RobiNZ CAD Blog

Can AutoCAD Architecture Projects live on BIM 360?*

A recent promotion announcing Civil 3D availability on BIM 360 Design had me wondering if AutoCAD Architecture (ACA) projects would work using BIM 360 Docs with the Autodesk Desktop Connector. If so it would be rather useful for legacy projects. ACA projects have some odd control files (xml but with different extensions) but creating a new project worked and sync'd perfectly. I could create content, model and views, add annotation and place views on sheets as normal. Not surprising given ACA was just operating in the local Desktop Connector folder and syncing up to BIM 360. Even the file access... Read more →

The power of community and connection

I was looking to schedule the insert location and rotation of a Multiview Block in AutoCAD Architecture. They have location properties for x,y,z and rotation in the Properties Palette but, strangely, rotation is not an available MV Block property when creating a property set. I tried the Block and MInsert rotation properties (both have them) but they do not report the MV Block rotation. Some Properties in ACA are linked (one value used for multiple object types) but not those. Pondered for a bit, searched the web, surely someone in the past couple of decades had solved this before? But... Read more →

AutoCAD Architecture/MEP Project Standards back to normal in 2020.0.1

Way back in 2006 I blogged about AutoCAD Architecture/MEP’s (ACA/AMEP) Project Standards feature. It allows object and display styles to be updated in all or selected files within a Project. There is provision to automatically apply ACA/AMEP Object Styles, Display Settings, Materials and AutoCAD Standards ( like line, layer, font etc) from your reference library when you access the project. If you update content in a project it warns on project close, prompting you to optionally update the project standards for future use. In this respect ACA/AMEP toolset shames Revit’s crude (all or nothing and manual) Project Standards Transfer as... Read more →

An unexpected Autodesk encounter, with myself!

Autodesk have released a new learning hub offering focused training with topics across all their Arch/MEP platforms (Revit, AutoCAD & FormIt): AUTODESK CUSTOMER SUCCESS LEARNING HUB / ARCHITECT LEARNING CENTER While looking at the article "Collaborating in AutoCAD with Specialized Toolsets”* I had the odd experience of seeing myself looking back. They've used a short YouTube I made way back in 2007, for this blog post, and it was my YouTube profile photo staring at me! It was odd timing as I haven't created an ACA theme for a long time (but our projects still use them) but had been... Read more →

AutoCAD Architecture 2018 Project Standards Sync broken by file upgrade

If you use AutoCAD Architecture/MEP 2018 Project Standards feature (to sync style/display setting changes across a project) be sure to upgrade all the files associated with the project to the new 2018.dwg format or it will not work correctly. If the project standards reference files or project files are in the old 2017.dwg format (or earlier) AutoCAD Architecture 2018 will appear to do a project content sync and report the project is up to date. In fact it scans the project files and updates nothing. There is a confirmed bug for this, see this report for a demo of it... Read more →

Twenty years on, another Quantum leap #AU2017

About twenty years ago I read a 'brain dump' from Jim Awe about the next generation of AEC design. It described a world of object design, model properties and display management that was realised in Architectural Desktop and, later, Revit. Today at Autodesk University he did it again presenting the emerging Quantum AEC platform. It's not an application, more a system, a playing field, for managing data flow in design projects at a fundamental level applicable to all applications, cloud and desktop. The Quantum leap: forget about applications, files, even data transfer and think about how your entire project life... Read more →

Forge DevCon and why I really came to #AU2017 (Day –1)

It was quite an impulsive decision which resulted in me attending Autodesk University 2017. I had been thinking about it for a while, but not seriously, and was browsing the session catalogue one evening when I saw: FDC128313 -- Quantum: A Next-Generation BIM Ecosystem – Jim Awe & Shiya Luo I immediately clicked Register, then grabbed a seat in this one hour session. Eleven thousand Kilometres is quite a long way to go for a 60 minute meeting and it wasn’t even part of the main AU event! Forge DevCon? The Quantum session was part of Forge DevCon which ran... Read more →

Oh look, it is 2018 already

An Easter surprise ‘present’ from Autodesk! Read more →

Got a question about AutoCAD? Ask Autodesk Answer Day!

If you have an AutoCAD question check out the upcoming answer day (May 7th US Pacific). Post your question and get an answer direct from AutoCAD Platform team members. Their post below has all the details: From http://forums.autodesk.com/t5/autocad-answer-day/ We’ll be kicking off the Autodesk Answer Days series with the one and only AutoCAD®! Join us at our first AutoCAD Answer Day online event on Thursday, May 7th from 6:00 AM to 6:00 PM Pacific Time. Have AutoCAD® or AutoCAD LT® questions that you’ve always wanted to ask? Come spend a minute, an hour, or the whole day in the Autodesk... Read more →

Autodesk Application Manager — One update to rule them all

I’ve been doing a few software installs recently; updates to Autodesk Building Design Suite 2015 at the previous workplace and a fresh install at the new one. As a result I’ve come to really appreciate Autodesk Application Manager; one of the best support applications Autodesk have ever made. Remember the pain? Install an app — or more like a dozen for the Design Suites — then spend hours finding which have been updated, downloading patches and installing (or updating deployments) on the machine. That is history as Autodesk Application Manager makes it a one click process, well nearly. You still... Read more →