This hotfix for Revit addresses issues in the following areas so you surely want to install it:
Revit Stability and Productivity:

• Prevents data loss during upgrade of families containing specific material parameters.
• Improves stability and memory usage within graphics display.
• Improves vector print output of transparent elements and masking regions.
• Prevents accidental data loss during cancellation of the in-place family editor.

Revit Server:

• Revit would occasionally report that an operation could not be completed when attempting a worksharing operation after a period of inactivity, if Riverbed devices were used in conjunction with Revit Server. A subsequent retry of the operation would then succeed. When this hotfix is applied to Revit, this behavior is eliminated. No changes to Revit Server are required.

Get it here: DL21147820

See also Autodesk Revit 2013 Update Release 2

Sheet Set Manager in AutoCAD can be really useful to manage sets of drawings or sheets.

In this AutoCAD Sheet Sets training course, Autodesk CAD expert Brian Benton will show you how to create and manage Sheet Sets for your CAD projects, making you more efficient and organized. This tutorial is for users that already have a working knowledge of AutoCAD and want to get more organized and efficient. Sheet Sets are a way for you to organize your CAD sheets from one or more sets drawings. Brian will show you to how create Sheet Sets, and how to manage them in a way that will make organizing your projects much easier. You will learn how to automate data and info exchange with powerful properties, apply Sheet Sets to manage your projects, print and publish your Sheet Sets, and finally how to archive and submit your Sheet Sets. By the conclusion of this computer based training video for AutoCAD Sheet Sets, you will have a greater understanding of how to use Sheet Sets to effectively organize your projects and CAD drawings. Working files are included, allowing you to follow along with the author throughout the lessons. 3.25 hours and 37 lessons.

The video is available here as download or DVD.

Sample Movie Links and Table of Contents:

00. Free Videos From This CourseWhat You Will LearnAbout The AuthorTypical Uses And AdvantagesGetting Sheet Set Properties Into Your DrawingsThe Single Most Advantage To Using Sheet Sets Is PrintingWhat To Do With Your Electronic Files?
1. What You Will Learn 
	0101 What You Will Learn
2. Introducing AutoCAD Sheet Sets 
	0201 Introducing Sheet Sets
	0202 Typical Uses And Advantages
	0203 The Sheet Set Manager
	0204 Sheets
	0205 Subsets
	0206 Publishing And Exporting
	0207 Properties
3. Creating A Sheet Set 
	0301 Where To Start
	0302 Starting With A Blank Sheet Set - Inserting Layouts
	0303 Create A Sheet Set From A Template
	0304 Advantages To Both Methods And My Recommendations
4. Automating Data/Info Exchange 
	0401 The Power Of Sheet Sets Is In Properties 
	0402 Getting Sheet Set Properties Into Your Drawings
	0403 Default Properties
	0404 Custom Properties
	0405 The Differences And Uses Of Sheet Properties
	 And Set Properties
	0406 Sheet Views
	0407 Using Sheet Views And Their Benefits
	0408 Sheet List Table
5. Project Management 
	0501 Use A Sheet Set Template And A Drawing Template
	0502 Prepare You Title Block For Sheet Sets
	0503 Put Page Setups In Your Template File
	0504 Put Project Data In Custom Sheet Set Properties
	0505 Creating New Files With The SSM
	0506 Folders
6. Plot/Print Publish 
	0601 The Single Most Advantage To Using
	 Sheet Sets Is Printing
	0602 Print To DWF, PDF, Plotter
	0603 Publishing
	0604 Miscellaneous Printing/Publishing Options
	0605 Sheet Set Publish Options And Subset Publishing
	0606 Page Setup Overrides
7. Submitting And/Or Archiving Files/Drawings 
	0701 What To Do With Your Electronic Files?
	0702 eTransmit
	0703 Archiving With The Sheet Set Manager
	0704 Transmittal Setups
8. About The Author 
	0801 About The Author

And there are more Learning Resources Books Training Videos eBooks available.

To further help with the usage of Sheet Set Manager try our SSMPropEditor for free.

You will soon see this new logo made up of an update logotype and a new logomark pop up everywhere.

“The visual change is the most significant branding update in the company’s 30 year history, but since 1982, we’ve made subtle changes to things like color and imagery, eventually moving from the original calipers icon (a tool used to measure the distance between two opposite sides of an object) to the use of the Autodesk name. Our new visual identity includes a logomark with the Autodesk name for the first time in more than a decade. A talented team of Autodesk designers created the new branding and found their inspiration in origami. The style beautifully shows the convergence of art and science, form and function, aptly representing the Autodesk software portfolio. ”

Via In the Fold. See also this post Autodesk | The New Brand and Origami Logo.

Here are what the old ones looked like with the oldest first:

The updated FlexNet (FLEXlm) version (based on Flexera Software’s FlexNet Publisher Licensing Toolkit 11.11.1) was released in February 2013 and is now available as a public download as well as the updated License Administration Guide.

Here are the news in Version 11.11.1
• Support for server-side ASRs
• New lmadmin command line options to add, delete, or manage roles
• Support for lmadmin console installer on Windows

No words about if there are any bug fixes but if you experienced unknown problems with the license manager it can be worth trying to update.

lmgrd.exe, lmutil.exe and lmtools.exe are all 11.11.1 now.

Previous FlexNet Version 11.11 described.

JTB FlexReport license monitoring tool has been tested with and supports this new version.

SSMPropEditor is the Sheet Set Manager Properties Editor for AutoCAD based products and SSMPropEditor 5.0 is now available and comes with the addition of localization for Italian, direct export and import to and from Excel and more.

The upgrade is free for customers that purchased an earlier version.
Get the downloads here.

SSMPropEditor as AutoCAD app will be available later this month.

Contact us to get a time limited license file for free.

See also SSMPropEditor 4.6 released and SSMPropEditor as AutoCAD app.

I have not tested this app but it looks like it’s pretty easy to use and could be useful if you want drawings of existing buildings.

MagicPlan measures the size of the room, draws the floor plan and creates a
DXF file, PDF document, JPEG images and a web site with an interactive floor plan. MagicPlan requires gyroscopes available only with iPhone 4, 4S, the new iPod Touch, the iPad 2 and the new iPad.

If you have tried it please comment below what you think about it.

Windows 8 comes with a completely new Start screen that replaces the start menu. After having tried some freeware that try to mimic the old start menu (that I were not that satisfied with) I have instead started to use the Start Screen and even though I don’t have a touch screen I find it quick and easy to use.

In Windows 8 you can by default pin only some things like programs (.exe) to the Start screen using Windows Explorer. But what if you want to pin a document? It can be done with a simple registry hack. Here is how I right-click on an Excel document and have the Pin to Start option.

When ready you will find the document or file as a tile on the Start screen.

Copy the text in the box below into Notepad and save it as pintostart.reg. Then double click on pintostart.reg and accept the dialog boxes.

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shell\pintostartscreen]
"MUIVerb"="@shell32.dll,-51201""NeverDefault"="""Description"="@shell32.dll,-51202""MultiSelectModel"="Single"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shell\pintostartscreen\command]
"DelegateExecute"="{470C0EBD-5D73-4d58-9CED-E91E22E23282}"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\AllFilesystemObjects\shell\pintostartscreen]
"MUIVerb"="@shell32.dll,-51201""NeverDefault"="""Description"="@shell32.dll,-51202""MultiSelectModel"="Single"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\AllFilesystemObjects\shell\pintostartscreen\command]
"DelegateExecute"="{470C0EBD-5D73-4d58-9CED-E91E22E23282}"

Another alternative is Pin to 8 that is a nice freeware with more features:

With our Pin to 8 you will able:

• to pin ANY file regardless of its type;
• to pin ANY folder;
• to pin drive;
• to pin Control Panel items, all them including some hidden like God Mode/All Tasks, Network Connections;
• to pin Libraries;
• to pin Shell Objects like Run command, "Show Desktop", Window Switcher;
• to pin any folders or files with drag and drop. Drop them on application window.

There is also a manual way by adding a shortcut in this folder:

%appdata%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs

When expanded it may look like this except jtb would be your login name: C:\Users\jtb\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs

Only thing is that you need to also pin it. Say you create a shortcut named “Windows 8 manual test” and put it in the folder above. Now press the Windows button and start writing the name of the shortcut and it should show up in the search result.

Right-click on the shortcut and select Pin to Start at the bottom of the screen and the tile should show up on the Start Screen.

Autodesk will soon be announcing their 2014 portfolio of tools for design, engineering and entertainment and they invite you to join for a special webcast on March 26, 2013 at 8am Pacific, 11am Eastern, 3pm UK and 4pm Europe to learn more. Via In the Fold.

Stay tuned for more news about AutoCAD 2014, AutoCAD Architecture 2014, Autodesk Building Design Suite 2014 (includes Revit) and much more…

BTW. Check out the new look on Autodesk’s website.

Autodesk IPv4 Network License Manager for Windows is found here and Autodesk IPv6 Network License Manager for Windows is found here. Supported operating systems are:
Microsoft Windows Server 2008 and 2008 R2 32-bit and 64-bit
Microsoft Windows Server 2012 32-bit and 64-bit
Windows 7 32-bit and 64-bit
Windows 8 32-bit and 64-bit

FlexNet version and version of all .exe files is 11.11.

Autodesk IPv6 Network License Manager for Windows supports mixed IPv4/IPv6 and IPv6-only environments. It does not support network license checkouts in an IPv4-only environment.

If you have multiple servers you can install on one of them and then grab lmtools.exe, lmutil.exe, lmgrd.exe, and adskflex.exe and copy to the others, just stop and start the FlexNet services in between.

Upgrade your license servers if you plan to support Autodesk’s 2014 products.

JTB FlexReport fully supports Autodesk Network License Manager and usage monitoring of all products licensed with FlexNet including version FlexNet 11.11.

For the FlexNet (FLEXlm) executables there is a newer version available FlexNet 11.11.1.

AutoCAD 2014 will soon be available and you might wonder what’s new.

Command Line Enhancements

Yes, the command line does not go away soon, but rather has been improved quite a lot with AutoCorrect, AutoComplete, Adaptive Suggestions, Synonym Suggestions, Internet Search and more. Unfortunately not everything is yet included if you prefer to use the dynamic input only.

Binary Security

Remember AutoLISP and VBA Security Controls in AutoCAD 2013 SP1? Further work has been done to improve on the security to avoid DWG viruses, AutoLISP worms and the like.

File Tabs

Finally file tabs are included in the core.

Design Feed

Design Feed, accessible from the Autodesk 360 ribbon tab, displays a palette in which you can enter text messages and attach images to be shared online with colleagues, clients, and consultants through Autodesk 360. Posts appear with related drawings on the desktop, on the web, and across mobile devices.

Geolocation and Live maps

Support for Geographic locations has been significantly enhanced. It includes the same Coordinate System Library as AutoCAD Map 3D and new Autodesk Live Maps.

Reality Capture

Reality Capture enables you to take a 3D laser scan of an object, topography, a building or even an entire town and attach it to an AutoCAD drawing as point cloud data. You can then use it as a real‐world reference for your design work. This point cloud data is stored as thousands, even millions, of points in 3D space.

Point Cloud

Point cloud functionality is enhanced in AutoCAD 2014 to support inserting of Point Cloud Project (RCP) and Scan (RCS) files produced by Autodesk ReCap.

Finally there are also several minor updates like Arc Creation, FILLET and CHAMFER on Polylines and Xref Manager.

Most of JTB World’s software just works with AutoCAD 2014 with no upgrade needed.

Yes, VBA is still available for AutoCAD in the latest 2014 even though it was not supposed to. 64bit VBA (Visual Basic for Applications) is finally also available in 64-bit for AutoCAD. The performance problems, with previous releases of 64bit AutoCAD when using VBA, should be now be gone.

Note that 32bit VB6 controls will fail on 64bit.

The version of VBA that is available for AutoCAD 2014 is VBA 7.1.

Microsoft has introduced two new conditional compilation constants: “VBA7” and “Win64”.

#If VBA7 Then
    'Use new VBA7 functionality
#Else
    'Use old VBA functionality
#End If

The Win64 constant enables a separation between the 32 and 64 bit version of VBA and can be used to ensure that code is only executed when VBA runs in the correct mode.

Find the VBA for AutoCAD downloads here at http://www.autodesk.com/vba-download.

For reference these resources can be helpful: Compatibility Between the 32-bit and 64-bit Versions of Office 2010 and 64-Bit Visual Basic for Applications Overview.

Previous post Learn how to migrate from VBA to .NET for AutoCAD, VBA 7 for AutoCAD 2012? and VBA Download for AutoCAD 2013.

Sometimes it can still make sense to migrate from VBA to .NET for AutoCAD and JTB World provides this service. Welcome to contact us with your needs.

According to this update KB we can see what Autodesk says about if Autodesk products are supported on Microsoft Windows 8.

Please check the system requirements for your product to verify compatibility and specific details (for example, some products are supported on the 64-bit version of Windows 8 but not the 32-bit version).

Unless noted otherwise in the system requirements for an individual product, Autodesk 2014 products are supported on the Windows 8 operating system.

For example I found that for example Revit Architecture for Citrix 2014, Autodesk Navisworks 2014, Simulation Moldflow 2014, Autodesk Maya 2014, Autodesk Inventor 2014, Autodesk Alias 2014, 3ds Max 2014, AutoCAD Civil 3D 2014, AutoCAD Plant 3D only mentions Windows 8 64-bit. But who would really use Windows 8 32-bit anyway?

Microsoft Windows Vista: Here’s what Autodesk says: Beginning January 1, 2012, Autodesk will have formally ceased support of the Microsoft Windows Vista Operating System for all new (and upgraded versions) of its products and services released in 2012.

Microsoft Windows XP: Why are you ending support for Windows Vista when XP, an older operating system, is still supported? Through Autodesk’s research and customer engagement, there is still a large population of customers utilizing this Operating System in their work environments. We will work with our customers in the coming 12-24 months to understand their transition plans and make a support decision about Windows XP when it is appropriate to do so.

See also: Autodesk’s Official support for Windows 8

I just got this error running some AutoLISP code in AutoCAD 2014 that I know there is no error in.

; error: ActiveX Server returned an error: Error loading type library/DLL

I tried to repair the AutoCAD installation but it did not help so I tried a reinstall instead and that solved the issue.

I think this problem happened because I also have AutoCAD 2013 installed and applied the service pack to it after AutoCAD 2014 was installed.

Autodesk has posted the ObjectARX 2014 and AutoCAD 2014 .NET Training materials to AutoCAD developer page under Learning section.
Visit http://www.autodesk.com/developautocad for downloading the Training materials.

The following new or changed features are now exposed through the API:

• Connected Desktop - Design Feed
• Geolocation
• Point Cloud

There are also quite a few other useful news for developers. For example for .NET these are some examples: MLeader.Scale Property that gets or sets the scale for the MLeader or RegionAreaProperties with properties to get area, centroid point, extents, moments of inertia, perimeter, principal moments, product of inertia and radii of gyration.

See also AutoCAD 2014 API for more.

Regapp ID Cleanup Utility has been updated so it now works for both AutoCAD 2013 and AutoCAD 2014.

When you delete an object with Extended Entity Data (xdata), a regapp ID remains in the application ID (APPID) symbol table. When a file contains excess unreferenced regapp IDs, performance and file size may be negatively affected.

This utility removes excess unreferenced registered application (regapp) IDs from multiple files simultaneously.

You can also clean affected files unattended from the Command prompt.

This utility works even without full AutoCAD. DWG TrueView 2013 can also be used.

The free utility is available here among Autodesk’s Updates & Service Packs.

Scale List Cleanup Utility has been updated so it now works for both AutoCAD 2013 and AutoCAD 2014.

When a file contains excess scales, performance may be negatively affected. Eventually, the file may become unusable. To use the file, some scales must be removed. This utility repairs affected files by removing excess scales.

Nested external references (xrefs) may produce excess scales. To correct this problem, install AutoCAD 2008 Service Pack 1 or corresponding service packs for AutoCAD-based products. The Scale List Cleanup Utility repairs files affected before the necessary service pack was installed.

You can also clean affected files unattended from the Command prompt.

This utility works even without full AutoCAD. DWG TrueView 2013 can also be used.

Notes:

1. The Scale List Cleanup Utility repairs files affected before AutoCAD 2008 Service Pack 1 or corresponding service packs for AutoCAD-based products.

2. Drawings created by AutoCAD based vertical applications may have one scale that will not be removed by this utility.

The free utility is available here among Autodesk’s Updates & Service Packs.

AutoCAD 2014 is available in 10 languages: English, Brazilian Portuguese, French, German, Italian, Korean, Simplified Chinese, Spanish and Traditional Chinese. Japanese is also available but not as part of the AutoCAD 2014 Language Pack. Compared to AutoCAD 2013 this means that Russian, Czech, Hungarian and Polish are missing so far but according to Vladimir Michl at CAD Studio there will be CZ, HU, PL, RU localization of most 2014 products, as usual.

AutoCAD 2013 introduced a new New Language Packs functionality, rather than installing a full version of AutoCAD for each language, you install one full product and then add subsequent languages via Language Packs, resulting in smaller download and install time and space for the secondary languages. The same installation feature works also for AutoCAD Architecture, MEP, Mechanical, AutoCAD Structural Detailing where all are installed in for example C:\Program Files\Autodesk\AutoCAD 2013 or C:\Program Files\Autodesk\AutoCAD 2014 with for example AutoCAD Architecture in the subfolder ACA. Registry wise you can find the installed products and their locale in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Autodesk\AutoCAD\R19.0\InstalledProducts

Here is what it look like for the 2014 products where I have AutoCAD 2014 and AutoCAD Architecture 2014 both installed.
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Autodesk\AutoCAD\R19.1\InstalledProducts]
@="C:\\Program Files\\Autodesk\\AutoCAD 2014\\"
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Autodesk\AutoCAD\R19.1\InstalledProducts\ACA]
"en-US"="en-US"
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Autodesk\AutoCAD\R19.1\InstalledProducts\ACAD]
"en-US"="en-US"

With the functionality introduced in the 2013 versions two new command line switches /product and /language were added for acad.exe even though undocumented.

To start AutoCAD Architecture this command line is used:
"C:\Program Files\Autodesk\AutoCAD 2013\acad.exe" /ld "C:\Program Files\Autodesk\AutoCAD 2013\AecBase.dbx" /p "" /product "ACA" /language "en-US"

The text for the switch is "ACAD" (AutoCAD), "ACA" (AutoCAD Architecture), "MEP", "ACADM" (Mechanical) or "ASD" (AutoCAD Structural Detailing). Other vertical products like AutoCAD Map 3D installs into their own folder.

Install the language package that you like to use.

On the shortcut to start the other language note that the /language switch has been changed but the installation folder is still the same.

"C:\Program Files\Autodesk\AutoCAD 2014\acad.exe"  /product ACAD /language "de-DE"

Autodesk Content Service Language Pack Hotfix note! “After installing a new language of AutoCAD 2014, Autodesk Content Explorer may fail to work. Download the multi-lingual Autodesk Content Service installer below to address this issue”

But here is a problem.

Autodesk Content Service version 3.0.84.0 is what comes with AutoCAD 2013.

After installing the “hotfix” the version is 3.0.84.1

But the version of Autodesk Content Service that comes with AutoCAD 2014 is 3.1.3.0

So on a system with only AutoCAD 2014 installed the hotfix will not be possible to install.

Hat tip to AutoCAD DevBlog

UnitCAD for AutoCAD is a unique 2D CAD automation solution. UnitCAD automates the creation of drawings by defining reusable unit components stored inside a database and controlled through parameters.

You define components for each CAD unit and the driving parameters which control its shape.

Read more and get a trial at UnitCAD for AutoCAD.

Have you or will you start using AutoCAD 2014? If so you may find these learning resources useful.

AutoCAD 2014 New Features & Enhancements Revealed is an interactive and free eBook with video, text, and images throughout 33 lessons. Tip via Autodesk’s Shaan Hurley’s blog. Take a look at and read the eBook here, it’s free.

Ralph Grabowski has put together “What's Inside? AutoCAD 2014”. Order your copy for $8 from http://www.upfrontezine.com/wia14

Learning AutoCAD Electrical 2014 is a Training Video consisting of 9 hours of learning by Shaun Bryant.

More Books, Training Videos and eBooks.

SSMPropEditor 5.0 is now available as an AutoCAD app. SSMPropEditor is the Sheet Set Manager Properties Editor for AutoCAD based products.

SSMPropEditor 5.0 can now be downloaded and installed as an app from the Autodesk Exchange Apps site. Purchase is also available through this site as well as from JTB World’s SSMPropEditor site.

Right now I noticed that it was featured on AutoCAD 2014’s welcome page.

In AutoCAD 2014 there is also a Featured Apps tab where I found it showing up.

When installed, SSMPropEditor will show up on the Plug-ins tab.

For details about the release of SSMPropEditor 5.0 see this post here.

Visit the SSMPropEditor page for all about the product and give the free trial a try.