putting CTB files on server

[Anonymous]

Hello, we are currently using acad2ki on NT from a licensed server. We have 9 stations on this server. Each station uses it's own ctb files located on their hard drive. Is there a way to create a path to access the ctb files from the server without actually copying the files to their own hard drive? Does acad2ki have this capability on NT??

thanks for any help.

JoeC

[Anonymous]

of course, assuming your network location is
mapped

tools>options>files>printer support file
path>plot style table search path

style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">

"joeC" <
href="mailto:jocartier@city.windsor.on.ca">jocartier@city.windsor.on.ca>
wrote in message
href="news:f09abae.-1@WebX.maYIadrTaRb">news:f09abae.-1@WebX.maYIadrTaRb...

Hello,
we are currently using acad2ki on NT from a licensed server. We have 9
stations on this server. Each station uses it's own ctb files located on their
hard drive. Is there a way to create a path to access the ctb files from the
server without actually copying the files to their own hard drive? Does
acad2ki have this capability on NT??

thanks for any help.

JoeC

[Anonymous]

Put the files on the server and then put an alias to that folder on the
server inside the Plot Styles folder on each workstation.

matthew g.

[jbryant4]

What happens when a user wants to change some of the parameters within the .ctb (pen width etc.)?. Putting .ctb's on a network server limits the users freedom in making changes. User cannot even copy one of the .ctb's and make a new one of their own because typically this network directory is read-only.

[Anonymous]

>
>What happens when a user wants to change some
>of the parameters within the .ctb (pen width etc.)?.
>

This should be pretty much forbidden anyways, the point in my doing it was
so that users *couldn't* make their own changes.

>
>Putting .ctb's on a network server limits the users
>freedom in making changes. User cannot even copy
>one of the .ctb's and make a new one of their own
>because typically this network directory is read-only.
>

Again, this is exactly the point, most of us call this "standards". Also,
you can copy a file out of a read-only directory if you want to, but I would
discourage it. Why would you want everyone to have their own CTB files with
their own pen weights set up? To get a correct plot you would have to make
sure that whichever machine was used in drafting the thing up was also the
machine used to plot it. Again, I think you need to look into the concept
of CAD standards. 🙂

matthew g.

[jbryant4]

This may work with 9 users...try it at a company with 300-400 AutoCAD users, it may work for a week or so at best. By putting your Plot Styles on a network server, then pointing all users to that server, they cannot copy existing styles and make their own. They will not be able to save theirs to the network server, which is the only place AutoCAD will be able to find them in your perfect world. Do you really want to restrict your users to this extent? My bet is that after about 3-4 months of "Hey Matthew, I need a new PLot Style for xxxx, can you make it for me and put it on the server...." you will decide that this may not have been the best way to go.

[Anonymous]

I would disagree with you. Even with a thousand users the office still needs
standards for its drawings. By putting standards on the network each user
should be using them. I can't imagine how you can have drawings worked on by
different users if each of them uses there own standards. Does everyone use
their own layer names too? Or there own text heights? Must be total chaos
working there...
If I had users constantly coming to me wanting there own standards I would
tell them to work somewhere else. If they work at this company, then they
need to abide by the company standards. I'm not saying I'm against
flexibility and customization to make someone faster or more efficient. I am
saying that the end product should look the same and have similar standards
so others can work in those drawings.
Paul D

jbryant4 wrote in message
news:f09abae.4@WebX.maYIadrTaRb...
> This may work with 9 users...try it at a company with 300-400 AutoCAD
users, it may work for a week or so at best. By putting your Plot Styles on
a network server, then pointing all users to that server, they cannot copy
existing styles and make their own. They will not be able to save theirs to
the network server, which is the only place AutoCAD will be able to find
them in your perfect world. Do you really want to restrict your users to
this extent? My bet is that after about 3-4 months of "Hey Matthew, I need a
new PLot Style for xxxx, can you make it for me and put it on the
server...." you will decide that this may not have been the best way to go.
>

[Anonymous]

I just left a job that did not have a good set of
standards.  To make it worse, the company is hiring a lot of people on a
weekly basis and everyone wants to do things "the way they did it on their last
job".
When it came time to for my group and another group to issue the first
set of General Arrangement drawings, they almost looked as if they were done by
two different companies.

The more people you have, the more need there is
to have standards and no one is able to modify them except you.  I write
all of my LISP routines to force objects to certain layers, fonts, etc.  It
does take a little time to go through and set all of this up and you will
probably get a lot of " Hey Matthew, can you do. . ."  But eventually
you'll build up quite a set of plotting configurations and other standard items
and the requests will eventually taper down.  If you really get bogged down
with requests, is there someone else in the group who is capable of helping you
out?  If you and another person tackled these issues of customization then
you would not be as swamped and you'd also keep your customers
happier.

--
Don Jacobsen

href="mailto:drjacobsen@energy-northwest.com">drjacobsen@energy-northwest.com

"jbryant4" <jbryant4@earthlink.net> wrote
in message news:f09abae.4@WebX.maYIadrTaRb...
This may work with 9
users...try it at a company with 300-400 AutoCAD users, it may work for a week
or so at best. By putting your Plot Styles on a network server, then pointing
all users to that server, they cannot copy existing styles and make their own.
They will not be able to save theirs to the network server, which is the only
place AutoCAD will be able to find them in your perfect world. Do you really
want to restrict your users to this extent? My bet is that after about 3-4
months of "Hey Matthew, I need a new PLot Style for xxxx, can you make it for me
and put it on the server...." you will decide that this may not have been the
best way to go.

[jbryant4]

You obviously miss my point completely. First of all, from your post, I am certain you work in a small office, and therefore really have no idea what I am talking about. Anyway, I totally agree that you should have company standards, and we have them where I work. Where do you draw the line? DO you go to each machine and make sure their Desktop colors are all the same??? Of course not. We have Layering Standards and we have default Plot Style standards. These plot style are automatically downloaded to the users hard drive and AutoCAD is pointed to a directory on their hard drive for the PLot Styles. We tell the users to use the default "standard" plot style, and they do. Whay happens, in your system, if a users has something they want to print in AutoCAD that cannot be printed the way they want with your Networked PLot Styles. They are SOL. My point is this. AutoCAD dreamed up this new Plot System that is "arguably" so much better. In your system, the users have no way of utilizing the advances AutoCAD has made, in fact, they are handcuffed.