VersaCAD Mac Editon - For Windows??
Yup! That's right... Mac for Windows - Read on
You many have noticed, or at least surmised, that I am a VersaCAD for windows user. Are you? The new Mac OSX’s “pretty face” has intrigued me. I am looking forward to seeing the updated VersaCAD OSX edition. I hope Archway will make a demo version available for evaluation (as they had for the Windows platform).
Tom Lazear was more than kind by allowing me use of VersaCAD Mac Edition 2001/Classic shortly after its’ first re-release. But I had no Mac! I use a 600Mhz IBM Thinkpad, VersaCAD mac was out of the question….. Or was it?
There are a number of Mac emulators for the Intel platform. I was able to get one up and running complete with VersaCAD Macintosh, under Windows, on ‘me trusty’ Thinkpad. If you would like to read about my experience, with pictures, check out the link below for a PDF write-up on my experience
http://www3.ns.sympatico.ca/longley_family/Blog/macwin.pdf
VersaCAD Paperspace – Part II
As you might have gathered elsewhere in this blog, I work with AutoCAD at my place of employment. Now I know there is a lot on controversy amongst AutoCAD users as to the where-for’s and how-to’s os using and dimensioning with paperspace layouts.
Ever since I started using CAD in 1988 (that long ago?…) I have always had difficulty in wrapping my mind around text that was like 4.1/2” high. You see I had been taught to use a nifty little plastic lettering guide (as in drafting on paper with a pencil) and setting my regular text to 3/32” (I also admit some difficulty in dealing with imperial and metric units, but that’s another topic)
Now, if you had been a long-time A-Cad user, it was not until ‘Paperspace’ and it associated ability to calculate the appropriate text size for you IF you dimensioned via what might be described as “through a paperspace viewport”. Well “Ha! Again” AutoCAD. Welcome to the VersaCAD world!
Here’s how VersaCAD accomplished this eons ago. Sooner or latter, you will need to settle on a plotted scale size if you are going to determine by what factor to “scale up” your text sizes, dimension arrowheads etc. AND! Most likely you will establish and save an [O]utput [S]pecs. If you do this anytime BEFORE you type your first text or lay down your first dimension you will not have to struggle with over-size sounding text sizes.
Goto [O]utput [U]nits [F]actor and type in the plot spec name you just saved. Under [O]utput [U]nits [T]ext, set text to [D]evice. Do the same for [D]imensions etc. etc. Now, under Properities set text to “normal” sizes – 3/32”, 1/8” and so on. Under [O]utput [U]nits [D]imensions set the slash length, offset etc to you common drafting standards (1/8”, 1/16”…)
Ha! Take that AutoCAD. Long before Paperspace, VersaCAD was there!!
Despite the length of time VersaCAD has languished with various owners, AutoCAD (and perhaps others) are only relatively recently implementing functions with VersaCAD users have taken for granted for years – Way to go VersaCAD!
Image Update
Thanks to Jacob at Zyconium to doing some minor customizing for me In stead of the plain old "VersaCAD Tips and Tricks" header, he create a niffty yet unasumming header logo for this blog. - Thanks Jake!. Bye the Way - That [tm] is because VersaCAD is a porduct of a company - Archway by name
And speaking of "Image"... Is this really a 'Blog' ? There was an interesting article on CBC (Canada) radio on Saturday (DNTO - Definitely Not the Opera) about the Blogging Phenomenon. There were two or three generations of Bloggers, starting with the purists to the current "lot of blogger" - Big Corporations pushing product under the guise of "commentary"
Well, what am I? Now I'm hot sure - somewhere in between I think... I hope. I am not a Corporation, nor affiliated with one. Haven't gotten any perks conditional on promoting a product. Just a guy with some experience's and wanting to share them. True it is about a product, but it is more than that. Drafting, indeed CAD, has been a portion of my life for a lot of years. It in some small way it defiines who I am and what I know (professionally that is - I do know "other" things). And like many Bloggers, I what to share - Share Knowledge, Share Experiences, Encourage others with a similar interest
What do you think??
Double-Click Filename to Start VersaCAD
One common Windows method for editing a file is by navigating/finding it in Windows Explorer and then Clicking/Double-clicking on it to launch the associated application with the file ready for editing. VersaCAD for Windows does not (yet) do this. Here is how to enable this functionality now!
You will need:
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A batch file against which you can create an Explorer file-type association.
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A text file to temporarily store the full file pathname of the file to open
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A “Null” text file
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A VersaCAD macro to cipher it all out
All four files are available in a zip file at:
http://www3.ns.sympatico.ca/longley_family/Blog/Auto2d.zip
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Word of Caution: This zip file does contain a batch file, auto2d.bat. Never trust bat/exe’s etc. from unknown sources. You don’t know me, nor I you. Review the batch file first by opening with a text editor to make sure it does not contain any potentially damaging commands.
Unzip the file and place the auto2d.bat file in your Vcadwin\utilis folder. Place the two text files, Autoexec.txt and Null.txt in you Vcadwin\v2d folder. Lastly, extract the autexec.mac macro to the Vcadwin\v2d\custom folder.
Start Windows Explorer, choose Tools/Folder Options... from the menubar. Click on the Files Type tab.
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Click the New button, enter “2d” (without the quotes) for the File Extension and “OK”
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Find and highlight the 2d extension in the Registered files types list and click the Advanced button. Fill in the description field, suggestion: VersaCAD Drawing. Click the New... button in order to create a new Action
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In the Edit action for file type dialog enter “Open” (no quotes please) in the Action field and, in the Application used to perform action field type the following WITH the quotation marks:
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C:\VcadWin\UTILS\Auto2d.bat "%1"
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The above should be YOUR path to the Auto2d batch file, if different from the standard C-drive install.
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Click, OK to return to the Edit File Type dialog, change the Icon if you wish, and OK your way all the way out.
You can test this now by double-clicking any.2d file and checking the contents of the Autoexec.txt file in the v2d folder. It should show the full file pathname to the file you just clicked – it should.
What is needed now, is to get VersaCAD, upon starting up, to read this file, pick the pathname apart to determine the appropriate Filer dRive information and the actual Filer Get name. This is the function of the autoexec.mac macro. Again, paths a hardcoded :( If you installed VersaCAD somewhere other than C:\Vcadwin, search the autoexec.mac file with a plain text editor (such as Notepad). Look for lines such as: c:\\vcadwin\\v2d\\autoexec.txt. Edit the drive and/or paths to reflect your installation.
Done!. If we, you and me, did every thing correctly, you should now be able to start VersaCAD, complete with the drawing to edit by simply double-clicking the file name in Explorer, Just like any other Windows program!
JimL
=-:}
P.S.
The autoexec.mac file should be commented sufficiently to allow yoy figure out what is happening, and hence allowing you to customize further
Visual Properites - Text Selection
I do confess to having grown “point ‘n click” lazy over the years. And picking and choosing by selecting with the cursor seem, well, natural (or naturally lazy).
The Visual option of the Properties menu is, if nothing else, very cool programming (uncrunch the V2DMENU.cmd file and check it out!). For whatever reason (haven't checked out the code myself - grin), the Text option of Visual Properties seems to return a "No font information available" error message. Seems as if, in the Windows version of VersaCAD (2003.9 to be specific in this instance) this code looks for the V2D.fnt file in the \VcadWin folder – as versus the \VacdWin\v2d folder, where it is, and rightly belongs.
This anomaly, however, gives rise to advantages. Since it seems to be only the Visual Properties routine that is looking in the what-might-be-said wrong place, we can edit v2d.fnt in this location without effecting VersaCAD.
Copy the v2d.fnt file from the ...\v2d folder to the VcadWin folder. Now, edit the second column of each font line to display a more descriptive line of text. Example:
Change
102 s VHANDS s VHANDS
To
102 s Architechural_Single-Stroke s VHANDS
Caution; don’t use spaces in the descriptions, as I suspect the file is space or tab delimited. Save this copy v2d.fnt file, start VersaCAD and do a Visual Properties. Note the “descriptive-descriptions” – a great aid of you have a casual/part-time user or a new user who has yet to get the font numbers or short cryptic names memorized.
And while your at it, also edit the F6 Properties update menu {103} to include Visual menu {912} for on-the-fly Visual selections.
G\B\N\Y till latter!
VersaCAD Paperspace Part 1 – Plot Specs
First, I beg your forgiveness for comparing or drawing parallels between VersaCAD and A-Brand CAD. It is not that it is any better or not than Bentley’s MicroStation. It is just simply, that my employer choose, for whatever reason to migrate to AutoCAD years ago and, hence, this becomes “my” frame of reference for my experience. I am sure others of you may see similar analogies with other CAD packages you may have used. Enough said?
Much to-do has been said about A-cad’s paperspace concept AND that of having multiple layouts. Well I’m here to say: “Ha! VersaCAD beat you to the punch!” Before A-cad had multiple layout tabs, VersaCAD was saving multiple Output/Specs with each drawing. Your could define different Specs for scaling to different drawing size sheets. Each Spec “Window” can be moved to single out, as-it-were, different areas of the drawings.
Example: You might create an Output/Spec of, say “D25”, to print/plot an entire drawing to a D-size sheet at ¼” = 1’-0”. Another of, for example, “B125” for scaled check plots at 1/8” to a B-size drawing. Add yet another plot spec “Det1”, perhaps 1” to the foot and Windowed around a particular detail element for scaled output to a laser letter size sheet.
While not quite the same as “paperspace”, these various Output/Specs can add tremendous flexibility in printing multiple, though individual, “viewports” from VersaCAD. When combined with DWF printing AND the mergefile tool (mentioned earlier) you can end up with a ‘drawing set’ of multiple views from one VersaCAD 2d file
VersaCAD Output pRinter DWF!
There are various options for getting output from VersaCAD that can be readily shared with others – even if they do not have VersaCAD. Hardcopy paper plot, Image export.
For electronic formats various options for creating PDF’s exist. VersaCAD can be configured to Output Plotter to a Encapsulated Postscript format file. This can be converted to PDF format by Adobe’s Distiller or via such free resources as Ghostscript.. If you have Distiller, then most likely there is an easier way to generate PDF’s, and that’s Adobe’s Acrobat Windows Printer.
One of the more popular formats available for CAD is AutoDesk’s Drawing Web Format (DWF). DWF creation is now freely available to VersaCAD users.
1) Ensure that VersaCAD is configured by enviro to use the Windows System Printer.
2) Download and install the DWF Writer 2 from AutoDesk
http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/item?siteID=123112&id=3429575
You can now print to the windows printer, choosing the DWF Writer to produce DWF files.
pRinted Drawing Sets
First, download a utility called Mergefile from AutoDesk at:
http://betaprograms.autodesk.com/files/mergeFiles.zip
This nifty little program will allow you to combine several different DWF files together into one multi-page DWF
Now, just Output/pRinter each individual drawing to a DWF file. Remember, as the DWF Writer is a windows printer, you could also “print” word-processor documents as well. When combined you end up with a DWF containing your VersaCAD drawings, Contract specifications etc, all in one handy package.
And…. The advantage of all this AutoDesk stuff is (as of now) that it is free! – both the creation software and the viewing software for the end user. The DWF file is relatively secure from tampering
Next time, let’s talk about launching VersaCAD and automatically doing a Filer/Get simply by Clicking/Double-Clicking on the VersaCAD 2d drawing file in Windows Explorer
