Sending Strategies

E-mail and FTP (File Transfer Protocol) have largely replaced blueline prints and overnight delivery 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're still relying on dialup modem access to the Internet, it's probably time to upgrade to broadband.
• 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.

Send it with ETRANSMIT

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 20-2. 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 20-2 Other Kinds of Files That DWG Files Commonly Reference

As you can see from Table 20-2, 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!

Rapid eTransmit

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:

1. Open the drawing that you want to run ETRANSMIT on.

   If the drawing is already open, save it. ETRANSMIT prompts you to save before you proceed; it's not essential to do this, but it's usually a good idea.

2. Click the Application button and choose Publish, then eTransmit from the Application Menu.

   The Create Transmittal dialog box appears, as shown in Figure 20-1.

   

   Figure 20-1: Rapid eTransmit.

3. On the Files Tree or Files Table tab, remove the check mark next to any file that you want ETRANSMIT not to copy with the main drawing.

   Unless you have assigned custom font mapping, you can omit the Acad.fmp file. (If you're an AutoCAD LT user, the equivalent file is named Acadlt.fmp.)

4. Select a transmittal setup from the list.

   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.

   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 DVD 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.

5. 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.

6. Review the report and make sure that ETRANSMIT was able to find all the files.
7. Click OK.

   ETRANSMIT displays a file dialog box so that you can specify the name and location of the transmittal package.

8. Click Save.

   ETRANSMIT creates the transmittal package (which is a Zip file by default). Zipping creates a single, tidy package of all your DWG, DGN, DWF, PDF, raster image, plot style table, and font files.

FTP for you and me

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 FileZilla (http://filezilla-project.org).

Bad reception?

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 Rule of Drawing Exchange. 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 that contains drawings (zipped, I hope!), copy the file to a new folder on your hard disk or a network disk and unzip the files.

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!

Help from the Reference Manager

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/DWFx, DGN, and PDF underlays (Chapter 18) and for font files (Chapter 13). The ETRANSMIT command, described in the section “Rapid eTransmit,” earlier in this chapter, does a good job of gathering dependent reference files, raster files, and font files, but it can't gather what AutoCAD can't locate.

AutoCAD's Reference Manager utility (not included with AutoCAD LT) 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 from your Windows desktop:

1. Choose StartAll ProgramsAutodeskAutoCAD 2012Reference Manager.

   The Reference Manager program opens, as shown in Figure 20-2.

   

   Figure 20-2: The Reference Manager.

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.

3. 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.

4. 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.
5. If you do choose to modify any selected paths, click Apply Changes.

   When you're finished exporting reports and repathing reference files (or just checking out this program you may never suspected you had), close the Reference Manager window. Click the Help button in Reference Manager to find out more about the utility's capabilities.