Reduce File Size In AutoCAD

Working on a huge AutoCAD  file can be very slow and time consuming. It is best to reduce your file size to speed up your work. There are many ways for you to reduce the size of your file. The following listed below are some of the tools I normally use to compress my file size.

1. Purge (PU)

2. Overkill (OVE)

3. Regapps (-PU>R)

4. -Scalelistedit (-SC)

5. Audit (AU)

6. Recover (RECO)

7. Dxf out / Dxf in (DXFO/DXFI)

1. Purge

Purging is to remove unnecessary items such as linetypes, layers and etc. created in a drawing. AutoCAD will not remove all these items even after you delete them. For example if you have created a layer “DIMENSION” and you assign one of your dimensions to that specific layer, if you delete that layer, you will realize that your layer “DIMENSION” will still be in your layer manager. AutoCAD keeps the layer to allow users to reuse the layer without creating it from scratch thus causing the file size to increase. By purging the drawing, AutoCAD will remove these unnecessary items. You can also filter out which items you would want to purge but I normally would purge everything.

2. Overkill

Overkill is basically to remove overlapping items which are placed directly on top of each other.

3. Regapps

Regapps are basically registered application. Purging this registered application will reduce your file size as well. Regapps is not a command by itself, you need to type -purge and remove the regapps from there.

For more information on the definition of regapps click this link http://withoutanet.typepad.com/without_a_net/2010/03/managing-regapp-ids.html.

 

Just follow the step as shown in red; -pu>enter>Regapps>enter>*>enter>No>enter

4. -Scalelistedit

Removing custom created scales in the drawing may reduce the file size as well. This does not really reduce your file size tremendously but it works too.

To remove all unnecessary the scales create; -scalelistedit>enter>*>enter

To reset the scales to default; -scalelistedit>enter>yes>enter

The scales will look as shown below if deleted

The scales will look as shown below if it is reset to default.

5. Audit

Files may have errors especially the act of transferring. The “audit” process cleans up these unwanted errors which will make it easier for you to access your file. I would recommend users to use e-transmit before sending files to prevent such things from happening. If you do encounter these problems just audit the files. You will need to wait for the files to be audited, it will take some time but not to long. I  have experienced waiting for my files to audit using AutoCAD MEP, so if you are using AutoCAD MEP the files may take a bit longer to load and to audit.

To audit your file; type audit>enter>yes (fix the problems)

 

The message will inform on the number of errors fixed after the audit.

All audited files will have an audit log which list down the things audited in the drawing. Save this file so that you can send this to Autodesk if the problem persists.

6. Recover

Recover is basically auditing your file before even opening it. If you have trouble opening your file due to many reasons, use this command to fix any problems. Open a new template, run the command “recover” and select the file that you would like to fix.

7. Dxf out / Dxf in

This command also helps to reduce your file size. I have not found an explaination on why this works but it may be due to the format convertion which causes the file size to reduce. The images will explain how to reduce your file size using this command.

I have selected the file SK.128 as a sample, notice the size of the file 6.90MB

Open the drawing and type “dxfout” in the command line. Just remember to check that the file being exported has an “ACAD” placed in the front.

Save the file and do not open it. It should be in a dxf format. In a new drawing type “dxfin” to reimport the file.

Select the file at the location that you save, most of the time the save location will be the same location as the original file.

Save the file again but now to a dwg format. Notice that the file size has been reduced. You may rename your file after.

 

Do not worry, all the layers, properties and etc. will still remain unchanged.

Xref Does Not Change Colour in AutoCAD

Ever experience working with an Xref file which does not follow its properties after making some changes to it? Even after reloading the Xref file, it does not update the properties. The problem lies within the settings of the drawing. Ever heard of the command visretain? Depending on the values set for this command, it will determine the visibility, color, linetype, lineweight, and plot styles.

There are only two values that you are able to set when using the command visretain is either “0” or “1”.

Basically when visretain is set to “1”, whatever changes you make on the Xref file will only be visible when you open the xref file but no changes will be seen in your main drawing.

However when visretain is set to “0”, whatever changes you make on the Xref file will be visible in your main drawing.

The images I have uploaded below will hopefully give you a clearer picture on the command visretain.

Top 5 Best Tips To Boost Computers Performance

After much research I have narrowed down to some best tips to improve the performance of your desktop/laptop especially if you are using an old computer or a computer with low specifications.

1. Enable power setting to High performance.

There are three types of power settings which you can choose from your desktop/laptop to enable better performance of your computer. Setting the power options depends on each individual users, situation and their needs. I generally use high performance most of the time unless the situation requires me to do otherwise. To get to the power options, go to “control panel” and search for “power options”. There are many options that you can explore but generally go to “change power-saving settings” to apply this changes.

a. Balance (recommended)

Depending on the type of work you are doing, setting your power options to balance will allow Windows to alter your performance based on what is necessary to allow for better performance and battery life at the same time.

b. Power Saving

Windows will maximize energy savings to prolong a longer battery life. This is especially useful when users are using their laptop outdoors at locations with limited power sockets available.

c. High performance

If power consumption is not an issue, setting your desktop/laptop to this setting will allow high performance level especially for gaming. Power consumption rate will also increased and I think it means paying more for utilities. Setting this option at work is the best option if you know what I mean.

                  

2. Set computer display to best performance.

If you are not big in animations, appearance and all the other cool effects that Windows provide in your desktop/laptop you should consider to change the display to adjust for best performance. This will allow the speed of your computer to boost and you will be able to tell the difference after applying them. To alter the settings go to “control panel” and search for “performance Information and tools”. On the top left-hand corner, click “adjust visual effect”. I will use adjust for best performance depending on how my computer runs. Bare in mind that your computer’s visual will not be as appealing as before. I would recommend going for custom and turning of any visual effect that you are not in favor to use.

                                                                                    

 3. Increase the maximum number of processors in your CPU.

You may increase the expand the ram of your computer by altering the virtual memory size. This will allow the computer to use up free space in the internal memory as ram. To do this, you will need to type “msconfig” in the “search programs and files” button When a pop-up appears, go to boot and select the “advance option”. Tick the number of processors and change the value to the maximum number. You will need to reboot your computer for this function to take effect. You can also do the same for virtual memory to increase your ram thus improving the performance of your computer. The computer has assigned a recommended value in the settings depending on your computer. I would choose to follow the computer’s recommended settings but would only use this if I am experiencing bad performance in my computer. Similarly, you will need to reboot your computer after the changes have been made.

                

4. Download and run CCleaner.

CCleaner is a very effective program used to clean unwanted and unnecessary files in your computer. You can download it for free and use it to free up space in your computer. You may use this link to redirect you to the download page, http://download.cnet.com/CCleaner/. Just run the cleaner and it will show you how much unnecessary data are removed from your computer.

You may want to click the link below to know more about CCleaner.

http://www.howtogeek.com/172820/beginner-geek-what-does-ccleaner-do-and-should-you-use-it/

5. Clean up your ram using notepad.

I am not pretty sure regarding this ram cleaner hack that I have heard in the online community which states that it helps to free up ram space to improve the speed of your computer. Some of you may have heard of it as this has been around years back using a notepad, keying some values which I will let you know further and saving it to a format (.vbs) or (.vbe). There are two separate notepads that you need to use.

1. freemem=space(64000000) (if your ram is below 1GB)

freemem=space(51200000) (if your ram is 512MB)

freemem=space(102400000) (if your rarm is 1GB)

freemem=space(204800000) (if your ram is 2GB)

freemem=space(409600000) (if your ram is 4GB or more)

2. mystring=8000000

After keying in the two values above, you will need to save the format to (.vbs) or (.vbe).

Here are some useful links that you may want to check for more details on “mystring” & “‘freemem”.

http://www.techspot.com/community/topics/can-mystring-80000000-speed-up-pc.153188/

http://howikis.com/Increase_Computer_Speed_Using_your_Notepad

 

Enable/Disable Password In AutoCAD Drawing

Setting-up password in a drawing is easy but can be crucial if you do not remember it . If you forget your password, chances are that you will lose the drawing permanently if you do not have a backup. Before assigning a password to a drawing, many have recommend to create a backup for the drawing or write down the password in a notebook or etc. I prefer to use a similar and strong password rather than changing it from time to time. Honestly I do not really set password for my drawings as I am working on a shared network. Nevertheless it is good to know about this function as you may never know one day you may need to use it.

To set a password for a drawing, you should go under Options>Open & Save. If you look at the bottom left corner, you should be able to see “Security Options”. By clicking on it, a pop-up will appear on your screen to prompt you for a password. Set your password for that specific drawing and click “ok” to apply. Just note that in order for you to see whether the password has been set, you need to restart your AutoCAD. It will only prompt to ask for the password once and if you continue to open that same file again and again, AutoCAD will not prompt you for the password unless you restart your software. Another important thing to remember as I have emphasized earlier is to create a backup copy so that if you forget your password you do not have to worry. There may be some external software’s that you can use to retrieve your password but I think you need to pay for it.

I will upload some images for you to see if you are still unsure.

Follow me on Twitter(@carefuldrafter) & Facebook(CarefulDrafter)  for all updated post.

Objects Keeps Highlighting When Hovering Cursor Over Drawing In AutoCAD

 

Customizing settings in AutoCAD can help boost performance of speed when drafting especially when you are using a very old computer which has limited amount of memory space. As there are many functions running in AutoCAD by default, some useful and some are totally redundant, It is common that your computer tends to lag and slow your work process. To customise your own settings, you should first understand the functions of various settings. You can get help understanding the commands by various blogs, forum or even in AutoCAD itself simply by pressing the “F1” key for help.

One of the things that happen to me while drafting was the objects keeps highlighting whenever I hover my cursor over my drawing. It was already bad enough that I was indeed using an old computer which affected the total time to complete my work. If you are still visualizing what exactly I am trying to input in this post, the images may help you understand clearer.

Cursor at free space:

Cursor when hovered at objects without clicking:

 

The solution is very simple actually. Take a look at the images I have uploaded below and hopefully if you have had the same problem as me, this will be of any help for you.

Step 1: Type “OP” to call out the options menu.

Step 2: Go to  “Selection”>”Preview”

Step 3: Unselect the checked boxes which states “When a command is active” & “When no command is active”

1. “When a command is active” means that objects will be highlighted if you are currently using a command and hovering your cursor at the object.

2. “When no command is active” means likewise that objects will be highlighted whether or not you are currenlty using a command and hovering your cursor at the object.

And thats about it. Do check out my group on facebook (carefuldrafter) and twitter(CarefulDrafter) as well for latest updates on my blog. Happy Drafting!

Automatic Date Updates Using Field In AutoCAD

Depending on each individual, using field can really be a powerful tool if you know how to properly utilize it. A field is a multiline text which updates whenever the field value changes. For example, you can use a field to follow the name of your given drawing.

Apparantly whenever you use field to set dates, it does not automatically update in the drawing even if you set your “FILEDIA” but instead you need to use a command “UPDATEFIELD” to manually update your drawings. For me this is good enough as I do not want my drawings to update automatically as it does not benefit me at all. But for some of you who wants to customise your date to automatically update in your drawings, I came up with a diesel expression that will update the dates automatically whenever you open or regenerate. There are other selection of date formats that you can use but as mentioned earlier, you need to update the dates manually.

Diesel Expression: $(edtime,$(getvar,date),” “DD/MO/YY)

This expression will give you the date in this format: 05/09/14

You may also change the dates formats just by changing the values of “DD”, “MO” & “YY”.

DD – Denotes for day (in numerical)

MO – Denotes for month (in numerical)

MON – Denotes for month (in alphabetical)

YY – Denotes fpr year (in numerical)

Lets take a look at another diesel expression example that you can create, now I would like to create a date using field in the format 05-AUG-2014 and 05AUGUST2014.

1. Diesel Expression: $(edtime,$(getvar,date),” “DD-MON-YYYY) = 05-AUG-2014

2. Diesel Expression: $(edtime,$(getvar,date),” “DDMONTHYYYY) = 05AUGUST2014

Just look at how I change the values respectively. Its that simple. If you are wondering where or how to place athis diesel expression to customise a date field, just take a look at the images uploaded below.

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Disable Splash Screen in Revit

You can also disable your splash screen in Revit to speed up your work. I really recommend Revit users to customise your own settings before using the software because handling files that are huge containing 3D and 2D drawings may affect the overall performance of your computer. Similarly to AutoCAD, the splash screen can be removed so that you do not have to wait longer than usual to use your software. The only difference is that instead of “/nologo”, you will need to add “/nosplash instead.

If you have not read my post on Disable Splash Screen (AutoCAD) in AutoCAD and do not know what a splah screen is? You can either click the link to direct you back to my previous post or take a look at the image I have uploaded below.

This splash screen will load when you first run the software.

Step 1: Right-click the Revit icon and scroll down to select ” properties”

Step 2: Under “Shortcut”>”Target: “C:\Program Files\Autodesk\Revit 2013\Program\Revit.exe”” type ” /nosplash” at the end of the sentence but remember to space in order for this to work.

Step 3: Once done click “ok” or “apply>ok”.

Just remember that this will work only if you start your Revit before opening your drawing. If you open your drawing directly, this function will not work. It is similar to AutoCAD as well.

Custom Command Shortcuts in AutoCAD

Generally many of us use shortcut commands to speed up our work when using AutoCAD. Some examples such as to draw a line, instead of typing the entire word “LINE” in the commandline we use “L” to speed up our work. Another example will be instead of “PURGE” we type PU for short.

There is a command which will allows you to custom your own shortcuts which will speed up your drafting further. This depends on individual, some people are used to using the default commands set by AutoCAD and will get affected by changes and some because they have never heard of this commans generally. I normally change my commands by using ALIASEDIT (ALIA). This command will allow you to edit command shortcuts to your own preference.

Let me just explain a little further, I realise that I use rotate most of the time and I always have to type “RO” in the command line to initiate the command. When I type “R” instead, the command will call for redraw. I hardly use the command redraw and would like to custom my shortcut command for rotate to be “R” instead of “RO”, not forgetting to change the command “REDRAW” as well. This actually saves a lot of my time. The images Ive uploaded below will show you how to use the command “ALIASEDIT” to speed up your work.

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Step 5:

Basically that very straightforward and simple explaination on how to use ALIASEDIT. Just remember that most of the commands are already assigned with shortcuts and by redefining a command, you also need to ensure that it does not mirror another command. Try it yourself and hopefully it helps you speed up your work.

Disabling Infocenter in AutoCAD

AutoCAD still slow? In order to further improve your AutoCAD’s performance, you may disable the infocenter which can be found at the top-right hand corner. If you are still unsure of what an infocentre is, take a look at the image that I have uploaded in this post.

You can either do it manually or by changing the values in the registry editor or run this programme I found in “manusoft” under the freebies section. To ease you from searching the web for this cool tool, I will place the link here so that you can directly download and run the tool to disable the infocenter. This is not a virus if you are wondering whether to trust the link or not. The file that will be downloaded to your computer is “AcadInfoCenterOff.msi”.

Click this link to download the file: http://www.manusoft.com/dl?id=47

After clicking this link a pop-up will appear which looks just like this image I have uploaded below.

Just run this file to install. Once installed, “YOU WILL NEED TO RESTART YOUR AutoCAD” and the infocentre will be gone and you may notice an increase in performance from before.

You are able to reverse the entire process just by removing the file “AcadInfoCenterOff.msi” from your computer’s control panel.

If you want to disable the infocentre manually instead, you need to open the “registry editor”. To do that just run “regedit” from windows startup.

After doing so, select:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Autodesk\AutoCAD\R19.0\ACAD-B006:409\Infocentre

When you see an “InfoCentreOn” icon, double-click to modify or right-click and select  modify to change the values set initially by default “1” to “0”. This method is to remove the infocenter manually without downloading any files. You may choose to reverse the process by changing the values back.

Just ensure that restarting your AutoCAD software is essential to remove the infocentre.

 

 

XREF Keeps Dissappearing in AutoCAD

Have you ever faced a problem when your XREF are missing from your working drawing. A pop-up will appear telling you that you “One or more referenced files could not be located or read. What do you want to do?” Normally when I just click “Ignore unresolved references and continue”, my xref will be missing from my drawing. If I choose the other option, AutoCAD will prompt me to re-attached my xref files. Even when you re-attach your xref files and save them, your xref will be missing the next time you open your drawing.

You can use the command REDIR to redirect your xref files to fix the location so that AutoCAD will know where to locate your files. This usually happens when you are tidying your files. The images shown below will give a better idea of how you can solve this problem.

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The next time you open your drawing the pop-up will not reappear unless you change your xref file location again.