Chapter 15: Internet Utilities and Drawing Sets

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Chapter 15 Internet Utilities and Drawing Sets
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After completing this chapter, you will be able
to do the following

• Launch the default Web browser
• Communication Center
• Opening and Saving drawings from the Internet
• Working with hyperlinks
• Create and view DWF files
• Publishing AutoCAD Drawings to the Web
• Publish Utility
• eTransmit Utility
• Working with Drawing Sets

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Launching the Default Web Browser
The BROWSER command lets you start a Web browser
from within AutoCAD. By default, the BROWSER
command uses the Web browser program that is
registered in your Windows operating system.
AutoCAD prompts for the URL (short for uniform
resource locator). The BROWSER command can be
used in scripts, toolbar or menu macros, and
AutoLISP routines to access the Internet
automatically.
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You can specify a default URL in the Options
dialog box (Files tab).
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File-naming system of the Internet is known as
URL, short for uniform resource locator. The
URL system allows you to find any resource (a
file) on the Internet. Resources include text
files, Web pages, program files, audio, or movie
clipsin short, anything you might find on your
own computer. Example URLs
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Communication Center
Communication Center resides on the right side of
the menu bar and can be customized to offer you
just the right amount of information. Here you
can choose to be notified about such things as
maintenance patches, product support information,
subscription information and extension
announcements, articles and tips.
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Communication Center window
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Choosing Settings in the Communication Center
window allows you to customize communication
center options..
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Opening and Saving Drawings from the Internet
AutoCAD allows to open and save drawing files
from the Internet or an intranet. You can also
attach externally referenced drawings stored on
the Internet/intranet to drawings stored locally
on your system. Whenever you open a drawing
file from an Internet or intranet location, it is
first downloaded into your computer and opened in
the AutoCAD drawing area. Then you can edit the
drawing and save it, either locally or back to
the Internet or intranet location for which you
have appropriate access privileges.Invoke the
OPEN command, AutoCAD displays Select File dialog
box. In the File name text field, specify the
URL to the file, and choose the Open button to
open the drawing from the specified internet
/intranet location.
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To save an AutoCAD drawing to an
Internet/intranet location, invoke the SAVEAS
command. AutoCAD displays the Save Drawing As
dialog box. In the File name text field, specify
the URL to the file you wish to save and choose
the Save button to save the drawing to the
specified Internet/intranet location. Be sure to
specify the transfer protocol and file extension
(such as DWG or DWT). To attach an xref to a
drawing stored on the Internet /Intranet
location, invoke the XREF command AutoCAD
displays the Select Reference File dialog box. In
the File name text field, specify the URL to the
file you wish to open and choose the Open button
to attach the drawing as a reference file from
the specified Internet/intranet location.
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Working with Hyperlinks
AutoCAD allows to create hyperlinks that provide
jumps to associated files. Hyperlinks provide
a simple and powerful way to quickly associate a
variety of documents with an AutoCAD drawing.
For example, you can create a hyperlink that
opens another drawing file from the local drive,
network drive, or from an Internet web site.
You can also specify a named location to jump
to within a file, such as a view name in an
AutoCAD drawing, or a bookmark in a word
processing program. You can also attach a URL
to jump to a specific website.
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AutoCAD allows to create both Absolute and
Relative hyperlinks in your AutoCAD drawings.
Absolute hyperlinks store the full path to a
file location, whereas Relative hyperlinks store
a partial path to a file location, relative to a
default URL or name of the directory you specify
using the HYPERLINKBASE system variable. You
can also specify the relative path for a drawing
in the Drawing properties (Summary tab) dialog
box.
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HYPERLINK command can be used to attach, edit and
remove a hyperlink from an object.
AutoCAD displays the appropriate Hyperlink dialog
box depending on the function being performed
such as attaching, editing, or removing
hyperlink.
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Insert Hyperlink dialog box
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Whenever you attach a hyperlink to an object,
AutoCAD provides a cursor feed-back when you
position the cursor over the object. To
activate the hyperlink, first select the object
(make sure the PICKFIRST system variable is set
to 1). Right-click to display the shortcut
menu and activate the link from the Hyperlink
sub-menu. AutoCAD allows you to attach
hyperlinks to blocks, including nested objects
contained within blocks. To remove or edit
hyperlinks of the objects within the block you
must explode the block reference, then proceed
with the removing or editing of hyperlinks.
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Design Web Format
Design Web Format (DWF) is an open, secure file
format developed by Autodesk for the transfer of
drawings over networks, including the Internet.
DWF files are highly compressed, so they are
much smaller and faster to transmit, enabling the
communication of rich design data, without the
overhead associated with typical heavy CAD
drawings. DWF files are not a replacement for
native CAD formats and dont allow editing of the
data within the file.
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Autodesk DWF Viewer, which is a free,
lightweight, high-performance application allows
to view DWF files. Autodesk DWF Composer
software is the all-digital way to review, mark
up, and revise drawings, maps, and models,
improving workflow and streamlining the review
and editing processall without the original
design creation software.
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AutoCADs ePlot feature allows you to create DWF
files that can be opened, viewed, and plotted
with Autodesk Design Review. AutoCAD provides a
preconfigured plotter driver file called DWF6
ePlot to create DWF files. It generates
electronic drawing files that are optimized for
either printing or viewing. The files created are
stored in Design Web Format (DWF). To create a
.DWF file, invoke the plot command
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AutoCAD displays the Plot dialog box.
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Autodesk Design Review displaying DWF file
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Publishing AutoCAD Drawings to the Web
Publish to Web wizard creates HTML pages that
include images of selected drawings. Drawings are
published in HTML format using three predefined
image types DWF, JPEG and PNG. The DWF image
type translates and publishes specified layouts
into DWF, which are easily viewed with either
Autodesk DWF Viewer or Autodesk DWF Composer.
With the JPEG and PNG image types, you specify
a drawing perspective, and AutoCAD translates the
specified layout into a JPEG or PNG raster image.
Anyone with a standard browser can view JPEG or
PNG content. To move your content to the Web or
a companys intranet, just specify the server
location and configuration, and the content
uploads automatically. Once its posted, updating
is simple and fast.
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To publish AutoCAD drawings, invoke the
PUBLISHTOWEB command.
AutoCAD displays the introductory text of the
Publish to Web - Begin page.
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Publish to Web - Begin page wizard -- Choose one
of the two radio buttons Create a New Web
Page Allows you to create a new web page or
Edit Existing Web Page Allows you to edit an
existing page by adding or removing web pages.
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Publish to Web - Create Web Page -- Specify the
name of the web page in the first text field and
specify the parent directory in your file system
where the Web page folder will be created. If
necessary, provide a description.
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Publish to Web - Select Image Type -- Choose one
of the three image types DWF, JPEG, or PNG.
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Publish to Web - Select Template -- Select one of
the available templates. The Preview pane
demonstrates how the selected template will
affect the layout of drawing images in your Web
page.
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Publish to Web Apply Theme -- Choose one of the
available themes. Themes are preset elements
(fonts and colors) that control the appearance of
various elements of your completed web page. The
Preview pane demonstrates how the selected theme
will display the layout of your Web page.
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Publish the Web Enable i-drop-- If desired, you
can create an i-drop enabled web page that posts
copies of DWG files along with the images. Using
i-drop, visitors to the web site can drag and
drop drawing files into a session of AutoCAD.
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Publish the Web Select Drawings -- Select
drawings and then choose corresponding layouts
from the Layout drop-down menu. Specify label in
the Label text box and description in the
Description text box to annotate the selected
image on the Web page. Choose the Add button to
add the selected image to the Image list box.
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Publish the Web Generate Images-- Choose one of
the two radio buttons Regenerate images for
drawings that have changed or Regenerate all
images. AutoCAD creates the web pages and
stores them in the specified folder.
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Publish the Web Preview and Post -- To preview
the web pages, choose the Preview button. AutoCAD
opens the default browser and displays the web
pages with appropriate links. To post the web
pages, choose the Post Now button.
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Publish Utility
Publishing allows you to assemble a collection of
drawings and plot directly to paper or publish to
a DWF (Design Web Format) file. AutoCAD allows
you to publish your drawing sets as either a
single multi-sheet DWF format file or multiple
single-sheet DWF format files, or to plot to
designated plotter in the page setup. To create
multi-sheet drawing sets for publishing to a
single multi-sheet DWF file, a plotting device,
or a plot file, invoke the PUBLISH command
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AutoCAD displays the Publish Drawing Sheets
dialog box.
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eTransmit Utility
The eTransmit utility allows you to select and
bundle together the drawing file and its related
files (including reference files, word files, and
spreadsheet). You can create a transmittal set
of files as a compressed self-extracting
executable file, as a compressed zip file or as a
set of uncompressed files in a new or existing
folder. It is easier to transmit by e-mail one
single compressed file consisting of a drawing
file and several related files.
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Create Transmittal Files Tree tab dialog box
lists the files to be included in the transmittal
package in a hierarchical tree format. By
default, all files associated with the current
drawing (such as related external references,
plot styles, and fonts) are listed. You can add
files to the transmittal package or remove
existing files.
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Drawing Sets
Drawing sets are used to collect, organize, and
otherwise manage the assortment of layout sheets
and views from different drawings so they can be
plotted as sets and subsets of deliverables
traditionally referred to as blueprints. A
drawing set is just that, a set of drawings.
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Creating a new Sheet Set

• Move the drawing files to be used in the sheet
  set into a minimum number of folders.
• Have only one layout tab in each drawing in the
  sheet set. This affects access to sheets by
  multiple users. Only one sheet in each drawing
  can be open at a time.
• Specify or create a drawing template (.dwt) file
  for use by the sheet set for creating new sheets.
  This template file is called the sheet creation
  template and can be specified in the Sheet Set
  Properties dialog box or the Subset Properties
  dialog box.
• Create a page setup overrides file. Specify or
  create another .dwt file for storing page setups
  for plotting and publishing. This file is called
  the page setup overrides file and can be used to
  apply a single page setup to each sheet in a
  sheet set. This will override the individual page
  setups stored in each drawing.

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Invoke the NEWSHEETSET command from the File menu
to open the Create Sheet Set wizard. The Begin
page of the Create Sheet Set wizard
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Create Sheet Set Sheet Set Example page
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Create Sheet Set Sheet Set Details page and
Sheet Set properties
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Create Sheet Set Confirm page
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Creating Sheet Sets from Existing Drawings
To create a sheet set from existing drawings,
select Existing drawings on the Create Sheet Set
Begin wizard page and choose Next. AutoCAD
displays the Create Sheet Set Sheet Set Details
page.
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Create Sheet Set Choose Layouts page
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Create Sheet Set Confirm page
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Sheet Set Manager
The Sheet Set Manager provides the tools to
organize, manage, and update a set of drawings.
The Sheet Set Manager not only accesses the
drawings associated with a project, but also lets
you access the layouts and views that become the
plotted sheets making up the final set of plotted
drawings.
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Sheet Set Manager palette with the preview image
of the selected sheet at right
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Sheet Set Manager with Sheet View List tab
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Creating a Sheet List Table
Sheet Set Manager allows you to create a sheet
list table and then update it to match changes in
your sheet list. Sheet Set Manager Sheet List
tab with the shortcut menu to insert a sheet list
table
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Insert Sheet List Table dialog box and an example
table created from the Sheet Set Manager
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Creating a Transmittal Package
Sheet Set Manager Sheet List tab with the
shortcut menu for eTransmit selection and Create
Transmittal dialog box
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Creating an Archive of the Sheet Set
The ARCHIVE option available in the Sheet Set
Manager brings together for archiving purposes
the files associated with the current sheet set.
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Plotting the Sheet Set and Publishing to DWF
The Sheet Set Manager allows you to plot to the
default plotter or printer, or publish to
specified DWF format a sheet set, selected
sheets, or subset..