Unless you've been living under a rock for the past 20 years, you know that the Internet is causing major changes in the way people work. Because of the Net, most of us communicate differently, exchange files more rapidly, and phone out for pizza less frequently.
In this chapter, I show you how and when to use AutoCAD's Internet features. I also cover how the Internet features can connect with traditional CAD tasks, such as plotting. The emphasis of this chapter is on useful, no-nonsense ways to take advantage of the Internet in your CAD work.
As with all things Webby, the Internet features in AutoCAD are a hodgepodge of the genuinely useful, the interesting but still somewhat immature or difficult to use, and the downright foolish. In this chapter, I steer you toward features and techniques that are reliable and widely used today and away from features that (to put it kindly) might not be ready for prime time. On the other hand, a few of today's questionable features may become the reliable, commonplace ones of tomorrow. I give you enough context to see how everything works and where it may lead. Table 19-1 summarizes AutoCAD's Internet features and tells you where in this book to find more information.
Note
AutoCAD 2009 adds support for the DWFx format. Windows Vista users can view DWFx files with the provided XPS Viewer. All DWF functions described in this chapter apply to the new DWFx format as well.
Table 19-1. AutoCAD 2009 Internet Features
Feature | Description | Comments | Where You Can Find More Info |
|---|---|---|---|
Package DWG files for sending via e-mail or FTP or posting on the Web | Useful to most people | The "Send it with ETRANSMIT" section in this chapter | |
Reference Manager | Report on and modify paths of referenced files | Useful for people who send drawings and use complex, multifolder xref schemes | The "Help from the Reference Manager" section in this chapter |
DWF files | A "lightweight" drawing file format for posting drawings on the Web or sharing them with people who don't have AutoCAD | The recipient must have Autodesk Design Review or DWF Viewer installed; potentially useful for sharing drawings with people who don't have AutoCAD | "Design Web Format — Not Just for the Web" in this chapter |
DWFx files | Like DWF files but compliant with Microsoft's XML specification | Using Windows Vista, the recipient can view DWFx files with the included XPS viewer | "Design Web Format — Not Just for the Web" in this chapter |
Create DWF or DWFx files, plot (PLT) files, or paper plots in batches | Can help automate the traditional plotting procedure; if DWF files ever catch on, will streamline their creation | "Making DWFs (or plots) with PUBLISH" in this chapter | |
Publish to Web | A wizard that builds and publishes a Web page containing drawings | Like most wizards, fairly easy to use but limited; possibly useful as a quick-and-dirty Web publishing approach | "PUBLISHTOWEB command" in the AutoCAD online help system |
Insert hyperlink | Of questionable use, except in specialized applications | "Hand-y objects" in this chapter | |
Requires a password in order to open a drawing | Useful for limiting access to sensitive DWG or DWF files | "The Drawing Protection Racket" in this chapter | |
Provide electronic confirmation that someone has approved a particular version of a particular drawing | Requires an account with a digital certificate provider; new technology, so look before you leap — and talk to your attorney first | "The Drawing Protection Recket" in this chapter |
E-mail and FTP (File Transfer Protocol) have largely replaced blueline prints, overnight delivery, floppies, and higher-capacity disks as the standard means of exchanging drawings. Some companies even use specially designed Web-based services, such as Autodesk's Buzzsaw, as a repository for project drawings from all the companies working on a particular project. Whether you're exchanging drawings in order to reuse CAD objects or simply to make hard-copy plots of someone else's drawings, you need to be comfortable sending and receiving drawings electronically.
Sending and receiving DWG files doesn't differ much from sending and receiving other kinds of files, except for the following:
DWG files tend to be bigger than word processing documents and spreadsheets. Consequently, you may need to invest in a faster Internet connection. For instance, if you still rely on dialup modem access to the Internet, you may want to consider upgrading to broadband access, such as DSL or cable.
You can easily forget to include all the dependent files. I tell you in the next section how to make sure that you send all the necessary files — and how to pester the people who don't send you all their necessary files.
It's often not completely obvious how to plot what you receive. Read Chapter 16 and the "Bad reception?" section later in this chapter to solve plotting puzzles.
Tip
Whenever you send DWG files together, follow the Golden Exchange Rule: "Send files unto others as you would have them sent unto you." That means sending all the dependent files along with the main DWG files, sending plotting support files (CTB or STB files — see Chapter 16), and including a description of what you're sending. And ask the recipient to try opening the drawings you sent right away so you both have more time to respond if there's any problem.
Many people naively assume that an AutoCAD drawing is always contained in a single DWG file, but that's often not the case. Each drawing file created in AutoCAD can contain references to other kinds of files, the most important of which are described in Table 19-2. Thus, before you start exchanging drawings via e-mail or FTP, you need a procedure for assembling the drawings with all their dependent files.
Table 19-2. Other Kinds of Files That DWG Files Commonly Reference
Description | File Types | Consequences If Missing | Explained In |
|---|---|---|---|
Custom font files | SHX, TTF | AutoCAD substitutes another font | |
Other drawings (xrefs) | DWG, DGN, DWF, DWFx | Stuff in the main drawing disappears | |
Raster graphics files | JPG, PCX, TIF, and so on | Stuff in the drawing disappears | |
CTB, STB | Lineweights and other plotted effects won't look right when you plot the drawing |
As you can see from the table, the consequences of not including a custom font aren't that dire: The recipient will still see your text, but the font will be different. Of course, the new font may look odd or cause text spacing problems within the drawing. If, on the other hand, you forget to send xrefs or raster graphics that are attached to your main drawing, the objects contained on those attached files simply will be gone when the recipient opens your drawing. Not good!
Note
Table 19-2 doesn't exhaust the types of files that your DWG files might refer to. Custom plotter settings (such as custom paper sizes) may reside in PC3 or PMP files. If you use sheet sets, a DST file contains information about the sheet structure. An FMP file controls some aspects of font mapping. Look up sheet sets and the FONTALT and FONTMAP system variables in the AutoCAD online help system for detailed information.
Fortunately, AutoCAD's ETRANSMIT command pulls together all the files that your main DWG file depends on. Follow these steps to assemble a drawing with all its dependent files by using ETRANSMIT:
Open the drawing that you want to run ETRANSMIT on.
If the drawing is already open, save it. ETRANSMIT requires that any changes to the drawing be saved before you proceed.
Choose eTransmit on the Send panel of the Output Ribbon (or on the classic menu bar, choose File
The Create Transmittal dialog box appears, as shown in Figure 19-1.
On the Files Tree or Files Table tab, remove the check mark next to any file that you want ETRANMSIT not to copy with the main drawing.
Tip
Unless you have assigned custom font mapping, you can omit the
Acad.fmpfile.Select a transmittal setup from the list.
Note
Transmittal setups contain settings that control how ETRANSMIT processes the drawings and creates the transmittal package. Click the Transmittal Setups button to create new or modify existing setups. The default Standard transmittal setup works fine for many purposes, except that you probably want to turn on the Include Fonts setting, as described in the next paragraph. In any case, you should view the settings (click the Modify button) just to see what options you can change if you need to later.
Warning
If you want AutoCAD to include SHX and TTF font files, including any custom fonts that you're using, you must turn on the Include Fonts setting in the transmittal setup. (Click Transmittal Setups, click Modify, and check the Include Fonts check box.) Note, however, that many SHX and TTF files are custom fonts, which work like licensed software. Sending them to others is just like sharing your AutoCAD program CD with others. No, I don't mean that it's easy and fun; I mean that it's illegal and unethical. Before you send a custom font file to someone else, find out the licensing restrictions on the font and work within them.
Click the View Report button.
You see a report listing the files that ETRANSMIT will copy, along with warnings about any files that it can't locate.
Review the report and make sure that ETRANSMIT was able to find all the files.
Click OK.
ETRANMSIT displays a file dialog box so that you can specify the name and location of the transmittal package.
Click Save.
ETRANSMIT creates the transmittal package (which is a ZIP file by default).
Tip
Although recent releases of AutoCAD automatically compressed DWG files, the AutoCAD 2007 file format — which is used by AutoCAD 2008 and 2009 — started packing some weight back on. Zipping AutoCAD 2007–format files manages to compress them by up to 50 percent. More importantly, zipping creates a single, tidy package of all your DWG, raster image, plot style table, and font files.
FTP, or File Transfer Protocol, is a simple but robust protocol for copying files over the Internet. A computer that's connected to the Internet can act as an FTP server, which means that part of its hard disk is accessible over the Internet. The person who configures the FTP server can place restrictions so that only people who enter a particular logon name and password can see and download files. FTP overcomes the file size limitations that often occur with e-mail.
Because of all these FTP benefits, it's increasingly common for people at larger companies to place drawing files on their company's FTP site and tell you to go get them. This approach relieves them of having to e-mail you the files, and relieves you of waiting for that 10MB e-mail download when you least expected it.
In most cases, the person making the files available to you via FTP will send you a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) that looks like a Web page address, except that it starts with ftp:// instead of http://. If you open your Web browser and enter the FTP URL into the address field, the browser connects to the FTP site, asks you for a location and name to use for the file when it gets copied to your system, and begins downloading the file. If the FTP site uses password protection, you'll have to enter a logon name and password first.
If you want fancier FTP download options, you can use an FTP utility such as CuteFTP (www.cuteftp.com).
Other sections in this chapter focus on sending files to others. What happens when you're on the receiving end? Not everyone will be as conscientious as you are about following the Golden Exchange Rule. You'll receive drawings with missing dependent files and no information or support files for plotting.
When you receive an e-mail message or FTP download containing drawings (zipped, I hope!), copy the file to a new folder on your hard disk or a network disk and unzip the files.
Tip
Check at least a few of the drawings in the package to make sure that all the xrefs, fonts, and raster image files were included. You can perform this check by opening each main drawing in that folder. After you open each file, press the F2 key to view the AutoCAD text window and look for missing font and xref error messages of the following sort:
Substituting [simplex.shx] for [helv.shx]. Resolve Xref "GRID": C:HereThereNowheregrid.dwg Can't find C:HereThereNowheregrid.dwg
A Substituting . . . message indicates that AutoCAD couldn't find a font and is substituting a different font for it. A Can't find . . . message indicates that AutoCAD couldn't locate an xref. Any missing raster files appear as rectangular boxes with the names of the image files inside the rectangles. Missing DWFs appear as an error message at the insertion point. Alternatively, you can open the External References palette, which reveals any missing referenced files. (See Chapter 18 for details.)
Write down each missing file and then tell the sender to get on the ball (in a nice way, of course) and send you the missing pieces. While you're at it, tell that person to buy this book and read this chapter! Or buy it for them yourself!
In Chapter 18, I warn you about the complications of xref paths and the potential perils of AutoCAD not being able to locate xrefs if you move project folders around or transfer drawings to or from someone else. A similar danger exists for raster image files and DWF and DGN underlays (Chapter 18) and for font files (Chapter 13). The ETRANSMIT command, described earlier in this chapter, does a good job of gathering dependent xrefs, raster files, and font files, but it can't gather what AutoCAD can't locate.
AutoCAD's Reference Manager utility (not available to LT users) is a real lifesaver if you find yourself suffering from file path perils — whether they occur in your own company or when sending files to or receiving them from others.
Reference Manager is a separate program, not a command inside AutoCAD. Follow these steps to launch the utility:
Choose Start
The Reference Manager program opens, as shown in Figure 19-2.
Click the Add Drawings button to add one or more DWG files to the Drawings pane on the left.
Navigate to the folder that contains the drawings you want to send, select them and click Open.
In the Reference Manager – Add Xrefs dialog box, choose Add All Xrefs Automatically Regardless of Nesting Level.
The Reference Manager processes the drawings and displays all referenced objects in its right pane.
Click Export Report to create a text report listing all the dependent files and their paths, or click Edit Selected Paths to modify paths of selected reference files.
Click the Help button in Reference Manager to find out more about the utility's capabilities.
Tip
If you always keep parent and child DWG files in the same folder — the simplest approach to dealing with xref paths — then you probably won't need to use the Reference Manager.
Earlier in this chapter, I explain how you can exchange drawings via e-mail and FTP. That's all the Internet connectivity that many AutoCAD users need, but if you're curious about connecting drawings to the Web or sharing drawings with people who don't have AutoCAD, this section is for you.
The AutoCAD Web features are built on three pieces of technology:
A special "lightweight" drawing format called DWF that Autodesk originally developed especially for putting drawings on the Web.
An updated, XML-compliant version of the DWF format called DWFx that can be viewed using the Microsoft XPS Viewer that's built into Windows Vista or available as a plug-in for Windows XP.
A free program from Autodesk called Autodesk Design Review that enables anyone to view and print DWF files without having AutoCAD.
The AutoCAD DWG format works well for storing drawing information on local and network disks, but the high precision and large number of object properties that AutoCAD uses make for comparatively large files.
To overcome this size problem and encourage people to publish drawings on the Web, Autodesk developed an alternative lightweight vector format for representing AutoCAD drawings: DWF (Design Web Format). A DWF file is a more compact representation of a DWG file. DWF uses less space — and less transfer time over the Web and e-mail — because it's less precise and doesn't have all the information that's in the DWG file.
Note
DWFx is a version of regular DWF that's compliant with Microsoft's XML Paper Specification (or XPS for short — had your fill of alphabet soup yet?). Everything about DWF in this chapter also applies to DWFx. There's a new command, DWFFORMAT, that determines whether PUBLISH and a couple of other commands output to DWF or DWFx. If this sounds like something that might be important in your work, look up DWFFORMAT in the online help system. Windows Vista includes an XPS Viewer and the long and the short of this feature is that drawings plotted to DWFx can be viewed automatically in Windows Vista, without AutoCAD or any special viewing software.
You can create DWF (or DWFx) files from your drawings and send those files to people who don't have AutoCAD. Your recipients can view and plot the DWF files after they download the free Autodesk DWF Viewer program, which is available on Autodesk's Web site, www.autodesk.com.
Note
DWFs and DWFxs can be used just like external references. Here's one more file type — and one more reason — to use Reference Manager or ETRANSMIT to package up your drawings before you send them out. For more on DWF underlays, see Chapter 18.
A DWF file captures a single, plotted view of your drawing, so, unlike a DWG file, it can provide a clear-cut snapshot of what you want to see on paper. With a DWG file, on the other hand, you have to provide lots of information to other people — drawing view, scale, plot style settings, and so on — in order for them to get the same plotting results that you did.
Potential ePlotting scenarios include the following:
Architects and other consultants on a building project periodically upload DWF files to the project Web site. Architects and engineers with some minimal CAD knowledge can review the drawings on-screen and create their own hard-copy plots, if necessary. Principals and clients who don't want anything to do with CAD, or even with computers, can have their employees create hard-copy plots for them to examine.
When Internet-savvy people need hard-copy prints of your drawings, you e-mail a zipped file containing DWF files, along with the URL for Autodesk DWF Viewer and simple instructions for creating plots from the DWF files. (Be ready to walk them through the process by phone the first time or two to reduce anxiety on everyone's part.)
A CAD plotting service bureau encourages its customers to send DWF files instead of DWG files for plotting. The DWF files are much smaller and require less intervention on the part of the service bureau's employees.
Warning
Autodesk hopes to establish ePlot and the DWF/DWFx format as a standard for CAD documents similar to what Adobe's PDF has become for word processing documents. It remains to be seen whether ePlotting will become a popular way to generate hard-copy output (although DWFx will certainly push it that way — at least for Vista users). In particular, many people outside of CAD-using companies don't have access to large-format plotters. They're limited to 8−1/2 × 11-inch — or, at best, 11 × 17-inch — reduced-size check plots. Consequently, many people won't be able to plot your DWF files to scale and may not even be able to plot them large enough to read everything.
Don't be afraid to try ePlotting with colleagues inside or outside your company, but don't become too dependent on it until you see whether the rest of the CAD world shares your enthusiasm. Otherwise, you risk becoming the only one who's willing to use your DWF files for plotting — in which case, the next version of the feature will be called mePlot.
As I describe in the preceding section, AutoCAD treats DWF files like electronic plots, or ePlots. You create a DWF file from the current drawing just as if you were plotting it to a piece of paper, as I describe in Chapter 16. The only difference is that, in the Plot dialog box's Printer/Plotter area, you choose one of two plotter configurations: DWF6 ePlot.pc3 or DWFx ePlot (XPS Compatible).pc3, as shown in Figure 19-3. When you do so, AutoCAD automatically turns on the Plot to File setting. Then, when you click OK to generate the ePlot, AutoCAD displays a dialog box in which you specify a filename and location for the DWF file that gets created. The location can be a folder on a hard drive or a Web server.
Tip
When you make DWFs with ePlot, pay particular attention to the Scale setting in the Plot Scale area. If you're creating a DWF simply for viewing in a browser, you can select the Fit to Paper check box rather than worry about a specific plot scale. If you want to enable others to plot your DWF file to scale, as described earlier in this chapter, you need to choose the desired plot scale factor. Chapter 16 describes how to choose an appropriate plot scale factor.
The ePlot method of creating DWF files described in the previous section works fine for single drawings. But if you want to create DWF files for a lot of drawings or plot a bunch of drawings the good ol' fashioned way (on paper, that is), you can use the Publish dialog box, shown in Figure 19-4, to speed the process.
Although the Publish dialog box is wired to support DWF as well as regular (paper) plotting, for now, more people are likely to use it for paper plotting. (An alternative use is creating plot files to send to a plotting service bureau.) But if you do decide to go into large-scale DWF publishing, including multisheet DWF files, use the Publish dialog box, as shown in the following steps:
Choose File
The Publish dialog box appears (refer to Figure 19-4). The dialog box lists all tabs (model and paper space layouts) of the current drawing for plotting. The Publish dialog box refers to each tab as a sheet.
Click the buttons above the sheet list to preview any sheet, add sheets from other drawings, remove sheets from the to-be-plotted list, or rearrange the plotting order.
With the additional buttons, you can save and recall lists of sheets. See Step 4 for more information.
After you specify the sheets that you want to plot, specify whether you want to plot them to an actual plotter or plot (PLT) file or to a DWF file.
You can select a specific plotter configuration for each sheet by choosing a Page Setup in the sheet list. See Chapter 16 for more information about page setups.
Click the Publish Options button to display a dialog box containing additional settings.
Most of these options are of concern only if you're creating DWF files. The one exception is Default Output Directory, which also applies to creating plot (PLT) files.
If you anticipate having to publish the same group of drawings again, click the Save Sheet List button to save the current drawings and settings list.
Click the Publish button to start the process.
Warning
Don't confuse the PUBLISH command with the PUBLISHTOWEB command — especially easy since they're next to one another on the Output Ribbon's Publish panel. (On the classic menu bar, that's File
No Web file format would be complete without hyperlinks, and DWF has those, too. You can attach a hyperlink to any drawing object in AutoCAD, not just to a text string. As you pass the crosshairs over an object with a hyperlink, the cursor changes from the ordinary pointer to a globe and two links of a chain (as in "World Wide Web" and "link," not "world-wide chain gang"). Right-click the object and select the Hyperlink option from the menu, which opens your browser and navigates to the URL that's attached to the object. If you create a DWF file that includes objects with hyperlinks, Autodesk Design Review displays them in the DWF file so that you can click to navigate to them.
Hyperlinks on objects are a clever trick, but they're of limited practical value in most DWG and DWF files:
The drawing images are so small that it's difficult to distinguish the hyperlink on one object from the hyperlink on another object.
Most people aren't used to associating hyperlinks with individual lines and other objects. The interface is likely to leave them perplexed.
If you'd like to experiment with hyperlinks on objects, look up "HYPERLINK command, about" in the online help system.
After you create DWF files, whether with ePlot or PUBLISH, you or the recipient of your DWF files can use Autodesk Design Review to view and print them. (Autodesk Design Review is a free viewer from Autodesk.) If you send DWFs to people without AutoCAD, they can download the current version of Design Review from Autodesk's Web page, www.autodesk.com.
When you install AutoCAD 2009, the setup program, by default, installs Autodesk Design Review as well. Choose Start
Whether you're sending DWG or DWF files, you may be concerned about their misuse (that is, by the wrong people or for the wrong purposes); abuse (for example, modification without your consent); or reuse (on other projects or by other people without due compensation to you). AutoCAD has two features for securing your drawings when you send them to others:
Password protection enables you to lock a DWG or DWF file so that only those who type the password that you've specified can open, insert, or xref it (not available in AutoCAD LT).
Warning
Add password protection to drawings only when you really need it:
If you forget the password, then you will no longer be able to open the drawing. Neither AutoCAD nor Autodesk has any magical way to extract the password or unlock the drawing.
After you password-protect a drawing, others can't insert the drawing as a block or attach it as an xref.
Tip
If you're using a password, you probably should do it on a copy of the drawing that you send; keep an unprotected version for yourself.
A digital signature is a high-tech way to add an electronic marker to a DWG file that verifies that someone approved the drawing. You must first get an account with a digital certificate provider, who serves to authenticate you and your computer. Of course, for this feature to be useful, you need to send drawings to someone who wants to receive digitally authenticated drawings from you (or vice versa) and who has the technological savvy to deal with digital certificates. For more information, see "digital signatures, learning more about" in the AutoCAD online help system.
To activate either of these options for the current drawing, choose File
After you password-protect and save a DWG file, anyone who tries to open, insert, or xref it will see a dialog box similar to the one shown in Figure 19-5.
To password-protect a DWF file, use the PUBLISH command and click the Publish Options button in the Publish dialog box.
Note
Although electronic security features such as the ones described in this section can be useful as part of a strategy to protect your work from misuse, they're not a substitute for communicating clearly, preferably in the form of written contracts, what constitutes appropriate use of drawings that you send to or receive from others.