AutoCAD MEP 2010 Update 2

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General Updates to AutoCAD MEP

The following defects have been fixed in AutoCAD MEP 2010 Update 2:

BDH Import
Update 2

• Radiator Import may lead to crash during when updating existing drawings.

Device
Update 1

• Device modify via grip edit doesn't move or maintain its orientation as expected.
• The Add Automatic Property for a Device was not retrieving the Load Category or Number of Poles.

Update 2

• Opening drawings from previous releases may lead to crash.
• When Rotating Devices with Update 1 installed, the Device annotation is not rotating relative to the offset specified in the block.
• Layer Key Override - Devices with an assigned System Definition that contains a Layer Key Override are appending the initial overrides in the Layer Key Override dialog.

Display
Update 1

• Haloed or hidden appearance for Plumbing Lines, Schematic lines and Wires do not display correctly.

Duct
Update 1

• Duct Flanges are displayed incorrectly after moving a duct using grips.
• Velocity in Duct Modify does not match the Velocity in the Properties Palette.
• Add Selected does not work correctly when duct height is greater than duct width.
• Takeoff for branch is not sized correctly when duct height is greater than duct width.
• Top and Bottom Elevation are incorrect in tooltip when duct height is greater than duct width.

Update 2

• Duct Takeoffs may move or become disconnected during Regen Model. Elbow may change elevation when changing parameters values.

Electrical
Update 1

• A crash may occur when closing a drawing with an EPD file that has a relative path.
• A crash may occur when converting multiple blocks to Devices.
• Wire will only connect to one connector on some scaled devices.

Update 2

• Duplicate circuits may be created when copying devices between two drawings.
• Circuit Manager appears to hang in drawings with multiple tabs.
• Wire sizes may not appear in the first time Circuit Manager is activated.
• EPD Relative Pathing may not work on mapped networked drives.
• Exiting AutoCAD MEP with Circuit Manager open may lead to crash.
• Using Block Editor in a Panel Schedule drawing may lead to Circuits losing there name in the Schedule.

Info Center
Update 2

• Balloon notifications in Info Center may be blank when Windows 7 theme is set to classic

Performance
Update 2

• Compass repeatly sets Elevation value when Project Navigator is active.
• Opening drawings with large Xreferences may cause AutoCAD MEP to stop responding.
• Closing drawings may not release memory.

Multi-View Parts
Update 1

• Some linework is missing from certain MvParts.
• Radiator insertion fails, using the window option, if the radiator width or length is located in a basic table.
• Radiator Import does not set property data properly.
• Radiator valves are not aligned to the radiator when inserted using the plus grip.

Pipe
Update 1

• The formula for percentage slope by angle is incorrect. Fixing this means that an existing tool in which a specific number for percentage is stored will produce a different slope due to the new calculation.
• Pipe layouts with Very low slope cannot be created correctly.
• The Parallel Pipe command places new pipes on the wrong layer when systems use different layers.
• Some Pipe created in previous versions of AutoCAD MEP snaps to fittings when opened.

Update 2

• Some fittings accessed thru Runtime catalog may not appear in Routing Preferences.
• Some fittings may not appear correct when accessed thru a runtime catalog.

Plumbing
Update 2

• Plumbing Line overlapping with Plumbing fitting may lead to crash.
• Changing a Fitting Style on the Properties Palette may lead to the command line style control to not work.
• Selecting a Plumbing Line on Windows 7 operating system may lead to crash.

Schedules
Update 2

• Wrong area is calculated in BOM table with OE-NORM if length smaller than 400 and size constant in DACH profile.

Schematics
Update 2

• When filleting two schematic lines with schematic symbols, the schematic line end may snap to a schematic symbol.
• When drawing a short schematic line segment from a schematic symbol the schematic line may snap to the schematic symbol.

Sections
Update 2

• Creating a 2D section using large selection set on a 32 bit operating system may lead to crash.

Tool Palette
Update 2

• Dragging a Tool from Content Browser onto a Tool Palette may lead to script error.

Miscellaneous
Update 1

• CollisionDetection does not work as expected.
• "Copy to Clipboard failed" dialog will appear when copying an object that has been copy/pasted from another drawing.
• A fatal error will occur when creating an elbow with multiple segments.

Update 2

• Reloading Xrefs may lead to crash.

General Updates to AutoCAD Architecture

The following AutoCAD Architecture defects have been fixed:

AEC Dimensions
Update 1

• Multiple overlapping windows may lead to incorrect dimensions.

API
Update 1

• AutoCAD Architecture might crash when trying to define a Display Theme style using .NET API.

Doors/Windows/Openings
Update 2

• When a custom block is applied to a door, window, or door-window assembly, the block will be visible even if it is not within the cut plane range.
• Sometimes, you cannot insert an opening in a wall in a certain cleanup group.

Drawing Management
Update 2

• AutoCAD Architecture may crash when you repath certain projects with no drawings open.
• Renaming items in the Project Navigator, and repathing the project may cause AutoCAD Architecture to crash.

Export to AutoCAD
Update 2

• Export to Autocad sometimes causes AutoCAD Architecture to crash.

External References
Update 1

• Openings in external references with negative Z value are placed at an incorrect position.

Update 2

• When you execute UNDO command after binding an external reference, AutoCAD Architecture may become unresponsive.
• AutoCAD Architecture may crash if you unload an external reference, attach it again, and then execute an UNDO.

GBXML
Update 2

• Duplicate openings are created in gbXML output when walls are slightly off from being perpendicular to each other.

General UI
Update 2

• Checkboxes are not displayed correctly on the Object Snap tab of the Drafting Settings dialog on Windows 7.

IFC
Update 1

• Slabs may have the wrong elevation when imported from an IFC file due to an incorrect thickness offset.
• Exporting a drawing to IFC may create incorrect IFC GUIDs for AEC objects.
• Importing IFC files that contain certain material settings may crash.
• Space exported to IFC have the IFC type of IFCTYPEOBJECT instead of IFCSPACETYPE.

Update 2

• When you import an IFC file, containing a space that uses a negative value for extrusion, the extrusion is in the wrong direction.
• Importing an IFC file fails if it contains a 3D vector for True North direction.

Layers
Update 1

• The "New layer from Standard" button doesn't work in localized versions.
• Layer description fields are not automatically populated in all cases.

Update 2

• When the Layer Properties Manager is open, opening a drawing sometimes causes AutoCAD Architecture to crash.

Multiview Blocks
Update 2

• When AutoCAD Architecture and Civil 3D are installed side by side, AutoCAD Architecture crashes on executing MVBLOCKADD command.

Performance
Update 1

• Response is very slow when using Dynamic UCS and objects are Isolated.

Update 2

• Sometimes, it takes a long time to complete an UNDO after a COPY.

Property Palette
Update 1

• Changing an entry to one that is the first characters of the previous entry will not work in some fields.

Save
Update 2

• When you save a drawing to a previous version, sometimes, you are not warned about possible data loss.

Schedules
Update 1

• Schedules are not sorted as expected when values are a combination of numeric and alphabetic characters.

Update 2

• Sometimes, schedule table data is not rounded off as specificed in the property data format.

Sections
Update 1

• Some objects imported from Inventor display as points in 2D Sections.

Update 2

• When a window or door window assembly is sectioned, some linework may be missing in the section.

Structural Members
Update 1

• Custom block based on 3D Solids using Boolean operations are always placed at the start point.

Spaces
Update 2

• AutoCAD Architecture may crash when a spaced update is triggered for a large number of spaces within an external reference.

Wall Objects
Update 1

• AutoCAD Architecture might hang when opening certain drawings that contain modified Wall Endcaps.
• Window openings may not be created due to Wall Plan Modifiers.
• Using Refedit on a block containing Wall Object may cause a crash.

Update 2

• When working on a project located on a slow network, the wall and curtain wall tools are slow to respond.
• Some walls in an external reference display solution tips when the units of the host drawing are different from that of the external reference.
• AutoCAD Architecture will crash when you delete a component of a wall which is on a locked layer.

Subscription Benefits

• With this update, if you are a subscription customer, a balloon notification periodically displays, letting you know how much time remains before your subscription expires. This notification will only display three times. You can access selected subscription benefits more quickly, without having to log on to the Subscription Center.

Online Renewal

• If you meet the online renewal program rules, you can renew your AutoCAD MEP subscription online. If you have already renewed your subscription, or are not a subscription customer, these options are not available.
• In InfoCenter, follow the directions in the alert message that displays.
• In InfoCenter, click the Subscription Center button. Under Benefits Center, click Renew Online and follow the directions that display.

eLearning

• In InfoCenter, click the Subscription Center button. Under Benefits Center, click View eLearning Catalog. You will be prompted to sign-in to the Subscription Center.

Search

• You can access some subscription-only learning and technical support without logging onto the Subscription Center. This includes some eLearning lessons.

New Advantage Packs

• When a new Advantage Pack becomes available, a balloon notification and menu option displays. To review and download the Advantage Pack, click the balloon notification or menu option. You must have permission to begin the download. Contract managers and software coordinators can control access to Advantage Packs from Subscription Center > Set Access from Product. Instructions for setting access permissions are provided to contract managers and software coordinators prior to Advantage Pack releases.

General Updates

The following AutoCAD defects have been fixed:

2D Drawing
Update 1

• If the PLINETYPE system variable is set to 0, STRETCH does not work as expected on arc segments of polylines.
• When the PLINETYPE system variable is set to 0, the closing point of a polyline with segments of different widths do not display correctly.
• If you use the JOIN command on splines, a duplicate control point is inserted.
• When you use the JOIN command on multiple polylines, AutoCAD may become unstable.

Update 2

• When drawing a closed heavy weight polyline with different width for each segment, the polyline cannot be closed properly.

3D Modeling
Update 1

• When you open a drawing that contains solids, some solids display briefly and then disappear.
• If a grip on a mesh face, edge, or vertex is highlighted and you use the ViewCube, AutoCAD may become unstable.

3D Navigation Tools
Update 1

• When you use the 3DORBIT command, you cannot orbit correctly. You can only orbit around a single pivot point and you cannot orbit around a specific object in a large group of objects.

Update 2

• AutoCAD may become unstable while dragging the cube and releasing the cursor at the top of the canvas.

Action Recorder
Update 1

• An Action Recorder macro created in AutoCAD 2009 may fail to run in AutoCAD 2010.

Annotation Scaling
Update 1

• When there are xrefs in a drawing, changing annotation scales takes a long time.
• When an annotative style multiline text (mtext) is rotated or surrounded by a hatch, the boundary box does not display correctly.

API
Update 2

• Exploding a block using "NetExplode" API modifies the "Global width" property of the polyline.

Blocks
Update 1

• When you turn off the display of an attribute with a visibility parameter in a dynamic block, the Enhanced Attribute Editor lists attribute prompts incorrectly.
• You cannot copy an object from an AutoCAD 2009 drawing and paste it as a block into an AutoCAD 2010 drawing.
• You cannot use the Properties palette to set the value of a action parameter to 0.
• When you delete a constraint parameter from a dynamic block, AutoCAD may become unstable.
• You cannot stretch some dynamic blocks as expected.

Check Spelling
Update 1

• When you run spellcheck on uppercase words, AutoCAD may become unstable.

CUI
Update 1

• When you save a workspace, if the Enterprise CUIx file is read-only, AutoCAD may become unstable.
• Toolbar flyouts close unexpectedly.

Customer Involvement Program
Update 2

• AutoCAD may fail to start up on Windows 7 workstations with Windows 2008 Server on the same subnet.

Data Extraction
Update 1

• When you use Data Extraction to extract the value of a block's multiline attribute into a table, text formatting code displays in the table.

Update 2

• Constrained attribute values may not extract properly based on drawing order.

DGN Support
Update 1

• When a DGN file is imported, some attributes are missing.

Update 2

• Restores the ability to use any extension when attaching DGN files.
• DGNIMPORT command with "Ignore all external references" option may not work.

Digital Signature
Update 1

• When you open a drawing, the Invalid signature dialog box may display even if the digital signature is valid.

Dimensions
Update 1

• You cannot create an angular dimension between two lines in different XY planes.

Update 2

• AutoCAD may become unstable when stretching multiple dimensions with dimbreaks applied.
• Cyrillic characters in dimension text may cause AutoCAD to incorrectly report that the drawing is corrupt after running RECOVER.

DWF
Update 1

• When the background color in AutoCAD is black, some DWF underlays do not display correctly.

DXF
Update 2

• When opening some DXF Files, you may receive a DXF error.

Dynamic Dimensions
Update 1

• When you use the COPYBASE command with Dynamic Input on, AutoCAD may become unstable.

ETransmit
Update 2

• AutoCAD may become unstable when using eTransmit.

Express Tools
Update 2

• AutoCAD may become unstable when editing height values for arc-aligned text in the Properties Palette.

Export Layout
Update 1

• When you use the EXPORTLAYOUT command on files in which Standard styles have been renamed, AutoCAD may become unstable.

External References
Update 1

• You may not be able to bind multiple xrefs that include nested xrefs.
• With the XATTACH command, you cannot select multiple xrefs.

Update 2

• Xrefs with true color gradients now display properly in 2D graphics modes.
• AutoCAD may display an error message about logic color -5 when attaching an xref.
• AutoCAD may become unstable when binding an xref.
• AutoCAD may become unstable when using right-click menu on an xref.

File Open
Update 1

• When you try to open a drawing file from a FTP site, AutoCAD may become unstable.

Update 2

• After applying Vista SP2 or on Windows 7 it is not possible to double click and open a folder that is using DFS Namespace.
• AutoCAD drawings saved in Vault may not display 2010 properties properly.
• Opening drawing files from older releases of AutoCAD may take a while to open.
• Unable to use asterisk "*" symbol on wildcard searches.

Find and Replace
Update 1

• If you use Find and Replace, autonumbering is deleted.

Font
Update 2

• AutoCAD may become unstable when using older version ".SHX" fonts.

General UI
Update 1

• On the status bar, the model or paperspace button may be missing, even after you have repeatedly turned it on.

Update 2

• AutoCAD may become unstable when more than one bubble is displayed and then closed.

Graphic System
Update 1

• When the background color is changed in an active paperspace viewport, the cursor disappears.
• After you plot a drawing in AutoCAD, if you lock Microsoft Windows and then unlock it, AutoCAD may become unstable.

Hatch
Update 1

• When you turn off the current layer while grip editing a hatch boundary, AutoCAD may become unstable.
• When the UCSVP system variable is set to 0, hatched objects align with the WCS rather than the UCS.
• When you grip-edit a hatch with an elliptical boundary, AutoCAD may become unstable.

Update 2

• AutoCAD may become unstable when double clicking on hatched areas in a drawing.

Image
Update 1

• When you attach some TIFF images, AutoCAD may become unstable.
• TIFF images may not display correctly.

Update 2

• Rotating an image with plines may appear to offset from the image.
• AutoCAD session may hang when plotting drawings with rotated Mr SID images attached.

InfoCenter
Update 2

• Balloon notification in InfoCenter is blank when Windows 7 display Theme is set to Classic.

Inquiry Tools
Update 1

• The AREA command fails on some polylines.

Keyboard Modifiers
Update 1

• When temporary overrides are enabled, keyboard input using the Shift key may not display on the command line.

Layers
Update 1

• Xrefs on locked layers do not display faded as expected. The LAYLOCKFADECTL system variable fails to alter them.
• When you delete a certain layer, all layers may be deleted.
• On the ribbon, the Layer drop-down does not display layers based on the current layer filter.

Update 2

• Layer groups may not remain deleted after reopening the Layer Manager.
• AutoCAD may become unstable when switching layouts if the Layer Description column is frozen.
• Objects on "layer 0" in an external reference do not display when the layer is turned on from the current drawing.

Licensing
Update 1

• When you set your system time back more than 2 days, your license is broken.
• When you use a proxy server for Internet access, the License Transfer Utility fails.

Linetype
Update2

• Some of the linetypes with text do not display correctly.

LiveUpdate
Update 1

• When you have Autodesk 2009 and AutoCAD 2010 installed side-by-side, LiveUpdate does not work in AutoCAD 2009.

Measurement Tools
Update 1

• When you use the MEASUREGEOM command, the tooltip and command line results are different. The tooltip result is incorrect.
• When you use the DIST command in model space, the results at the tooltip and the command line are different. The tooltip result is incorrect.

Migration
Update 1

• When you export certain profiles, AutoCAD may become unstable.
• When you save certain profiles migrated from AutoCAD 2009, AutoCAD 2010 may become unstable.

Multileader (mleader)
Update 1

• When you mirror mleaders that contain blocks with multiline attributes, the mirrored attributes are incorrectly justified.

OLE
Update 2

• AutoCAD can be slow when updating OLE objects in Microsoft Word 2007.
• "Paste to Original Coordinates" is disabled in right-click context menu after copying objects from another open drawing.
• AutoCAD may become unstable when pasting drawing files into Microsoft Word.

Organic Modeling
Update 2

• Gizmo may not display while in 3D Orbit.

Osnap
Update 2

• 64-bit AutoCAD may become unstable when using PRESSPULL on mesh object.

PDF
Update 1

• When you plot a drawing as a PDF file, the layer order is not alphabetized as expected.
• When a drawing that contains layers with names that include special characters is exported as a PDF, it cannot be opened.
• When you attach a large PDF file to your drawing, or try to attach it and then cancel the operation, performance is slow.

Update 2

• AutoCAD may hang when plotting large images to PDF.

Property Palette
Update 2

• AutoCAD may become unstable when using the Property Palette.

Publish
Update 1

• When Windows XP is set to Windows Classic theme, on any Asian language version of AutoCAD 2010, if you use the PUBLISH command, AutoCAD freezes.

Purge
Update 1

• On Windows Vista, in the Purge dialog box, when you attempt to use the Ctrl or Shift keys to select multiple items, the first highlighted item is de-selected.

Quick Access Toolbar
Update 2

• Opening a linked drawing from a Microsoft Office product may cause the Quick Access Toolbar to no longer display.

QUICKCALC
Update 1

• Calculations performed by the QUICKCALC command may be incorrect.

Recover
Update 1

• When you use the RECOVER command on an AutoCAD 2000 formatted drawing file, polylines and splines in the drawing are deleted.

Update 2

• Opening drawings with dense hatch appear to hang at 31%.
• Some older drawings containing 3DSOLIDS do not display.

Reference Edit
Update 1

• When you use the REFSET command, you can only add one instance of a block to the reference set. Other instances are rejected and an error message displays.

Ribbon
Update 1

• Text styles from an attached xref display in the Ribbon text style control.
• When you switch between AutoCAD Classic and other workspaces (for example, 2D Drafting & Annotation or 3D Modeling), performance becomes slow.
• Layers with a VP Freeze for a viewport indicate the VP Freeze status even when the viewport is not active.
• When you click the File menu in the zero doc state, AutoCAD freezes.
• After you unload a partial CUI file, a tab remains on the ribbon. If you click the tab, AutoCAD may become unstable.

Update 2

• AutoCAD may become unstable when switching to the Render tab of the Ribbon when .NET 4 is on the system.
• Legacy menu bar may display over the Ribbon when AutoCAD is not responding while opening large drawings.
• AutoCAD may become unstable when using Clipping Boundary control in the Ribbon.
• AutoCAD may become unstable when dragging a Ribbon Panel on Windows 7 64-bit operating system.

Section & Flatten
Update 1

• When you section solids through API, multiple memory leaks occur.

Update 2

• SECTIONPLANETOBLOCK may not work correctly when the sectionplane is not intersecting an object.
• After using the command SECTIONPLANE AutoCAD may become unstable.
• SECTIONPLANE may not display all cutaway geometry.

Seek
Update 1

• The SHAREWITHSEEK command may not work if the port used to communicate with Seek is blocked by a firewall.

Snaps
Update 1

• When you snap to the grid, there may be a slight offset from the grid.

Text
Update 2

• Bigfont may not be converted properly when saving a DWG to 2004 file format.

Visual Basic
Update 2

• May not be able to restore minimized AutoCAD with VBA loaded.

Visual Lisp
Update 1

• When you use the CECOLOR system variable, the value returned by using the Getvar function is incorrect.

Update 2

• LISP incorrectly converts some Japanese characters to CIF.

AutoCAD MEP 2010 Product Update 1 Now Available

General Updates to AutoCAD MEP

The following defects have been fixed in AutoCAD MEP 2010 Update 1:
Duct

• Duct Flanges are displayed incorrectly after moving a duct using grips.
• Velocity in Duct Modify does not match the Velocity in the Properties Palette.
• Add Selected does not work correctly when duct height is greater than duct width.
• Takeoff for branch is not sized correctly when duct height is greater than duct width.
• Top and Bottom Elevation are incorrect in tooltip when duct height is greater than duct width.

Electrical

• A crash may occur when closing a drawing with an EPD file that has a relative path.
• A crash may occur when converting multiple blocks to Devices.
• Wire will only connect to one connector on some scaled devices.
• Device modify via grip edit doesn't move or maintain its orientation as expected.
• The Add Automatic Property for a Device was not retrieving the Load Category or Number of Poles.

Pipe

• The formula for percentage slope by angle is incorrect. Fixing this means that an existing tool in which a specific number for percentage is stored will produce a different slope due to the new calculation.
• Pipe layouts with Very low slope cannot be created correctly.
• The Parallel Pipe command places new pipes on the wrong layer when systems use different layers.
• Some Pipe created in previous versions of AutoCAD MEP snaps to fittings when opened.

Multi-View Parts

• Some linework is missing from certain MvParts.
• Radiator insertion fails, using the window option, if the radiator width or length is located in a basic table.
• Radiator Import does not set property data properly.
• Radiator valves are not aligned to the radiator when inserted using the plus grip.

Display

• Haloed or hidden appearance for Plumbing Lines, Schematic lines and Wires do not display correctly.

Miscellaneous

• CollisionDetection does not work as expected.
• "Copy to Clipboard failed" dialog will appear when copying an object that has been copy/pasted from another drawing.
• A fatal error will occur when creating an elbow with multiple segments.

Problems in AutoCAD MEP Reported with the Customer Error Reporting Utility

As a result of detailed information from customers who used the Customer Error Reporting Utility, a number of problems were identified and fixed. Updates have been made in the following commands and features:

• Export to AutoCAD
• DuctFittingAdd
• Switch Model Space to Paper Space
• DuctSystemSizeCalc
• Opening Legacy drawings

General Updates to AutoCAD Architecture

The following defects have been fixed in AutoCAD Architecture 2010 Update 1:

AEC Dimensions

• Multiple overlapping windows may lead to incorrect dimensions.

API

• AutoCAD Architecture might crash when trying to define a Display Theme style using .NET API.

IFC

• Slabs may have the wrong elevation when imported from an IFC file due to an incorrect thickness offset.
• Exporting a drawing to IFC may create incorrect IFC GUIDs for AEC objects.
• Importing IFC files that contain certain material settings may crash.
• Space exported to IFC have the IFC type of IFCTYPEOBJECT instead of IFCSPACETYPE.

Layers

• The "New layer from Standard" button doesn't work in localized versions.
• Layer description fields are not automatically populated in all cases.

Performance

• Response is very slow when using Dynamic UCS and objects are Isolated.

Property Palette

• Changing an entry to one that is the first characters of the previous entry will not work in some fields.

Schedules

• Schedules are not sorted as expected when values are a combination of numeric and alphabetic characters.

Sections

• Some objects imported from Inventor display as points in 2D Sections.

Structural Members

• Custom block based on 3D Solids using Boolean operations are always placed at the start point.

Wall Objects

• AutoCAD Architecture might hang when opening certain drawings that contain modified Wall Endcaps.
• Window openings may not be created due to Wall Plan Modifiers.
  Using Refedit on a block containing Wall Object may cause a crash.

Xrefs

• Openings in Xrefs with negative Z value are placed at an incorrect position.

Subscription Benefits

• With this update, if you are a subscription customer, a balloon notification periodically displays, letting you know how much time remains before your subscription expires. This notification will display only three times. You can also more quickly and easily access selected subscription benefits, without having to log onto the Subscription Center.

Online Renewal

• If you meet the online renewal program rules, you can renew your AutoCAD MEP subscription online. If you have already renewed your subscription, or are not a subscription customer, these options are not available.
• In InfoCenter, follow the directions in the alert message that displays.
• In InfoCenter, click the Subscription Center button. Under Benefits Center, click Renew Online and follow the directions that display.

eLearning

• In InfoCenter, click the Subscription Center button. Under Benefits Center, click View eLearning Catalog. You will be prompted to sign-in to the Subscription Center.

Search

• You can access some subscription-only learning and technical support without logging onto the Subscription Center. This includes some eLearning lessons.

Problems Reported with the Customer Error Reporting Utility

As a result of detailed information from customers who used the Customer Error Reporting Utility, a number of problems were identified and fixed. Updates have been made in the following commands and features:

• 3D Navigation Tools
• Action Recorder
• Annotation Scaling
• Blocks
• Check Spelling
• Customize User Interface (CUI)
• Database Connectivity
• Dimensions
• DWF
• Dynamic Dimensions
• External References
• File Navigation
• File Save
• Graphic System
• Hatch
• Image
• Keyboard Modifiers
• Licensing
• Migration
• Measure
• Memory Handling
• Multiline Text (mtext)
• Object Snaps
• Parametric Constraints
• PDF
• Purge
• Plot
• Quick Access Toolbar
• Ribbon
• Sheet Set Manager
• ShowMotion
• Visual Styles
  

General Updates

The following defects have been fixed:

2D Drawing

• If the PLINETYPE system variable is set to 0, STRETCH does not work as expected on arc segments of polylines.
• When the PLINETYPE system variable is set to 0, the closing point of a polyline with segments of different widths do not display correctly.
• If you use the JOIN command on splines, a duplicate control point is inserted.
• When you use the JOIN command on multiple polylines, AutoCAD may crash.
  

3D Modeling

• When you open a drawing that contains solids, some solids display briefly and then disappear.
• If a grip on a mesh face, edge, or vertex is highlighted and you use the ViewCube, AutoCAD crashes.
  

3D Navigation Tools

• When you use the 3DORBIT command, you cannot orbit correctly. You can only orbit around a single pivot point and you cannot orbit around a specific object in a large group of objects.

Action Recorder

• An Action Recorder macro created in AutoCAD 2009 may fail to run in AutoCAD 2010.

Annotation Scaling

• When there are xrefs in a drawing, changing annotation scales takes a long time.
• When an annotative style multiline text (mtext) is rotated or surrounded by a hatch, the boundary box does not display correctly.

Blocks

• When you turn off the display of an attribute with a visibility parameter in a dynamic block, the Enhanced Attribute Editor lists attribute prompts incorrectly.
• You cannot copy an object from an AutoCAD 2009 drawing and paste it as a block into an AutoCAD 2010 drawing.
• You cannot use the Properties palette to set the value of a action parameter to 0.
• When you delete a constraint parameter from a dynamic block, AutoCAD may crash.
• You cannot stretch some dynamic blocks as expected.

Check Spelling

• When you run spellcheck on uppercase words, AutoCAD may crash.

CUI

• When you save a workspace, if the Enterprise CUIx file is read-only, AutoCAD crashes.
• Toolbar flyouts close unexpectedly.
  

Data Extraction

• When you use Data Extraction to extract the value of a block's multiline attribute into a table, text formatting code displays in the table.
  

DGN Support

• When a DGN file is imported, some attributes are missing.
  

Digital Signature

• When you open a drawing, the Invalid signature dialog box may display even if the digital signature is valid.
  

Dimensions

• You cannot create an angular dimension between two lines in different XY planes.
  

DWF

• When the background color in AutoCAD is black, some DWF underlays do not display correctly.
  

Dynamic Dimensions

• When you use the COPYBASE command with Dynamic Input on, AutoCAD crashes.
  

Export Layout

• When you use the EXPORTLAYOUT command on files in which Standard styles have been renamed, AutoCAD crashes.
  

External References

• You may not be able to bind multiple xrefs that include nested xrefs.
  

File Open

• When you try to open a drawing file from a FTP site, AutoCAD may crash.
  

Find and Replace

• If you use Find and Replace, autonumbering is deleted.
  

General UI

• On the status bar, the model or paperspace button may be missing, even after you have repeatedly turned it on.
  

Graphic System

• When the background color is changed in an active paperspace viewport, the cursor disappears.
• After you plot a drawing in AutoCAD, if you lock Microsoft Windows and then unlock it, AutoCAD may crash.
  

Hatch

• When you turn off the current layer while grip editing a hatch boundary, AutoCAD crashes.
• When the UCSVP system variable is set to 0, hatched objects align with the WCS rather than the UCS.
• When you grip edit a hatch with an elliptical boundary, AutoCAD crashes.
  

Image

• When you attach some TIFF images, AutoCAD crashes.
• TIFF images may not display correctly.
  

Inquiry Tools

• The AREA command fails on some polylines.
  

Keyboard Modifiers

• When temporary overrides are enabled, keyboard input using the Shift key may not display on the command line.
  

Layers

• Xrefs on locked layers do not display faded as expected. The LAYLOCKFADECTL system variable fails to alter them.
• When you delete a certain layer, all layers may be deleted.
• On the ribbon, the Layer drop-down does not display layers based on the current layer filter.
  

Licensing

• When you set your system time back more than 2 days, your license is broken.
• When you use a proxy server for internet access, the License Transfer Utility fails.
  

LiveUpdate

• When you have Autodesk 2009 and AutoCAD 2010 installed side-by-side, LiveUpdate does not work in AutoCAD 2009.
  

Measurement Tools

• When you use the MEASUREGEOM command, the tooltip and command line results are different. The tooltip result is incorrect.
• When you use the DIST command in model space, the results at the tooltip and the command line are different. The tooltip result is incorrect.
  

Migration

• When you export certain profiles, AutoCAD crashes.
• When you save certain profiles migrated from AutoCAD 2009, AutoCAD 2010 crashes.
  

Multileader (mleader)

• When you mirror mleaders that contain blocks with multiline attributes, the mirrored attributes are incorrectly justified.
  

PDF

• When you plot a drawing as a PDF file, the layer order is not alphabetized as expected.
• When a drawing that contains layers with names that include special characters is exported as a PDF, it cannot be opened.
• When you attach a large PDF file to your drawing, or try to attach it and then cancel the operation, performance is slow.
  

Publish

• When Windows XP is set to Windows Classic theme, on any Asian language version of AutoCAD 2010, if you use the PUBLISH command, AutoCAD freezes.
  

Purge

• On Windows Vista, in the Purge dialog box, when you attempt to use the Ctrl or Shift keys to select multiple items, the first highlighted item is de-selected.
  

QUICKCALC

• Calculations performed by the QUICKCALC command may be incorrect.
  

Recover

• When you use the RECOVER command on a AutoCAD 2000 formatted drawing file, polylines and splines in the drawing are deleted.
  

Reference Edit

• When you use the REFSET command, you can only add one instance of a block to the reference set. Other instances are rejected and an error message displays.
  

Ribbon

• Text styles from an attached xref display in the Ribbon text style control.
• When you switch between AutoCAD Classic and other workspaces (for example, 2D Drafting & Annotation or 3D Modeling), performance becomes slow.
• Layers with a VP Freeze for a viewport indicate the VP Freeze status even when the viewport is not active.
• When you click the File menu in the zero doc state, AutoCAD freezes.
• After you unload a partial CUI file, a tab remains on the ribbon. If you click the tab, AutoCAD crashes.
  

Section & Flatten

• When you section solids through API, multiple memory leaks occur.
  

Seek

• The SHAREWITHSEEK command may not work if the port used to communicate with Seek is blocked by a firewall.
  

Snaps

• When you snap to the grid, there may be a slight offset from the grid.
  

Visual Lisp

• When you use the CECOLOR system variable, the value returned by using the Getvar function is incorrect.
  

UCS

• In AutoCAD 2010 German, you cannot use ribbon controls to modify coordinates.
  

Xrefs

• With the XATTACH command, you cannot select multiple xrefs.

WAN Accelerators Part II

I recieved comment from Alan Saldich, the VP of Product marketing for Riverbed and below is his message. He told me basically that this is not a Riverbed issue, but an Autodesk issue, and that all WDS solutions are affected by the file format change. Here is his letter.

I’m the VP of product marketing for Riverbed, and I wrote a lengthy post yesterday on this topic, which can be viewed here:

http://www.wdsforum.org/forum/index.php?showtopic=183

Silver Peak has admitted (in a call earlier this week with the TechTarget reporter who wrote that article) that the issue with the AutoCAD 2007 / 2008 .dwg file format is *not* specific to Riverbed and *does* affect all products that use deduplication in their solutions, including their own.

The only way to determine the degree to which any particular WDS solution is affected by the file format is to do your own testing.

Remember, the problem is most pronounced with the ISAVEPERCENT (Incremental Save Percentage) set to zero, which forces a complete save, and which causes all the bytes to be scrambled. Using a non-zero value for that setting (like the default value of 50) reduces , but does not entirely eliminate, the impact of the new file format on WDS solutions.

Unfortunately this is not an issue that can be solved by Riverbed or any other WDS solution provider - it was caused (inadvertently) by the way Autodesk decided to change their file format, including scrambling the bytes on every complete save. Any product that tries to find duplicate data will be affected, possibly to a varying degree, but there is no doubt there is an adverse effect.

Alan Saldich

VP Product Marketing & Alliances

Riverbed

• I'd like to post my own response to this as Riverbed's VP of Product Marketing and Alliances. I know this is a frustrating issue for our customers who rely on us and on Autodesk, and that's why we did the webcast in the first place a few weeks ago - to explain the issue as best we could. I have personally been working on this issue extensively for the last few months, and especially in the last few weeks. Let me make a few points and give you all an update.We have worked with Autodesk directly on this and we know what causes the problem, and Autodesk agrees with us. It is definitely not specific to Riverbed. Let me be clear: There is absolutely no dispute about that. Autodesk has had developers looking into the issue with their new file format to see if there's something that can be done. Unfortunately as of this moment there is no immediate fix. The problem is caused by a rescrambling of the bytes in Autocad 2007 / 2008 files upon a complete save, and that causes "cold" performance on writes. Reading files across the WANReads are generally fast because if the file in question has been written across the WAN before, then the bytes have not been re-scrambled and the read is fast, as usual. However, if you have a highly collaborative environment where someone in the other office could open and re-save the file, in that case the second read across the WAN could also be slow (because the bytes are again re-scrambled).If users are using other versions of AutoCAD or Civil 3D that don't rely on the newer file format, then they are not affected. The rescrambling is not compression nor encryption - it is an inadvertent byproduct of performance improvements that Autodesk made in an effort to make AutoCAD work better (nothing to do with WANs at all).The only option right now is to leave the Incremental Save Percentage (ISP) setting at its default setting of 50 - that works much better than forcing a complete save. There's some confusion here about whether a setting of 0 or 100 is the one that causes the complete save, and we're trying to clear that up (anyone know for sure?).Several of our competitors (Cisco and Silver Peak primarily) are trying to take advantage of this issue by claiming that it is somehow specific to Riverbed, and that is where a lot of the confusion and angst comes from. Silver Peak has probably been the most aggressive on this front. Unfortunately, they have been wrong about (1) how Riverbed is impacted by this and (2) claiming that they are not affected by the problem. Silver Peak has conceded (yesterday) that (1) this is not a Riverbed-specific problem, but rather it's caused by the way .dwg files are written in the new format, and (2) their products are also affected by it.If you read their claims carefully, and after talking with them it became more clear, their claims that they work well with AutoCAD 2007 / 2008 are couched in terms of average deduplication rates across a range of ISP settings (remember the only relevant use case here is a complete save, not incremental saves), across other Autodesk products like Revit (again, not relevant because Revit does not use .dwg files and is not affected by this issue), and by including other irrelevant operations like FTPing the same file over and over (again, not relevant because the files are not re-saved and therefore the bytes don't get scrambled again, so you get "warm" performance). Just to reiterate again... the problem occurs only when you do a complete save.Silver Peak still claim to be less affected - we'll see if that's true and by how much). The only way to document that will be through publicly available testing of both products under the exact same scenario. We are working on that through a customer who has their products and we will publish the results as soon as we can. We have already completed testing with Cisco's products and Blue Coat's and we have demonstrated the same problem affects their products in almost exactly the same way. As for our products being 'bricks', I'm very sorry you feel that way. If you are having problems, I would like to help you set up a support call to make sure there isn't some other issue like a duplex mismatch or other networking-related issue.We have literally hundreds of architecture, engineering and construction companies all over the world who rely on our products to accelerate AutoCAD, including most of the large multi-site firms in the US. Overall, as of December 31st, we had over 3,500 customers in virtually every industry and over 40,000 Steelhead appliances in use, so it's hard to believe that this is a systemic problem. If you or anyone else on this board would like to talk to me personally, I'd be happy to. My email is alan@riverbed.com, and my cell phone is +1 650 888 4032.

WAN war breaks out over changed file formats in AutoCAD MEP

Article sent to me from a user. Thanks for the link. I summed up the article below. From the article, it sounds like Autodesk doesn't have a solution yet. I don't know much about the various WAN acceleration applications, but I thought I'd share these articles with you.

It seemed like a good idea at the time...
By Bryan Betts, Techworld

A changed file format has sparked off a fierce war of words between users, WAN acceleration vendors and Autodesk, which significantly changed its DWG drawing file format in both the last two versions of AutoCAD.

The result, is that WAN optimisation gear from the likes of Riverbed Networks - which has a strong user-base in CAD - is no longer able to accelerate file transfers over the WAN. Given that many CAD-using companies need to share drawings across multiple offices, that's a big problem.

At issue is a new dynamic file format which deliberately makes a saved file look completely new, even if it is only an edited version of an existing file, says Riverbed VP Alan Saldich. That means block-level caching schemes can't do what they'd normally do, which is to send only the changes over the WAN.

Format errors

"To improve the speed of the application itself, they changed the file format so that every time you change the file, every bit gets scrambled," Saldich explains. "If you FTP the file twice or reopen it without saving, we can work on that.

"There's only two ways to solve it. One is for Autodesk to revert to the former file format, which seems unlikely. The other thing is they could tell us enough about the file format to undo it." Saldich explains.

In the meantime, Saldich and Autodesk VP Guri Stark have issued a joint statement advising affected users to do one of two things: either revert to an earlier AutoCAD DWG file format; or adjust an AutoCAD setting called Incremental Save Percentage (ISP) to 50, which reduces the amount of data scrambling when a file is saved.

Other WAN acceleration companies have used the issue to bash companies such as Riverbed for developing application-specific optimisation modules. However, Saldich claims it's nothing to do with those - he says they're just protocol optimisations to reduce the number of round trips, and they don't deal with file formats.

He argues that it's one of the first symptoms of a bigger problem that is only just emerging now.
"It affects any product that relies on data de-duplication, including backup and replication," he says. "I truly think the AutoCAD team were unaware of this when they did the development work back in 2004, as data de-duplication wasn't common then.

"The bigger story here is that de-duplication is a widely-used technology now, and software developers need to take account of that. We are 100 percent certain of the problem, and any vendor has the same issue, which is that you don't get to look at the data before it gets written to disk."

Aaron claims Autodesk had its own reasons for formally testing his company's gear - it is a Silver Peak user, with some three dozen of its WAN optimisers around its organisation.

Aaron acknowledges though that when Saldich argues that application developers need to be better aware of how their software will run over a WAN, he has a good point.

"The more the software developers do to address this, the more we all benefit," he says.
We asked Autodesk for its comments, but nearly two weeks later the company had still not found a spokesperson or offered any feedback.

Project Navigator performing slowly in AutoCAD MEP

Some activities in Project Navigator, such as loading xrefs, take what seems like a long time. This is normal. These processes need to run their course before other activities can be initiated.

I was recently working with a client who is creating a large hospitol project using AutoCAD Architecture and AutoCAD MEP and project navigator. I noticed how long it was taking to open constructs, views and sheets and so I looked for some info that could help them be more productive and came across some tips to help improve performance of their project navigator.

The specific activity of dragging a view to a sheet actually involves several background processes, including loading all the files in nested external references, updating project database files, managing layers for viewports, scaling geometry, and coordinating data fields and labels.

For your network environment, follow the guidelines below:

1. To rule out any potential problems with your network environment, temporarily copy the project files to a local workstation and perform the same operations with Project Navigator. Compare the speed in both environments to determine if the problem is directly related to network speed.
2. Use a Windows operating system on your server. AutoCAD MEP only supports a Windows networking environment. If you are using a Novell or UNIX server, you will need to install the Windows Client for these operating systems. However, due to the permission restrictions on these operating systems, the performance of Project Navigator can be dramatically affected.
3. Install the most recent service packs and patches for the version of Windows installed on your server.
4. Check for the presence of antivirus and spyware applications on your system. These applications have features, such as Symantec's Auto-Protect functionality, that constantly monitor the files on your computer or server. This type of application can slow performance down because files are being scanned while they are being used. If you are using this type of virus protection, try disabling it to see if performance is affected. You should disable this feature on the server as well. If you want to leave this feature enabled, you can set up exclusions for the files and folders you use with your projects.
   

For your workstation, follow these guidelines:

1. Install the most recent service packs and patches for the version of Windows installed on your workstation.
2. Disable Digital Signatures in AutoCAD MEP: In the Registry Editor, look for the following key: [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{36A21736-36C2-4C11-8ACB-D4136F2B57BD}\InProcServer32] Delete the content of the Value Data field for the Default item.
3. If you have custom hatch patterns, make sure that they are not loaded as part of the or files. Any custom pattern should be saved as a separate PAT file in the support directory location.

For your project files, follow these guidelines:

1. When working with Project Navigator, all users should be using the same version of AutoCAD MEP. Every new version of AutoCAD MEP introduces additional information saved on the project files and that can create conflicts and slowdowns if different versions are used to read the same files.
2. If you are using old template files, cut the entire contents and paste them into an updated AutoCAD MEP template.
3. Purge unused block definitions take up a lot of file space in all drawings.
4. In all drawings, including the template drawings used by Project Navigator, the value for the variables should be set to the predefined value: INDEXCTL = 2 (Spatial indexes are created) XLOADCTL = 2 (Enabled with Copy. This enables demand loading, but uses a copy of the referenced drawing, so others can edit the original drawing.)
5. Manage the temporary files that are created as part of the “Enabled with Copy” demand load strategy built into Project Navigator. These files remain after a system failure or an aborted Project Navigator activity. Deleting the AC$ files in the Temp folder can reduce the time required to open most drawing files and significantly improve system performance.
6. Minimize Multiple Sessions. Launching multiple or concurrent sessions of AutoCAD MEP, AutoCAD Architecture, AutoCAD, or Revit MEP dramatically reduces system performance and may possibly affect the overall stability of the system. Avoid this practice and adopt other work methods. If you cannot avoid multiple sessions, consider using your most capable workstations in these situations.
7. Before dragging views into sheets, temporarily unload external references from the view drawings. Drawings with attached xrefs will reproduce that xref. This can lead to duplicate or circular xrefs and confusion as to what should actually be in the drawing. This can tax workstation resources and affect performance.
8. Check for the presence of the following blocks in all your drawings, and delete them: AVE_GLOBAL, AVE_RENDER, RM_SBD
9. Detach any AutoCAD CAD Standards associated with the individual drawings. This can be done on the CAD Manager menu, under AutoCAD CAD Standards.
10. Change the FIELDEVAL variable to [2], so field values are only updated when the drawing is saved.
    

Reduced write performance for Riverbed WAN links when working with AutoCAD MEP 2007 DWG files

In March 2006, Autodesk changed the DWG file format for AutoCAD 2007 to make it more compact and improve performance for AutoCAD users. Autodesk’s customers widely welcomed this change and almost all AutoCAD users have enjoyed improved performance.


However, Autodesk and Riverbed have recently received reports that some customers using some WAN acceleration appliances, including Riverbed’s Steelhead appliances, have experienced noticeable reductions in write performance when working with files saved in the AutoCAD 2007 “DWG” format. One of the side effects of the DWG format changes is that when users perform a complete save from within AutoCAD (as opposed to an “incremental” save), virtually every byte of the file gets changed – even if zero changes were made to the file itself. The net effect is that writes that would normally affect only “warm” data are actually “cold”, due to the reordering of the data in the file.

Users of Riverbed or other affected WAN acceleration solutions can implement the following immediate workarounds that improve write productivity.

1. Using a feature in AutoCAD called “Incremental Save Percentage” (ISP), and setting it to 50
2. Using a version of the DWG format other than the AutoCAD 2007 DWG format.

The performance and productivity of their customers is a key consideration for Autodesk and Riverbed. Both engineering teams are working together to devise workarounds and are examining potential longer-term solutions. Given Riverbed’s experience in WAN acceleration technology, our joint work may also provide solutions for customers of other WAN acceleration or deduplication technologies, who might be experiencing similar issues with write performance.

Civil 3D Object Enabler Breaks the Add Pipe/Duct Tool in AutoCAD MEP

There is an issue with AutoCAD MEP where you cannot draw more than one segment of pipe or duct at a time. When you are prompted for starting point, and ending point of the first segment, the command exits without allowing for additional segments.

The Civil 3D Object Enabler breaks the pipe/duct add mechanism. The Autodesk development team has tentatively scheduled to deliver a fix in the next update to the Civil 3D Object Enabler, available in approximately two to four months. Please note their quality assurance teams may need to reschedule some fixes. Please rely on the timeline information as a guideline only and not a guarantee.

If this is happening to you, you only have two options as of now. Uninstall the Civil 3D Object Enabler, or continue with the add duct/pipe tool ending after each segment is added.

How Hidden Line Cache affects AutoCAD MEP Performance

Hidden Line Cache
The Hidden Line Cache is a feature that was implemented in order to improve the loading performance of drawings that contain ABS Objects, with the Hidden Line feature turned ON. It’s usage, which is a drawing-specific setting, is controlled in the ABS Crossed Objects tab of the Options dialog.

Fig 5 – Hidden Line Cache Control

As described in the Hidden Line Routine section, the end result of the Hidden Line routine is the assignment of portions of ABS objects to a Hidden Display Component. This assignment is not actually stored on the object themselves, but rather in a separate section of data.

The Hidden Line Cache feature allows for this data to be saved into the drawing database itself. This means that the data will not need to be rebuilt the next time that drawing is opened, since it already exists in the drawing. Without this option checked, the Hidden Line data will re-built each time the drawing is loaded, and exist only in the system RAM until the drawing is closed. The storage of the data in the Hidden Lines Cache will increase the overall size of the drawing file, sometimes significantly depending on the Hidden Line data generated by the routine. The tradeoff is that the drawing will load significantly faster with the Cache in place at time of load.

Hidden Lines and Xrefs

The existence of loaded xrefs that contain ABS objects, which are set to display Hidden Lines, in a host drawing will have a significant impact on the behavior of Hidden Line data for the host drawing. Since the xrefs contain ABS objects that will be factored into the Hidden Line routine, the program cannot know if those objects have changed significantly since the last time the host drawing was opened. Such a change would result in any data saved in the host drawing’s Hidden Line Cache not to be in sync.

Because of this potential for incorrect Hidden Line data of xrefed ABS objects, the data is never saved in the host drawing’s Hidden Line Cache, regardless of the setting highlighted in figure 5. This means that the Hidden Line data will be to be re-built EVERY time that the host drawing is loaded. This process can take a significant amount of time to complete, depending on the complexity of the layout.

This is why there may be a significant difference in load time between simply opening the xref directly and opening a host drawing that contains that xref.

Hidden Lines and Viewports on Layouts

In a given layout, each viewport has its own active Display Configuration setting. You change this by double-clicking in the viewport and making it active, and then changing the active Display Configuration. This allows for different viewports to display the same objects in a different way. An example of this would be a 1-Line and 2-Line display, as seen below.

Fig 6 – Different Display in Viewports

In some circumstances, a new Viewport is created with an active Display Configuration that uses Hidden Lines. Be aware of this setting, and make sure to use a Display Configuration that does not utilize Hidden Lines if the feature is not needed.

Mitigating Performance Impact of Hidden Lines

With a better understanding of the Hidden Line feature and how to control it, one can better make decisions regarding its impact on performance. The following items may be helpful in mitigating the performance impact of the Hidden Line feature.

• First and foremost, have a Display Configuration that does not use the feature, and use this when display of Hidden Lines are not needed. Using such a “non-hidden line” Display Configuration will result in a significant improvement in load performance of a drawing, especially when there are xrefs containing ABS objects that use Hidden Line feature to display. Additionally, the existence of the Hidden Line data in the system RAM can have a significant impact on overall program performance. When new ABS objects are placed in the drawing, or existing ABS objects are moved, the Hidden Line data may need to be updated. This can add additional time to commands, potentially reducing productivity.


• On a Paper Space layout, be sure to set the active Display Configuration for a viewport to a “hidden lines” Display Configuration only if such display is needed. If there is only text or non-ABS objects in the viewport, make sure to set active a “non-hidden lines” Display Configuration. This can make a significant impact on the time it takes to display the Layout.


• If only using Hidden Lines for coordination, consider turning off Hidden Line gaps. This additional calculation in the Hidden Line routine contributes to the overall calculation time, and adds additional size to the Hidden Line data stored in system RAM.


• Because of the impact of xrefs in a host drawing, as discussed in the Hidden Line and Xrefs section of this document, consider how you plan to structure your project drawings, and what xref relationships will be created as a result.


• Unless there are specific reasons to reduce the physical size of drawings, consider using the Hidden Line Cache feature when possible. This will help to improve drawing load performance in situations when the Cache is utilized.


• Flex Duct objects contain annotation lines that give them the “flex” appearance. The style of these annotation lines can be controlled by the user. Some of these styles use extensive linework to give the desired look for Flex Ducts. These annotation lines are included in the Hidden Line Routine, and can add significant complexity to the calculation. Unless you require that Flex Ducts be shown with Hidden Lines, consider using the 2 Line Display Representation to display these objects in your drawings. This can reduce the complexity of the Hidden Lines Routine, thus improving load time and reducing the overall size of the Hidden Line data stored in the system RAM.