Hacking the Nvidia performance driver (powerdraft) into Civil 3D

Several months ago, Nvidia released a performance driver for AutoCAD 2009. Unfortunately, using the included installer, this driver can only be installed on AutoCAD. When you only have Civil 3D installed, you get an error which reads, "Setup was unable to find an installed version of AutoCAD 2009."



I was able to hack the driver in to my Civil 3D 2009 installation on an XP (32) system by doing the following:

1. Download Powerdraft2009_XP_Vista_32_64.exe from nvidia's website.


2. Run the install program and let it error out as noted above.


3. At this point the install program has actually unpacked the archive to a directory called C:\04-28-2008-0710\ navigate to C:\04-28-2008-0710\Disk1\win32 and copy all of the files from that location to C:\Program Files\AutoCAD Civil 3D 2009\Drv


4. Finally, back in Civil 3D, run 3DCONFIG and select the new Nvidia specific driver for either Direct3D or OpenGL.
   

Unfortunately, since I don't have a supported video card on my notebook, I haven't had the opportunity to test this workaround with Civil 3D 2009 (a 32 bit application) on Vista x64.

RegappID cleanup utility

It just came to my attention that Autodesk quietly released their own RegApp cleaner a couple of months ago. This still doesn't do anything to prevent Registered Application IDs from propagating through xrefs and inserts so unless you clean everything that your file might come into contact with, you can count on getting infected with AppIDs over and over again. Still, along with the -purge R option that was reintroduced in 2005 or 2006 (after a very long absense), it's a step in the right direction.

Autodesk's CleanupRegApp tool isn't any more or less effective than cadthinking's PurgeIDs, and in fact, its interface is lacking compared to PurgeIDs. Still, it's nice to know that this is an Autodesk developed (and, presumably, Autodesk supported) tool to address a problem that has been swept under the rug for far too long.

Importing color images from Google Earth into Civil 3D

Ever since Civil 3D added the ability to import georeferenced imagery from Google Earth, I regularly get comments from users who would prefer the image to appear in color. While it doesn't appear to be a feature, with a little hacking this is actually very easy to do.

First, open your Civil 3D drawing file and make sure to set the coordinate system properly.

Then open Google Earth and navigate to the area that you'd like to import. Once you've centered on your project area, go back to Civil 3D and go to File -> Import -> Google Earth Image. When prompted, specify coordinate system for the image location. At this point, the georeferenced image is dropped in at the appropriate northing and easting coordinates. Unfortunately, it is in black and white.

To create a color image file, go back to Google Earth, and being careful not to reorient the display, hit CTRL-ALT-S to save the image. Save this jpg to your relevant project location.

Back in Civil 3D, open the xref palette and find the Google Earth image. Hit the "found at" button to respecify the image file location.

Point the image reference to the color jpg by selecting the file that you saved earlier. Finally, perform a regen and the color image will appear in the proper location.

Things that should have been better in Vista

I've been working with Vista x64 for about a month now and while my experience has been surprisingly positive, there are a few very simple things that could have and should have been much better.

1. Since Windows '95, Microsoft has earned a lot of bad publicity by making it way too easy for grandma to double click on things like README.txt.vbs when file extensions are hidden (which I believe was the default in 95,98,ME, NT4, 2k, and XP). With security supposedly being a top priority of Vista, this would have been such an easy change to make, but, by default, extensions are still hidden.
2. There are now dozens of available columns in windows explorer, but there still isn't a column for "extension." If I want to sort by extension to find *.PAT in a particular directory, I naturally look for *.PAT, not "AutoCAD Hatch Pattern Definition."
3. The smallest unit in Windows Explorer is still a kilobyte. I don't care how large hard drive capacities are now or how large they will be in the future - there should always be an option to show file sizes in bytes.
4. It's incredibly difficult to make "Remember Folder Settings" work. I like details view. For everything. Really. Don't try to outsmart me. Luckily, this article seems to have a fix which actually works.
5. Shift-RightClick / "Open Command Window Here" only works in explorer's right pane.
6. Windows Explorer's status bar no longer shows the total size of files in the current folder. It used to in 95,98,ME,NT4,2k and XP. Now it doesn't. To get the total file size, you have to ctrl-a to select all and then the status bar shows you the cumulative total size of the files.
7. In previous versions of windows you could log out with just the keyboard. CTRL-ALT-DEL followed by "L" would log you off. Vista has removed this functionality. CTRL-ALT-DEL gets you to a purely point and click page where you must then use your mouse to hit "log off."
   

Running history of new features in AutoCAD which failed to deliver

Ever since AutoCAD went to the one year releases, I've been pretty critical of how rushed all of the new features have been. This is a running list of all of the new heavily touted "bullet list" features which failed to deliver.

2005:

• HPGAPTOL - works in simple figures where we wouldn't need it to work, but simply doesn't work on figures where we would need it to work. It didn't work then and it doesn't work now. Most customers can't use it which makes them revert to 2004 techniques.
  
  
• Sheet Sets - useful, but poorly implemented. Publishing can be painfully slow when there are several page setups which refer to several plotters. Often, the publish dialog can take several minutes to pop up. Also, DST files on networks are still known to cause performance issues.
  
  
• Background mask property - doesn't work when printers are set to "lines merge", which means that many customers still have to use wipeouts, which do work with "lines merge". Again, this essentially forces many users to revert to 2004 techniques.
  

2006:

• CUI/Workspaces - Simply wasn't thought out very well from a workgroup point of view. The enterprise/main division is very cumbersome, not to mention enterprise partial and main partials, the fact that workspaces are stored in the CUI file, and many other overdesigned aspects. Visit this thread for user complaints on this feature. This wasn't just a case of users being resistant to change. The thread started over two years ago and it's still being posted to.
  
  Main, partial main, enterprise, partial enterprise? Hacked ICON.DLLs? Workspaces in main and enterprise but not partials? LIFO conflics? Can't edit workspaces when "automatically save changes to workspace is on? "Save current as" saves the current space as "start on"? Cumbersome ACLs for enterprise/partial? What a convoluted mess. Novice to semiexperienced users simply want this: How can I drag these three buttons from this toolbar to that toolbar? That's it and that's all.
  
  FWIW, the CUI feature has always reminded me of the Simpsons episode when homer's long lost brother allows him to design a better car that "the people" would buy and they end up with this. (In case you don't remember, the car ended up with a sticker price of over $40,000 and the company went bankrupt).
  
  
• Dynamic input - should have been more useful than it is. There are still issues with overlapping values and sluggish performance. Done right, it could have been as great as autosnap markers. As it is, with each rollout, I field dozens of calls asking how to turn it off.
  

2007:

• PDF driver - Didn't work well then and doesn't work well now. Huge margins, poorly translated lineweights, objects in paperspace layouts can appear on the wrong PDF page. Many/most users resort to using a 3rd party PDF driver, just as they had before 2007.

• xref palette - Simply selecting an image in the list creates excessive "image processing," even when the image is unloaded and/or on a frozen layer. Doesn't work when SDI is turned on (as some verticals still force). Many users have to resort to the 2006 method of using CLASSICXREF.
  

2008:

• annotative mtext - doesn't work with the lisp function (entmod) which means that many firms either can't use their existing customizations or can't use the new feature. Also, many annotative entities can't be manipulated until a drawing is audited. Many users simply couldn't live with the quirks, didn't have time to invest in developing in-house workarounds and gave up on the feature.
  
  
• annotative scales - Generally caused tons of CAD debris that will have to be fought off for years to come, and that debris was only introduced in the short period between 2008 and 2008SP1.
  
  
• mleaders - quiiiiiirky, even in SP1. Sometimes when the text width is modified, its location pops to a random position. Also, you can't use a field within mleader text and have it justify to middle.
  
  
• multiline attributes - arbitrary code can bleed through into the displayed value; attribute position can jump anound. Many users gave up on the feature.
  

2009:

• The extended tooltips are undoubtedly causing sluggish performance. There is no way to only turn off said verbose tool tips. You can turn off tooltips completely and revert to a R12 environment.
  
  
• The ribbon interface has issues with the CUI editor.

Office 2007 first impressions

I like to wait for the early adopters to report back on the first service pack before I deploy any major software releases myself. With that said, I'm just now getting my first taste of Office '07.

So far, I don't have much good or bad to say about it. I guess it is what it is - just the next version of Office. I don't mind the ribbon and I imagine it'll be just fine once I get used to it.

I do have one issue with it, which is more of a peeve than anything that truly affects productivity. The color schemes are absolutely useless. It's not that I feel left out because want a green scheme, an orange scheme, or a purple scheme (for the uninitiated, you're given the choice of blue, silver, or black). My issue is this: what good is configuring your OS appearance preferences if applications don't observe them? These "skinned" applications all seem like they were created by someone who just didn't have anything better to do. Unfortunately, almost all applications seem to be going that way. Norton has been doing it for years with their consumer stuff (luckily their corporate stuff still uses normal window appearances). Winamp has never used regular Windows forms. Roxio has recently started using the skinned appearance, and even AutoCAD now restricts users to either a "light" or a "dark" color scheme. To me, applications like this can just be distracting. I much prefer when apps have a consistent look and feel. Wasn't that one of the original selling points of Windows in the first place?

Windows Tip: WindowKey + E starts up Windows Explorer

After years of observing Windows users, I've learned that most users enter windows explorer in the following directory:

c:\documents and settings\username\start menu

This doesn't seem to be a very good starting place, but from what I've seen, most people launch windows explorer by right clicking on the start menu and selecting "explore." Going back to the advent of Windows '95, this method was probably intended to manage the shortcuts in your start menu. Since the explorer shortcut was originally very deep under the start menu, I guess users just found their way to explorer via the start menu editor.

A quicker method of launching Windows explorer in all modern versions of Windows is to hold down the window key and the e key together. It also starts you in the "my documents" folder which is a better starting point.

Vista x64 first impressions

I recently upgraded to Windows Vista x64 on a Dell M6300 with 4GB of RAM. So far I've been blown away by the snappy performance of the system itself and, in particular, all of the Autodesk software that I've run on it so far (Civil 3D 2009, AutoCAD 2009, Map 2009).

I've heard all of the horror stories of Vista and, yes, I've seen the Apple commercials, but since I purchased the system new as a 64 bit workstation, Dell naturally configured it with hardware which is all supported by Vista x64. The only peripheral that I had to worry about was my old Lexmark P4350 printer, which luckily, Lexmark provides a driver for.

I should also point out that I've turned off all of the eye candy which I just don't need. Even in XP, I've always been one to turn off window animations, cursor shadows, smooth scrolling, start menu animation, and all of the rest of the fluff that just doesn't add to productivity. With Vista, I've decided to configure it about the same. After just a few days, things are going extremely well.

It's still way to early to tell, but I think I'm going to be very happy with Vista x64 and this system in general.

I'll post some benchmarks as soon as I can.

(For the Linux trolls, I should also point out that this system is for business apps that Linux simply won't run. I like linux. I get it. I know that it's good and I have ubuntu on my old old laptop. I've used it off an on, when I had a specific use for it, since about 1993 when I used slackware on a '386. So please don't try to convince me that any Linux flavor is superior to Vista. For the apps I run, it's very apparent that Vista x64 was a wise choice).