Need Advice on Customization

[Anonymous]

I am in need of some advice on the following customization questions:

1. I would like to implement Paul Aubin's suggestion to implement STB
plotting using lineweights in the drawing with a custom STB file that uses
just "BLACK", "COLOR," and "SCREENED" styles with lineweights handling pen
size. All of the styles in ADT 2004 have an AIA.stb assigned that uses
multiple styles to control plotting (THIN; FINE, BOLD, etc....) Any
suggestions on how to change all these styles? What I have found so far is
that my custom STB file reports that "THIN" is missing, etc....

2. I have read in this NG that if we try and load the ACAD.MNS we will
cause terrible problems. I would like to customize the ADT menus to add
some of the old AutoCAD commands and need to know how best to do this. An
authoritative comment would be appreciated.

3. In ADT 3.3 I had created custom Display Reps for Floor Plan 96 (1/8"
Scale) and Floor Plan 48 (1/4" Scale) which actually changed lineweights
based on the scale. This way plans at 1/8" scale had an appropriately
thinner lineweight then those at 1/4" scale. I had postponed further
Display Rep customization until ADT 2004 was released. My question is this:
Now with Low, Medium and High Detail Displays how best can I implement this
same strategy? Also, I noticed that there seemed to be a duplication of my
custom reps. (Please see my post " Re: Scale Dependant Display Reps and
Annotation in ADT 2004?" in the ADT 3.3 NG which has a Screen Capture of the
error message I received). I want to avoid this problem in ADT 2004 so need
some good advice. As a side note the reason for this (even in ADT 2004) is
that the level of detail and lineweights used is too much for a 1/8" plan
and plots as a "blob" of black ink. I noticed this even in ADT 2004 wall
styles for Medium Detail (which seems to be set up for 1/8" Plans).

I want to make ADT 2004 as "perfect" as I can since it looks like this may
be the last upgrade for us for a while. The Autodesk Subscription for our
five seats of ADT jumped to $3,400 for the next year and it looks like my
superiors will not approve that expense for the 4-5 more Extensions we would
receive this year on the Subscription. I have been instructed that we may
only look at upgrades every five years or so from now on so I want to
complete my customization as extensively as possible to make us as
productive and profitable as possible.

I have a host of other questions that I will be posting soon.

As always thanks for your help and advice.

Sincerely,

D. Kuhn

[Anonymous]

I can only help you on the first item. I was asking Paul Aubin about this
yesterday, and he confirmed to me that if you want to use the OOTB wall
styles, you will have to alter their display properties, assuming of course
you want to use the "black, colour, screened..." approach for an STB.
Bummer, I know.

Good luck on the rest.

CH

[Anonymous]

2. I have read in this NG that if we try and load the ACAD.MNS we will
cause terrible problems.

basic rule for customizing is to NOT edit the default menu files. however
you certainly can SAVE-AS your own and modify it there. then create a
profile that turns off the default toolbars and loads your custom menu.

[Anonymous]

1. It is a bit of work. The Layer stuff is not so bad because you just have
to edit your default Layer Key Styles. The rest is largly going to be done
in the Template file. But there are a LOT of objects so this will take some
time. You need to edit the system default display properties of every object
type that you plan to use. I don't know how extensively Style overrides have
been used in the out of the box stuff. I haven't done an inventory yet, but
naturally, style overrides need to be adjusted as well. I am not aware of a
script way to do this, but perhaps there is a programatic method. But I will
leave that to the programmer types to answer. When I get around to doing
this for myself, i plan to set aside a block of time and just knock it out,
painful as that is. 🙂

2. I have no input here. Other than this: I have been using 2004 since
August. I have not missed a single AutoCAD command yet. All the ones I need
are either on the right click menu, or are ones I usually type anyhow. I
would add a Multi-view Block Tool to one of your toolbars though.

3. You can configure Low, Med and high to be any scales you wish. You can
also rename them if you want. The big work is in the Display settings as in
no. 1 above.


--
paul

Paul F. Aubin
Buy Mastering Autodesk Architectural Desktop and
Autodesk Architectural Desktop: An Advanced Implementation Guide online at:
www.paulaubin.com

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the info Paul and Chris! I think you will be hearing from me a
lot with more questions soon!

Thanks again,

D. Kuhn



"Paul F. Aubin" wrote in message
news:0C5B56B5028AFBD54F235C9DED10F435@in.WebX.maYIadrTaRb...
> 1. It is a bit of work. The Layer stuff is not so bad because you just
have
> to edit your default Layer Key Styles. The rest is largly going to be done
> in the Template file. But there are a LOT of objects so this will take
some
> time. You need to edit the system default display properties of every
object
> type that you plan to use. I don't know how extensively Style overrides
have
> been used in the out of the box stuff. I haven't done an inventory yet,
but
> naturally, style overrides need to be adjusted as well. I am not aware of
a
> script way to do this, but perhaps there is a programatic method. But I
will
> leave that to the programmer types to answer. When I get around to doing
> this for myself, i plan to set aside a block of time and just knock it
out,
> painful as that is. 🙂
>
> 2. I have no input here. Other than this: I have been using 2004 since
> August. I have not missed a single AutoCAD command yet. All the ones I
need
> are either on the right click menu, or are ones I usually type anyhow. I
> would add a Multi-view Block Tool to one of your toolbars though.
>
> 3. You can configure Low, Med and high to be any scales you wish. You can
> also rename them if you want. The big work is in the Display settings as
in
> no. 1 above.
>
>
> --
> paul
>
> Paul F. Aubin
> Buy Mastering Autodesk Architectural Desktop and
> Autodesk Architectural Desktop: An Advanced Implementation Guide online
at:
> www.paulaubin.com
>
>

[Anonymous]

You can load acad.mnu and insert the pulldowns or toolbars you need with no
ill effects or you can cut and paste to the adt.mnu. Either will work.
Nick