support HP Instant Printing, but in addition, has added support for this process to the Batch Print Wizard. You can now Batch Print and take advantage of HP Instant Printing.

As I have said many times, to go beyond the paper you have to be able to get to paper first. Batch Printing helps DWF files get there.

JTB World: Preview images in Vista and AutoCAD 2008

Jimmy Bergmark has a post related to DWF on Microsoft Windows Vista. Preview images in Vista and AutoCAD 2008 Check it out.

St. Johns River Water Management District: A Convenient Truth

Protecting Resources— More Efficiently
E-permitting saves applicants and internal reviewers time thanks to Autodesk Design Review and DWF

Product Marketing Manager, Gabrielle Friedly, reports that St. Johns River Water Management District investigated technologies that might meet its e-permitting needs and decided that Autodesk offered a solution that fit perfectly: Autodesk Design Review and DWF. The agency then built an all-digital e-permitting process around the viewing, markup, and measurement capabilities within Autodesk Design Review:

Download Autodesk_SJRWM.pdf (546.2K)

Thanks Gabrielle. Check it out.