Problems with hatch patterns

In some cases you may have encountered a situation where hatch patterns don’t turn out quite as expected.
Here’s a close up view of a gravel hatch pattern where the closed objects appear broken and jagged.




Recommended fix can be found at...
http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/ps/dl/item?siteID=123112&id=10100419&linkID=9240617

Solution
To resolve this problem, change the origin of the hatch pattern. To do this, you can either move the hatch origin to the hatch boundary or specify a point to be used as the hatch origin.

To move the hatch origin to the hatch boundary
1. Double-click the affected hatch.
2. In the Hatch Edit dialog box, under Hatch Origin, verify that the Specified Hatch Origin option is selected.
3. Select the Default to Boundary Extents check box.
4. Click OK.
To specify a point to be used as the new hatch origin
1. Double-click the affected hatch.
2. In the Hatch Edit dialog box, under Hatch Origin, verify that the Specified Hatch Origin option is selected.
3. Click the Click to Set New Origin button.
4. Click a point that is closer to the hatched object.
5. Click OK.

Another option which I’ve found to work equally well is to select the affected hatch pattern or patterns then right click to obtain a popup menu. In that menu select “Set Origin” then click anywhere near your hatch pattern. Your hatch should automatically update. Give it a try.

civil 3d 2010 raster images

Different options are available in civil 3d 2010 for working with raster images. Depending on your installation some may or may not work. Or, they may work but not quite as expected.

One way inserting images can be accomplished is by way of map space or “MAPWSPACE” data connection but that slows things down quite a bit.
Going down that path really stresses your computer resources and slows down your machine so I try to stay away from it. There are some specific instances for using
it, one being that you can combine drawings with different spatial references (Autodesk's claim not mine). But since we've adopted nad83 as our standard, it's rare that we should have the need to combine nad27 and nad83 data.

Also, the “insert” Icon on the image ribbon doesn’t work on some workstations. If I click on that icon I get an error message saying that “IINSERT” is an unknown command. The work around for this would involve re-installing autoCAD which i'm not up for at this time.

A quick survey of our cad users, myself included, indicates that the best method is to insert raster images by using the tool-based geospatial workspace (available on workspace switching tab in the lower right hand corner).
Selecting this option brings up new panel titles where you can select "Insert" then on the new ribbon that appears select the Image icon. However, some of us oldtimers that still prefer typing commands can just type in "mapiinsert" and we arrive at the same pop up window with less ribbons and tabs to click thru.

Pay close attention to the quality of your printed raster images also. Don't accept poor quality images, if it looks better on your screen than on paper, chances are you may need to look into your method for inserting images.
Thats it for now, thanks to Richard and Emilio for their input on this topic.

Color vs B/W

This posting is just a test for those using RSS feeds.

Workspace problems

New problem discovered when trying to toggle image frames on and off.
Clicking on the Icon for toggling frames would produce this message....

C:\Program Files\AutoCAD Raster Design 2010\AeciUi51.arx cannot find a dll or
other file that it needs.
Unknown command "IFRAME". Press F1 for help.

If you switch your workspave to 2D Drafting and Annotation you'll get the same message whenever you try using any of the icons on that pallet. I forwarded a description of the problem to IT. They've been working with experts at DC CADD to help eliminate these bugs. I'll let everyone know if and when it gets resolved.

Hopefully everyone is getting used to using 3D 2010. I haven't completely stopped using 3D 2008 yet but probably only use it about 5% of the time.

William

Exporting shape files from Civil3D 2010

Latest problem related to civil 3D 2010 is that of exporting data from Autocad to shape files. If you haven't had a need to create shape files yet and haven't seen the problem first hand, you can visit this website for a description of it.
http://blog.121pcs.com/mapexport-to-shp-creates-empty-file-in-civil-3d-2010.html

Trying the recommended fix was unsuccessful so I had to contact our IT department for help. They recommended the following solution which fixed the problem.

"Here is the fix – I put the file here: \\guentherdata\disk2disk\appl-2\acad\2010\Install shortcuts\Patches

Take the mapexport.ini file that is there and copy it to: c: \Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Autodesk\C3D 2010"

If your mapexport.ini file already exists, overwrite it with this new one. So far everyone has had success with this repair.

William

Inserting excel files into AutoCAD

Here's a handy set of insctrucions that really came in handy the other day. I was struggling to insert an excel spreadsheet into autocad as an ole object. I wanted to be able to view and print the spreadsheet along with the rest of the information in my drawing. I also wanted to retain the link to the excel file so that any updates to it would automatically update in my cad file. Civil3D 2010 wasn't cooperating and I was getting unexpected unsatisfactory results. Fortunately I came across this set of instructions from "CAD Geek". Instructions were written for Civil3D 2008 but will also work in 2010 version. Here's a link to the article, not sure how long it will be up on the site though so you might want to cut and paste it into a word file for safe keeping.

http://www.thecadgeek.com/blog/2007/04/13/linking-excel-and-autocad-with-data-links/

William

Civil 3D layer "0"

Recently I've begun to experience some problems with layer visibility in AutoCAD 2010. Trying to find the correct layer to freeze in a viewport or freezing layers in xrefs has been a real headache. I never seem to get the results I want or expect. I tracked the problem to entities being drawn on layer 0 and did more research on the web and various softdesk resources. It seems to be a common problem mainly because 2010 relies heavily on styles. The recommended solution.....Reserve layer 0 for insertion of blocks and xrefs only. Don't draw anything in this layer. Every line, polyline, circle, arc, text, etc... needs to on a layer other than 0. I was trying to avoid posting a long, wordy explanation of this, so if you need more info just let me know.
Thanks,
William